His first speech now feels like a lifetime ago but it will always be remembered for this moment. I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me. Which is why i alone can fix it. I alone can fix it. That instantly became the thing everyone took away from that speech. It really nailed exactly how trump managed to turn the republican party into a cult of personality focused on just one man. Donald trump himself. But in the eight years since then, the cult of maga has become something of an established religion in american politics. Trump spent that time fashioning himself as a quasi messianic figure to his followers. Then a bullet narrowly missed his head in pennsylvania. That gave his followers all the confirmation they needed to deify him. To thrust upon him the mandate of heaven itself and trump used his speech last night to take his martyrdom to the next level. I m not supposed
Why they were dissatisfied with their briefing on the trump attack. Plus, a person close to the president s campaign says we re close to the end. What it s like inside biden s world right now. Our nbc news reporters are following the latest developments. That s where we start. Nbc s aaron gilchrist, what do we know about what s happened in biden world? reporter: some of our colleagues, carol lee and monica alba and natasha korecki have been gathering details what s happening inside biden world, including his campaign and people close to the president. We re told there s a sense that the ground has shifted under president biden. We re getting that from five people with knowledge of the situation who, as you said, we re close to the end. Going on to say there s a senior someone spoke with a senior campaign official and says there s a sense of a new reality that s fallen over the campaign. Quote, they re finally realizing, when, not if. It s what we ve heard since the debate in atlanta wh
It is good to be back with you on this second hour of chris jansing reports. At this hour, we re standing by for two big live events. First, senate democrats are about to address the cameras after a consequential day of closed door meetings debating the viability of joe biden s candidacy. Can they come together with the presidency on the line? we re also watching the white house where the briefing should start any minute now ahead of a major appearance by the president at the nato summit. How a celebration of the alliance became a high stakes test of his fitness to serve. And out west, firefighters racing to contain a wildfire that continues to threaten michael jackson s former never land ranch. And just moments from now, the court will continue in the trial of bob mendez. Can they rebuff the prosecution s argument that he sold the power of his office for cash and bribes? we begin with ali vitali on capitol hill where congressional democrats have been huddling about what to do on presi
Vaccination. It s a ray of hope for millions of american families and a common sense approach to travel as we stair down what looks more and more like a bifercated country. We re sure pasting the devastating flu of 1918 and driven by the tragedy unfolding in largely unvaccinated states like mississippi which currently has the highest covid death rate per capita in the country and if it were a zone country, miss mississippi would be tied for second. Republican governor tate reeves tried to down play his own incompetence. As you know, unfortunately, fatalities is a lagging indicator when it comes to the virus, it is a lagging indicator and so timing has as much to do with that statistic that you used as anything else. The president will try to believe the delta variant is only affecting republicans in the united states. That is not true. That is not a fact. Move around the country and you re going to see fatalities rise in other states. We believe in personal responsibility, individual a
Flights. This is all part of an allofgovernment effort. Not only are we obtaining resources from the department of defense, but we brought in a person from the department of health and human services to address the medical needs of anyone who needs that type of attention. Not only do we rely on the resources and capabilities of the department of homeland security, but we look across the federal government and in partnership with civil society to see what resources and capabilities we can bring to bear to meet the challenge, and that is indeed what we are doing here. And how can you be assured that when they go back they re not dealing with very difficult conditions? much more difficult than what they re dealing with right now? why not allow them to come into the country? so let me take both those questions, jim. We re working very closely with the government of haiti to ensure that the individuals return is accomplished as safely and humanely as possible. We are working with the depar