On this 4th and final night of this convention, tonight's
speeches include, of course, the nominee, some Trump administration veterans,
and an effort to tap conservative culture with an appearance
by wrestler Hulk Hogan and a performance by Michigan musician
Kid Rock.
So we are through the bulk of these speeches this
week.
The addresses have balanced some talk of unity or shared
purpose.
And those reports that the convention planners wanted to even
tone down some rhetoric given the horrific attack last weekend,
That's a project that has not prevented sometimes slashing attacks
on the Democratic ticket.
The Democrats economy is of, by and for illegal aliens.
If you are looking for racism today, you'd find it
in cities run by Democrats.
The sexualization and indoctrination of our children.
The Democrats have handed over control of my state, Arizona's
border, to the drug cartels.
Today's Democrat agenda, their policies are a clear and present
danger to America.
If they can come for me, if they can come
for Donald Trump, be careful.
They will come for you.
Send them back.
As you can see, those type of remarks do show
Republicans on offense.
The convention has also hit some other notes.
In JD Vance's debut as a running mate last night,
he talked of hope and of God.
He opened with a somber reference to that attempted assassination
of Donald Trump.
And as he spoke about it, nominee Trump looked on
from his seat.
Vance encouraged Americans specifically to go and watch that terrible
attack again.
And behold what he called Trump's defiant reaction, a moment
that also Tees up Donald Trump's first speech tonight since
that horrific and failed assassination.
Now, this address tonight is significant and historic, A former
president who was extremely close to an Assassin's bullet and
death returning here to address his party and also the
nation.
And that is true regardless of one's views of Trump,
his policies or his politics.
It's true even for critics who note that he has
not always extended sympathy or proper gravity after political violence
targeting others.
And that kind of debate is about whether other people
uphold these civic and peaceful traditions, whether we do that
regardless of what others do, what they do.
The test for America right now ultimately is about us.
For anyone who fails to consistently reject violence, well, that
would be on them.
For those who want to continue to uphold our civic
values and peace and justice, it's a different path and
they are not like us.
That's the serious context for tonight's address in a nation
that has lived through so many attempted and completed assassinations.
As for the politics, if we step back from that
very serious reality we've lived through since the weekend, the
RNC is reaching its crescendo.
Tonight, the party's 2 nominees politically today could really not
be in two more different positions.
Something Rachel and our panel of anchors was discussing last
night.
Trump rallying his delegates while Biden worries about his delegates
potentially revolting, spurred by what is now the largest public
push by party leaders to convince President Biden to drop
out of this race as he isolates with COVID.
Today, testing positively yesterday, there are reports stating the Democrats,
Senate and House leaders have both urged President Biden to
now drop out of the race in extraordinary one-on-one meetings
which have been reported and no denials.
That means that unless President Biden himself was the person
leaking this again, one-on-one meetings, it means those Democrats are
now escalating a previously private coordinated plan to push President
Biden out at this late stage.
There's also a rare leak suggesting Obama himself thinks Biden
is now likely to lose and must consider dropping out
for the good of the party and the country.
And that hits hard inside a White House where Biden
once backed up Obama.
And it's the kind of rare move now leaking that
may or may not.
We're just covering the facts for you.
But may or may not impact President Biden's thinking tonight.
Now, as we've reported, the primaries are over right now.
Tonight, the public fact remains, President Biden is the nominee
and if that were to change, he is the only
person who can change that.
This pressure, best we understand it, we've got a lot
of different reporters working the phones and angles is not
designed to alienate President Biden or further hurt his chances
were he to stay in.
It is designed now by Schumer, Jeffries, Pelosi and partially
possibly Obama.
It is designed to ask Joe Biden to be the
first president to ever quit a reelection campaign this late.
Under these circumstances, it is the toughest public push against
Biden since those early days right after the debate.
And it is a remarkable contrast tonight as Trump readies
his return.
Tonight is the big night.
Joe Biden off the campaign trail, but the pressure isn't
going away from inside his own party.
Donald Trump's acceptance speech, his promised message of unity.
After the White House revealed that Biden tested positive for
coven, people went nuts.
These numbers are devastating for him and yet he is
still digging in.
The chess board is all checkmate.
We ride or die with Donald John Trump to the
end.
And it is not about the Republicans hopes and expectations
that they have it in the bag.
The only shot you have is literally to take the
board and throw it up in the air.
All eyes, we're on Donald Trump's running mate, Senator JD
Vance, everyone on our ticket being unified.
The Democrats can't even unify their own White House.
The reason that people are having this conversation is because
of the threat of Donald Trump.
Former President Barack Obama has privately expressed concerns to Democrats
about Biden's candidacy.
That's a lot.
Now, as the nation faces this cascade of development, some
serious and scary, some baroque, some filled with yet another
round of remarkable, rare, unprecedented political intrigue, there are people
noting how literally unbelievable this feels.
Unbelievable, not in the sense of remarkable or wild, but
unbelievable.
Like, Can you believe this?
Like is this a movie?
Or as they say nowadays sometimes, is this a simulation?
And some are coping through humor.
One writer joking.
This series finale of America is getting weirder and weirder.
These are the kind of tweets and memes that Zing
around as people give each other a joke or a
comfort amidst the moment.
I have one more for you, a magazine writer saying
if the past seven days were an episode of The
West Wing, it would be panned for being too over
the top.
That sounds about right.
There have been many absurd plot twists on top of
plot twists.
Some seem well over the top.
And much of this now packed into this week.
And it's only Thursday and not Thursday night, not Thursday
prime time.
It's really just the end of Thursday on the East
Coast as we head into the RNC's final night.
And this is not a simulation, not a movie.
Best as I can tell, this is not The West
Wing.
But there is a debate over the real West Wing
and America's choices, the choices they are right now and
the choices as they may be in the days to
come.
Or who should occupy the real West Wing.