Notified the others of his choice and, make no mistake, this is historic. Kamala harris is the first black woman and the first person of indian descent to be nominated for National Office by a major party in our country. She was joe bidens rival during the democratic primaries, announcing her own president ial campaign back in january of 2019. During his now daily briefing, the president attacked harris on health care, military funding, petroleum and taxes, and said he was surprised at her selection. She was my number one draft pick and well see how she works out. She did very, very poorly in the primaries, as you know. She was expected to do well. I was a little surprised he picked her. She was very, very nasty to one of the reasons it surprised me, she was very disrespectful to joe biden, and its hard to pick somebody thats that disrespectful. Trump is referring to harris stinging remarks, a haymaker delivered to biden during the very first democratic debate of the long primary season. This was back in june 2019. I do not believe you are a racist. It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country. It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose bussing. You know, there was a little girl in california who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day, and that little girl was me. So, fast forward from that night to just a few weeks ago. We showed this to you on the air. Joe biden was photographed, holding handwritten notes in anticipation of a question about harris. It had her name at the top, along with a set of talking points, including the words do not hold grudges. In fact, todays announcements means he chose the candidate who took the biggest swing at him during the campaign. In announcing her selection, biden described his former rival as, quote, someone who understands that we are in the battle for the soul of this nation. In his announcement, he added he was influenced by Kamala Harris friendship with joe bidens late son, writing this, quote, i first met kamala through my son, beau. They were both attorneys general at the same time. He had enormous respect for her and her work. I thought a lot about that as i made this decision. There is no ones opinion i valued more than beaus. And this late today from president obama on his firmer running mates choice of a running mate, quote, by choosing senator Kamala Harris as americas next Vice President , hes underscored his own judgment and character. Reality shows us that these attributes are not optional in a president. Zoom meeting, Democratic Convention pandemic convention, such as it is, is next week. On the pandemic front, russia announced today it has the first it has become the first country in the world to approve a vaccine for the coronavirus, and thats all we know, that they approved it. Though putin says his own daughter has received it. After running a fever, he says she now has the antibodies. Global Health Officials warn the vaccine still needs critical, latestage Clinical Trials to determine safety and effectiveness. Meanwhile, trump today announced the federal government will buy 100 million doses of modernas experimental Coronavirus Vaccine in latestage human trials. That comes as our country sees more than 5. 1 million cases now, over 165,000 deaths. Today, both the big 10 and pac12 College Football conferences canceled their 2020 season and trump is now all about the College Football season. Hopefully, we can watch colleges play football. We want to get football in colleges. These are young, strong people. Theyll be able to fight it off. And, hopefully, it wont bother them one bit. Most of them will never get it, statistically. But we will see more cases at some point, and we will eventually develop sufficient immunity in addition to Everything Else that were doing. So, College Football, get out there and play football. So here for our leadoff discussion on a tuesday night, frankly, an embarrassment of riches, peter baker, chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times, alexi mccammen, and dr. Werner, school of Public Health at columbia university. Also the director of columbias National Center for disaster preparedness. Good evening and welcome to all of you. Alexi, i would like to begin with you. Other than this being the maya rudolph full employment act of 2020, whats your additional reporting on what went into this choice . Brian, you just walked through the relationship that senator Kamala Harris had with joe bidens son, beau, is something that he took into account in this deliberative process. The other thing that you and i have talked about, brian, and my reporting shows is that biden listens to himself at the end of the day. And i think that was one of the more frustrating processes for the political reporters, for those of us chasing this story the last few weeks. It seemed like everyone knew everything and nothing at the same time. And thats exactly because joe biden macs the decision for joe biden at the end of the day. And he was really deliberative throughout this process. That is also reflected in the fact that this didnt even leak before the campaign was able to announce it themselves, drawing out another contrast between the way President Trump is, kind of shoots from the hip. And theres a lot of leaks from his campaign and his inner world. And the way that joe biden was saying he would govern in elected president , which is really keeping his head down, doing the work, keeping his eye on the prize and keeping a really small circle of folks, but ultimately listening to himself at the end of the day. Peter baker, its already been written, i guess folks that watched trumps briefing today, that this is a tough one for trump. It boxes him in, in that he may not know the best way to run against a candidate like Kamala Harris. Yeah. The Trump Campaign aired an online ad within minutes of the choice because presumably they had them ready for all the major possibilities. It looked like a cookie cutter version of what they would have said about any of the choices, which is that Kamala Harris is going to drag biden to the left, radical left. That was the phrase they used, that biden isnt really in charge. It will be whoever is the Vice President thats really in charge. In this case its going to be somebody who favors medicare for all and other liberal wish list items that would turn off middle america. Thats the same prescription again i think they would have used with most of the candidates he would have picked. In the end whats interesting about this, brian, you would ask anybody a year ago, and we might have, in fact, on this program, who the democratic ticket would have been in august of 2020, the answer would actually have been biden and harris. This was the lot a year ago. A lot has happened in between that maybe it would go off in different directions. She didnt do that well in the primaries. Maybe warren, maybe Bernie Sanders is going to be the nominee. Maybe somebody like karen bass or susan rice will be the Vice President ial nominee. In the end, it came back to the choice that it seemed obvious a year ago. And that tells us a lot. What joe biden is offering is predictable, is conventional wisdom, is that the choice that doesnt surprise, because, in fact, it had been tested these last few weeks and really over the last year. Thats the contrast. Hey, doc, often i have to bring you right to the intersection of politics and medicine. And this is one of those nights. You have reason to believe that Kamala Harris, in your line of work, could want to take a leadership role in this pandemic . Yeah. Well, i think the trump ticket is going to be in for a big surprise, because Kamala Harris has extremely strong, powerful evidencebased opinions about what needs to be done about the covid pandemic, and she has been one of the most critical people of all about the incompetence, dishonesty and lack of direction and leadership coming from the white house. Theyre in for a big surprise if they think shes going to be a pushover on any of this. And knowing shes been extremely active already in promoting things like big relief packages for people facing eviction, making sure that we end the disparities on the covid pandemic that are out there and many other things. But i was speaking to one of her senior staffers today, several times, and who reminded me that Kamala Harris was raised by a scientist, by a cancer researcher, and Kamala Harris, in every level of government where she served, in local, state and now federal politics, has been a major supporter of Public Health. She understands what communities need. And i think shes going to be informidible partner with joe biden to reverse this horrible course were on to manage this terrible outbreak. Brian . Alexi, take the other side of this. Of course, there cannot be any unforced errors as of tomorrow when we see the ticket together. This changes everything. What are the hurdles . What are the challenges, as you and others see them . Well, the challenges, of course, for the democratic ticket, biden and harris, is running a campaign against someone like donald trump and mike pence. And weve seen the way that President Trump has, so far, unsuccessfully tried to brand biden. We see even today that hes champing at the bit to get out of the gate to try to brand senator harris and really, again, as we were talking about earlier, say shes the reason that biden is being dragged to the left. There are a lot of nasty comments that are going to come from the right about senator harris, based on gender, base on race, ethnicity, but things that people arent going to tolerate anymore. Thats the fascinating thing, brian. While were thinking through the potential challenges, which, of course, is running against someone like President Trump and the Republican Party that exists beneath him, this coronavirus pandemic is still happening. People are still losing their jobs, struggling to make ends meet. Theres little appetite for partisan politics. Thats President Trumps bread and butter. Thats what he defaults to, fear in the American People and dragging his opponents through the mud. Those two things are not tolerated by the American People right now. While those traditional challenges exist for the democratic ticket, i dont know how much they will be insurmountable challenges for them in this type of political climate. Peter, indeed, Kamala Harris brings a certain skill set. Ill mix my metaphors. As a former prosecutor she throws fastballs and draws blood, a skill set that will be called upon, no doubt, in a rough and tumble campaign. I want to play for you and our audience one of her encounters. This was a live televised hearing in 2019 with the attorney general bill barr. Has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone . Um, i wouldnt i wouldnt yes or no . Could you repeat that question . I will repeat it. Has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone, yes or no, please, sir . Um, the president or anybody else . Seems you would remember Something Like that and be able to tell us . Peter, it was surmised in the moment that was a face of a man not used to having his authority questioned. How does a campaign put that specific skill set to work, do you think . Well, i think everybody is already talking about what the matchup will be like with mike pence when the two of them debate later this fall. She does approach politics through the sort of the vehicle of a prosecution in effect, right . Thats what she was doing there with bill barr. She was grilling him, questioning him very much like a prosecutor would, yes or no, please. You should remember this. Not letting him off the hook. To see her going up against mike pence will be a fascinating, you know, moment. Fascinating evening. I think in general, she doesnt shy away from playing sort of pitbull role that is traditional for the running mate to play. That traditionally, president ial candidates pick as their running mate somebody that can go after the other side in an even more aggressive way than perhaps the top of the ticket might want to do it. She certainly has that skill set. Shes demonstrated that over the last year or two in particular. So i think she fits that mold of a Vice President ial running mate. I think people are looking forward to that matchup with mike pence. Well see how that plays out. Doctor, you get to bat cleanup tonight. What am i missing about this story of the russian vaccine named after sputnik, their famous satellite . Lot of americans woke up to the news that putin was talking it up, ive already given it to one of my daughters. What are we missing, other than the fact that they may be missing at least one stage or two of Vaccine Research . Well, its incredibly antiscience and its incredibly dangerous. I can think of two World Leaders who are pushing vaccine without regard to safety and efficacy and those would be donald trump and Vladimir Putin. The only two leaders i can think of in the entire world, brian, who have the audacity to suggest we start giving people vaccine before its actually ready. And i think theres Something Weird about that particular connection, but its very unfortunate for the russian people that Vladimir Putin is taking on the scientific role of condoning something so inherently unsafe, brian. As i said about our big three tonight, an embarrassment of riches. We are much obliged. Peter baker, alexi mccammond, dr. Irwin redelener. Being called nasty by the president puts senator harris in something of an elite club, rarefied air, if you would, being called radically left by the Trump Campaign was to be expected. Well ask former congresswoman Donna Edwards if thats the best theyve got against this formidible woman from california. Kurt anderson takes on the question, where have we been all these years, all of us, while a country took a turn to the south . The 11th hour just Getting Started on this consequential tuesday night. Audible is my roadtrip companion. Its kind of my quiet, alone time. Audible is a routine for me. Its like a fun night school for adults. I could easily be seduced into locking myself into a place where i do nothing but listen to books. I never was interested in historical fiction before, but im obsessed with it now. There are a lot of like, classic and big titles that i feel like i missed out since i dont have time to read, mean i might as well listen. If i want to catch up on the news or history or learn whats going on in the world, i can download a book and listen to it. Because i listened to her story over and over again, i made the decision to go ahead and follow my own dream, which was to help other veterans. I think theres like 180 books in my, in my library now. It changes your perspective; it makes you a different person. Its true, its so true. To start your free 30day trial, just text listen17 to 500500. To start your free 30day trial, its more than just fast. It keeps all your devices running smoothly. With builtin security that protects your kids. Protects your info and gives you 24 7 peace of mind that if its connected, its protected. Even that that petcamera thingy. Can your internet do that . Xfinity xfi can because its simple, easy, awesome. Get advanced security free with the xfi gateway. Download the xfi app today. When we have children in cages, crying for their mothers and fathers, dont you dare call that border security. Thats human rights abuse. And thats not our america senator Kamala Harris back in january 2019 on a sparkling day in oakland, california, as she kicked off her president ial campaign. The New York Times points out tonight, quote, after her own president ial bid disintegrated last year, Many Democrats regarded ms. Harris as all but certain to try for another run for the white house in the future. By choosing her as his political partner, mr. Biden, if he wins, may well be anointing her as the de facto leader of the party in four or eight years. Lots to talk about. Big day. And back with us tonight, two returning guests. Donna edwards, former democratic member of congress from the great state of maryland, these days a Washington Post columnist. And the sometimes ragin but always cajun carville, 2020 politics podcast. Good evening, welcome to you both. Congresswoman, if i recall correctly one of your opeds said that biden could not make a bad choice given the list you knew to exist. The only danger area is choosing someone who outshines, overshadows you. The most difficult task, she cannot overshadow the boss or get beyond him. Does this pick, is it endangered by that rule . Does it go near that . Is it in the safe zone . She is a high wattage candidate. Well, i think one of the things that you see about this choice by the Vice President , first of all, it demonstrates his confidence in who he is and the kind of campaign that hes running, the kind of presidency he wants to have. But it demonstrates about her that she can be a good partner and that she will be a good partner for him, not just on the campaign trail but when it comes to the important work of governance come january 2021. And so i think its a very exciting choice. And i think that while the Vice President couldnt have gone wrong, he got it very right today. James carville, in your view, did joe biden pick the correct candidate, in your view, what has donald trump got that he wouldnt have shown today . At one point he said Kamala Harris is antipetroleum products. Well, look, he said biden wants to cancel the bible, cancel god. Hes guilty of treason and well all be speaking chinese. Who knows what he will come up with tomorrow. Congresswoman edwards made a good point. This say confident choice. It was a big choice and, you know, senator harris has levels in three levels of government. She has experience. She was a prosecutor for san francisco, statewide attorney general. She was the United States senator. This is not just a unique choice but this is a really qualified person to be that he picked to be Vice President , maybe the future leader of the Democratic Party. We can all speculate on that. I think this demonstrated a real bigness on the part of joe biden. I think we saw a mature person. And its a very good contrast with the immaturity and the smallness we see on the other side. So, james, if i snuck you in to wilmington overnight and you had time to sit with the new ticket tomorrow, knowing that the unforced errors are not a good thing for a campaign at this stage a week out from their convention, what would your advice be to them as a duo, as a new couple in the public eye . Honestly, of course there will be unforced errors. Of course people are going to say things that dont come out the right way, but the main thing is, i would urge both of them, be aggressive. This was an aggressive pick today. Be confident. And dont let fear grip you. I think were seeing that. Thats why this was so impressive. We all had this sense of biden, this just told the world, hey, im a confident, mature person. Im ready to lead this country. Im picking confident people who have big portfolios to be part of my administration. This is an historically, really significant pick. This is like kennedy picking Lyndon Johnson or reagan picking george h. W. Bush, clinton picking gore. Were going big here. Even president obama picking biden, who was much more experienced. Thats what you have to do in this situation. And hes got a governing partner here. Hes going to need that. And so im not so worried about gafs. Theyre going to come and well deal with them as they come and dispose of them as they come also. Thats just the nature of politics. Congresswoman i keep noticing youre smiling. On a personal level as a woman of the Democratic Party who was elected to congress, how did you feel when you heard todays news . Well, you know, i told myself it didnt matter who the choice was going to be, and i partially believed that, because i think there were so many talented women, but when this was announced today, i actually felt elated. I felt like, you know, there was a hurdle that the Democratic Party had gotten over with this choice. And because black women are such that we have heard it over and over today, the backbone of the Democratic Party, the strongest voters of the Democratic Party. And i think that this choice of Kamala Harris shows that strength. And people are going to be excited to see her out there. She speaks to so many different demographics of american voters, whether its understanding the immigrant experience as a black woman, speaking to the youth of our party. I mean, there are so many ways that Kamala Harris is going to benefit the ticket. And i see that biden harris combination as a real winning combination. People are going to look at that and they are going to see the future as a contrast to the incompetence and the darkness of the trump pence ticket. And so im looking forward to seeing them out on the trail together, such as it will be in the coronavirus era. But Kamala Harris, i think it was a brilliant choice today to make sure that we speak to the future of the Democratic Party. Indeed. The former u. S. Attorney and the sdny tweeted tonight that his own mother could not wait to vote for a ticket with an Indian American on it. So to your point about all the various constituencies. We have to squeeze a break in. Our guests have agreed to stay with us. Coming up, a look at one of the videos mike pence may be Binge Watching over this weekend. While hes at it, next weekend, when we come back. I got it all from you im always pushing through i know well make it to the finish line i know youre waiting on the other side im like you ondemand glucose monitoring. Because theyre always on. Another lifechanging technology from abbott. So you dont wait for life. You live it. Did you watch dr. Fords testimony . I did not. Thank you. Thank you. I planned to, i planned to but i did not. I was preparing mine. Kamala harris, the former prosecutor, has drawn blood on live televised hearings, as we established. Today the president said harris was, quote, extraordinarily nasty to now Justice Kavanaugh during the hearing and for good measure, he added this. The horrible way she, again, treated Justice Kavanaugh. That was a horrible event. I thought it was terrible for her. I thought it was terrible for our nation. I thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, the most disrespectful of anybody in the u. S. Senate. Still with us, former congresswoman Donna Edwards and James Carville. Im going to read this to you from Susan Glasser at the new yorker. Less surprising than joe biden picking Kamala Harris is the fact that donald trump is already attacking her as nasty. But i still cant get over having a president of the United States who insults rivals like a fourth grade bully. I have to say this, donna. Give trump this much. If you hear the word nasty, its clarifying at least you know hes not talking about a guy. Well, thats for sure. He reserves that kind of criticism, as he always does, for strong women, for women who know their mind. This president cannot tolerate a strong woman. And it reminded me that im going to have to again pull out my nasty woman buttons and my nasty woman tshirt and my nasty woman hat because this president will only have one line of attack, especially when he hasnt been able to demonstrate competence on the things for which he should be president. James carville, i have one for you. This is from our mutual friend, susan page. Sure. Theres been speculation about President Trump replacing mike pence with nikki haley, which would give the gop ticket a woman, a daughter of immigrants and an asianamerican. Does Kamala Harris on the democratic ticket make that more likely . James, your take. Does pence survive to election day . Theres been speculation about nikki haley for a year now. You know, he called every democratic woman nasty. He just uses that word. It doesnt matter. Again, theres significant deterioration here. It doesnt matter. This country is looking for change. He can change Vice President s. It doesnt matter. The country has decided that it wants to change the direction. I think that his mature, big pick of senator harris demonstrates how willing joe biden is to embrace change. Thats what the country wants. They can try anything but it is not going to work. Susan page is a dear old friend, a very, very experienced reporter who covered us in 1992. It might happen. Anything i wouldnt be surprised at anything he did. Thats the truth. I would only be surprised if he acted with a shred of human decency. Then i would be shocked. Other than that, it doesnt surprise me. The unsettling final words for tonight from our friend James Carville, joined by our friend, Donna Edwards. Thank you both for coming on. Again, a consequential night as tuesdays go. Coming up for us, our next guest had what he called an intense jolt of anticipatory delight, imagining a harris pence debate. Kurt harrison stands by to explain why and to talk about his important new book out today called evil geniuses. Its about all of us, by the way. Thats next. Once this virus is gone youre going to have a stock market like youve never seen before. In our stock market is booming. The stock market went through the roof. The stock market is at almost an alltime high. The president remains almost singularly focused on the stock market, a peculiar disconnect, given that those suffering in this pandemic feel little or no connection to the dow or the nasdaq and dont share his celebration when it does well, as they are not. As our next guest explains in his new book, its not all together unexpected, as our greed connected to the economy. That book is evil geniuses the unmaking of america, a recent history. A great pleasure to have you. Just a quick question on where the early money is on the Vice President ial debate in your house. Oh, well, you read that tweet of mine from two months ago. Actually, it was my wifes idea who said my god, what if the thing im looking forward to the most is that shes picked and seeing that Vice President ial debate. I called it the greatest undercard fight in political history, president ial history. It will be amazing. It will be just extraordinary because unlike donald trump, mike pence is a conditional politician and will attempt to debate in a conventional way and, i dont know, we could all be surprised as James Carville just said, by anything. I dont think well be surprised here. I think its going to be brutal. And shes going to win. I am so looking forward to reading your book, because its what i think about. And ill put it to you this way. The photographer, paul fusco recently died and i sat down to look through all of his work on the rfk funeral train, and in addition to the content, what knocked me out was if you change the clothing, hairstyles and cars, nothing has changed. Our trains are moving at the same speed, down those same tracks, past the same sidings, the same rusty, clunky bridgework and lowhanging wires. And i often say its as if we won world war ii, went to the moon, reclined and had a cigarette. When did stasis become okay in our country . And when did we become a society by and for the wealthy . Well, first, what happened what happened simultaneously was our plunge into nostalgia after the late 60s. In some ways understandably. It was crazy, right, late 60s . Lets look back. It was the good old days. That was weaponized and used politically by the economic right as i talk about in the evil geniuses. A decade before Ronald Reagan was elected they said lets go back to the days economically back before there was a Big Government before the new deal frankly. Thats when it happened. It happened simultaneously, this kind of plunge into nostalgia toward stasis, a cultural stasis at the same time that the norms and the laws and the practices and the regulations, hundreds of them, were changed. And we had this paradigm shift from the new deal consensus to what i call in this book the raw deal that was sort of imposed upon us by a thousand cuts. Im going to read a quote from your book that is designed to, and should, get everybodys attention. If we fail to reform our government and economy along sensible democratic lines, we might well experience a largescale populist spasm involving pitchforks and nooses. Just sounds uncomfortable. America could be the first large modern society to go from fully developed to failing. Im guessing we want to avoid that. Im also guessing you found a through line to the campaign of donald trump and pandemic loose in what we like to call the wealthiest nation on earth. Right. Weve had this terrible economy for 80 of americans for the last 40 years, where median incomes dont rise and only the rich get richer. We know that. Its so much broader than just that. Thats the leading metric. Thats what we call inequality. Donald trump, one of his brilliant moments of evil genius when he ran for president last time, he ran as a populist, to the left of hillary clinton, to the left of any republican ever, slagging wall street, the rigged system. His final act i went back and looked at it, in the last few days, Bernie Sanders could have delivered it, literally. Thats what he ran on and then boom, he gets elected. It was all a fake. It was all part of the act. And he did the bidding of the economic right, the billionaires, the banks, the rest who have been the bosses of this party for going on 50 years, or longer, but certainly the last 40, 50 years. And his great legislative economist is a 2 trillion tax cut, most of which went to the wealthy. So, if that keeps on, if we dont pretty radically reform our system as Franklin Roosevelt did to save capitalism from itself, as Teddy Roosevelt began to do, to save capitalism from itself, were not going to save the free market economy from itself, and the greed is going to send us, as you quoted me saying, to ugly populist spasms. Its already sent us to ugly populist spasms just not yet to that civil disorder and violence, which i think we could get to. And i think thats the Inflection Point were at right now. That gets our attention. I cant wait to read the book, at which point im quite certain ill want to have you back on again. Here is the book. Evil geniuses the unmaking of america. A recent history. Its author, curt andersen, has been our guest tonight. Thank you. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you. 244 years in the making when we continue. Your getupandgo. Find pants that arent sweats. Find your friends. Find your sense of wander. Find the world is new, again. At chevy wed like to take you there. Now during the chevy open road sales event, get up to 15 of msrp cash back on select 2020 models. Thats over fiftyseven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. Its time to find new roads, again. I am ecstatic. As you know, im the father of three daughters. I have been saying what a plus it would be to have an africanamerican woman on the ticket. I just believe that we are breaking ground here in such a way that every Single Person in this country, irrespective of gender or color, are going to be very proud of this country making this kind of a breakthrough. That was my conversation this afternoon with veteran democratic congressman jim clyburn, who says biden did give him a headsup that it was indeed going to be Kamala Harris. And thats fair because jim clyburn is as personally responsible as anyone alive for the fact that joe biden is the presumptive nominee. Clyburn single handedly delivered south carolina, which started joe bidens big blue run across the country. Here with us tonight to talk things all history and politics, our friend Michael Beschloss, biographer, nbc news president ial historian. Among his mustread books include his latest, president s of war. Michael, like every day, ive been following your social media feed, and on twitter you have given us a parade of photographs, many of them with the through line, uncomfortable moments between the nominee and their choice for Vice President. So in no particular order, dan quayle unveiled by 41, looking for all the world like he had just been named to the senior year snowball dance planning committee. John f. Kennedy no doubt really psyched to be arriving in texas to go shoot deer in hill country. Hubert humphrey no doubt psyched that he had no ranch wear in minnesota, so he was forced to wear one of lbjs castoffs and a hat. Richard nixon looking deeply uncomfortable on a fishing outing to show how well he and ike got along. And, sadly, finally, tom eagleton, the otherwise terrific guy and terrific senator from missouri, whose unpardonable sin in the 70s was seeking treatment for mental illness, what good people hope would not be a disqualification today. He lasted 18 days on the mcgovern ticket, replaced by shriver. So, michael, thats the setup. Its all thanks to you. Heres the question. Any discomfort, anything like that about this duo when we see them tomorrow . Well, were going to be looking for personal chemistry, and obviously joe biden has assured himself that thats there. But the biggest thing hes assured himself is that Kamala Harris is someone who can be a National Candidate and a president if necessary. Shes run numerous times in her most populous state of california. Brian, you and i used to listen to jimmy carter years ago talk about america as a beautiful mosaic. And too many times in american history, our leaders have not been a beautiful mosaic. Its been only one type of tile. You cant have a mosaic unless there are all kinds of tile. So now after this parade of Vice President s who were all men, all protestant with one exception, joe biden as a traditional practicing catholic. We now have an africanamerican woman who is also an asianamerican woman. Looks very different today, and this is going to be an historic day, i think, when we look back. Im glad you mentioned jimmy carter, who not only in Walter Mondale had the most involved Vice President of the modern era with an office in the west wing, but chose regionally. He chose geographically. As a southerner, he chose the veteran senator from minnesota. Michael, you and i talk all the time about the old rules of politics changing. It was once taught, pick someone from a state you need and dont have. Well, joe biden is not going to be challenged for california. Right. Another rule, though, is vp selections dont gain you votes you didnt already have. Will that hold here, or could that be false . I think it could be false. I think there could be people who are attracted to this ticket and the message that Kamala Harris brings. You know, shes a walking rebuke to donald trump against the racism and misogyny, against the hatred of immigrants. Her parents were immigrants from india and jamaica. Rule of law. She spent her entire life working in the legal system virtually and a person of deep experience. And the other thing, if youre looking at traditional balance, she comes from the biggest state in terms of people, california on the west coast, along with biden from one of the smallest states, delaware on the east coast, and balances this ticket. In terms of age, shes 22 years younger, so hard to think how there could be a more splendid choice. Well take a quick break here. I have another important question for Michael Beschloss, who has agreed to stay with us, mostly because we threaten not to turn off the camera we have aimed inside his house. More of the 11th hour right after this. Robinhood believes now is the time to do money. Without the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. They say journalism is the first draft of history. We should point out that the drafting of it has changed. More people will see this version of the front page of the New York Times than the actual intended paper version, but there you have it. Kamala harris qualifies for a giant color photograph and a larger than usual headline given the history of the day. And what better night to have the noted president ial historian Michael Beschloss as our guest. And, michael, here is what i want to raise with you, and it involves fdr, who ran to solve a depression. And in the process was handed the second world war. But he buoyed a nation even though he often had bad news with the sentiment of we can do this. Whos with me . And thats such an intoxicating thing. It has rallied High School Football teams pinned down on the 1 yard line. It has rallied platoons in the army pinned down on a foreign hillside. The question is in this pandemic, has donald trump missed the leadership opportunity that even comes with facing something awful but asking for the American Public to follow your lead and saying, we can do this. Whos with me . Absolutely no question, brian. Thats what leadership is. Fdr in 1933 did not try to sugar coat things. He said, you know, so Many Americans are suffering. Were not going to get out of this fast, but were going to try with bold experimentation. After pearl harbor, he said, were going to have setbacks, especially in the next year. This is going to be a war thats going to be extremely costly in blood and treasure. But in the end, we will prevail. Thats what a leader does, levels with the people, provides a plan to get us out of the mess, and also does it with optimism and a view of the future. And i think we can only hope that future generations look back on this evening and say that, you know, under the leadership of our future, we were looking into the future, and we were smiling. I can only wish you a life of good health because in your business, we are going to rely on our great and very best historians to have the distance in years to look back and sum up just what it is we are living on a daytoday basis. Thank you so much. This is why we wanted so badly to have you on, on this consequential tuesday night. Great to see you. Our friend Michael Beschloss. Thank you so much. Mr. Beschloss elegantly playing us off the air on this tuesday. With that comes an end to our broadcast. It, as always, comes with our thanks to you for joining us. On behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. Tonight on all in. Its Kamala Harris, joe biden makes his Vice President pick choosing his former rival to be his running mate. As Kamala Harris becomes the very first woman of color on a president ial ticket. Obama Senior Adviser on this historic moment. And the last democrat to run for Vice President tim cane. When all in starts right now. Good evening, from philadelphia, im ali velshi in for chris hayes. After speculating, we know joe bidens pick for his Vice President ial running mate. Senator Kamala Harris of california. The news broke about 4 15 eastern time with texts and email from biden going out to his campaign supporters, saying he followed up shortly with a tweet calling senator harris