that is tonight for the last word. the 11th hour with stephanie ruhle starts right now. at this hour, breaking news. the supreme court strikes down a trump era ban on bump stocks. >> if you see a person firing one of these next to someone firing a submachine gun, you cannot tell the difference. >> president biden releasing a statement calling on congress to ban bump stocks. >> president biden at the g7 summit in italy today. >> much of the attention focused on what he said about his son, hunter's, federal gun conviction. >> coming from the proud of my son, hunter, he is over, could addiction. >> the president has previously said he would not pardon his son, but tonight he went even further on commutation. a congressional pep rally, of sorts, for the congressional nominee speaking to lawmakers behind closed doors. >> a show of hands for anyone in the room who hung out with a felon today. >> i am with them 1000%, they are with me 1000%. >> i think it must be so humiliating for them. and all that happen in just one week. good evening, once again, i am stephanie ruhle. we are now 144 days away from the election. this week president biden was on the world stage meeting with allies as his son was found guilty on federal gun charges. and donald trump return to washington, where republicans who ran for their lives after january 6th welcomed him back with open arms. with that, let's bring in our nightcap, hayes brown is here. msnbc daily columnist and editor. and pulitzer prize-winning reporter for the new york times. u.s. editor at large for the financial times, and comedian alex edelman. it is his first visit to the nightcap. let's talk about this week. donald trump had an absolute love fest with republican leaders who seemed to have forgotten or at least dismissed january 6th. if you remember, after that date, many republicans openly criticized him. wanted him to go away. i am looking at you, mitch mcconnell, and lindsey graham. but now donald trump is back, and he is not just the nominee. he is the party. can we just start with, let's just talk about that donald trump circle of life since january 6th. and to this week, what is your take? >> as someone who talked to a lot of business leaders and financial leaders, what i find stunning is that after saying they would never deal with donald trump again, behind the scenes, it is not just the up front public stuff in washington. it is the behind-the-scenes schmoozing you are seeing from wall street reaching out to trump. and i was in asia last week, and again, you can see asian leaders as well beginning to adjust themselves to a world where trump comes back in november. >> but is that because you think that people, business leaders, for example, are excited have them back? or they are just breaking themselves and they know they have a decent chance, he is going to be the guy. and they don't want to be on his enemy list. >> i feel like business leaders are making, they are trying to make a compromise at this time, trying to figure out where to place their bets. on cnbc today, andrew ross sorkin, my colleague, he had spoken to many of the people in the meeting that jillian just reference. the business roundtable. came out and told andrew he sounded crazy, he was rambling. more of the same, he wants to cut the corporate tax rate from 21% to 20%. >> has companies do not pay taxes. hold on, even before the corporate tax cut none of them asked for 21%. 28% was their goal. he saying i'm going to go even lower. >> said there is a world in which i think one of the things andrew said, some of these people were inclined to support him because they are thinking about their pocketbooks more than they are thinking about abortion rights, welfare for the country, democracy. which is not a surprise. but even they were disturbed by the trump that they just met. >> hayes is jumping out. >> the problem i have with that, andrew's reporting is so good, but the fact they are not coming out and saying it, coming out on camera and saying you know what? we just saw the former president and we have a lot of concerns, actually. the fact that they are saying it, making these moves behind closed doors, not being up front with it, i think that is as cowardly as the republicans in congress who are willing to stand next to him in order to make sure that they are on his good side should he win. >> okay, but this is what is crazy about that to me. that these ceos who, in theory, should be among the most informed people in this country . right? they have thousands and thousands of employees. they were a multibillion dollar businesses. and somehow they were surprised that donald trump made no sense, was meandering, and seems to be lost. how on earth could they not know that? all you have to do is watch him speak. >> is degradation, because you thought that he was at the bottom before. you thought there was no lower that he could possibly go. then where he has been. and then you watch this it is like i am surprised when i watch the speeches. he has always been a rambler, but i thought he was at the concrete floor. he is in china. has completely gone through the other side. and he looks terrible. >> but he is up against this whole wall of chatter about biden looking terrible and biden rambling, as well. so i think what is happening is a lot of people are screaming out and saying they're both sounding really old, so we will look at these questions of policies. >> and the other thing is that he has been such a bully, and the people -- >> i like how you had to pause and think. >> i was wondering whether or not to say the word effective, because it's not just him, it is his allies. think about everyone in the republican party who has been drummed out so viciously. liz cheney, those folks, it feels like they are gone. >> or weirdly embraced, like larry hogan today running for senate in maryland. trump is looking at rip orting endorsing him. no justice is working after his conviction. >> one of trump's campaign leaders was like your campaign is over, you are dead meat. now they are realizing maybe not. >> i think a lot of business leaders are looking at the fact that trump is endorsing a number of republicans who are much more mainstream than in the past. thinking well, maybe if he can do that, maybe his policies will be quite so crazy. >> okay, but that is wishful thinking. if he was really doing that he would come right out and say nikki haley is my vp. right? nikki haley continues to have support. she was out of the race for two months, and still, at some of those primaries she had 20% of the vote. and there are all these people who have this notion that she is this george bush republican, and he is not embracing her. he humiliated her over and over again and she has endorsed him. but i want to go back to the point you made, people are saying trump might be meandering, but so is joe biden. let's talk about what we saw happen this week. because the right is manufacturing these stories they are telling about joe biden. we saw it this week. the crop video from the g7 summit suggesting that joe biden was lost in a field, speaking to a paratrooper. it wasn't even true. we actually have a clip that i want to show. oh, no, you know what? we have a clip of donald trump, sorry. >> vago, me meandering. they made up the fact that joe biden was lost at the g7, meandering through a field. it wasn't true. that headline made its way to the new york post, all over right-wing media. all of her fox news this morning. yet none of them were talking about donald trump, who, earlier this week, i think in vegas, was getting a speech and somehow went so off the rails talking about an electric vote and shark bites. we do have a clip of this. watch this. >> i say what would happen if the boat sank from its weight and you are in the boat, and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater, and there is a shark that is approximately 10 yards over there. by the way, a lot of shark attacks lately, you notice that? i watch some guys justifying it today. well, they weren't really that angry, they bit off the young lady's leg because of the fact that they were not hungry, but they misunderstood who she was. >> like, for real, what is he saying? that was unedited donald trump, yet, we keep hearing that joe biden, he is feeble. >> you see, sharks have electric currents, no, that is not what is talking about. >> it sounds like he is high, genuinely. this is something you hear from a college freshman, say you're in a boat, and there is a battery really far away. but because the batteries underwater the whole ocean is electrified. except the other side of the boat because it is blocked from the electric current. say you jump in and take your chances with the shark or take your chances with the battery, discuss. it is insane. and by the way, the comparison with joe biden, trump offered policy. joe biden makes gaffes, sometimes he will stumble, sometimes it is embarrassing. >> he also has a list. a >> and he has always done that. >> always. >> not a list, a stutter. >> and he has worked with stutterer's, there is beautiful stories about that. but he never promises policy. he never goes on these insane rants. the equivalency for me is just nonexistent. >> in some ways it is a real pity that there is not as much wall-to-wall coverage of trump features as there were four years ago. four years ago people saw him unedited, in the raw. eight years ago, excuse me. >> a sickly joe biden is pushing up against the fact that as president in the united states he is always going to be monitored by a press pool, and everything he says is publicized. donald trump has a huge advantage of being able to pop up whenever he wants, throw out a couple of shark questions, and then disappear. which joe biden cannot do. >> and they are not covering it the way they were before. you don't see this. >> that we criticize, and it works for not covering as much, and that it was the reverse before of wire you giving donald trump wall-to-wall coverage? >> i mean, that was a problem in the united states. we did do that. >> i think in 2016 he was new, he was novel, but he was also more on point that he has now. yes, the things he was saying were still kind of rambling and out there, but we had a better grasp of what he was trying to communicate at that time. so it was more dangerous. >> it was almost a negative charisma to it. a sort of narrative, manufactured narrative. it was flawed in pretty much every way ethically, but at least he was going somewhere. and as a comedian who appreciates improvising and ripping him a part of me was like well, this guy is a maniac. he's a showman. he is playing on everybody's fears and he really understands the fluid dynamics of what makes an audience work. now i am just like he has lost up there. give him a hook, get him out of here. but i agree with katie, there is a sense that there is still a referendum on whether or not president biden is in some way enfeebled. so every possible gaffe that he has shown in a negative or edited light seems somehow newsworthy. if you are like this just in, trump, a lunatic. people are like yeah, we know. >> meanwhile, trump's birthday, today is his birthday, and if he wins he will become the oldest president in history in the course of this term. i know what is talking about that. >> yeah, biden through some shade at that actually from a social media post, actually quite clever, saying happy birthday donald trump. we both know what it's like to be old. age is not a factor. >> but then don't we have to go back to this narrative that the business community wants to lean on right now? because the same business leaders you are talking to love to say he is feeble, he is incapable, yet joe biden has a laundry list of policy accomplishments, and when you hear the policies that donald trump wants to put forward, what did we hear this week? let's get rid of the u.s. tax system and replace it with super tariffs. that is disastrous. is all of this really just the business community hiding behind the fact that what they really want, which is to buy their way into the white house and have a bat phone into donald trump's office so they can get whatever they want and ensure they get ahead of the ftc who is not going to question what is happening? >> i think it is a lot of that, but i would say i think there are two things where the rubber is going to hit the road with the business community and trump in the next few months. one is what is going to happen to tariffs? and in particular to all of these factories they've been building in mexico and places like that, vietnam, to try to get away from china. if you believe what the trump team is saying right now, they are going to slap tariffs on those factories, too. and that is going to really hurt. the other big thing is debt. almost everything trump is talking about right now is going to increase the debt. >> and republicans used to care about that. >> they did. in fact, it is pretty scary how not scared they are by the size of the debt that keeps expanding. >> i just want to add, i think that what the business community is thinking about, whether it is conscious or not, is what is scarier to us? or what is more appealing to us, rather? having that access to the white house, are we arrogant enough to believe that we can control donald trump? which we try to do when he was president before? do we think that could possibly work again? or are we more afraid of the idea that we would have a president who doesn't believe in the rule of law, which, at the end of the day, is what allowed america to be a great capitalist society. as we have rules, because we believe in courts, we believe in bankruptcy. we have order. that is what made america a great place to do business. and if you have a president who is going to come in and say i don't like these rules, if a company makes me upset, desantis and disney but on a bigger scale, that is also scary. if you are looking at ceos, looking at guys like steve schwartzman, i think they are just weighing are we more afraid of what can happen or are we more tantalized with the opportunity to go in there and control the white house? >> and they have no fears about things like abortion rights, because none of those things are ever going to affect them ever. >> steve schwartzman is not getting an abortion anytime soon. >> also, anybody in the universe who would ever need one will be all set. we are seeing republicans attack joe biden for his fitness, many of their attacks are made up, their latest of attack has been that joe biden has politicized and westernized the doj. that was the whole argument around donald trump's conviction. and this week, of course, hunter biden was found guilty and joe biden has very clearly said he will not pardon his son, he will not commute his sentence. how stark is this difference? i mean, how can republicans keep making this argument now that joe biden has really put it out there? >> you know, the funny thing is that it wasn't a difficult decision for me to vote for joe biden the first time around. when people release that somehow they got the transcripts of his messages back and forth with his son, like look at joe biden interacting with him. it was like a facebook messenger of his son in rehab. and as soon as i read it i was like this is a fundamentally decent guy. the way he talks about his son publicly, the way he treats his son publicly, he is apparent of a child with addiction. >> there are millions of us parents in this country. >> and i think it is one of those admirable things about him, genuinely. i think every flex on him really well. i think he handles it beautifully. it must be really difficult for him personally. >> and the republicans don't know what to do with that. they have this talking point, like the doj is westernized. they tried to dismiss the guilty verdict as they are just covering up the real biden crime family crimes that we have not found any real evidence of and cannot prove, but surely this guilty conviction is really just a mastermind scheme to prevent us from learning the truth about biden. the knots they twist themselves into to get around the cognitive dissonance is really fascinating to watch. >> for four years fox news has been where's hunter? and he stood there in a courtroom, flanked by his family, and he has accepted his sentence. to this end up being, i am not going to say a positive for president biden, but to your point, is this an opportunity for america to see the importance of decency? >> it will be interesting to see how the evangelicals react to this. because if you believe in punishment and serving time, and then redemption and forgiveness, family loyalty, this is actually a pattern of behavior that the evangelical church should be applauding and upholding. i've not heard anything from them, but -- >> i have a huge evangelical viewership. nobody is going anywhere. when we return the supreme court makes another controversial decision on guns, while two of the justices come under increased scrutiny yet again. and later, president biden goes to hollywood. but the star power actually get out the vote? when are nightcap in the 11th hour continue. don't go anywhere. ♪♪ ♪♪ citi's industry leading global payments solutions help their clients move money around the world seamlessly in over 180 countries... and help a partner like the world food programme as they provide more than food to people in need. together, citi and the world food programme empower families across the globe. ♪♪ when i was diagnosed with h-i-v, i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... being me. keep being you... and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your healthcare provider. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. no matter where life takes you, biktarvy can go with you. talk to your healthcare provider today. when we say it'll be on time, they expect it to be on time. turn shipping to your advantage. keep those expectations with reliable ground shipping. thanks brandon. with usps ground advantage®. ♪♪ what if we don't get down in time to get a birthday gift for zoe? 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