Keynote speech last night for the Democratic National convention. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It is tuesday, august 18th, along with joe, willie welcome back and me, we have white house reported for the associated press, Jonathan Lemire. Politics and journalism professor and msnbc political contributor jason johnson. And senior opinion writer at the boston globe, Kimberly Atkins is with us. Good to have you all. Its good to have willie back. It is. Youre not going to be talking ability ttal talking about the red sox. Willie has been on assignment, we cant talk about where that was but hes been on assignment. The Convention Last night, judging from the reviews across the political spectrum was quite a success. You had a couple of fox news anchors talking about dana prino talking about how Michelle Obama stuck the landing and Chris Wallace talking about what a great contribution she gave to the Biden Campaign. That she splayed donald trump. Its great to be back. Id rather be in a restaurant with a bunch of people doing our show in milwaukee but here we are in this strange weird. We knew it was going to be weird, we had to get used to it for a little while. But putting theatre criticism aside, closing with Michelle Obama, starting with republicans who switched their mind over donald trump. You had the family of george floyd. You had victims of covid19, illustrating Donald Trumps failings on all of that. The leadup, including Bernie Sanders, which solidified the progressives that may be disillusioned with joe biden thinking he is too moderate. You couldnt get better than those speakers. But closing with Michelle Obama, who said again last night, i hate politics, but i think thats why shes a great speaker and messenger, is because she lives somewhere above the political realm where she can speak as a human being, a mother, a wife, and a former first lady about the failings of donald trump. Mika, i thought it went off very well last night. It was a show and the show went off very well considering the circumstances of it. You know, there were some people online that were talking about how it wasnt the most exciting thing in the world and the responses online i thought were fairly accurate. Do you remember what these things were like when they were live . They were more boring, more staged some of them, yes. Even more sleepers than they were. Because people would get up there and drag on. Mr. Chairman, i hereby some people like that stuff. I suppose some really weird people. I do not. I thought it was i thought, again, for the first night, i thought it was a good performance. And like willie said, they had everybody from republicans to Michelle Obama to Bernie Sanders, who did deliver the most compelling message to progressives, which is, listen, the consequences of failure are too high. Yeah. There is though he did not quote general douglas mcarthur, he, in fact, said, theres no substitute for victory. That was the message he had for progressives. You may not love joe biden, but right now you need him. The consequences for failure with the convention were high, especially when you have so much material. The speakers, as we said, spanned the political spectrum from Bernie Sanders and other former primary rivals, to republicans like john kasich and then Michelle Obama the headliner. She assailed President Trump while making the case that America Needs joe bidens leadership now more than ever. More than 150,000 people have died and our economy is in shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long. Whenever we look to this white house for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy. If you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this, if you think things cannot possibly get worse. Trust me, they can and they will if we dont make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for joe biden like our lives depend on it. I know joe. He is a profoundly decent man guided by faith. He was a terrific Vice President. He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country. And he listens. He will tell the truth and trust science. He will make smart plans and manage a good team. And he will govern as someone whos lived a life that the rest of us can recognize. You know, Kimberly Atkins, its fascinating that four years later Donald Trumps message has been turned on its head. Not just by Michelle Obama, but by 150, 160, 170,000 deaths. What did donald trump say to africanamericans, what did he say to black voters four years ago, what do you have to lose . And last night, Michelle Obamas message after four years of death, after four years of economic devastation, what did Michelle Obama say . If you dont think things can get worse, youre wrong. They can. And that, especially for black voters but for Senior Citizens and Small Business owners and americans who have been devastated by this pandemic that donald trump has been playing down from the very beginning, those words likely resonated last night. Yeah. They really did. Youre absolutely right. The answer to the question trump posed four years ago, we learned what he he actually said what the hell do you have to lose . We learned the answer is your livelihood, your jobs, your health care and potentially your life. Certainly now your ability to vote or be able to get your prescription drugs through the mail. Michelle obama did a very good job of underscoring the urgency. Look, weve been hearing for months now about not just within the Democratic Party all the factions and can they get energized and will joe biden be the right person . What you saw last night was from republicans, from progressives, from Michelle Obama, from everyone saying, look, whether or not joe biden was your guy in the primary, whether or not joe biden is the guy in your party, this is a moment that is urgent and requires your action. She used her own words about going high when others go low. She said that voters can go high by doing everything they can, by voting like their lives depend upon it. So she put that there. Thats the urgency. Its a pandemic, you may have to wear a mask, pack a dinner because you have to stand in line but that was the call to action and she was the best messenger of that. She was the best speaker in 2016 in philadelphia, if you recall, she lit up that place. The electricity was hard to explain and i didnt know how she could possibly bring that kind of smoke last night and she managed to do it. The former first lady also delivered a message with her necklace, which said, simply, vote. Earlier in the day, in wisconsin, President Trump asked who wants to listen to Michelle Obama do a taped speech . Well, some folks at fox news were listening. And heres the reaction after the speech from them. Very difficult to try to connect with an audience without an actual audience there with you but she has the ability to connect with people through the screen. You got the sense when you talk about authenticity, she has it in spades. The dnc, if they look over the course of the night, the First Virtual convention in history they would say Michelle Obama stuck the landing. Michelle obama said she doesnt like politics and she said this speech was her main contribution to the Biden Campaign, it was a heck of a contribution. She really flayed, sliced and diced donald trump. So dana pereno said that Michelle Obama stuck the landing and Chris Wallace talked about that being a heck of a contribution to joe bidens election efforts. It really was. Again, a speech that drew praise from all quarters. It did. And she didnt get into policy. She did that, i think, deliberately. Bernie sanders gave a long policy speech about progressive values and protecting those and why he believes joe biden will do that. What she was able to do, the former first lady, is talk about the character of the country, were be better than this, this is not a president up to the job elected to do, closing with the line it is what it is. She also by wearing that vote necklace, that wasnt the end of her message to people registered to vote in the country that did not show up 2016. She laid out the 3 million vote margin, the places like michigan where 10,000 votes decided the election, and Something Like 100,000 registered voters didnt show up in 2016. Her message was about telling people, if you dont like what you see right now, get out and do something about it. Willie, when she said that in some areas it broke down to two. You can tell the first lady had done her homework. Well see if melania tries to lift some of this like she did four years ago, when she gives her speech for the rnc. This is what i found interesting lingui linguist linguistically, about what Michelle Obama said. Several friends of mine, especially married friends, called me saying donald trump doesnt listen. Hes a man who doesnt listen to you. And my married friends were were like, yes, he doesnt listen. There are a lot of people who say i hate politics but a woman whos been in public life with her husband, barack obama, she sounded like regular people. This is politics, i dont care, but these are things that matter. One thing i want to say, the four Year Anniversary of donald trump saying what do you have to lose to black people at a church in detroit is tomorrow. We have a special day of coverage where were talking about what have black people lost the last four years, health care, economics, doing a whole day of coverage of that tomorrow. Over 32,000 africanamerican have died, at rates three and four times the rates of white americans because of mismanagement of the pandemic. She and Bernie Sanders were the highlights of a night that for a lot of people were boring but people will watch those two clips and those are the messages the denuclearization wanc wante President Trump tried to stump the dnc by stopping in wisconsin. And a new poll shows joe biden Still Holding a lead in that state. A new poll finds joe biden in front of donald trump 49 to 43 among likely voters there. And biden is winning the suburbs by 8 points, women by 10 points, College Whites by 15 points. And they set up a place he could speak to folks when he landed, not necessarily safe in terms of social distancing guidelines, small crowd. When one of the things that really felt good about looking at the crowd, at the trump rally was the fact that almost all of the people there were Wearing Masks, at least in the pictures i saw, but Jonathan Lemire, we saw this happen in New Hampshire, where donald trump had to cancel an event because the crowds werent as big as expected. This is a man whos used to going and seeing 5, 10, 15,000 people at rallies. Yesterday was yet another small crowd in oshkosh. Perhaps that was because theres not the excitement out there for him there was four years ago or perhaps its because americans understand, even trumps most strident supporters understand we are in the middle of a pandemic and its really not safe to go out and congregate around large crowds if youre an older american or if you have underlying conditions. Right, joe. What were seeing here, these arent considered official rallies. Theyre more invite only, theyre meant to be smaller. This is what youre going to see for the president going forward, a lot of airport hang a events. He did two yesterday. Not the size hes used to seeing. I say, my colleague on the ground said mask wearing was inconsistent, some were for sure and the social distancing went out the window once air force one landed. The two takeaways we should say from the president s appearances yesterday, minnesota one where his campaign thinks they have a chance but theyre down in the polls. The president was considering a visit to the George Floyd Death site in minneapolis and the governor of minnesota said he warned the president not to do that for the fear what it could mean and the optics the community wouldnt want him there. And in wisconsin the president said the only way we can lose this election is if it were rigged. Thats a message we have to watch going forward. Hes been planting those seeds, sowing the chaos with the post office which weve been watching on the show. In terms of his response to the Convention Last night, most of his tweets were singled out at new york governor andrew kmoe, who appeared early in the evening, was critical of the president s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Michelle obama saying that she hates politics and then delivering such whick hered if subtle remarks. The most powerful moment of the evening was when they had real people up there. Ill end with this quote one young woman who said of this of his father, his other preexisting condition was being a trump supporter. For that he paid with his life. So that event yesterday in an airport hangar was invitation only . Yeah. These are small groups, this was for local groups, he did two yesterday one in wisconsin and one in minnesota. For now the Trump Campaign is shying away from trying to have a big rally. We saw what happened in tulsa, they didnt draw anywhere near the crowd they would have expected and then the Health Officials in the city believed that event helped spread covid19 infections and their other attempt at a reboot was one in New Hampshire where they cancelled it publicly because of rain but privately because they were afraid no one was going to show up. So they are looking at smaller events while getting the president back on the road. Thats interesting. I followed a lot of president ial campaigns and gubernatorial campaigns and at this stage of a campaign ive never been to an airport hangar event that was restricted to invitation only. It obviously is meant to stop the president from being embarrassed again by low turnout. No question. As jonathan said tulsa was a huge wakeup call for the campaign about the number of people who wanted to m come out or were willing to come out in the middle of a Public Health crisis to see the president of the United States, yes, this is by design. Kimberly i wanted to talk to you for a moment about the poll, going back and areas of concern inside wisconsin that are reflective of areas of concerns nationally. Wisconsin another state like michigan that he won by a sliver in 2016 needs to win again, but if you go through the cross tabs there arent a lot of areas that look good for him, including seniors, which is so interesting, a group he cleaned up with nationally in 2016, hes down there again by double digits in the state of wisconsin, 65 and older. These are people who are being impacted by covid19 unlike any other group. Absolutely. These are people whose lives have been up ended by covid19, the fear about how much more susceptible they are to the virus, the inability of them to see their loved ones. I spent my vacation through the midwest, including michigan where i visited my parents and i couldnt get within 6 feet of my own mother and father because of this. People are being impacted by this in a real way. And he knows this is these are important states for him. If he loses those states, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for him to be reelected and these are in the small margins you talked about, 10,000 votes in michigan where he won the victory in 2016. So clearly they are not trying to expand the base. Theyre not going to other states trying to expand their voters. Theyre trying to make sure the voters they have come out. Rest assured i saw a lot of trump signs throughout pennsylvania, michigan, and ohio last week but clearly its signs the support is eroding in a way that could be devastating to that campaign. Kimberly atkins, thank you so much. There is no doubt that Donald Trumps campaign, has hundreds of millions of dollars, and they are going to use that money to focus on getting their people out, many people who they believe have never voted before, and didnt vote in 2016, they think they can get them to the polls this year to win the election. Its interesting, though, mika, willie talked about seniors and weve been talking about this since march, Senior Citizens understand theyre on the front line of the pandemic thats killed 170,000 people, the president kept saying it was one person coming in from china and it would go away, it was 15 people that had it but soon it would be down to zero, kept saying it would magically disappear in april when the weather got warmer, said he wanted to reopen the economy by easter, said he wanted kids to go back to school last spring. Here we are this fall we saw what happened at unc chapel hill where they tried to get students to go back to school, they had to shut it down already. Theres a poll that came across Financial Times a poll on americans view about sending childre