Against the political world. Unless youre a stooge working in the white house. Weve heard time and time again, mika, republican senators especially saying voting by mail is safe. The election is not going to be rigged. We even had the wall street journal editorial page a few weeks ago saying donald trump is talking like a loser. Talking like a guy who they know is going to lose. If he wants to keep talking like a loser he should quit and let somebody run for the presidency who thinks they can win. Good morning, welcome to morning joe its friday, august 21st, along with joe, willie and me, we have washington anchor katty kay. And executive editor of the recount John Heileman. Willie, what do you think about last night . Well, it was an extraordinary moment for joe biden. I just go back again, it was six months ago that he was left for dead politically. It was over. Fourth place in iowa, fifth place in new hampshire, everyone knows the story. Now six months later there he is standing on his third attempt to become president of the United States, accepting the partys nominati nomination. I think from a content point of view, an optimistic speech well get into, but from a delivery it flew in the face of the criticism that President Trump and the Trump Campaign has made of joe biden that hes not ready, hes fumbling, stumbling. He was not in any of those last night. In his speech biden asked folks to help end this period of darkness. Vowed to be a, quote, ally of the light. The First Priority would be to get the virus under control by implementing a National Strategy that has been missing in this administration. Just judge the president on the facts. 5 million americans affected by covid19. More than 170,000 americans have died. By far the worst performance of any nation on earth. More than 50 Million People have filed for unemployment this year. More than 10 Million People are going to lose their Health Insurance this year. Nearly one in six Small Businesses have closed this year. And this president , if hes reelected, you know what will happen, cases and deaths will remain far too high. More mom and pop businesses will close their doors, and this time for good. Working families will struggle to get by. And yet the wealthyiest 1 will get tens of millions of dollars of new tax breaks. And the attack on health care will continue. The tragedy of where we are today is it didnt have to be this bad. Just look around. Its not this bad in canada or europe or japan or almost anywhere else in the world. And the president keeps telling us, the virus is going to disappear. He keeps waiting for a miracle. I have news for him. No miracle is coming. Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to the nation. Hes failed to protect us. Hes failed to protect america. And my fellow americans, that is unforgivab unforgivable. Well, joe, hes got the material for sure. Hes got the material, not one fact he put out last night was exaggerated or over emphasized for effect. This coronavirus pandemic has been botched from the beginning, something he warned about. And joe bidens life in service may make him and the challenge that hes overcome may make him the perfect vessel to answer what we have seen over the past few years. What did you think of bidens speech last night . We saw the parts where obviously he was talking about Donald Trumps record and what he considered to be a failed record. I thought more interestingly, though, especially at a time republicans are leaving their party and when you have former republicans in suburbs and across the country trying to figure out what theyre going to do this fall, i thought it was interesting that joe bidens speech, and you heard this from conservative protrump, i guess, that actually is a you heard it from protrump commentators last night that he did well. I think it had that appeal, even to some republicans because it was a speech that actually flipped the script on republicans whose leader has really twisted the soul of the Republican Party now beyond recognition. You had democrats and the democratic nominee stepping into the void that was created by the moral and the political corruption of donald trump which we saw yesterday with the arrest of steve bannon. And instead he delivered a speech whose themes could have fit far better in an acceptance speech from Ronald Reagan than mr. Trump. The focus wasnt on a flurry of policy prescriptions but rather it was on values, family, faith, military service on his son, patriotism and yes, perseverance through tragedy and one of the most reaganesque themes, the dream of a better day ahead and the belief that americas best days are yet to come. That is a speech that will stand in the starkest of contrast from donald trump and the Republican Party that he believes is rich, white, resentful, angry, and willie, filled with conspiracy theorists. It is, again, the optimism was reaganesque and everything you see donald trump, every Conspiracy Theory you see him embrace, every democratic norm he tries to undermine, the latest of which, of course, being a fair election, you know, its the antithesis of what you would hear Ronald Reagan talk about in his acceptance speeches for republicans. Yeah, theres no question about it. I mention his delivery flew in the face of the criticism just in the way he performed. But also when you look at the substance of it, the criticism is he is a vessel and tool of the radical left. I challenge anyone who watched the entire evening or even just that speech to say he is that. If you look it was about his military families, his son, his faith, how much church has meant to him, all these things that dont line up with the criticism, thats who he is, thats true and thats why its hard for donald trump to land a glove on him. John heileman, as you watch i know youve been covering it for the circus, what was your feeling about his performance last night and really this entire week, how is his campaign feeling about the way he capped it off last night . You know, if theres a as a spinal tap just to go up to 11 on a scale of one to ten. I think that reflects the biden camps view of how this went. Its hard to remember, it was a long time ago it feels like, they headed into the convention swb there was no precedence for this, a convention that was a virtual, pure television production. They not only remade the convention in a new way but did it twice, right. It was supposed to be a normal convention a few months ago because of covid, they refashioned it to be partly virtual and partly live and in person and 12 days ago they had to shutdown the milwaukee component of it. 12 days ago they didnt know where joe biden was going to give his speech, they didnt have a venue for it. They expected it in milwaukee. Everyone knows a convention is normally two years in the making. The idea that 12 days out you would be scrambling to find a venue for the most important speech of the week its a high wire act here. So people look back at the first hour of the first night and it was not it was not fantastic. I think there was kinks to be worked out but essentially from the second hour of the first night through last night just in terms of production, in terms of messaging, in terms of the political work they were trying to get done, i think they believe it was pitch perfect, the numbers have been strong, lots of people tuning in and it met americans where they live right now in covid, which is not in large rooms with lots of people, watching balloons fall on their head, sweating, waving signs, wearing funny hats. Unfortunately americans live right now at home in front of the small screen, experiencing everything through this medium here in a more intimate way. Obviously would joe biden rather have given the speech to 15,000 fans . For sure. But they turned the speech into a conversation. I think, to joes point, i think reaganesque optimism for sure is a big contrast to donald trump, empathy is also a big contrast to donald trump, you saw that the way the biden personal story got knitted into the discussion of what america is going through. I think the third thing is most important, this was a unifying speech. The biggest theme was bring the country together and that as much as anything theres an explicit contrast, what has donald trump done that made him the most unique president in american history, he has sought to divide the country from the moment he started running through every day of his presidency has been about dividing. And joe biden is reminding us, and thats what they set out to do last night, thats not the way that president s govern, thats not the way i will be. I may be flawed, imperfect but i will try to bring us together. Thats where i think they landed the biggest punch last night. A flawless performance by joe biden. Ive seen him give hundreds of speeches, might be the best speech ive seen him give. From friends and foes alike, i think most people concluded that was the best speech theyve ever seen joe biden give, which, of course, undermines everything that donald trump and Donald Trumps campaign has been trying to say about his mental fitness, especially if you saw donald trump yesterday oh my god, yesterday. Talking about syria, afghanistan, mosquitos, sharks is that one of those tests . It was a bizarre performance yesterday. I think he was spinning out a little bit, joe. Lives in a very big glass house. I will say, what also is fascinating, listening to john talk about it, is that donald trump has from the very beginning worked very hard and this has been a strategy. This isnt even political opinion. This has been a strategy to divide americans. He has made even the simple things you know, ari melber quotes hiphop songs i quote 1970s pop songs in the words of melissa manchester, even the simple things become rough. Havent we had enough . To hear joe biden Say Something every president would say before donald trump in an acceptance speech hearing him tell it radical tells you how far weve gone from norms over the past four years. Joe biden said, i want to be president of the United States, but everybodys president of the United States not just people who voted for me. I will be for those i will work just as hard for those who voted against me as those who voted for me. Of course, anybody can say that, but mika, whats so fascinating is thats the thing donald trump would never say, has never said. He has divided the world starkly, not between republicans and democrats, not between conservatives and liberals, but between people who praise him and people who dont praise him. People who vote for him and dont vote for him. People who dont support him and people who do support him. Thats why joe bidens speech actually sounded Ground Breaking when, in fact, its what 44 president s before donald trump would say on their way to the white house. Joe bidens speech last night even drew praise from his critics across the aisle. Conservative commentator Eric Eriksson tweeted in if part, biden exceeded eccs peckations. That was a fine speech. Rich lowery wrote, forceful, energetic delivery, strongest when portraying his program as all about jobs. Speech lost focus in the second half, but overall probably helped himself. And town hall Political Editor guy benson simply said, biden crushed expectations. Heres more from bidens speech. The current president has cloaked american darkness for much too long. Too much anger, too much fear, too much division. Here and now i give you my word. If you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the best of us, not the worst. Ill be an ally of the light, not the darkness. But while ill be a democratic candidate, ill be an american president. Ill work hard for those who didnt support me. As hard for them as i did for those who did vote for me. Thats the job of a president. To represent all of us. Not just our base or our party. This is not a partisan moment, this must be an american moment. We know about this president , if hes given four more years hell be what hes been for the last four years. A president who takes no responsibility, refuses to lead, blames others, cozies up to dictators and fans the flames of hate and division. Hell wake up every day believing the job is all about him. Never about you. Is that the american you want for you, your family, your children . I see a different america. So, joe, my joe, i just when you watch that speech, i just wonder about the reaction its going to get. I was talking with a friend yesterday who reminded me that there are, you know, large portions of the country that have fox news on all day and not to get into a big fox versus msnbc fight, but if you watch fox news, you dont see half of the unbelievable things this president has done and they are characterized very differently. In some of the programming you have no idea whats going on with this administration. You think the coronavirus is going to go away and you think there was a russian hoax. So how would they cover this speech . Is there a possibility that this speech can be seen as negative and the liberal left craziness, as trump puts it . I think that the division in the media has played a huge role in the division of this country. Well, let me tell you, i can interpret as your conservative partner, that fox news actually they praised it last night and theyve been praising it this morning. I think its really important that katty, i think its important for us all to remember that as shocking as it may be, only a small percentage of americans watch cable news. I mean, yes, there are people that watch fox news all day and people who watch msnbc news all day, but this speech, at this point in the election it starts turning to americans who may not be on the internet all day and then watching cable news all day and then tweeting all day. And those are the people that joe biden is trying to reach in pennsylvania and florida and michigan and the six or seven swing states. Yeah. And it would be hard to slice that speech in any way that it would come up with kind of this is a senile guy who is the puppet of the crazy left. There was none of that in that speech, even for the most skillful editor to put together. He came across as a decent guy who is reasonable and will be a voice of comfort. However you want to play that speech, thats what you end up with because thats what the speech was all about. I think in that respect it was a good reputation of what the white house has wanted to say about joe biden. But more than that, i think what this week has done so successfully and what biden did so well last night, hes married im a decent guy who has empathy with, by the way, i also have experience dealing with the problems youre going through right now. I felt if i was somebody who was not wanting to vote democrat particularly or not tuned in, one thing i would pick up in that speech is there is a plan for dealing with the virus, a plan dealing with the pandemic, starting with National Testing. For me that would have sounded incredibly reassuring. At a time im scared and confused and the country feels like its in chaos. I think thats what biden did so well, i can govern and im decent and reasonable, put those together and its a strong package for the democrats to sell. Especially in a year where even when you talk to republicans that voted for donald trump in 2016, they talk about the sheer exhaustion and wanting to return to normalcy. I dont know theyre going to flock to joe biden because the Trump Campaign wants people to think that joe biden is the tool of the far left, despite the fact the far left yesterday was quoted in the New York Times that they were holding their nose voting for joe biden, one colorful quote was i vomited in my mouth but i am holding it in to vote for joe biden. The left doesnt like joe biden. The far left on the democratic side doesnt like joe biden. So i dont know that that fight that that line of defense will work. But willie, John Heileman, i couldnt help but notice John Heileman is sitting in the hotel that joe biden announced his first run for the senate in 1972. And biden has just an extraordinary life story of highs and lows of successes and failures since that time, in 1972. Personal heartbreak, so much so that its hard for many of us to imagine how he has kept going. But he has kept going through his faith in god and just because he thinks that those in his family would have died would want him to do just that. It is an extraordinary story, part of which we saw last night. And that was almost 50 years ago, thats a long political career. Thats a long life. Hes been through a lot. If you werent familiar with joe bidens story and you sat and watched this week, you got the full idea of what hes been through, where hes been, culminating in that speech last night. I think if theres a criticism of joe biden last night and there was, conservatives were saying he read a good speech off the teleprompter, and he did it well but next come the debates, the first one on september 29th. Well see how its going to hold up when its live, and theres no tell prompter he doesnt know the questions coming at him and donald trump goes low. Whats the preparation the campaign is doing for that . Thats the next big moment in this campaign . Willie, you got to say two things here. One is you cant dis this speech because he was reading it off the teleprompter. Thats what a Convention Speech is, donald trump will be reading his too. Lets be fair. Thats the job he had to do last night. Of course, it is also true that these debates are going to be incredibly consequential, they always are. More so in this case. Aside from reagan a couple times this morning were all thinking about what analogies might be suitable. The first debate may be the best analogy is the Carter Reagan debate in 1980, there was only one, and that was a debate that mattered more than any debate in modern political history, you have to go back to kennedy and nixon to find one on par with it. The question in that race was Ronald Reagan had that race in his sights but there was still questions about whether reagan was a mad man,