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CNN Live Event/Special

Trump Accepts GOP Nomination At 2024 Republican National Convention. Many Senior Biden Officials Believe He Must Drop Out of the Race; Interview with Actors Dennis Quaid and Dan Lauria. Aired 1- 2a ET

Aired July 19, 2024 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:34]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HULK HOGAN, WRESTLING LEGEND: -- enough was enough. And I said, let Trump-a-mania run wild brother, let Trump-a-mania rule again.

ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: He did what he promised he put America first. We were winning today.

DANA WHITE, UFC PRESIDENT: Often the tough guy business, and this man is the toughest, most resilient human being I've ever met in my life.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States.

Despite such a heinous attack will unite this evening more determined than ever, America's future will be bigger, better, bolder, brighter, happier, stronger, three year greater and more united than ever before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: A native Hulk Hogan, Kid Rock and of course Donald Trump capping off the fourth and now final night at the Republican National Convention here in Milwaukee. I'm Laura Coates to the CNN/POLITICO Grill. Thank you for staying up late with us tonight.

Everyone is talking about the big show. And we've got a pretty big one ahead for you today on what has been already a big political night in America.

My guest this hour Republican Congressman Byron Donalds actor Dennis Quaid, comedian Roy Wood Jr. and historian Douglas Brinkley. For more than 90 long minutes Donald Trump spoke on that stage as the Republican nominee delivering the piece that was billed as unifying and yes, there were some lines that certainly made that appeal.

But he also did what Trump does. He went off script with some pretty familiar grievances. And it did though begin with a retelling of the assassination attempt that nearly ended his life. He described it in detail before telling the crowd this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not supposed to be here tonight, not supposed to be here. I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: He also honored the victim from Saturday shooting Corey Comperatore appearing with his firefighter uniform. Then, as his speech went on, and on and on, he sprinkled in some calls for unity before veering into his familiar partisan attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If Democrats want to unify our country, they should drop these partisan witch hunts which I have been going through for approximately eight years. We have people that are a lot less than fierce, except when it comes to cheating on elections and a couple of other things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: I want to bring in CNN political commentators, Karen Finney, comedian Roy Wood Jr. and CNN senior data reporter at Harry Enten. David Urban will join us in just a moment.

I got to start with you here, Roy, because just listen to the recaps.

ROY WOOD JR., COMEDIAN: What's wrong with me?

COATES: And you were chuckling. Because you were laughing.

WOOD: He was on stage with a bag of cocaine. There wasn't a band, like the Band-Aid you get while you're waiting on the Band-Aid you supposed to get. What Trump did to open up that speech was playing on the sympathy of that.

Now yes, there was an attempt on his life. And you do -- you should speak to that. You should talk about that. You should talk about how fortunate you are. But that dovetails perfectly into his message of healing and forgiveness and togetherness. And he's able to play that violin like a damn broke into his face. And that's what he did to me.

COATES: I mean that was with him.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But then like the love and the hope just went right out the door and down the street and over to I don't even know what the next day over is because I mean, you can tell when he was reading, love and unity and then he just went off and it was the same familiar tropes and then I'll tell you when he said the virus from China wasn't well, you know, all that love and peace and unity is gone.

[01:05:06]

And we were, sorry, I was going to say, because we've been on we've been saying, let's see how long it really lasts.

COATES: Well, that's the point.

WOOD: I don't know.

COATES: I mean, no, you think about the unity aspect of it. We were talking the other day, Harry --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes.

COATES: -- it wasn't just the unity of the nation, which is the unity of the Republican Party.

ENTEN: Right.

COATES: Right, that we are all Republicans are saying, are all on the same page to beat Biden.

ENTEN: Right. Right.

COATES: But is that message tonight going to expect? You're looking at me for a question, you've already answered in your mind, go ahead and take you want to say. Go ahead.

ENTEN: We were all unified and fallen asleep by the end of that speech. My goodness gracious, it was the longest speech in modern convention history.

FINNEY: It was.

ENTEN: What the heck was that? He could have just ended it after an hour. We all would have been happy. He would have unified the Republican base, most people would have come away, you know, Trump can actually contain his words and stick to it.

But instead, we all ended up going, oh, this is why the majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of both candidates. Oh, Americans are looking for a way out. And this speech is emblematic of the fact that neither of these candidates is well liked by the American public.

COATES: Well, I'm going to bring in David Urban on this in a second. But Roy, let me ask you, because, yes, it was a long speech. It was very long. And either way, I don't think I had on my bingo card this evening that I would see Hulk Hogan, rip off a shirt and reveal the Trump-Vance T-shirt underneath.

WOOD: Remember when the Republican Convention was normal, and it would just be Herschel Walker trying to read and it would be maybe Jeff Sessions. It was simpler. It was smoother. And I think that this entire week, you've seen a party that is literally willing to put anybody on the stage that is saying exactly what they feel like their base needs to hear. And their base is eaten up.

And whether it's Hulk Hogan, whether it was Amber Rose, whether it was Kid Rock, its we're going to put people up there that we believe our base will respond to, regardless of the logic attached to. COATES: What do you think about the Amber Rose conversation? That's been a lot of response to her having gone up there and talk about my people.

WOOD: I think if Amber Rose was --

COATES: I mean, that was hurtful, my people.

WOOD: Yes.

COATES: I mean, read differently.

WOOD: Yes.

COATES: When I said it, I realized. I heard it and I said it.

WOOD: It's about women's.

FINNEY: Right.

COATES: There you go. Here you go.

FINNEY: Let me just dive ahead.

COATES: Go ahead. Yes.

WOOD: I think Amber Rose has a right to step on the stage and say whatever she believes, and it would have been nice to be able to talk a little bit more about well, what turns you from, where you were with the slut walk and being pro-choice and everything that you were in the last election cycle in 2018, and the women's wallets (ph) and all that stuff.

But I think regardless of who the RNC put on that stage, they put up people this entire week, almost, I hate to say a textbook on this is how you give people exactly what they want to hear. And I think that's what Trump did tonight.

And of course, he said the same stuff. Lee Greenwood came out and saying the same damn song he's saying the night before. They just give people what they want. They don't care if they've heard it again. Lee Greenwood could have been a remix. He could have done an acoustic version of Public Enemy (ph). No, you're getting the same song I did the night before.

COATES: Well, you know what, David Urban. I got news. He agrees everyone.

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen. Let me just say this. I do not feel qualified to give an opinion on Amber Rose. I'll just give you that.

FINNEY: Come on.

UBRAN: I have no opinion. But I think she's a very nice woman. I met her briefly. FINNEY: Did you take a picture of her?

URBAN: She came on the set take a picture of all the folks at the set. She's a very nice woman. I'm glad that she's on our team. Other than that, I really have no opinion about her personal history or life, Kanye, anything else.

COATES: But you got an opinion on what happened tonight?

URBAN: Listen, I think --

COATES: And I bet you thought the speech was successful. What do you think?

URBAN: Here's I think why think the speeches successful, because it's going to be consumed not by geeks like us who sat around and watched for hour and a half, right? It's going to be consumed in snippets on Instagram, on TikTok, on reels, people going to have that Hulk Hogan ripping in that shirt off, and people are going to be -- right now on barstool they're selling a Trump-a-mania T-shirt, right? I mean, that's going to be consumed.

It's going to be turned viral moments that people are going to think are cool and hip. They're not going to remember that people were bored in the middle of it, right.

ENTEN: And the end of it.

URBAN: No, the end actually took a dial meter. The focus group said at the beginning was great. The end was great. It was a little boring.

ENTEN: Right.

FINNEY: Because at the end he went back. You can see he went back to the prompter, right? And you can you could tell the difference in the language.

URBAN: Well, the energy level was a little different, too, so.

FINNEY: It was, you know, in the beginning, he was on prompt. I mean, I'm just saying, you know, you make fun of Joe Biden for being on prompter, but there's something that (INAUDIBLE).

COATES: So let me ask you guys about the substance of it because we can talk about the delivery and there is a lot to say. But substantively, he did go back to talking about Speaker Pelosi. He talked about Joe Biden he said he would not mention by name he did so twice. He talked about election lies. He talked about out the border.

[01:10:00]

He even began to story where he recited what happened at the tragic assassination attempt by trying to preface it with his own border successes. And so he was trying to weave in a lot of that, did it strike the right tone for unity to bring in a bigger base? URBAN: I'm not sure that the goal was. I think the unity thing may have been oversold a little bit by the campaign. Right. I think that his personal experience I get shot was very moving. When he's saying look there, but for the grace of God, I would have been dead. I'm only here because God spared my life. I mean, that was genuine. And I think people felt that as genuine.

Then when he went back to kind of like, this is me at a rally and I'm speaking to the base. You know, people, look, I think he dividend to do to deliver a solid base speech for that convention crowded for the people are going back to campaign and turn out the GOP vote. But is he going to pick up hate Nikki Haley voters because that speech? Probably not.

FINNEY: Well, I mean, it kind of speech slightly serious for a moment. I mean, so I had a brain tumor, right. And when you were facing your own death, it is very frightening, terrifying thing. And I would not compare it to what he went through. But that's part of what was a little bit disappointing. It was very moving. I was very moved.

But then to hear him go right back into China virus and attacking Pelosi and the election lies. It just -- it was disappointing, especially because the campaign had told us all week, he's really he tore up the speech, he's writing the speech, it's going to be this speech, and it felt like OK, so, on prompter, he was able to deliver it, but for the rest of this campaign it sounds like we're rolling that out --

COATES: But you know what -- you know, sorry, I can't even talk over you.

FINNEY: No. No.

COATES: You know what's really that Trump is very good at and it is reading the room.

URBAN: Yes.

COATES: And, you know, he knows how to play to an audience. The problem for strategists looking at it, though, is the room is not going to just be those in the convention. He's -- this is the literal choir that he's preaching to. He's got to make that room the entire electorate.

ENTEN: And that was what the great thing for him about the debate was, there was no crowd in the room, and he was able to play to the audience at large.

URBAN: He was very disciplined at debate.

ENTEN: Very disciplined compared to this, where you had that audience in the room, and he wanted to play to that audience and the room at that particular time. To go back just a little bit further what I will add is there were a lot of people who perhaps expected maybe there'll be a new Trump after the assassination attempt. There's not going to be a new Trump. He is who he is. He's been running for president now for nine years,

since all the way back when he came down that escalator in June of 2015. He is going to be the same guy. Yes, he may make a few appeals on the unity. But he is a base guy through and through and anyone expecting anything different should disregard that it's not going to happen.

URBAN: But I will tell you.

COATES: Did you wait for the epiphany?

WOOD: I don't think that why change if you're trying, especially with everything that's happening in the Democratic Party right now. Talk about that later. But why change the playbook? If this is what people like, and then you can keep going.

ENTEN: And keep going to it.

URBAN: And I was walking over here, and I was asking people, I said, what do you guys think little long? We love it. We love them. You know, the people in that room love that speech. They were there for the speech. They didn't think it was too long. I said you think it was too long? It was the longest speech in the history of speeches.

COATES: Yes.

WOOD: The Republican Party were number three.

URBAN: Oh, yeah.

WOOD: Also Trump.

URBAN: And you know the folks said, no, we thought it was great. And so --

COATES: Well, he's who they came to see.

URBAN: Exactly.

FINNEY: That's right.

URBAN: So did he check the blocks that he needed to? Absolutely. Is it going to be snipped and clipped and pushed out and social media wise?

COATES: Yes.

URBAN: Absolutely. So this week, if you're a Republican was a huge success, a big success. And you know, the party is unified. They're leaving here. Everybody's kind of rowing in the same boat, excited to go back to their states, their counties, their towns and campaigns.

COATES: And -- yeah.

WOOD: How are you measuring success, though, because I feel like the Republican Party is playing like a team that's up by 30 points with a quarter to play and they're playing conservatively. You still have to pick up those Nikki Haley voters.

(CROSSTALK)

URBAN: Right, because if Trump gets to 47, 48 percent of the vote, right, there's going to be a third party candidate lots of states. Joe Biden's numbers or whoever the nominee might be, right? Aren't that great. So if you're that 47 percent of Trump, this solidifies his base, turns out his base just a little bit more. He's going to win.

COATES: Let me ask you though, one way is just success, Roy. I mean, there's a fashion trend that's happened. That's one way to think about it. You saw you mentioned the bandage. It is everywhere in this convention. I don't know if you saw this or not if you walk around, I mean, look, extreme right now. I mean, seriously, this is a show of solidarity. What did you make of this?

WOOD: Do you go milk that bandage all the way to November. He never taken it off. He's just going to keep adding red dye to make it worse like you're on a Band-Aid get the spanking after a couple of weeks.

FINNEY: Yes. Yes. No pasty (ph).

WOOD: Yes.

FINNEY: Yes. That's --

URBAN: Listen, I tell him to take it off.

COATES: I just ate.

URBAN: It's just work now. It's just work.

FINNEY: But at some point --

WOOD: It's a suffer mood. Just take it off.

[01:15:00]

URBAN: All right. Take it off. I'd leave it on till November 6.

COATES: Is that what your pockets where it is right now?

URBAN: That's my look.

COATES: There you go (INAUDIBLE). Hey, stand by everyone. We got a lot more to talk about. Ahead, what does a top Trump ally think about the former president going off script when this was billed as a unity speech? Well, that's the question for GOP congressman Byron Donalds, and I'll ask him if he is being considered for a cabinet role if Trump gets elected. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: The Republican National Convention wrapping up its final night with the longest acceptance speech in history. Donald Trump pitching unity while reviving old grievances. Joining me now Republican congressman from Florida Byron Donalds.

Congressman, so good to see you today.

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Good to be with you.

COATES: This had been the most highly anticipated speech people were waiting to hear what Trump would say days removed from an attempted assassination on his life. We had been promised a message of unity, that it would not be what he originally wanted to speak of. Did this meet the moment and deliver that message of unity in your mind?

DONALDS: It absolutely did. I will tell people that they've heard of Donald Trump, they've known Donald Trump, they have opinions of Donald Trump. Tonight, you actually got a window into who Donald Trump actually is. The man that his family knows, the man that his friends know, the man that his team knows. He's actually a very compassionate individual, very empathetic, but he is tough. He's firm. He has his viewpoints and he has a vision.

[01:20:00]

The American people saw that tonight in that speech and I think the best thing overall was opening up talking about his viewpoint of what happened in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Those of us who've been around have been on the phone with him, he's talked about it with us in bits and pieces.

So of a lot of people in that -- in that arena across the street, who have some of the story. Tonight, he shared his version of it with all of America. It's a Donald Trump that people needed to see. Because of my view, he's going to be the 47th President of the United States, it is it's not just about policy, or politics, or political parties. It is about a man who has the ability to lead this country. And I think America saw that tonight.

COATES: Well, he began by talking about that it wouldn't be good enough. And I'm paraphrasing him to lead half of the United States of America. Everyone waited with bated breath to hear, hear, hear his description of what took place on a near tragic moment in American history.

But there were also moments he went off script and he adlibs.

DONALDS: He is.

COATES: He is infamous for doing so. I would have been shocked at he just followed a teleprompter, frankly. But in those moments when he adlib and those moments, he talked, there were moments that you could see a an older version of Donald Trump, I don't mean age wise, but one who was going to not pull any punches, one was going to be quite direct to the point of perhaps alienating those who are looking to support a candidate who is going to broaden the base.

In those moments, describe to me this tension between campaigning hard campaigning in a way that he points out the flaws he says that Biden has, but also taking a measured tone that people will see as presidential.

DONALDS: Well, one thing important, I think he actually made mentioned Joe Biden once his entire time.

COATES: He said win at all. I mean it was twice, but I hear your point.

DONALDS: So once, twice. Listen, he is focused on the actual issues facing our country. And I also think, obviously, the campaign can, you know, dealing with what's happening for the Democratic Party, they are trying to get themselves ready for what may come and over the next couple days. Next couple weeks. Who knows.

But at the end of the day, you got to understand Donald Trump is focused on the issues facing the American people. As Americans, we don't always agree we know this. As families, we don't always agree. In businesses, we don't always agree. I'm quite sure at CNN, you guys don't always agree. But there's a mission ahead that a business, a family, a church, a community pushes towards.

Donald Trump has a vision for this country. It is something that has been really put together through his years of working in Manhattan, working around our country, working around the world, developing projects, bringing them online, finding investors, finding people who want to buy property from him. So there is a worldview that he has.

The big question for the American people is does that worldview of making our country great, does that help them succeed in America going forward. That's the critical question of this campaign. He answered that tonight.

COATES: He is focused quite clearly on beating Joe Biden, you know what's happening on the other side of the aisle? I'm sure there are moments of elation, but there is some chaos on the other side of the aisle when it comes to who will be on top of that ticket. Say it's not Biden, does the Trump campaign need to do a 180 to be able to be successful?

DONALDS: Well, two very important things. Number one, he's not just focused on Joe Biden. I know where his mind is on this. I know where the campaign's mind is on this. The focus is on beating whoever the Democrat party puts up. Because at the end of the day, the agenda of the Democrat Party is not changing. It's the same part of this is going to embrace this Green New Deal, or as the President will call it, a green new scam that is actually going to raise electricity prices on the American people, is going to destroy the automobile industry in the United States, which is going to hurt union workers and non-union workers in the Rust Belt in other parts of our country.

It's an agenda that's going to raise taxes on the American people. It's an agenda has already raised prices on the American people. And it's an agenda that doesn't have a strong foreign policy, which actually brings us into further conflicts.

So whether it's Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, anybody else that they got over there, it won't matter because they're all embracing the same agenda anyway.

COATES: But I have to ask is because, of course, but you were on that short list, and everyone was talking about your name.

DONALDS: Yes.

COATES: First, it was for Speaker when Kevin McCarthy was trying to secure the gavel. Then it was for the vice president. I have to ask you, are you being talked about for a potential cabinet position should Trump win?

DONALDS: Well, look, I'm not going to get into that. I think a lot of --

COATES: But why? I given you food at the grill. I've given meals.

DONALDS: The cheese curds were good.

COATES: I gave you cheese curds.

DONALDS: I will live with that.

COATES: Cabinet, what's the deal?

DONALDS: We'll see what happens. Right now the focus is winning this November. It's really an honor to be put onto these lists and be talked about in this way. Because all I want to do is do the job that people sent me to do from back home in southwest Florida. We'll see what happens in the future.

[01:25:02]

But tonight is about Donald Trump. Tonight is about the Republican Party. And what I will say is a revamped Republican Party. What you saw not just tonight, but really for the last four days is a Republican Party that is no longer the grand old party. It is the grand open party.

We want everybody to be a part of our movement, union, non-union, black or white, Christian, atheist, Muslim, Jewish. Everybody has a home in the Republican Party because our vision is not about creeds or colors or class. It is about making sure that every American can thrive and succeed by following the law, living under merit and making sure that we keep our Constitutional Republic intact. That's our party. That's what we're pushing for.

COATES: We'll see if the voters view your party in the same light. The ultimate test will be coming this November, and we'll see what happens. Always good to see you.

DONALDS: Great being with you.

COATES: Thank you so much, Congressman.

DONALDS: Thank you. COATES: Byron Donalds, everyone. Thank you so much. Well, all the attention now turning to President Biden because as the RNC wraps up, and tonight there are new calls for him to step aside and not be at the top of the ticket as one governor's warning, the next 72 hours are big. We're going to discuss this mounting pressure, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: Well, now that the RNC is officially over, the focus is turning to the crisis facing President Biden because tonight, a second Democratic senator, this time John Tester of Montana, along with California Congressman Jim Costa, calling for Biden to step aside and word from inside by the world that the President himself is listening more closely to his polls at any point since the debate.

First telling CNN that he's in a, quote, contemplative stage thinking things through and deliberating about what to do next as he's off the campaign trail and now recovering from COVID at his Delaware home.

My panel is back with me along with senior political reporter for Puck, Tara Palmeri. Good to have you here.

First of all, so many Democrats are frustrated. This is the continued conversation about Biden and the ticket, especially --

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Whatever do you mean?

COATES: I mean whatever do I mean.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: -- here at the RNC and they're still talking about Biden. He is saying I am on the ticket. I am there. We are here. We are here.

Why is he refusing to listen.

FINNEY: Because, you know, we've spent a lot of time focusing on the opposition but there are a lot of people supporting him.

There was a letter of 1,400 black women leaders put out yesterday in support of the president and Vice President Harris. And there are others who are coming forward (INAUDIBLE) or others -- there's others who have tweeted or you know, X, whatever we call it these days -- their support.

But look, I firmly believe that whatever the president decides he does need to have some time to actually take a step back and think about it because, you know, having been with candidates when you make a decision like that, it is a very hard decision to make.

And so whereas we've got some in our party trying to publicly push him but sort of trying -- you know, sort of the inside-outside conversation --

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Just so you know, I helped circulate that letter to get signatures to support. (CROSSTALK)

URBAN: Yes, of course, we elect Joe Biden. I love Joe Biden.

(CROSSTALK)

URBAN: I was like -- keep going Karen, don't take -- let's get some more signature.

COATES: Oh, my gosh.

URBAN: I'll drive you around.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: Tara you've got --

(CROSSTALK)

TARA PALMERI, PUCK SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: I mean, this was a civil -- this was a cold war and it's really escalated to a civil war in the sense that Hill leadership -- I'm told Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, they are really dug in right now.

This is a sustained pressure campaign that is not going to end. In their minds it is not when -- it's not Joe Biden steps out, it's when. And it's not going to be just one person like this past weekend when Chuck Schumer went to tell (INAUDIBLE) it's time for you to get out of the race. They realize it's going to be a lot. It's going to be like death by a thousand cuts and you know what? It's going to get to the point where he can't talk to anyone without it leaking.

It's going to get to the point where it is difficult for him to be the leader of the party. And it's already happening every single day. It's unsustainable.

ROY WOOD JR., COMEDIAN: Then if the question is not a matter of if but when, then when do you get to the question of who?

FINNEY: Thank you.

WOOD: Because even though it's like the Democrats are doing all this push, you've got to go, you've got to go, you've got to go. But then -- well then, what's the plan on the other side of that?

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: And how do you decide that? And how do you --

FINNEY: And who -- how do you -- sorry, how do you know that's the right person. I mean, and what does that process look like?

I mean this is something I've been saying for a couple of weeks.

You can't just say and then have no way to come back to the American people and say -- and here's the planet. COATES: But you know, Byron Donalds you heard.

PALMERI: It's Kamala Harris.

(CROSSTALK)

WOOD: It's shifting. It's shifting.

COATES: You heard Byron Donalds say that they want -- they will take anyone. The thought is they only want Biden because that they believed that might be the easiest ticket.

But he was saying no, no, they want anyone because the Democratic Party does not do it.

PALMERI: They also think they'll get 320 electoral college votes. So I mean I'll take it.

(CROSSTALK)

URBAN: The Republicans -- my side of the aisle says the following. The titanic is going to hit the iceberg it doesn't matter who the captain is.

You want to have Josh Shapiros as the captain, great. It's still going to sink. It's still going down.

PALMERI: I don't know.

WOOD: I don't about that.

URBAN: Remember when the boat goes down -- remember when the boat goes down, it sucks out all those people -- all those House members, all those senators, the potential senators who spoke up here. They're all going to be senators, mark my words.

It does not matter who it is. Donald J. Trump on November 6 will be president-elect.

COATES: I hear the (INAUDIBLE).

WOOD: I think that the conversation, if it's going to be about not if but when, then immediately the conversation has to segue to Kamala because the wild thing is that I think what we're seeing in real time is literally people overlooking the black woman that was qualified for the promotion.

FINNEY: Who's also by the way, the sitting vice president.

URBAN: Yes, but look --

(CROSSTALK)

URBAN: Obama passed up --

FINNEY: You don't have to -- URBAN: -- Joe Biden.

FINNEY: -- you don't have to go to race and gender, although it's important. She's sitting vice president, she has been battle-tested, she has been doing the job for the last three-and-a-half years.

And whereas Donald Trump wanted a campaigning partner, Joe Biden said I want a governing partner.

URBAN: But Joe Biden got passed over by Barack Obama for Hillary Clinton. I'd make the same argument.

(CROSSTALK)

FINNEY: Your song (ph) had just died. Now, come on.

URBAN: Oh, come on.

You don't think that guy wouldn't -- he would have chewed (ph) through his arm to become the vice president.

[01:34:50]

COATES: Well, Karen there is a point tonight that Harris allies are making calls to assess the political environment. I mean, just in case.

And you also have "Politico" reporting that some of her allies are worried that we're talking about that she could be passed over for an open convention. If Biden drops out should it go to Harris or should this be an open convention?

FINNEY: Look, again I would make the argument that a, there needs -- we're in uncharted territory just by the rules of our party, right. As the party person -- former party person here I'll tell you that.

So clearly they have to determine what's the process. What does that look right? So that because we had a Democratic process in the primary, 14 million people voted. Out of that we got our delegates. People ran to be delegates.

Those delegates now represent their community. So there needs to be a process where those delegates vote, right? But at the same time, that's why I say I think it's really important to remember that this woman as the sitting vice president, is someone who -- you know, again, she's been doing the job, she's been vetted, she has been tested.

And I think she's been on the campaign trail more than they use --

WOOD: If I work at McDonald's and the manager don't come in, the assistant manager --

FINNEY: I'm with you. I'm with you.

(CROSSTALK) URBAN: What I think would be -- what I think would be the most powerful in this situation is that Joe Biden leaves, Kamala Harris becomes the president of the United States. You pick a vice -- you pick a vice president, and you run with that ticket.

That I think would be very powerful. Kamala Harris is the sitting president. You pick somebody else, Andy Beshear, Josh Shapiro, somebody else becomes the vice president --

WOOD: Get people acclimated.

URBAN: Get acclimated, they think of her as the president.

COATES: I'm sorry could you please use the McDonald's analogy. I thought I'd say that a thought. I just want to --

(CROSSTALK)

WOOD: I pick Shapiro up from draft through.

(CROSSTALK)

URBAN: He makes my fries. He gets the fries.

WOOD: Gavin Newsom will be drive through. He moves in the back.

URBAN: Listen, I think it's a much -- if somebody can visualize her as the president and she is the president. I think it makes the argument much more difficult for people to discount her. I think you moved somebody up.

If I was running the Democratic Party, that's what I'd do.

FINNEY: I'm going to send you a check for that one.

PALMERI: What I'm hearing is the operative thinking on the Hill, Democratic leaders who are forcefully trying to get rid of Joe Biden. They see Kamala Harris is the only path. And that's how they see it.

She is on the ballot.

URBAN: And what's important --

(CROSSTALK)

FINNEY: Can I just say it's taken a lot of work to get certain people to understand the rules of this party, to your point.

URBAN: Let me just say that as we leave Milwaukee, we introduced this segment, crisis in the Biden White House. Republicans united, it's a love fest here in Milwaukee.

PALMERI: It's mind blowing.

URBAN: And guess what -- we don't even know who the president is going to be on the Democratic side. FINNEY: Baby, enjoy it while you can.

(CROSSTALK)

FINNEY: Enjoy it while you can.

(CROSSTALK)

PALMERI: Republicans worry.

COATES: We began talking about a crisis, in the end talking about fries. And now I'm hungry.

Thank you, everyone.

Trump's speech tonight was built on unity and tonight, two movie stars on different sides of the aisle together right here at the RNC will tell me what they thought about it all and give us the insight they learned from their latest movie about the unlikely friendship between Ronald Reagan and his Democratic Speaker of the House.

Dennis Quaid and Dan Lauria join me next.

[01:38:02]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: The moment we're in right now could absolutely be made into a movie one day. And President Trump here at the RNC delivering a detailed recounting of an assassination attempt and rallying the Republican Party behind him just days after surviving that attempt on his own life.

Now, watching that speech from right here at the RNC, actors Dennis Quaid and Dan Lauria, the stars of the brand-new movie that everyone will be talking about "Reagan".

Quaid has expressed his support for Trump in the upcoming election and Dennis Quaid and Dan Lauria are here with me right now. I'm thrilled to have both of you here. Thank you for joining me.

DENNIS QUAID, ACTOR: Thanks for having us, Laura.

DAN LAURIA, ACTOR: Thanks for having us.

COATES: I mean the times that we're in right now. We often talk about art imitating life and life imitating art, but we are in a very important moment.

I wonder if you can reflect a little bit on the parallels you have seen even in making this movie about Reagan, whose name is always invoked in every political discussion these days.

QUAID: Its true, you know, I have to say these are really the craziest times I think any of us have lived through.

LAURIA: Sure.

QUAID: We don't know what's coming next. And it's put us off -- off- balance. Our country needs to unite Again, we need to start talking to one another again. And we pass each other on the streets, we're in each other's stores. We -- you know, it's time to go back to really what Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan had back then.

LAURIA: And you know what, we're on the abyss --

COATES: You play Tip O'Neill in the movie. Yes.

QUAID: Democratic Speaker of the House and he was the new president of the United States. And you know, they really hadn't met before, really didn't know each other.

And they decided that look during the day, nine to five, we're going to fight it out over the issues because we disagree. But after 5:00, we're just a couple of Irishmen having a beer.

And that led to a friendship. Tip was over at the White House a lot at just to really talk things over.

LAURIA: At least three times a week.

COATES: You know, we have that clip, and I want people to see what that played like in the film.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUAID: Mr. Speaker.

LAURIA: Mr. President.

Congratulations. Welcome to the (INAUDIBLE). Now you enjoy tonight, because tomorrow we go to work.

QUAID: Well, I've been well-briefed on you, Tip. I've been told I better get a pretty good head start.

LAURIA: That's very Irish of you.

QUAID: Yes.

LAURIA: Do you plan on going ten rounds every day? That's how we do things here.

QUAID: All right. Just remember every day has a 6:00 p.m.

LAURIA: What do you mean by that?

QUAID: Well, after six we're not political enemies. We're just two Irishmen having a beer.

LAURIA: Deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COATES: I do wonder how often that plays out in real-world in Washington, D.C. I suspect -- we've seen some uncanny president in the past.

LAURIA: With them it played out.

QUAID: Today, it's not as much.

COATES: Well, if you think --

LAURIA: They actually became friends. They didn't know what each other that well before. But after working together, they found some common ground, especially on foreign affairs. And they worked together and they actually became friends.

QUAID: There was also a time where you had liberal Republicans. You had conservative Democrats and it was a time where people reached across the aisle.

[01:44:51]

QUAID: And let's face it you know, Republicans, Democrats -- we need each other. We do. We keep each other in check and we have different ideas. But targeting (ph) over those ideas, invading those ideas is what creates greater things for all of us.

COATES: Have you felt that? In your time with the RNC? I mean, there's a big theme of unity and he talked about the spectrum of politics for Democrats and Republicans. Are you feeling that here.

QUAID: Yes. I do feel that. I feel that not just here, but all over the country. I think that people are -- have gotten confused and downhearted about the inability for all of us to communicate in a grown-up way.

And we're all Americans and we -- you know, love and brotherhood, fellowship and working together to make this world a better place.

COATES: Have you felt that at the RNC.

LAURIA: Yes. In the last few hours while we were waiting to do this I was with a group of people that had seen the movie.

And that's what they talked about. Why can't we have more discussions like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill had. You know, why can we just sit down.

There are compromises, but we don't seem to get to them. There's a lot of issues that I feel -- personally, I feel there are areas of compromise. You might not like it, but --

COATES: Well, that's why the things you often see now, especially in Washington D.C., it is often known as the either/or town, if you think about it from my perspective, oftentimes either you're this or you're that and you talked about there's a lot of middle ground, but you don't necessarily feel that and think there is an incentive in the attention economy, I call it, for people to go and be entrenched in their positions.

And when you say what you feel, there's a great deal of backlash. I wonder what your experience has been having supported somebody like the former president Donald Trump. He can be very alienating to a large swath of people.

QUAID: Well, I'm hoping if that be the case that that he probably have a change of heart because my heart hasn't changed for this country, and I have a lot of Democratic friends, right? Were still friends, always have been.

And you know, it's about getting to know one another really and instead of what we -- the labels that we create around each other, getting to know each other as people.

LAURIA: plus having a common goal, like the scene we got, a very emotional scene. We're political -- we are both political offices, but Dennis has made it so easy for us to do our best work.

He's a real pro. And I feel that in the country, if our goal becomes make it a better place, I think we can all agree on that and start from there. Instead of you believe that, I believe that, well how can we get those two together?

COATES: It's well done. It's well deserved to have this conversation. Thank you both for being here.

QUAID: Thanks for having us.

LAURIA: Thank you.

COATES: Thank you. Thank you, Dan and Dennis. And be sure to check out their film "Reagan", it's out next month.

Up next historian Doug Brinkley joins us to put into perspective the shooting, Trump's speech tonight, and the chaos in the Democratic Party.

We are live from Milwaukee. Stay with us.

[01:48:15]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: President Trump giving his first speech tonight since the failed assassination attempt less than a week ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear. I said to myself, wow, what was that. It can only be a bullet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Well now, to make sense of this moment in our nation, I want to bring in presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, so glad that you're here tonight, Douglas. I do wonder, how do you think people in the future will see tonight.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I think the Milwaukee convention will be remembered for the ear bandage.

I mean, just having that and in the visual of that. It would also be remembered as a Trump turning Fidel Castro. That was a long rambling speech -- 90 plus minutes. I mean, Mitt Romney would give them 30 minutes, you know -- so it's highly unusual.

But from a choreographed point of view, I think the GOP is probably feeling that they got through all this pretty well. There were some highlights throughout the last few days.

But somehow it seemed like Trump had a kind of strange glow iconic momentum after being shot after the Butler incident. And it seems to have faded tonight.

It was when you get that long winded, you lose people.

COATES: You know, the idea of the timing and the way in which one conveys it. There was the ebb and flow of the speech. I do wonder how the greater electorate though outside that room.

But then also the greater electorate is looking at what's happening on both sides of the aisle. And President Biden is facing growing calls to step aside from within his own party.

Is there any historical precedent to the moment that we find ourselves in.

BRINKLEY: When it's getting this close to the convention in the old days you had brokered conventions and wheeling and dealing. 1952 when Adlai Stevenson hold it out for the Democrats.

But what's odd here is, is President Biden simply saying he doesn't want to go and it's a snowballing effect that Democrat after Democrat, senators, congresspeople, statesmen saying for Biden to get out, he doesn't have a chance in hell and it's because of the tanking poll numbers. And just the fact that a lot of young people were never thrilled about Biden in the first place.

It seems to me that the Obama infrastructure of that famous two terms is starting to move up and perhaps having to run what could be Kamala Harris' campaign for president. She's I think probably headed to be the Democratic Party's nominee.

COATES: You know what struck me about the shooter in this instance, this would have been the first presidential election that this 20- year-old would have been eligible to vote in. It just strikes me about that span of time for some reason.

[01:54:46]

COATES: And we don't know much about that 20-year-old man who tried to kill a former president of the United States but we do have the head images of politicians from both sides of the aisle that were on his phone. I mean he had searched the dates of both political conventions.

What did he or other political assassins have in common?

BRINKLEY: Well, it seems to be of this variety of just being whack-a- doodle completely I'm not sure if he was targeting Donald Trump per se. It probably would have been any target of opportunity. In his case this one and many of them seemed to be a bullying effect, people mocking and making front of you. There are a lot of reports when he was in school that he was picked on all the time.

Add to that taking -- going to a gun range, and having father's weapon. And so, you know, he seems to be typical of a lot of these types of, you know, kind of non-political assassination == would-be assassins.

What's weird here is that the -- I don't understand what the Secret Service was doing. I don't think America does. How did we get that kind of void there?

How do you just climb atop of the building and have him open fire at a former president. So it's the Secret Service that's really under scrutiny right now. And there's going to be a lot more to come.

I look at this as a whodunnit and every day there's going to be a piece to the puzzle of where the security breakdown occurred.

COATES: Well, there certainly will be a continued investigation to what has happened to prevent a tragedy from occurring at all.

Doug Brinkley, thank you so much for joining me this evening.

BRINKLEY: Thank you, Laura.

COATES: I want to thank you all for watching because CNN's coverage of the RNC continues next.

[01:56:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)