RIGHT NOW. >> GOOD EVENING ONCE AGAIN. I'M STEPHANIE RUHLE. WELCOME TO OUR CONTINUING COVERAGE OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION. WITH 113 DAYS UNTIL THE TH ELECTION, TODAY THE RNC OPENED WITH A HISTORIC BACKDROP. THE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE AGAINST DONALD TRUMP WAS DISMISSED IN FLORIDA AND IT HAS BEEN JUST OVER 48 HOURS SINCE THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON THE FORMER PRESIDENT. WE'LL HAVE MORE ON THAT LATER IN THE HOUR BUT NOW, ALL EYES ARE ON MILWAUKEE AS THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE MADE A SURPRISE APPEARANCE AFTER HE WAS INJURED ON SATURDAY. EARLIER THIS EVENING DELEGATES FROM ALL 50 STATES OFFICIALLY SELECTED TRUMP. HE THEN TOOK TO SOCIAL MEDIA TO ANNOUNCE THAT JAIDEE VANS WOULD BE HIS RUNNING MATE. VANCE IS THE JUNIOR SENATOR FROM OHIO AND AUTHOR OF HILLBILLY ELEGY. USED TO TRASH DONALD TRUMP ALL OVER TOWN BEFORE BECOMING A TRUMP SUPER FAN, AND IN HIS N, FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE JOINING THE 2024 TICKET, HE TALKED ABOUT THAT VERY CHANGE OF HEART. >> I WAS CERTAINLY SKEPTICAL OF DONALD TRUMP IN 2016 BUT PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS A GREAT PRESIDENT AND CHANGED MY MIND. I THINK HE CHANGED THE MINDS OF A LOT OF AMERICANS BECAUSE T AGAIN, HE DELIVERED THAT PEACE AND PROSPERITY. IF YOU GO BACK TO WHAT I THOUGHT IN 2016, ANOTHER THING THAT'S GOING ON AS I BOUGHT INTO THE MEDIA'S LIES AND DISTORTION. I BROUGHT INTO THIS IDEA THAT SOMEHOW HE WAS GOING TO BE SO DIFFERENT, A TERRIBLE THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. IT WAS A JOKE. JOE BIDEN IS THE ONE WHO TRIED TO THROW HIS POLITICAL OPPOSITION IN JAIL. JOE BIDEN IS THE ONE WHO'S TRIED TO UNDERMINE AMERICAN LAW AND ORDER. PRESIDENT TRUMP DID A REALLY GOOD JOB. >> VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS CALLED SENATOR VANCE TO CONGRATULATE HIM BUT THE BIDEN CAMPAIGN WAS QUICK TO SAY ADVANCED WORD ENABLED TRUMP AND HIS EXTREME MAGA AGENDA, EVEN IF IT MEANS BREAKING THE LAW. WITH THAT LET'S BRING IN OUR LEADOFF PANEL TONIGHT, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT VAUGHN HILLYARD, WHO IS IN MILWAUKEE, ON THE FLOOR OF THE CONVENTION THIS EVENING. JOHN ALLEN IS WITH US, SENIOR NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER FOR NBC. YOU ARE ON THE CONVENTION FLOOR ALL DAY AND TONIGHT. TELL US WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW. >> I THINK THE HEADLINE HERE IS NUMBER ONE, STEPHANIE, SEEING DONALD TRUMP DOWN HERE WALK ON THOSE STAIRS WITH THE BANDAGE ON HIS EAR, WITH THE VIDEO BOARD HERE AND THE CONVENTION AR HALL FIRST SHOWED HIM AND THE ROOM IMMEDIATELY STOOD UP AND BEGAN TO CHEER. THERE WERE CHANTS OF FIGHT, ER FIGHT, FIGHT. OF COURSE WHEN HE WAS LIFTED OFF THE STAGE AFTER BEING SHOT JUST OVER 48 HOURS AGO AND HE LIFTED HIS ARM UP IN THE AIR, THAT IS WHEN YOU COULD READ HIS LIPS SAYING FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT. THIS IS A BASE OF SUPPORT AROUND HIM, ELEGANCE, THE PARTY ACTIVISTS, THEY ARE THE ELECTED OFFICIALS THAT ARE THE BACKBONE OF TODAY'S REPUBLICAN PARTY UNDER DONALD TRUMP AND TO LISTEN TO THIS PLACE AS LEE GREENWOOD PERFORMED HIS GOD BLESS THE USA, WHICH IS THE SONG THAT HE TYPICALLY WALKS OUT TO AT EVERY SINGLE RALLY, WHEN DONALD TRUMP COMES AND D TAKES THE STAGE AND FOUR S MINUTES, JUST ALLOWING THE AUDIENCE TO APPLAUD, IT REALLY TOLD THE STORY OF THE LAST EIGHT YEARS IN A LOT OF WAYS AND THIS IS A REPUBLICAN PARTY THAT QUESTIONED WHAT ITS FUTURE WAS GOING TO BE AFTER 2021 AND THE REPUBLICAN BASE OF SUPPORT, THE ELECTED OFFICIALS, THESE DELEGATES, THESE PARTY ACTIVISTS WERE THE ONES THAT GOT IN SOLIDARITY BEHIND HIM A YEAR AGO, DESPITE THE LIKES OF GOVERNOR DESANTIS, NIKKI HALEY, OTHERS COMING INTO THE FRAY, AND DONALD TRUMP IS THE ONE HERE ON CONVENTION NIGHT NUMBER ONE WHO IS STANDING HERE WITH HIS PARTY YET AGAIN, STEPHANIE. >> AFTER THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES I SPOKE TO ALL SORTS OF BUSINESS GUYS IN NEW YORK WHO SAID DONALD TRUMP IS NOW GOING TO GO FOR INDEPENDENTS. THEY'RE UP FOR GRABS. HE'S GOING TO FOCUS ON THE MIDDLE. HE'S GOING TO FOCUS ON HIS LEGACY. AND THEN HE CHOOSES JAIDEE VANS, OKAY? MITT ROMNEY ONCE FAMOUSLY SAID, I DON'T KNOW THAT I CAN DISRESPECT SOMEONE MORE THAN JAIDEE VANS. YOU COVERED HIS SENATE CAMPAIGN. THIS NOTION THAT DONALD TRUMP IS EVER GOING TO GIVE IT TO THE MIDDLE AND LOOK SOMETHING LIKE A TRADITIONAL REPUBLICAN, THAT FLEW RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW WHEN HE PICKED JAIDEE TONIGHT. >> JAIDEE VANS IS TO THE MAGA SIDE OF DONALD TRUMP, IF THAT'S POSSIBLE, RIGHT? WE'VE HEARD DONALD TRUMP BASICALLY TRY TO FIND HIS POSITION ON UKRAINE OVER TIME. JAIDEE VANS IS SOMEBODY WHO HAS BEEN AGAINST CONTINUED U.S. SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE IN ITS WAR AGAINST RUSSIA AND ITS OFFENSIVE WAR AGAINST RUSSIA. VANCE HAS BASICALLY VOTED THE MAGA LINE AND SOMETIMES LEADING THE U.S. SENATE. SO THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT A PICK FOR THE MIDDLE. I THINK THERE ARE A LOT OF BOXES THAT JAIDEE VANS CHECKS FOR DONALD TRUMP. NUMBER ONE COMES FROM THE RUST BELT. THERE'S GOING TO BE A HUGE PUSH FROM TRUMP TO TRY TO WIN, NOT OHIO, JAIDEE VANS'S STATE, BECAUSE TRUMP IS IN A GOOD POSITION TO WIN THOSE ALREADY, BUT PENNSYLVANIA, MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, THOSE BLUE WALL STATES THAT ARE SO IMPORTANT FOR DEMOCRATS IN ORDER TO GET AN ELECTORAL COLLEGE MAJORITY. IT'S PART OF WHAT HE'S LOOKING AT. PART OF IT IS HEJAIDEE VANS IS HALF OF TRUMP'S AGE. KAMALA HARRIS IS A GENERATION YOUNGER THAN BIDEN AND TRUMP. 59 YEARS OLD, AND THEN JAIDEE VANS AT 39 IS A GENERATION YOUNGER THAN SHE IS. HE IS MAKING AN APPEAL TO TURN THE PAGE TO A MUCH YOUNGER GENERATION. BUT YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, STEPHANIE. JAIDEE VANS IS NOBODY'S MODERATE. >> I WANT TO RAT BRING SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER FOR THE NEW YORKER, INTO OUR CONVERSATION. SHE JOINS US FOR MILWAUKEE TONIGHT. PRESIDENT BIDEN FCALLED JAIDEE VANS A CLONE OF TRUMP. WHETHER IT'S A CLONE OF HIM OR NOT, WHAT VOTERS DOES J.D. VANCE BRING IN TO POSSIBLY VOTE FOR TRUMP THAT TRUMP DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE? >> I DON'T THINK TRUMP LOOKS AT IT IN THAT WAY, STAFF. DONALD TRUMP BELIEVES THE ENTIRE APPEAL OF THE REPUBLICAN TICKET IS BASED ON HIMSELF, IN MANY WAYS, AND I THINK THAT'S AN IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER. HE CAN CERTAINLY SIGNAL TO CONSTITUENCIES, AND A SIGNAL HEAR LOUD AND CLEAR IS THAT THIS IS AN ALL MAGA TICKET. I THINK THAT IS PART OF THE MESSAGE TO THE TRUMP FAITHFUL. THE OTHER PART, AS JOHN POINTED OUT, IS TO THE EXTENT THAT THE BATTLEGROUND STATES ARE STILL IN PLAY. TE HE SEES VANCE AS SOMEONE WHO CAN APPEAL TO THOSE CORE VOTERS. IS CERTAINLY NOT A MESSAGE ABOUT EXPANDING AN ELECTORAL BASE FROM DONALD TRUMP. YOU COULD SAY THAT IT'S A CONFIDENT DECISION THAT THIS ISD FROM A CANDIDATE WHO THINKS OM HE'S IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE RIGHT NOW. IT'S HARD TO SEE THAT SUBURBAN WOMEN VOTERS ARE GOING TO BE VERY BROUGHT IN BY JD VANCE. YOU'RE GOING TO GET A BIG SPIRAL WITH THAT ONE. BUT LOOK, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MAGA AND HE SEES THIS AS, SOMEBODY PUT IT BEST, A MEGA MAGA TICKET. >> A MEGA MAGA TICKET. I'M GUESSING MA G A IS EXACTLY WHAT THE CONVENTION FLOOR WAS LOOKING FOR TONIGHT. >> IT ABSOLUTELY IS AND JD VANCE IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, SUSAN AND JOHN, IN TERMS OF EVEN AFTER DONALD TRUMP, AFTER LET'S SAY 10 YEARS FROM NOW, J.D. VANCE WILL BE 49 YEARS OLD. WHEN YOU LOOK AT SOME OTHERS IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TODAY, YOU JD VANCE, MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, JOSH HAWLEY. R THERE IS A YOUNGER GENERATION THERE THAT GOES BEYOND EVEN ER ELECTED OFFICIALS, THE. YOU'RE WATCHING DELEGATES HERE THAT MAKE UP THE FACT OWN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. THESE ARE GOING TO BE THE LEADERS OF THE PARTY OF THE FUTURE. OF COURSE PARTIES HAVE THEIR MOVEMENTS WITHIN THEMSELVES, AND IN NO WAY IS NECESSARILY MAGA SOMETHING THAT IS RESIGNED TO EXIST IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FOR DECADES TO COME, BUT AT LEAST IN THE IMMEDIATE YEARS TO COME, THIS IS THAT. TUCKER CARLSON, YOU SAW HIM IN THE FRONT ROW NEXT TO BYRON DONALDS, THAT IN A LOT OF WAYS SPEAKER JOHNSON, WHO I THINK IS A LITTLE BIT MORE OF THE OLD, TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL ROUTE, IS NOT EVEN THAT MUCH OF A CELEBRITY AROUND THESE PARTS, WHEN TUCKER CARLSON WALKED INTO THAT FRONT ROW WITH DONALD TRUMP EVERYBODY STARTED HOOTING AND HOLLERING AND TRYING TO GET PICTURES WITH HIM. WHEN SPEAKER JOHNSON, IT WAS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT AND I THINK THE SAME THING WHEN GLENN YOUNGKIN. WHEN GLENN YOUNGKIN TOOK THE STAGE OF COURSE IT'S SOMEBODY THAT WAS EFFECTIVELY ABLE TO WIN THE STAT
