dor of MSNBC live and we are so excited to welcome you to our very first and sold out fan focused event thank you and this is where you get to meet and greet your favorite MSNBC personalities live and in person and I can let you guys in on a little secret Steve kak's khakis are just as glorious in real life over the course of the day Jens saki Joy Reed and so many others will give you their take on the state of this wild and crazy election are you enjoying it so far it's only September all right let's get this thing kicked off you may have seen them reporting from the DNC they're going to tell you what it was like to be there in that electric atmosphere but first they're going to dig into to what's at stake in November please welcome to the stage the host of the readout Joy Reed and the host of alexer Tonight Alex Wagner thank you oh my God I want to do that J got to get the selfie you got to get the selfie so smart hello um well well thank you all for coming how amazing is this amazing thank you Brooklyn thank you from outside of Brooklyn so you know I think we're just going to jump right in because really what we're doing right now is we're just was recreating what happened at the Democratic National Convention with with fewer potato chips unfortunately with fewer potato chips and no table even if we had the chips I know the chips would have no seat they'd be in our bodies they'd be in our bodies that's where they belong where they belong can we just talk really quick about how much fun we had we had too much fun I mean listen we at a point I actually did worry I felt bad for everybody in New York because you guys if who here was at the convention was anybody at the convention it was it was more amazing than I thought anybody thought it was going to be and we got to be there and soak in the magic with my longtime friend my one of my favorite people in the world and also at MSNBC and we had an endless supply of fried snacks and like then KLA Harris got the nomination so what could be better what could be better and and the thing that is so so so interesting is we have had a journey I mean one of the first shows that I used to go on on a regular basis and one of the first people who let me fill in for her was Miss Alex Wagner so we do go back away go back so we've seen a lot of Elections come and go yeah um rank this one in terms of the intensity of The Vibes and the feelings around it well so listen I think this one holds even more weight because when Barack Obama was running he wasn't running against Donald Trump right right so there's the Trump factor of it all which is you know us standing on the precipice of end times and and then there's the kind of the the candidacy that Barack Obama represented and one that KLA Harris represents in a way uh not in a way certainly which is the trajectory of American society and culture and what it means for us to be whether we're trending towards a more inclusive more diverse society and I think in the Post Obama Trump years I think a lot of people question like was Barack Obama did he come too soon was he an aberration was it just eight years of us glimpsing prematurely into a future that was a long way off and Donald Trump to be seemed to be such a repudiation of the you know the moral Arc of the universe being long but bending towards Justice and and the Harris candidacy I think represents an affirmation that the path that Obama sort of opened up for the country might actually be its Destiny yeah and that and so you know it's it's not just a Democrat might save the country from Donald Trump it's a Democrat who could meaningfully move the ball forward and finally shatter that last glass ceiling so it's you know exponentially the levels of import the the stakes are so incredibly high and I think that that has given rise to a joy that is a joy a joy that is really powerful yeah no it it's interesting because if you think about the trajectory that happened in 2008 you had this you know incredible thing that happened a country that was born a slave Colony a series of slave colonies elect its first black president you know a remarkable achievement and then four years later he's reelected and then it seemed that the the sort of the sort of inexorable path was toward a woman being president and that got interrupted by Donald Trump right and that was sort of the shock to the system that then produces the end of Roby Wade yeah it produces the end of a right that for a lot of women was an unthinkable a right they would never lose so now that is part of the context of now another woman stepping forward getting the nomination um and you know it's it it is remarkable that the question of whether the country was what President Obama represented or whether it is what Trump represented is a really live question I think for a lot of people and increasingly it there's there's a sense that maybe Trump is the aberration and I think that is an important thing but I just think of it maybe we see how it goes and if that happens one of the people who will deserve the most credit is an elder white man named Jo Biden yeah right yeah the and by the way I I have to throw this in because you were there Alex in the spin room yeah on the night of the debate that sure was the debate that kicked all of this off yeah and and and so at the time what people were doing in the spin room when New Year the Democratic side was trying to to say well no it's going to be fine oh yeah they were spinning as hard as they could they made ducks look like they were you know like the Ducks are floating on the water and then their legs are paddling furiously I mean ducks look like they were taking the day off um I remember talking to Gavin Newsome like all the Republicans came out and it was like Steven Miller Matt Gates and Chris lovita and Susie W all the Trump people were out nobody wanted to talk to them and then that Gavin Newsome came out and jasine Crockett came out and everyone was like let's talk to the Democrats and see how they're feeling after this the Panic that set in in the first 10 minutes of that debate is unlike anything I have ever witnessed like you know this our phones were blowing up and there was just this huge question so many I mean so many questions about Biden about the party about the country and and what has unfolded in the course of the last you know eight weeks six weeks I have no sense of time anymore could be three days it's been 147 years it's been 2,000 years yeah um is like just to talk about the Joe Biden of it all this man who will be seen potentially as the fulcrum around you know two black presidents two black presidents and the woman and but not only right so like he's he's there and and and provides a very important role for Obama's candidacy and his presidency and then as president himself in the wake of the covid disaster and the economic Calamity that were largely the fault of Donald Trump and then potentially does something that no one has ever done other than like George Washington to see the power and to make sure that the line of succession is clear and final yeah I mean the extraordinariness of th those acts will never be forgotten absolutely and and the thing about it is you know I I likened him to a character in Game of Thrones who faced Nancy Pelosi the most powerful woman other than kamla Harris ever in American history right the most successful and powerful speaker I would argue ever in history the most successful speaker and somebody who you know it's not as if she was the only person there I mean across the Democratic party there was this incredible anxiety she was just willing to say it out loud on television so it's not as if she's or strating everything that happened but she was willing to put herself out there because of her power and because of the esteem she holds in the party and she said this is what needs to happen and and it wasn't just her again I think it's really important not to say it's just her but when President Biden says all right I'm going to exceed to the wishes of my party but I'm going to do the thing that to me in my view confers the most power yeah which is I'm going to name my successor I'm doing this on my terms and I Nam this person as my sucess essor that's a power move it it is also I mean I think we just have to contrast the two parties in this moment because as you say it's Nancy Pelosi leading the charge in and I think like in so far as you have to lead the charge it's going to be a difficult position but doing it in the most respectful way I think you can try and do such a thing the the Democratic firmament like you know managing the troops having to go public sometimes Democratic voters making their wishes known and then when kamla Harris steps in rallying around this person with an enthusiasm and a joy and electricity that none of us could have predicted like it is a party and I say this after Dick Cheney announced he's going come on listen the party come on like you want to see you want to see what a a high functioning inclusive well oiled machine looks like that's it look at the Democratic party that was one of of the things that was so remarkable about the convention you saw you know Republican former members of the Trump Administration walking around getting love all over the place you saw Adam kinzinger people who ideologically disagree it it shows you that you have one political party that is sort of everyone is included everyone's invited it's Pro democracy it's Pro democracy we're back with Joy Reed and Alex Wagner at the beautiful Brooklyn Academy of Music here's the rest of their conversation we got to talk about kamla Debbie Harris y'all we gotta talk about her yes listen she has stepped into the moment and basically right right if people want to question what her background is basically she's Alex plus me okay you're welcome she's Asian and black just look at the stage get it in your mind the Caribbean American lady our mom's notice our mom's notice listen our moms did not not notice our family look no let the guy in these people are like we don't care you know we're saying she's it just you know what she got we have you know they like mom is like she is Asian too don't forget that on your television show don't forget no they're like listen and the Jamaicans my godmother they're out of control don't don't start with these Jamaicans out of control but she's sort of with the thing that's I think she's a polyot human being that is what America is because this is how you build America it is the immigrants that come in right and they come in and they become part of this country she has stepped up and stepped into this moment in a way way that I think a lot of people failed to anticipate because they weren't covering her and weren't paying attention to her and as two people who actually did cover her and did pay attention to her it wasn't surprising but let's talk about how she stepped into it well can I just say first of all can we just have an agreement that um campaigns don't need to be 2 years long oh like give it to me three three months and done done like nobody needs it nobody needs two years of it I think I think it's like it's certainly there's some the media is huge part of this it's also KLA Harris has grown you know she has she is able to Define herself she is able to speak with confidence she is able to to laugh and be joyful in a way that is exhilarating for i' I've said this before for women who have watched other women have to sacrifice so much of themselves to be National figures God it is just a thrill to watch someone out there who looks like she's having fun yes who looks like yes she is relishing this not solely because of Duty but because she wants to be there and like goes and talks to people on the campaign Trail and enjoys it talks to kids I me and that is you know something I think that her ability to conduct herself with both confidence and ease is something that has really come to the Forefront in the course of the last four years and I think it it's it's you know experience in Washington is denigrated as like oh you're now a swamp creature the reality is like you know you can learn some things on the job and maybe having someone who's learned a couple things is a good prerequisite for being president and she would be one of the most experienced yes figures ever to take office if you know if she were to win uh the White House but we also you know we got to talk about her running M because one your first big decision as a presidential candidate is to choose your partner and you know President Obama you know made a really you choose right you got to choose your buddy you got to choose your road dog and you know President Obama chose Joe Biden he really in many ways was one of the most effective vice presidents ever he gave him demographically what he needed he gave him the experience uh the Washington experience he needed very very smart choice uh let's talk about Coach walls y'all first of all he knows how to order a donut yes he sure does which I think actually maybe should be one of the prerequisites going forward to make sure that one can do that maybe just like some grasp of humanity is like I don't know if we're if you guys have not seen the JD Vance in The Donut Shop video like it is actually people texted we played it on on uh Alex Wagner tonight and people were mad at me they were like why' you why' you subject that to me it's it's like it's worse than a cringe it's almost as painful as him saying or being on the podcast with the gentleman who said well it's good that you had that Indian mother-in-law to Nanny your kids cuz that's their job yeah well when JD van starts talking about ovulation and menopause I like turn the volume you turn it down um but I will say one of the wonderful ful thing there are so many wonderful things about being at the convention but the you know before the you can tell what the mood of the convention speaker that the the the main speaker is going to be when they bring out these long signs right like thank you Joe was the or weart Joe was the sign the first night and then on I guess it was Tuesday now I have no Tuesday or Wednesday when walls was going to speak they started bringing out signs that said coach walls the W head the wall and the walls like big heads and I was like oh this is going to be like a rally right like cuz he's the governor of Minnesota it could have said Governor walls or Congressman walls or Mr walls but it was like coach walls and it and then you could hear like marching bands and it was like oh we're turning this into like homecoming yeah right 100% And and by the way when I tell you I think the Minnesota delegation is still inside the arena defitely they weren't leaving we were literally leaving people were cleaning around them and they were like no we're still party we still do we're here we're happy and we're like like everyone's gone and they're like we don't care no music playing no music playing they didn't care they didn't care they're still there they ain't no part of like a walls party and so okay we got to talk very briefly about the other side because it's been a challenging um few uh months week mons for uh for Trump and Vance they've had a rough time they have had a rough time I will say and this is a point I think we all need to discuss with our friends and neighbors a lot more because so much of the year was spent talking about Joe Biden's cognitive ability if you have listened to Donald Trump in the man is giving rambling incoherent answers that very much beg the question if he is still playing with a full deck of cards and that part of the conversation I'm not trying to be AIS I think there are lots of my mom is 80 and she could out debate Donald Trump in a heartbeat and but I I do think if if we are concerned about the mental health and acuity and and cognitive uh skills of the you know commander of our our armed forces and the one of the most powerful leaders in the Free World we should all Republicans should have the same conversation that all Democrats had about just how high functioning Donald Trump is and and I think it's even absolutely and I think it's even more important to have that conversation because you've got a group of people from the Heritage Foundation and from his former Administration that have a ready made plan to run the country they've already written it down it's called project 2025 and if Donald Trump is not at his full uh cognitive capacity then one wonders well who would be making policy who would be making decisions and the answer the sort of obvious answer is that the ready-made Playbook is what we would be living under and that Playbook is things like getting rid of the Department of Education a National Abortion ban call renaming the health and human services department the department of Life essentially having a of handmaid Tail menu and which Robert F Kennedy Jr in some way would be attached to in some fashion that's the reality of what we are staring down as democracy are we going to have be carcasses in the White House being served for dinner that's how you get a worm brain I I really think someone should tell them that's how the worm gets in the brain the carcass is on the side of the road don't eat them I really I keep going back to the Dick Cheney thing because I think I am not a fan of much of what Dick Cheney's done with his life but it is you're being generous it is yes I I think it is so indicative of a party that has shrunk itself that has atrophied to the point that even the staunchest most hard-lined conservatives in the capital c sense of the word feel like they have no place that's right absolutely and that tells you that that first of all I mean there are huge questions about our two- party system whether we can go on like this even if Trump loses like What Becomes of the Republican party what are its values what does it mean to have a two-party system when one party is not interested in governance at all or the preservation of democracy and when it's protected by an Arcane electoral college system that advantages it even when it cannot win majori we have a problem in an anti-majoritarian democracy and a low participation democracy and a supreme court that is run by conservatives it's a lot it's a lot well this was fun we also I know we have some legal experts like Chris Chris Hayes and Kate Chaw coming up to talk about the court but where that's a deep tease for later I'm a veteran and I tell people when they thank me for my service the first thing I always say is then go vote this election is extremely important to me because I'm actually a lifelong Republican I think it's important that we step outside of our comfort zone sometimes join other people in the fight to keep democracy alive I'm hopeful and I'm excited and I'm praying for the best we have three more of your favorite Stars we're going to be together on stage right now for the first time ever and they're going to give us an insiders look at the state of this race in the final stretch one of them worked as a White House Press Secretary for President Biden one of them won a senate seat as a democrat in a place that is very very red and get this one of them has covered every presidential election since 1972 please welcome Jens saki Andrea Mitchell and Claire mcal every ready thank you thank you thank you I'm this is such a good crowd okay thank you guys for having us okay so let me start with you Claire vice president Harris does not I mean she's obviously would be a historic president on multiple fronts she doesn't wear that on her sleeve she didn't wear white the night of the um the night of her speech she does not talk often about being the first what do you what do you think what does that tell us about her you know her well why is that I think she uh understands that to be elected president of the United States you first have to convince the American public that you are qualified to do the job that you are capable of doing the job and some things can be left unsaid right if if you lead with that then it becomes the topic she doesn't want the topic to be her gender or whether she is black or whether she's South Asian any of that she wants the conversation to be about what she can do for you that's what she wants the conversation to be about and the discipline she's showing about doing that not going there um you do see a lot of pictures which is not by accident where she's doing they call them otrs or whatever they call them when she's about she stops for young girls if you've noticed you see in the media more often she is talking to young girls that's sending that message without her having to say a word and a much more effective way to do it uh but she wants to make sure the American people know she's ready to go toe-to-toe with Kim John that's what she wants to it's really I yeah I well Andrew I I want to ask you I mean you've covered you covered the Clinton campaign very closely you covered other prominent female candidates is this a sign of progress is this a sign of a different strategy I mean what is it a sign of in your I think it is a sign of progress it's so exciting to me as someone who broke into a business frankly where I was first the only woman in The Newsroom in Philadelphia pretty big big town that I started out in and in this radio own His Radio Newsroom I was I only could get a job by working the night shift where I wouldn't be seen during the day and I was called copy boy I was a copy so there's a lot that's changed # copy boy yeah you know in our profession just look at the women who are leading our our networks our bosses are women our camera people are all kinds of editors and my colleagues and anchors but the difference in in politics has been so profound I covered Hillary Clinton when she was you know the first lady in 1991 and '92 they were first running so for all those years I was a White House correspondent with them and Hillary Clinton by talking so much about gender and perhaps it was not a good tactic for her to emphasize it as much as she did made it possible for k Harris not to have to talk about that and the other piece of that is that she was so active on after the dobs decision so she has been the primary you know Advocate against dos and for Reproductive Rights for the administration that has been one of her signature roles yeah no question I mean one of of the things and I have not won a difficult Senate race nor have I been covering presidential politics since 1972 but I will tell you when I became the White House Press Secretary um the first day I I was so relieved uh I was you know it was an honor it was thrilling I was so relieved and uh this wonderful woman texted me and said you did great you did great one suggestion you should look like maybe you're wearing some makeup when you're out there um and it was not a bad thing and I use this as an example because and I wanted ask clear this there are different there are all sorts of pressures on women right are you likable are you friendly are you approachable are you also strong and fierce it's a lot of I'm not going to do the Barbie monologue but you get my gist here there are also things that are very campaigning is a lot of work on candidates and you have to kind of look good for picture I mean what are the things that people aren't aware of that are challenging when you're running for a high level office as a woman well I think one of the brilliant things that that k Harris has done is she has adopted a uniform yeah right um I I always was jealous because you know I couldn't decide do I wear a suit like they do with a floppy little tie or do I you know can can I wear pants all the time do I need to wear a dress she just from day one said it's pants suit baby it's pants suit she rocks a pants suit and she rocks the pants suit it's going to be pants suit all day long uh I I won't be surprised if she turns up in a pants suit for the inaugural ball um but I think she has figured out that if we focus on the things that are irritating to us as women we take up too much energy um like have you noticed have you noticed how much he's embracing loving to cook yeah I mean I love that you guys might have noticed I bake huge Baker so that is a huge progress because back in the day if you were a woman candidate when I first started running um years ago um it you know we would never I never would have done that when I was running for da in Kansas City I wouldn't even put my children in the picture because I was afraid they'd think oh she's going to be abandoning her children to be the prosecutor and she's probably not tough enough to be the prosecutor so look at the progress we have made there has been huge progress we can now cook we can bake and we can be Commander in Chief all at the same time absolutely you know and I even someone at the Pinnacle we've got a Supreme Court Justice katangi Brown Jackson who you know and I know her from Washington I know where is as a clerk at the court and or as a judge now a Supreme Court Justice and she writes this book about the termal she felt because her husband was in medical school she had two small girls she was just beginning in her job and had to decide whether she could go and pick up the kids at school we are all we all share that whether we have kids whether we're old or We're Young on gender we share that and that is a bond and I've learned that in my profession with the with women reporters it's unbreakable if if you respond as people and don't feel you have to hide that part of your life no that's such a good I will tell you Andrea Mitchell is like the kindest person to other women won't surprise you at all it is very true very true um okay I want to get to some audience questions and I could keep talking to you forever but we have other panels um but I did want to ask you about we always shorthand this as October Surprises by the way it could be in September who knows what could happen but it's the things that are unexpected so I want to take you back into the editorial meetings and rooms Because by the way way every news organization every campaign plans for all of the possible things that could happen so you see where this is going Andrew what are the things as a longtime journalist you're watching for Could Happen may not happen but just over the next around 60 days 59 days I think yes oh just think about the Iran hostages in Jimmy Carter and what happened right before his election the night before the election he was out crisscrossing the country flew back I was standing on the south lawn he had to come back back because there was a possibility they were going to be released they were released by Iran at 1201 when Ronald raagam had been just sworn in that was the worst possible October surprise there was Access Hollywood that was a huge October surprise it was a couple of days before the debate and the debate had to be you know and then the the Trump campaign tried to trot out all of these women who had made accusations against Hillary's husband in the past and seek them in the front row and the the presidential debate Mission wouldn't let the debate start until they mooved them aside I mean just to create that stir and a distraction so there are a lot of October surprises and the fact is this is going to be a close election everybody and nobody should make a prediction about this we could talk about blue walls we could talk about 270 and Steve coraki is the expert but he knows better than anyone anything can happen here ask Hillary Clinton about 11 days before when all of a sudden we're flying to Iowa and they come up with a new laptop and more emails and then you know the FBI director says the two days before the election on a Sunday night we're in New Hampshire and he says oh never mind we were wrong and they saw the polls just go down we all remember this I'll just add remember the Access Hollywood tape came out I think we all remember where we were at that moment it was the same day that the US government and I was in the US government at the time finally put out the statement that Russia was behind the hack right so it was the same day um which is forget and it was like oh this is the same day well it's okay Access Hollywood you know that will that will change things it didn't um anyway Claire what what are you looking out for you run many tough campaigns what what what are they red teaming about as they like to say in the Caris walls world right now well if you look at all of the things we just discussed I probably they were not discussed ahead of time that's why they were surprises so I don't know that I can guess what the surprise is going to be because if I knew what it was it wouldn't be a surprise I'd be telling you guys right now fair but I'll tell you what I'm holding out for I'm Holding Out for a Philadelphia rally where the warmup Act is Beyonce and Taylor Swift ohone fore foree fore speee foreign for foree foree fore fore speee foree fore fore foree fore foree