J.D. Vance Takes Centerstage, and "Ear Truthers" in Trump-Hating Media, with Donald Trump, Jr., Rep. Byron Donalds, and Matt Taibbi | Ep. 841

This episode dives into political dynamics and controversies, focusing on J.D. Vance's role in the political landscape and media skepticism regarding an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

1. J.D. Vance's Impact: Vance's story as a representation of the American dream plays a significant role in the episode, emphasizing his journey from a troubled childhood to a political figure.
2. Media Criticism: The episode heavily criticizes left-leaning media outlets for their skepticism about the authenticity of the assassination attempt on Trump.
3. Political Landscape: Insights into the Republican National Convention and the strategies of the Trump campaign are discussed, highlighting a unified Republican front.
4. Contrast with Biden's Campaign: There's significant discussion about the perceived failings of Joe Biden's re-election campaign and its impact on the Democratic party.
5. Role of Media and Public Perception: The episode discusses how media portrayal affects public perception, especially regarding political figures and significant incidents like assassination attempts.

1. Opening Remarks

Megyn Kelly introduces the episode and sets the stage for discussing the Republican National Convention and the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Donald Trump, Jr.: "It's been quite a week for your family."

2. J.D. Vance's Speech

Focus on J.D. Vance's speech at the convention, discussing his personal background and vision for America. J.D. Vance: "Our movement is about single moms like mine who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up."

3. Media Skepticism and Critiques

Discussion on the media's reaction to the assassination attempt, with a focus on debunking their skepticism. Donald Trump, Jr.: "These are real... They're not just lunatics on, like, you know, Daily Kos."

4. Political Strategy and Future Outlook

Exploration of the strategic implications of the Republican and Democratic campaigns leading into the next election. Donald Trump, Jr.: "This is about a movement for America putting us first."

1. Critical Consumption of Media: Encourages listeners to critically evaluate media sources and not accept information at face value.
2. Political Engagement: Advises getting involved in local and national political processes to make informed decisions.
3. Understanding Media Bias: Suggests educating oneself on the biases present in different media outlets to better navigate the information landscape.
4. Support for Substance Abuse Recovery: Promotes support for substance abuse recovery programs, inspired by the story of J.D. Vance's mother.
5. Community Involvement: Recommends engaging with community issues directly to effect change at a local level.

Megyn Kelly is joined by Donald Trump Jr, host of the "Triggered" podcast, to discuss J.D. Vance’s acceptance speech at the RNC, his remarkable life story, the sweet moment with his mother, the evolution of Vance's feelings about Donald Trump, the left-wing media questioning whether Trump was actually shot, Joy Reid’s ridiculous coverage on MSNBC, how the Trump family has rallied around the former president in the wake of the assassination attempt, and more. Then Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida joins to discuss the Secret Service’s need to be held accountable for the failures that led to the assassination attempt, new details about when law enforcement identified the shooter as a person of interest, the growing list of Democrats calling for Joe Biden to step aside, how top Dems' attitude toward Biden has changed over the past few weeks, and more. Then Matt Taibbi, editor of "Racket News," joins to discuss the evolution of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski's narrative surrounding Joe Biden’s health and ability to serve in the wake of the CNN debate, how ridiculous it makes them look, what top Dems are saying now about Biden's political future, the media’s ridiculous coverage and skepticism of Donald Trump’s ear, using the term “photoganda” to discredit the iconic photos of Trump after the shooting, why the left doesn't like that Trump is getting positive attention for his bravery and courage, and more.

People

Donald Trump, Jr., J.D. Vance, Megyn Kelly

Companies

SiriusXM

Books

"Hillbilly Elegy" by J.D. Vance

Guest Name(s):

Donald Trump, Jr., Rep. Byron Donalds, Matt Taibbi

Content Warnings:

None

Welcome to the Megyn Kelly show
Welcome to the Megyn Kelly show live on SiriusXM channel 111 every weekday at noon east.

Megyn Kelly
Hey, everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to the Megyn Kelly show coming to you live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the final day of the Republican National Convention, which has been a banner week for the GOP and President Donald Trump so far. The grand finale is just out, hours away, and former President Trump will take to the stage to formally accept the republican presidential nomination tonight. This comes, of course, just days after he survived an assassination attempt which we all witnessed in front of our very eyes. And yet we're getting left wing loons, her suggesting it didn't happen. It was set up by Trump. We'll get into some of it. It's exactly three weeks to the day right now since that debacle of a CNN presidential debate.

It changed everything about this race to this day. It is truly remarkable to think about all that's happened since then just three weeks ago. Last night, however, belonged to Mister Trump's vice presidential running mate, JD Vance. As we've discussed on this program all week, Mister Vance's personal story is positively remarkable, uplifting and a true example of the american dream. So it made it all the more poignant to watch what happened on Wednesday night when he paid tribute to his mom, Beverly. We talked to you about Beverly earlier in the week when we went back over my long form interview with him and talked about hailbilly elegy. It was not an easy pass between these two. Beverly, her husband abandoned JD when he was just a baby. She had no money. She had a lifelong drug problem. She brought man after man into JD's home and some abused her in front of JD.

There were just a lot of troubles, and that's not unique to JD Vance. There are a lot of Americans who have childhoods just like that, and a lot of them don't make it out of places like Appalachia. But JD ultimately was raised more by his grandparents. His mother was loving and stayed involved, but his grandparents took the lead. And last night, his mom, Beverly, with whom he's managed to continue having a relationship despite her addiction. But she's ten years clean now. Was there.

She was there as her son delivered his first primetime speech as former President Donald Trump's running mate. What a moment. Take a look.

J.D. Vance
Our movement is about single moms like mine who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up. I'm proud to say that tonight, my mom is here. Ten years clean and sober. I love you, mom.

Megyn Kelly
Shady's mom.

J.D. Vance
And you know, mom, I was thinking it'll be ten years officially in January of 2025, and if President Trump's okay with it, let's have the celebration in the White House.

Megyn Kelly
I don't know if you've ever had anybody in your family who's an addict. You look at JD's mom and you know what he's going through. She's had a rough life. Can you imagine what it was like for her to stand there and see her boy up there as the potential next vice president of the United States? She could see her. You could see her saying, that's my boy. That's my boy. And good for him for elevating her in this way. Despite the difficult past over on the democratic side, it looks like this could be it. We could be nearing the end of President Biden's reelection campaign. I mean, it could come at any hour, despite his assurances that he's in it for the duration. That's not true. The dam breaking over the past 24 hours and how, as we learned Democrat after Democrat now encouraging him, you got to drop out. And shortly before we came to air, a report from axios said that top Democrats are privately telling Mister Biden that the rising pressure, quote, will persuade Mister Biden selling axios will persuade President Biden to decide to drop out of the presidential race as soon as this weekend. Reporting that it's not a question anymore of if, but when.

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Megyn Kelly
Joining me now, one of the people who knows the ins and outs of the Trump campaign better than almost anyone. He, too, delivered a remarkable speech last night. Donald Trump, the former president's son and host of the triggered podcast. Great to have you back, don. Great to see you.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Good to be here. Megan, how's it going?

Megyn Kelly
What a moment. Last night, it was great.

Donald Trump, Jr.
It was. The whole. The whole thing. This whole week has been spectacular. After. Let's call it a rather rough weekend. Yeah, that was pretty brutal.

The warmth, the love, it just. It's coalescing here, and you just feel it. It's palpable.

Megyn Kelly
What a difference between 16. When the party was more divided, republicans were like, we're not sure about this guy. We wanted somebody who was more mainstream, established, and now, eight years later, they've fallen in love with your dad.

Donald Trump, Jr.
It's 100% reversal. I mean, there was still. Remember, there was gonna be like a. Basically a proxy fight on the floor. I mean, I literally. In 16 in Cleveland, I literally almost got in a fistfight with Mike Lee, Senator Mike Lee of Utah, on the floor. Cause he was doing the Cruz thing, and they were trying to sort of get the ballot. And, like, this is now someone I text with probably daily. Like, he's become a good friend, but, like, we were literally almost in a fistfight now. I see that, you know, these people that they get it. People. JD was similar, right?

Megyn Kelly
Yeah.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Loved the idea of Trump. Didn't believe that he was gonna do the things. He had sort of bought into the media narrative.

And then when he started seeing the action, he goes, I was wrong. Right? Not just, okay, fine, I'll accept them. Reluctantly. It was, no, I was wrong. This is great. This is what we need to be doing.

Megyn Kelly
I understand. People are like, it's fake. He just said all of that so that he could get nominated as vp. And I look at it, I say, I wasn't a huge fan of Donald Trump back in 16. My own evolution on him is authentic as they come. Why can't we believe that it might be? And I have nothing to gain from that, correct. Nothing at all. I'm not gonna be vice president. I mean, why can't people believe that he actually saw him govern? He saw him bring a different set of policies and said, you know what? I'm persuaded he has the better argument.

Donald Trump, Jr.
100%. I mean, it was funny because I read hillbilly elegy when it came out. That was JD's story, the book. If you haven't read it, you have to, because the. The story is much more than you could see in a half an hour speech last night. It's absolutely incredible. And I was like, that's a guy we need to run for office.

It's not the sort of the typical checkbox thing. Like, yeah, he went to Yale law, but he went to the Marine Corps out of high school. It wasn't like some of the people would say, well, I served because I went to Yale law, and then I did my obligatory service so that I can run and become a politician and say that I'm a veteran, and that's fine, too. But to me, it's different. And to most of the veterans that I speak to, it's different just enlisting and doing it that way. So it was such an amazing story. So when he was, like, negative on Trump, I was like, it was like, oh, no, this is a guy that should be with. And then started coming around and come around. It sort of met, I don't know, a while ago now, towards the end of my father's term, talking a lot, hanging out, became really good friends with him. I was like, we got to figure out how to do this. And when he decided to run for the United States Senate, I sort of went all in for that for him in Ohio. And then, you know, in this sort of VP race, it was a. It was really interesting because you have all these sort of powerful forces that are not necessarily well intentioned.

Megyn Kelly
Right.

Donald Trump, Jr.
It's like, you know, the warmongers, it's like, we must have someone who can balance Trump because we have to keep the forever wars going. I'm like, I don't know.

Megyn Kelly
Well, I saw my best clue that it might be that it was gonna be JD, was you on your show saying, oh, sure, you know, we'll pick somebody who's like a neocon, and that'll be the best insurance that my dad gets impeached within two minutes.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Yeah. I said, you know, some of these guys, I was like, you know, not even the final three, but I'm looking at some of the list of the people that were. They were pushing. You know, when the establishment is pushing, it was the hopeless. I go, you know, my father's hand would come off the Bible and impeachment.

The hand has not quite left the Bible and the swearing and ceremony on January 20 and the articles of impeachment would be filed.

Megyn Kelly
But now it's not gonna be. I mean, now this is a legacy choice.

Donald Trump, Jr.
This is. And for me, it was also an important component to have, you know, JD, who's 39, have someone young, but that can carry sort of that America first mantle. So we don't just revert back to the failed policies of sort of establishment war mongers to keep that going. It's not about my father. It's not about me. It's about a movement for America putting us first. And you heard a lot of that, obviously, in the speech last night. I thought JD did an incredible job, but that's so critical for me. I'm not a politician. I don't do this for a living. It's not. I just care about our country.

My father does. That's sort of why he got into that. And I guess in 16. Oh, it's about Trump. You can see. It's really not at this point. I mean, it's about all of those people. It's the people who've been left behind across our country. It's the people who have been shamed because, as we were sort of discussing before the show, don't believe that trans women are also women and by the way, may not even care, but just don't want to hear about it endlessly and don't want to have to bend the knee to every. Yeah, they don't have to bend the knee to, like, ever changing pronouns and don't want them competing against their daughters for scholarships, you know, in sports.

Common sense. Yeah, it's about common sense.

Megyn Kelly
So this, as you reference, has been quite a week for your family.

It's amazing. It hasn't even been a week since the assassination.

Donald Trump, Jr.
It feels like a long time.

Megyn Kelly
Can we talk about the lunatics who are saying, it didn't happen, it was staged. He has no wound on his ear. He shouldn't be wearing that bandage. All of which I've heard on MSNBC.

Donald Trump, Jr.
These are real.

They're not just lunatics on, like, you know, daily coast. Yeah. Some Twitter handle, you know, lunatic 12345.

Megyn Kelly
Underscore hashtag Michael Steel, Joy Reidden. Many people on CNN as well.

Donald Trump, Jr.
No. Well, they're out there.

Megyn Kelly
Oh, we have Joy Reid. Let me play and then I'll get. And then let me let you react.

Joy Reid
We still don't know for sure whether Donald Trump was hit by a bullet, whether he was hit by glass fragments, whether he was hit by shrapnel. We don't have those details. We actually have no details from his physician. We knew almost nothing.

Megyn Kelly
Why?

Joy Reid
We know that three people were shot. One person, unfortunately, was killed at the rally.

We don't know where they were sitting or standing relative to him.

We don't know why for nine full seconds, Donald Trump was allowed to stand back up and pose for a photo. What is the actual injury to Donald Trump's ear that's under that bandage?

Shouldn't we know that by now? It's weird. And there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of curiosity about it.

Why isn't the New York Times, like, aggressively pursuing his medical records?

It's just weird.

Megyn Kelly
This is a sick person.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Truly. I mean, I'm a little upset that she got rid of the Trump wig that she's been wearing for the last couple of months. I always felt like, I'm like, he's really in your head. Like, you even adapted his hairstyle. But these people are. I mean, they're morons, but they're also just sick. I mean, it's like, I saw a couple of these takes, like, well, he wasn't shot enough. I'm like, wait, like, how much more do you want him to get shot in the face, other than seems pretty obvious. A lot more. Yeah, they want him shot a lot more. And so, you know, and I have heard from people who have seen it. It was pretty messed up. And by the way, we all saw it.

Megyn Kelly
Like, I saw it.

Donald Trump, Jr.
You see the picture, there's blood all over his face.

Megyn Kelly
And they say, what, on his ear?

Donald Trump, Jr.
Yeah.

I mean, he was hit, and, like, does. Okay, so the bullet intended for him. If it did, even if it did hit glass, and the glass shooter didn't hit him and fit, then.

Megyn Kelly
Doesn't count.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Intended for. Yeah, doesn't count. You still get a purple heart if you get hit with shrapnel. Right. It's a.

Megyn Kelly
But New York Times has pictures of the teleprompters. They're 100% intact. They're fine. It wasn't. I mean, I don't know what it was. It looked to me like it was a bullet.

Donald Trump, Jr.
What it was is divine intervention. Yes. When I see that, and, you know, for me, watching that and watching the takes, and, I mean, the dumbest take I've seen in the last, just this morning, sort of scrolling, was, if Joe Biden recovers from COVID That's the same.

Megyn Kelly
That's her, too.

Donald Trump, Jr.
That's the same as, you know, trump getting up and recovering from a. I want to drop the f bomb.

An effing gunshot. It's not the same.

Megyn Kelly
Can I show you? I'm gonna show the shower guys. That's that joy Reid moron again, doing this, but with Jen Psaki. Watch.

Joy Reid
Here's the question that I have on that.

These two men are both elderly. Donald Trump is an elderly man who for whatever reason, was given 9 seconds to take a iconic photo op during an active shooter situation.

Megyn Kelly
There she goes again. Weird situation.

Joy Reid
We'll figure that out one day. But his survival of that and bouncing right back and going right to his convention is being conveyed in the media world as a sign of strain. This current president of the United States is 81 years old and has Covid. Should he be fine in a couple of days? Doesn't that convey exactly the same thing? That he's strong enough, older than Trump, to have gotten something that used to really be fatal to people his age? So if he does fine out of it and comes back and is able to do rallies, isn't that exactly the same?

Donald Trump, Jr.
It should.

Joy Reid
I mean, it's not exactly the same. It's not the same incident, but it's all. It's an elderly man coming through out of an illness.

Donald Trump, Jr.
It should.

Megyn Kelly
It should.

Donald Trump, Jr.
The desperation, you know, the false equivalence that they're trying to. I mean, it's lunatic. I don't know what else to say.

Megyn Kelly
It's like, I feel like she's wishing Joe Biden got shot and your dad came.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Straw. But, like, you know, talk about them, just, how about Trump can walk. Trump is capable of going up a flight of stairs, completing a sentence. It's. It's not the same. But, you know, the desperation is amazing. It's just sad that this is happening. I mean, I dealt with this on the floor on Monday. My brother and I, you know, we were Florida delegates. I think Laura was as well.

And we got to cast the vote, the deciding vote, the 125 delegates of Florida, we got to cast those votes to throw my father over the threshold to make him officially the republican nominee. And so we're about to do this sort of big deal thing for a family, for just history and legacy, political tradition, whatever it is. And, like, 30 seconds before we're doing this, I'm getting assaulted by this MSNBC reporter that is like, so is Trump gonna bring back the hate and the victory? I go, well, guys, that was you. Like you said, Trump created chaos. But Russia, Russia, Russia was a concoction of the Hillary campaign, and you guys ran with it.

Megyn Kelly
We have it.

Donald Trump, Jr.
You still run with it.

You guys lied about these things. You lied about Russia. You vilified Americans. You called everyone a Nazi for the years. Like, you know, Trump has to respond. You can't just back into a corner and give up. I know you'd like him to do that. I was just like, well, you put kids in cages. And I was like, you mean the Obama cages and he lost his mind.

It's either he was too stupid to know that that was actually factually correct, that this was an Obama program. And by the way, I guarantee it's 100 times worse now under Joe Biden given the border crisis, but.

Or he was just incapable of intellectual honesty and his job as a regime propagandist.

Megyn Kelly
That's it.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Wouldn't allow that. It's probably both. I mean, this guy was clearly a moron. I was like, you're a clown.

Megyn Kelly
When I was at NBC, he came on my show during the Kavanaugh hearings and actually said, that man's been credibly accused by at least four or five women of sexual assault. And I said, that's absolutely untrue. When we got into Avenatti and his lunatic clients and the gang rape. Absurd.

Donald Trump, Jr.
How'd that work out?

Megyn Kelly
Yeah, exactly. I was no longer there.

But that's who he is. I mean, this leftist, you handled that. It was like an example in how to handle leftist media. You put him right in his place and it was, you know, everybody was standing up and cheering. You sick of the media doing it.

Donald Trump, Jr.
I think it was the most viral clip actually of the day. Someone told me they'd hit like 70 million.

Megyn Kelly
Like, because it looks like, let's just show it because now the audience wants to see it. Let's watch it.

Donald Trump, Jr.
What does that change going to look like, Don? What practically your father as president, I think you would even say was a divisive figure. What's it going to look like in the second term? I don't think he was a divisive figure at all. I think the media created divisiveness around him. They lied about Russia, Russia collusion. They said he was a traitorous, went after him in every which way as possible. If the media actually starts being an honest broker, talking about the things that he did, the prosperity he brought, the peace deals that he signed around the world, rather than the disaster that we're living right now, I think you do everyone in the country a big favor. I know immigration is important to him. I covered the family separation crisis closely, where we continue to see policies like separating 5000 children deliberately from their parents. You mean the Obama administration?

You know they didn't do that, sir. Sure. Will there be a second family separation policy? It's MSDNC. So I expect nothing less from you clowns. Even, even today, even 48 hours later, you couldn't wait. You couldn't wait with your lies and with your nonsense. So just get out of here.

Megyn Kelly
That was so well done. He's not an honest broker.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Not even a little bit, you know. Again, to the 48 hours comment, that was Monday. Right? So my father had been shot in the face 48 hours before. And, you know, thanks for the well wishes. That was the most restraint I'd ever showed.

Another guy in another situation sort of talks to me like that in that kind of situation.

Megyn Kelly
You know, he's a divisive figure.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Yeah. And he's trying to be, but that's the point. Like, they couldn't even wait to try to change the narrative, you know? They'll pretend this week that they hadn't been calling everyone in that convention center a Nazi for the last eight years.

Megyn Kelly
Did you see the Lincoln project after the assassination attempt, has a new ad.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Calling him Hitler, but it's all they have. They have to create that hate and vitriol, and it's the end of democracy. Remember the people who are talking about the end of democracy? The people who've called us fascists, they're trying to jail their political opponents. They're now trying to kill him. They've tried impeaching him. They've tried bankrupting him. They've tried taking away his businesses.

They've changed statute of limitations in laws to be able to go after things that were nonsense from.

They're the ones that are actually being fascist. Not even, you know, acting like it.

Megyn Kelly
How's he doing?

Donald Trump, Jr.
Honestly? He's doing great. It was, you know, Saturday obviously, was a rough and sort of somber day for me. I was literally my daughter last. Who? The girl who spoke last night. Cause I have five kids, so it's a lot of them.

Megyn Kelly
So many.

Donald Trump, Jr.
She was uncharacteristically, on Saturday. She was. Did the teenage thing of. That doesn't happen often, as you're starting to probably figure out. It's like, hey, dad, can we go out, go fishing or do something that I do? And I was like, wait, yeah, sure. 100%. So I took her and a couple of her friends out on the boat, and I get a call, your dad's been shot. And, like. And, like, you know, but what? We don't know anything. I'm like, that's like, it took 90 minutes for me to figure out, like, that he was even alive. I didn't, you know, I didn't know. And, you know, obviously rushed back home, got all my kids together, trying to explain to, you know, I have younger kids, too, because, you know, seven, you know, ten to 17, but I have five. So, you know, explaining to a ten year old that their grandpa got shot in the face. And, like, then you start seeing the videos, and it's like, well, is he okay? Is he not? And finally got through after an hour and a half. And, you know, but by then, I'd seen the video of him getting up and standing, standing defiant. I just said, you know what? You. You're the biggest badass I know.

Megyn Kelly
How did you feel when you saw that tape for the first time?

Donald Trump, Jr.
Honestly, I was so proud, because, you know, these days, everyone's a tough guy on the Internet, right? Everyone behind a keyboard from miles away, they'll, you know, talk smack to everything. And it's.

Until you've actually sort of been tested. I spoke about it a little bit, I guess, in my speech last night. Until you've actually been tested, you know, everyone thinks they're gonna come out that way, but 99% of them don't. And so every man.

Megyn Kelly
I said this. Every man pictures himself having a moment like that and doing what your dad did.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Every man thinks they're trump in that situation, but, you know, 99 out of 100 probably aren't, right, because they're normal humans.

Megyn Kelly
Yeah.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Cause, by the way, it's a natural defense mechanism. It was interesting. I was walking the floor on Monday, and two people came up to me. They were not there together, but they were both at the Butler rally, and they just happened to kind of run into it. I was at Butler. The other guy was like, oh, I was at Butler, too. And the one guy said, you know, your father saved a lot of lives that night. I go, that's right. What are you talking about? He saved a lot of life. He goes, when he got back up, because it was like 15, 20 seconds, he goes, all hell was breaking. Like, there was almost pandemonium. People gonna fall off the bleachers. They. Pandemonium. And one guy was like, yeah, I was on the press riser, and the other guy was on one of the raft, and he goes, it was about to be, like, a stampede, and people were gonna get hurt. When he stood back up and put his fist in the air and started saying, fight, fight, fight. Everyone stopped.

They took in the moment, and it was like, come.

I have to tell you, it was incredible. I would have never even thought about that. But the guy literally came up to me. He was like, that was. It wasn't just cool because it was defiant and badass.

It actually served a purpose in that moment for the people there that didn't get trampled.

Megyn Kelly
For me, it was so illuminating because I think so much of what your dad has done over the years, falls into that same fight mentality, and it reframes it all. You know, like, the guy who will pick a fight or send a tweet, whatever the people might like. That's part of the package. He's a fighter. He's not a flighter. Yeah, and that's exactly. That's just who he is. And it was, like, right there. And for me, it was like, ah, I get it all in a way. I never. And I was getting to get it, but that just brought it home.

That's the nature of who he is. It was a superhero moment for him.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Yeah. So that was a test. But you could. I think other people recognized that. They felt it even throughout his presence. There's a reason our enemies didn't invade our neighbors, because, like, I don't know, that guy's built different. You know, how's he gonna respond?

That's a guy you don't. He's not to be trifled with.

So I think he's always sort of probably exuded that. But again, you never know until you're actually put into that situation.

Megyn Kelly
He may have surprised him.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Now we know.

Byron Donalds
Yeah.

Donald Trump, Jr.
You know, I was like, just.

I thought the mug shot was an iconic photo.

Megyn Kelly
Yes.

Donald Trump, Jr.
And then the mug shot is now the equivalent of, like, my daughter drawing a picture of her grandpa in Crayon. You know what I mean?

It went from being an iconic vote. Oprah.

Megyn Kelly
Did you ask him, like, was he worried? Because I. When I was watching, I was like, there could be a second shooter, you know? Like, yeah, he wasn't thinking about that.

Donald Trump, Jr.
It's just. It's just not his nature. Right. So he just. He reengaged as quickly as he could, and that's what he did. And like I said, it's my first comment, sort of. That that was just badass. I could not have been more proud, you know, as an american, as a son, you know, in that moment. But it was. It was so heavy, you know, 90 minutes of waiting. I'm there with my kids and my ex wife and Kim, and then my brother was on speaker. Cause we finally like it. So we're going. And it's just. So then I was like, so how's the hair?

Megyn Kelly
Untouched.

Donald Trump, Jr.
I just needed to break. I was just like, okay. Like, you know, put your arms around him.

Byron Donalds
Done.

Donald Trump, Jr.
The hair is fine. There's a little. There's blood in it, but it's fine. It'll be okay. So I was like, okay, things are back to normal.

Megyn Kelly
So speaking of, what's going on, on the other side, because the juxtaposition, of course, of your dad's behavior this week versus is what we've seen from President Biden over the past three is stark.

You heard the intro, the reports on axios. It's not a question of if anymore, but when do you believe that and what do you make of it?

Donald Trump, Jr.
Listen, the Democrats just aren't, they're not going to give up. I mean, the fact that they lied to the american people that, you know, this guy was competent for four years is sort of hard to believe. Right?

Megyn Kelly
Sorry.

Donald Trump, Jr.
I think there needs to be accountability. I mean, I wrote a book in 2020 because, you know, we were locked down in Covid. I had nothing to do. I literally wrote a book called Liberal Privilege. My second chapter was unfit to serve. I had interviewed Ronnie Jackson, who was the White House doctor, a bunch of other doctors about the two brain aneurysms. Like, there's like a zero statistical percent probability that that doesn't affect you a lot, especially as you get older. And I was like, I'm looking at the guy, I'm like, there's no way. And then you see the rapid decline and everyone's been telling us he's fine. KAMALA Harris no, he's great. Joe Scarborough brilliant. Joe Scarborough this is the finest, finest, the smartest, sharpest Joe Biden we've ever seen. That was three weeks ago. Like, yes, these people are all in on it. It's the great, I said in my speech, literally, it's the greatest bait and switch ever pulled on the american people. And honestly, as a party, I think the Democrats need to pay some consequences for lying that badly. I think the media, who have been their lap dogs and their lackeys for so long, I don't think you can get away with that for that long, do you?

Megyn Kelly
I mean, most Republicans think it's better for Trump to face Biden because he's so weakened, but doesn't look like that's going to remain the case. Do you have a, do you feel differently about Harris versus Gretchen Whitmer versus Gavin Newsom?

Donald Trump, Jr.
Listen, I think the party of identity politics, I think they have a hard time passing over the first african american checkbox. Checkbox. All the accolades that they give her that don't actually mean anything.

They're going to bypass her for an old white guy. Like, I don't know. I think they have a hard time doing, I think they'd like to do that because I think, you know, if you, you know, the Kamala Harris word salads. You get her going and it's like she makes Hillary Clinton seem likable at times.

Megyn Kelly
You know, there's some making a big pitch for Hillary.

Donald Trump, Jr.
How would you like.

She may have given Joe Covid because she's trying to get him out of the way to get herself back in it. Okay.

So, yeah, it wouldn't surprise me. But that's the other point. Like that they're just going to choose someone else, bypass the democratic, you know, again, it's a sound bite for them. It doesn't actually mean anything. Right. They have a democratic process and they don't give anyone any options. They throw rfk off the ticket.

Megyn Kelly
So you like his chances against all these people. But what about, are you worried that the Republican Party might be getting overconfident?

Donald Trump, Jr.
Oh, I say nothing has changed since Saturday. Right? We don't.

People like, oh, it's over now. I go, nothing is over. There's no length. They won't go to, to win, to steal. Just assume nothing has changed. Pedal to the metal. You know, when you have that trillion dollar mainstream media complex that's functioning as their marketing department, when you have big tech doing the exact same thing, those are huge. The fact that elections are even close is almost remarkable when you think about what we are actually up against. And so I say nothing has changed. I'm not even remotely overconfident. I'm saying it's 50 50 at best, no matter what. And we have to stay engaged and fully focused.

Megyn Kelly
I want to tell you this just in, we talked at the top about Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, all going to Joe Biden. Tell him it's not going to happen. You're going to lose. This just in. Former President Barack Obama told his allies in recent days he believes President Biden needs to reconsider his candidacy, per the Washington Post, citing multiple people briefed on his thinking. He reportedly has only spoken with Biden once since his debate performance, but has expressed serious concern to his allies about the viability of Biden's candidate. It's done. Don't you think it's done?

Donald Trump, Jr.
I think it probably has to be. It's been done for a while. But it's like the real thing we're running against is not even Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. It's the failed Democrat policies.

Megyn Kelly
Yes.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Right. The border's closed, sure. But it's not the murders. The fentanyl crisis.

Megyn Kelly
We've been hearing that to this week.

Donald Trump, Jr.
The fentanyl crisis. I mean, think about. Found 100,000 deaths a year. That's Megan, that's two Vietnams a year. Right. You know, if you take the last decade, it's over half a million people. That's, it's, it's lunacy that we can't shut down our border. And they say, oh, it's secure. Great. We're good. You know, Venezuela crime stats are almost to zero because they're like, they're here. They're just send them over. Like, what could go wrong?

Megyn Kelly
I know you got to go, and I don't want, I want to be respectful of your time, but I have to ask you about the secret service situation.

The director, Kim Cheadle, was here last night getting chased down by some senators wanting answers. I know you've been very vocal on your show on Rumble, which is great, talking about what you believe. So what, what do you believe? There are a lot of Republicans who are now starting, starting to wonder whether there was. Yeah, listen, Secret Service is up to.

Donald Trump, Jr.
No good because of who I am. I can't be the guy to sort of lead off with the conspiracy. But it's sort of like Wuhan lab leak theory. Like, what else is there? Like, I've had a secret service, Dan, gross incompetence. I have. Well, no, because I know a lot of the guys involved. Maybe not there, but, like, you know, I've shot with the counter snipers. I came from a long range, competitive shooting background.

I know what these guys do. I shot with them. I've had guys that were part of those teams that literally have stayed at my house on the weekends on their free time because I've got a really good long range setup and everything like that to train. So a guy doesn't get on a roof for minutes with a rifle inside 150 yards. For those who don't know, shooting 150 yards shot is like, let's call it like a six inch puttin like, you don't miss that. It doesn't happen. So actually, I got sort of news. I was about to go live on my show, and then I did because Marsha Blackburn was walking by. She's like, oh, my God, Don. I just got off this call with the senators, and we're questioning at, it was 551 on Saturday night. 551, they got news that there's a guy with a rangefinder and a suspicious bag and I guess a ladder, you know, kind of stands out in a crowd.

Matt Taibbi
Yeah.

Donald Trump, Jr.
551 at 553, they saw that person on the roof with a rifle.

They let my father get on the stage at 06:00 p.m. so they knew for nine minutes. They knew that he was on a rooftop for seven minutes, and they let him get on the stage. I thought, like, okay, he was in the middle of the speech. The guy snuck you up during the speech. Maybe people were paying attention to what he was saying, and that's how you gotta lapse. Shouldn't be. But, ma. No, no, they knew before and they let him get on anyway.

Megyn Kelly
Has this been explained to you as a family member of the victim?

Donald Trump, Jr.
Well, one of them. I mean, I just heard it last night on marsh. I was like, can we talk about this on the show? Cause she was great videos.

Megyn Kelly
Secret service. No. Nobody said to you as the son, the family?

Donald Trump, Jr.
No. And again, listen, Sean Curran, who's like, my father's detail leader, the guy, the sunglasses, and that guy's a badass. That guy's a patriot. I'd never question his. You know, but that. That could happen again. I've had a secret service detail, and I've been exposed to my father's ex presidents. They all have that same detail. No way that happens there. But he's also been the presumptive nominee since, like, what, January?

That's a whole new level up. That cannot happen. It just doesn't. I know how thorough they are. I know what they did with me, which is a much smaller detail.

That does not happen. A guy can be on the roof. People are saying, no, but he's right there. Look, a guy with a rifle on.

Megyn Kelly
A roof for 20 minutes, who needs to investigate it? Who would you be satisfied with?

Donald Trump, Jr.
Some sort of independent body? They were like, well, the FBI. Oh, you mean the FBI that calls, like, concerned mothers at PTA meetings domestic terrorists, and, like, investigates you if you have a Bible or tried to undermine your dad's presidency? Sure, yeah, I'm sure they're gonna do a great job investigating. It's like OJ looking for the criminal, working around in a circle. Like, give me a break.

That doesn't work.

And that's the problem.

If they gave me the right answer, I'd still be suspicious. If I saw it. If they told me the sky was blue here, I'd be like, I don't know.

And that's the problem. I think I'm not the only American that has lost faith in all of these institutions.

Megyn Kelly
No.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Especially when we don't deserve my trust. They deserve my skepticism, because they've done nothing to earn my trust. They haven't been honest brokers in anything. You know, I always, you know, I sort of do the me versus hunter Biden comparisons. And, like, you know, I understand the media thinks I'm the worst human being in the world, but it's like, I don't know, number one, wait. I understand I'm not the upstanding citizen that he is, but, like, you know, I don't know. You tried me for. You wanted me. A crime punishable by death because of Russia. Like, that was all a lie. But the guy that's actually taking money from China, taking money from Ukraine, taking money from Russia. The laptop, you know. No, that was my laptop. 51 intelligence officers are not coming on board to sign off on it. Even if they, you know, even if it was real, they say it's probably real.

Megyn Kelly
Even if all of this is to point out the fallacy of these institutions being bored and trustworthy, I want to let you go because I know you got a heart out. But listen, it's great to see you.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Great to see you.

Megyn Kelly
God bless your family.

Donald Trump, Jr.
I really appreciate it.

Megyn Kelly
Really happy your dad's okay.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Thank you.

Megyn Kelly
Yeah. Wow.

Donald Trump Junior. Thanks to him for being here. Don't go away. We've got Byron Donald up next.

Welcome to the Megyn Kelly show
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That's fun.

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Megyn Kelly
Joining me now, Byron Donald, a republican congressman from the great state of Florida and an early Trump endorser and fan. Congressman, welcome back to the show.

Byron Donalds
It's good to be with you live.

Megyn Kelly
Yeah. So fun to see you in person.

Byron Donalds
Yeah, it's good to be with you.

Megyn Kelly
What a week.

Byron Donalds
This has been insane and insanely amazing. We may not just say insane. The energy in that arena from opening night on Monday was fantastic. Monday was so great. We were just like, how does this get better? And it has every single night. And I think the best thing overall is our party's unified.

I think, like, I've never seen, quite frankly, a lot of republicans really haven't seen. I think I'm comparing our level of unity to post 911. Yeah, that's kind of where it is.

Megyn Kelly
That's how it feels.

Byron Donalds
Yeah.

Megyn Kelly
I want to get into some of what we've seen at the convention, especially those gold star families last night. Before we go there, let me pick it up with you. Where I left off with Don Junior and the investigation into what happened on Saturday at this rally with President Trump. There was a briefing on Capitol Hill, and the reveals from the Secret Service who sat with senators and others were as follows. Okay, per, this is for Fox and NBC and New York Times. Altogether that Secret Service was aware of a threat ten minutes before Trump walked on the stage. That's what Don Junior said as well. Ten minutes before he walked on the stage. Insane that they let him walk on the stage. That's just right. I mean, I'm not a security expert, but even I, as a layperson can see you keep him in the armored vehicle. US Secret Service spotted the shooter before Trump took the stage. 20 minutes elapsed between the time he was first spotted and when he first fired. The FBI's interviewed 200 people. They found his cell phone, they unlocked the cell phone. They reviewed over 14,000 images. FBI Director Ray says no known foreign nexus, but no established motive. As of now, the shooter used encrypted comms and had little to no social media presence, which is weird for a 20 year old, but, you know, we'll see.

And then New York Times as well, saying he was acting, seen acting strangely by cops. Apply a police sniper 20 to 25 minutes before the shooting. You tell me how it is that they did not get Trump off of that stage and did not take him out sooner than they did.

Byron Donalds
This is all very concerning. This, the initial revelations of this, the call yesterday on DC, in DC, when we get these briefings from the administration, typically they give us nothing. In these briefings, a lot of the stuff they would say is even classified as stuff that's already moving around the Internet and moving around media. The initial briefing just is not good enough. There's many more details that we need. In my view, you got to have a person by person accountability list of who, what person on the ground notified their superior. What was that response? If they moved it up the chain of command, what was that response? What was the decision making process or quite frankly, the lack of decision making process that put Donald Trump Trump, or made it clear for him to be on the rally stage and for this, this shooter to just roam free or roam loose on the grounds? There is a chain of command here.

We need to get to the bottom of that. And look, it's a devastating thing, and it's about Donald Trump, but it's not. Barack Obama is a former president. Bill Clinton, former president.

George W. Bush, former president. They are still around. They are living, they've served. We may agree or disagree with their decisions when they were president, but we all want them to be protected. And so this is a major debacle in the hands of the Secret Service. We need to get answers immediately.

Megyn Kelly
I have to say, if I were Don Junior, if I were Kai Trump, his daughter who spoke last night, I just. The level of anxiety would be up, right? Like, we can't have random shooters targeting politicians, their families. It's just a new world if that's where we're going to. You know, I've heard a lot of people who are around back in 1968 say it was a very dark time. Of course, we had RFK, we had JFK, we had MLK murdered within the span of a few years. Nobody wants to see a return to that.

Welcome to the Megyn Kelly show
And.

Megyn Kelly
But without accountability and like a true sunlight being the disinfectant, people are gonna worry. Kim Cheadle was here at the RNC last night. She was directed the Secret Service. In an extraordinary moment, you had a bunch of us senators. Don Junior mentioned interviewing Marsha Blackburn, John Barrasso of Wyoming as well, chasing her down, demanding more answers. They were only allowed to ask four questions of her yesterday.

We've got a little bit of the table. Watch it. And then I'd love to know what your thoughts are on her allowing him to go on stage. Can you give us an explanation? Why would anyone allow presents to go on stage when you know you've got a potential friend and you've got snipers that are trying.

Matt Taibbi
With you?

Megyn Kelly
They're following her, picking up the pace.

And then the secret Service ferrets her away like she's the president, so that these us senators cannot question her.

Byron Donalds
So let me. Let me expound on a larger level. Then we're going to get back to, to Kim Cheadle. We have a real issue in the agencies of our government, you have the men and women that do the work every single day. In the secret Service, you have President Trump's core detail. They've been with him for years.

Those guys. They love him.

They literally will throw their bodies into harm's way, into harm's way to protect him. And throughout our government, a lot of our agencies, you have good, decent people who want to do the right thing. They want to do the job that they were hired to do and serve the people of this country. And then you see footage like that where you have the political brass of these agencies who are more concerned with covering up, they're more concerned with protecting themselves, and they do not want to be forthcoming with the critical information necessary in such a monumental situation like what happened Saturday in Pennsylvania. In my view, the response from secret service, from the political brass, should have been immediate details to members of Congress with the appropriate security clearances, legislative leadership in both chambers, and, of course, members of the intelligence committee to go through the timeline of chain of command decision making from the day that rally started up until the time of the shooting on that stage, then that's where you can have true accountability.

Megyn Kelly
How are they getting away with not doing that?

Byron Donalds
Because the Joe Biden administration, this is how they handle every crisis situation. They ignore Congress, they slow walk. There is no accountability. Donald Trump said it in the debate back in Atlanta. How come nobody's been fired? You've had debacle after debacle after debacle, but everybody keeps their job. You know, that is not the truth and that's not accurate. It is wrong, because what they're doing is covering up for their own incompetence as opposed to being truly held accountable.

Megyn Kelly
She's lying. The thing about the sloped roof, does anybody believe we didn't put secret Service on the roof where the shooter wound up because it has a slope?

Byron Donalds
Many of my colleagues who have served downrange, they've, they've been in the battlefield. They've all said very quietly, Corey Mills out of Florida has been very open about this.

Anybody doing a secure a, trying to secure a location, rooftops are some of the primary things you want to make sure you have control of. I'm not a military man. I've not done security, security work. But like you said earlier, this is common sense stuff.

Megyn Kelly
They got, the sharpshooters who were, there were on roofs that were more sloped than that one.

Byron Donalds
Exactly.

Megyn Kelly
So it just doesn't, I mean, that's.

Byron Donalds
It doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense. There's a failure here. And instead of running, listen, Marsha Blackburn, God bless her, she is tough. She's one tough customer. But Marcia's all a five foot two. What are you doing running from her? You can't stand there and have a conversation with a United States senator who has serious concerns about the security apparatus around President Donald Trump. That's obscene to me. And look, I don't know what's going on with Joe Biden, and we'll probably get to that, but it's incumbent upon the White House to make sure that they take control of this investigation and not just slink into the background like they are amped, like they're want to do too often, because these are serious answers that are not political. This is about the very fabric of our republic moving forward, because presidents have to be protected, their families have to be protected.

Megyn Kelly
And if they're not, it's not just, with all due respect, not just about their lives. It's about our country.

Byron Donalds
That's exactly right.

Megyn Kelly
We'd be in a totally different place right now if President Trump's life had been taken on national television.

Byron Donalds
Yes.

Megyn Kelly
So it's been totally dissatisfactory. And every day we learned that they had this guy in their sights for far longer than we knew without adequate answers. And Kim Cheadle literally now on the run, treating herself like she's a president behind the protection of secret service to get away from us. Senators who represent us, they're, you know, you guys all represent us.

Byron Donalds
That's right.

Megyn Kelly
That's who's trying to get answers. It's very frustrating. Let's talk about President Biden because the news today is he's gone. I mean, the axios reporting according to, citing top dems, it's no longer a question of if but when. Pelosi, Schumer, Jeffries, and the news just breaking that even Obama is signaling now he's got to go.

Do you think he will?

Byron Donalds
Yes, I do. And I was one of the last holdouts on the, that Joe Biden's not going to be on the ticket.

And it's not about the fact that his job was terrible. It's about the fact that he let the cat out of the bag, that he mentally is not capable of four more years, let alone four more months. That's just the fact of the matter. And because his lack of capabilities was exposed on the world stage, now the Democrats are running for cover. They knew this was going on. But because Joe Biden was a vessel for their agenda, it was okay as long as you didn't have too much access to Joe Biden, everything is okay. He's the leader. He's in charge. Joe knows the right thing. We've all heard the talking points. Jill BIDEN and, oh, good gosh, Jill Biden looks detestable in this entire situation. Joe, you did great. You answered all the questions like, this is not a spelling bee. This is not a school play. You're talking about the presidency. He is supposed to be in charge of the agencies like we just talked about, with one of them in charge of directing our military in operations around the globe. And this man can't go toe to toe with his opponent. They are embarrassed. Not for Joe Biden. They're embarrassed for themselves. And this is why they're getting rid of him so fast.

Megyn Kelly
Adam Schiff, very prominent congressman running for Senate out in California, very closely with Nancy Pelosi, one of the first to come out on the record and say he needs to go in this, in this.

Byron Donalds
You knew, you know, he was not going to do that without Nancy's blessing.

Megyn Kelly
So this is what I got to say. It was literally, what, two months ago, he was shaming Robert Herr, the special counsel who looked into Joe Biden and classified documents and had one line in his report saying, we can't really bring a case because he's a well meaning elderly man with a poor memory cross examined. And it was Adam Schiffde examined Robert Hur, like he had done something absolutely disgusting and unnecessary, including that line. Now he's out with his own opinion piece that he's got to go. He's not firm. He can't do the job. He can't win the hypocrisy. As if, I guess everything was revealed to him in that debate.

Byron Donalds
Well, listen, Adam Schiff has a, he has a doctorate in hypocrisy. The man will shift his statements anytime in order to protect himself and to protect the political agenda. And it's important for the american people to understand, I want to, I want to restate this case.

It's about their agenda. Joe biden was just the vessel for it.

He got, according to them, a lot of things done. They've been detrimental to the country. If joe biden can stand on a debate stage for 90 minutes, if he could do a press conference for 1 hour without a note card of who to call on and just take questions in round robin, they will be saying, he's the best thing since sliced bread. He's the best progressive president we've ever had. Better than fdr better than lbjdeheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh. Run, joe, run. Go, joe, go. But because he can't do the actual front facing job that a president has to do, he's gotta go. And the reason why they're moving him out so fast is because now he's damaging senate races and he's damaging house races and it's now every man for themselves. But this is why you should have had a primary process. They had an opportunity. Dean phillips ran. Rfkj, tried to run. They got him out of there. It's a real debacle.

But also for their voters because their voters are the ones who are not getting their voices.

Megyn Kelly
So listen to this absurdity. There's actually a threat now.

He's not going to get a presidential library if he doesn't get.

Byron Donalds
He doesn't deserve one.

Megyn Kelly
Here's the quote in axios from some top Democrat, unnamed. His choice is to be one of history's heroes or to be sure of the fact that there will never be a Biden presidential library. I pray he does the right thing. He's headed that way. And then they go on to the not, not if anymore, but when. But this is really the threat that we're gonna take away your library and all your friends or we'll make you a hero.

Byron Donalds
So you know what? What that op ed demonstrates is these are the, I don't wanna say the threats, but these are the carrots for him to get out. Joe, just leave and we'll make sure you have a great library. Joe, just leave and we'll make sure you're canonized as a great american legacy. Your legacy will be intact.

I'm not going to speak for them. We'll take care of Hunter. Don't worry about it. But if you stay, we're taking it all away and it's indicative of what's happened in politics in our country for far too long. Joe Biden is a creature of the old way of politics. Somebody who came along, stood behind the party no matter what, shifted his opinions. Don't forget what Kamala Harris said about him back when they were debating in the primary back in 2019, 2020, how she talked about his, about how he was as a United States senator, things he supported when he came into the United States Senate. He has shifted his opinions over 50 years for political power and so he could always have a seat at the table. So we would have an opportunity to at some point be president. And now they're going to take the legacy pieces away from him if he stays.

Megyn Kelly
Can I pick up on what you said about Adam Schiff being very close to Nancy Pelosi? So you believe he would not have written that piece without her blessing?

Byron Donalds
I don't think, I don't think anybody at the top of the food chain over there in the California delegation moves a muscle without Nancy Pelosi.

I came in her last, her last term as speaker of the House. From what I've seen from the republican side of the aisle, Nancy ran that place with an iron fist. Nobody moves a muscle unless Nancy Pelosi okayed it.

Megyn Kelly
She seems to be the number one most powerful Democrat in the country right now. And I include Joe Biden in that. Given his current state.

Byron Donalds
It's her and it's Barack Obama, and.

Megyn Kelly
He'S not saying anything. But behind the scenes, according to this, reporting from the Washington Post is starting to push. So I think they're right. We're just now on like the tick tock talk watch. All right, Byron, Donald stays with us, and there's a lot more to get to. If you didn't see what happened with the gold star families last night, you must. We've got it for you and we'll show you. Don't go anywhere.

Welcome to the Megyn Kelly show
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Byron Donalds
A bullet couldn't stop trump.

Matt Taibbi
A virus just stopped Biden.

You've got the nominees of this party.

Byron Donalds
Getting their butts kissed.

Matt Taibbi
Biden's getting his butt kicked by his own party.

The Democrats are coming apart. The Republicans are coming together.

Megyn Kelly
That's Van Jones. Welcome back to the Megyn Kelly show. My guest is Congressman Byron Donald of Florida. And that was the truth.

Byron Donalds
Couldn't say it any better myself. That's exactly what's happening.

Megyn Kelly
They, the real reason that of course they want Joe Biden gone is, as you said, self preservation and the polls and the hits of the polls just keep on coming. Today. There's just an average of polls. Hold on a second. This is just Virginia real care politics. Average of polls in Virginia. Virginia, which is blue now, used to be red, then it turned purple, now it's blue.

Trump is up 43.8%, 43.4. I haven't seen that since I, like, before I became a reporter.

Byron Donalds
Right.

Megyn Kelly
And then there's a new Emerson poll out. Hold on a second. My team is going to send it to me because I have a morass of polls that we've been sending each other.

But it's, it's a bloodbath and that's what's really behind the scenes here. So you tell me whether switching out Biden actually helps them down ballot in these critical swing states.

Byron Donalds
I think they think so. The question is, they know Joe Biden. There's no shot.

Maybe Kamala Harris gives them a 10% shot, some shot. So you got to look at it that way.

Megyn Kelly
Here it is. Hold on. Let me read it. Arizona, Trump is up seven. This is the Emerson poll that just hit Georgia. Trump's up six. Michigan, part of the blue wall, Trump up three. This is over Biden. Nevada, Trump up five. I still can't get over Nevada. That, that is not a red state anymore. Like that to North Carolina, Trump up seven. That's still considered a swing state. He's up seven. Pennsylvania up five. Five. Big Wisconsin up five.

Byron Donalds
That's huge.

Megyn Kelly
Five.

Those are like the blue wall is what? Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. And Trump is up three to five in all of them, not to mention North Carolina. They're talking about New Hampshire, Virginia, Trump's up. And the real clear politics of all, average of all polls. So this is spelling bloodbath.

Byron Donalds
I think New Hampshire is in play.

I really do. But I think, take a look back. Take a step back. All those polls, he's winning. Yes.

And it's a couple of things. The Democrat agenda has been a disaster. So before you even get to who your messenger is, you still don't have a message. The agenda has been a disaster.

Then the law, fair, backfired because it had people who are independently minded look at Trump and say, well, now, wait a minute. I don't like the tweets. I don't like this. I don't like that. But you're not a criminal. Why? Why are they doing this? That just doesn't seem right. And the american people, if they're, if anything, they have an innate ability to realize when something is fair and when something is right or when something is wrong and something is just disgusting and unpalatable, and they watch that with the law fair as it continued to bubble up, then you have Joe Biden's lack of capability.

And that's how you get polling numbers like that. That.

Megyn Kelly
Do you think this is from the debate? This is pre post debate. I think pre the assassination attempt that was speaker one.

Byron Donalds
What you have there is the debate and then the avalanche of the media now having to reverse course completely and talk about Joe Biden's capability because they made the decision, I'm quite sure in Atlanta that decision was made very quickly. He's got to go, what's the game? The key is, what's the game plan to get him out?

Megyn Kelly
This is what life could be like if the media would just report the news. Truthfully, his mental competence issues are on the nose and have been for some time. If they'd been doing their job and reporting about it, they even, they could have seen these numbers months ago. Had a real primary chosen, a real candidate, I think President Trump would have said, fine, give me whoever you want. Like, I'll run against any of these people. But the news media tried to cover up his problems. And now that they're doing their jobs.

Yes, the debate we all saw. But then the coverage post debate, as you just point out, the numbers are falling precipitously.

Byron Donalds
Yeah. And they have to do it now because now they're trying to preserve their own credibility. So you have Democrat members in the House and in the Senate trying to preserve themselves. And now the media is trying to preserve whatever element of credibility they have left. And I think the one thing that's been really cool, especially, I would say, in the maturity of the social media environment, I think, like back in 2000, 820 twelve, this was the infancy of social media.

The Democrats talk so much about how the Obama team used that and fueled that to push his campaign.

We went through this period in early adolescence where social media, we didn't really know how to deal with it. You had massive amounts of suppression of information, so on and so forth. Fourth, and now we're moving into this third wave of 24 hours media, social media, where now there are developed sources that are alternative or adjacent to the New York Times, CB's, NBC, et cetera. You have your show, obviously ruthless. Ben Shapiro, the Daily wire guys. I don't want to plug everybody else on your screen.

Megyn Kelly
I love them. No, I love all those guys.

Byron Donalds
But now you have avenues for people to get other information or compare information, do it in real time. Do it when you're waking up, scrolling through your phone, because everybody in America does that. Now you scroll through your phone for.

Megyn Kelly
About ten minutes, because you can scroll and get real info.

Byron Donalds
What Elon did. Buying X is also a part of what you're seeing in those polls, because now you have people who knew they didn't believe what they saw, seeing information over here, demonstrating that you had the main media still pushing their propaganda in their narratives, and now they're having to do a complete retraction of that.

Megyn Kelly
They don't control things anymore.

Byron Donalds
They don't control.

Megyn Kelly
They're starting to realize it. That's right.

I want to talk about this news just coming in that Trump was reportedly briefed privately by secret Service on what went wrong that day. That makes sense to me. You know, I was asking Don Junior, you as a family member, you haven't been told. You would think they'd say to the family, here's what happened.

But it appears that, insofar as it's the man himself, he did receive a briefing. And I have to say, the Trump family has been very gracious toward the Secret Service. Yes. And that's kind and, you know, respectful and very classy. But the rest of us are entitled to answers, because they don't. They're not our full time body duty, and we need to know whether he's safe.

Let's move on to what happened last night, because it was an extraordinary night at the convention. I thought JD Vance did a great job. I'm gonna be honest. I thought it was long. I thought that's just, you know, tight. Right? Tight. And my husband had a great observation, which is, you know what?

Speeches in general are better if they're not on prompter.

Byron Donalds
They are.

Megyn Kelly
You know, Sarah Palin, when she came in as John McCain's nominee, I was there in St. Paul, Minnesota, and she came out. She electrified the room. Electrified it. Her prompter had broken. She did it all. Just had to do extemporaneously. And she was actually very good at that. Yeah, prompt a long, like, before we had prompters 100 years ago. They went on forever, but, like, people would just speak off the cuff, and it was more compelling. Anyway, I love JD, but I'm against the prompt.

Byron Donalds
Tell you a quick story about that.

Megyn Kelly
Yeah.

Byron Donalds
So getting into the hotel, I think it was Monday afternoon before I spoke on Monday, and Tucker was in the lobby. And by the way, I'm Tucker's member of Congress, so I represent Tucker.

Megyn Kelly
Oh, does he call you all the time?

Byron Donalds
Absolutely. Nonstop. Why are you voting on this? What are you doing? He does it all the time.

Megyn Kelly
Why is my garbage still full?

Byron Donalds
No, no, that's the county commission. I don't touch that stuff. That's why I will never run for local government. God bless the people that do. But that ain't me. I'm not gonna do it. But we were talking about the prompter, and I said, I said, yeah, I'm speaking tonight. I just got finished going through a session. I don't like the prompter. He goes, oh, I'm not using it. I'm like, what do you mean?

Everybody's got to use it. He's like, I'm not using it.

Megyn Kelly
I don't. I'm not surprised.

Byron Donalds
He talked about how he's like, I just don't like the. He's like, I am an orator. I don't like these things called written words. I don't want to deal with that. It was a funny moment.

Megyn Kelly
Well, it's funny, too, because Tucker's a great writer, so he easily could write himself a great speech, but it does come across less authentic, and you just feel a little less connected as the listener. But anyway, I loved the world War two vet, right?

Byron Donalds
That guy was.

Megyn Kelly
He was so sweet. Who got up there and said, if Donald Trump. Oh, we have it. Okay, good.

Byron Donalds
I gotta hear it again.

Megyn Kelly
You know, when I was fighting in.

Byron Donalds
Europe.

Megyn Kelly
And I came back home, I kissed the ground, thanking God that I'm back home in my country and President Trump back in command, commander in chief.

I would go back to the reenlist today.

Aw, God bless, right?

Byron Donalds
That's amazing.

Megyn Kelly
That was in a Wisconsin hometown, guy, 98 years old, and it's, you know, we were there. My son was with us, and he's only ten. And I was so glad he got to hear him. You know, in the not too distant future, there will be no more world war two veterans alive and available to tell their stories.

An honor. And I credit to the Trump campaign for highlighting him.

Byron Donalds
They've created an incredible atmosphere at this convention.

I'm glad that a bunch of us electeds don't have 15 minutes speeches in 20 minutes speeches. Because, first of all, if you can't make your point in five minutes, you don't have a point. JD gets his time because he's the vice presidential nominee, and he deserves that time, and he needs to. And it's his opportunity to obviously introduce himself to the. To the nation, into the world. And that's. That's very, very important. But to hear the stories from Americans who live in every city of this country have dealt with, obviously, tragedy and crisis because of policies from the Biden Harris administration. To hear directly from them, as opposed to hearing about their stories through us, is so powerful, so impactful. I've run into a couple of the speakers, like, out here in the convention area, and they go, oh, my gosh, can I take a picture? And I'm like, no, can I take a picture? Because it was so moving, so awesome to see it.

Those speeches are going to be the ones I believe, and I'm not going to talk for the Trump campaign, but I believe those are the stories, those are the speeches that you're going to see nonstop through this campaign in social media time and time again, again, because they're compelling and it's real.

Megyn Kelly
They're real.

Byron Donalds
And that's why, that's what's going to help move voters, I think, in politics today. Real authenticity, not slick haircuts and great lines at a podium.

Megyn Kelly
The gold star families last night were such a moment.

They got up there. These are the surviving parents of those who were lost in Afghanistan in our disastrous withdrawal at Abbey Gate, who spoke of how President Biden forgot their children's sacrifice when he said at that debate that he never lost a soldier on his watch in his time as president and more. Take a listen.

Donald Trump spent 6 hours in Bedminster with us, and for the first time since nicole's death, I felt I wasn't alone in my grief.

Thank you. Joe Biden said the withdrawal from Afghanistan was an extraordinary success.

An extraordinary success.

Look at our faces.

Look at our pain and our heartbreak, and look at our rage.

That was not an extraordinary success.

Joe Biden may have forgotten that our children died, but we have not forgotten.

They have not been transparent about their failures and their so called leaders work to protect themselves rather than our sons and daughters who took the oath to defend our country.

When Hunter and the other service members.

J.D. Vance
Bodies were returned to the US in Dover, Delaware, Joe Biden met the plane.

But he made the occasion more about his son lost to cancer than our sons and daughters lost on his watch.

Worse than that, he has never said their names out loud.

And during last month's debate, he claimed.

Megyn Kelly
No service members have died during his administration.

None.

J.D. Vance
That hurt us all deeply.

Megyn Kelly
Joe Biden has to go now. We have another son serving in the army, and we do not trust Joe.

Byron Donalds
Biden with his life.

Megyn Kelly
Those poor parents and family members that by far was the most powerful, and you could feel their anger. This is a man who just yesterday was in the news for saying to Democrats on Capitol Hill, I'm the greatest president on foreign policy of all time.

I guess he forgot about Abby Gateshead.

Byron Donalds
It's so disgusting even to hear him say something like that because we've all seen the fallout. Like my wife, she was crying when this was happening. There were tears all through this arena. But around the country, people who watched that segment, the raw emotion from that day when Afghanistan fell and we lost 13 of our soldiers, men and women, serving this country because of a incompetence and ineptitude.

It was so emotional, so raw, so real and again, and it was said in that clip, and this is important, it kind of goes back to the top, they never accepted, they never had to deal with the consequences of that action. In the Biden administration, nobody was held accountable.

That has been a persistent theme in this administration. Crisis happens, cover it up. Don't accept responsibility. Don't accept blame for anything. Nobody gets fired over something. You telling me these guys have been batting a thousand? That is not true. We all know that they're barely batting 100. I mean, this is terrible what they've done.

Megyn Kelly
You don't make a mistake like that when it comes to law, servicemen and women. And he did, and then he didn't even try to fix it. Why is President Trump, who wasn't even president when this happened, spending 6 hours with these families and Joe Biden is checking his watch, just even when he's there to greet the bodies as they.

Byron Donalds
Return home, checking the watch, are talking about Beau. And listen, beau Biden dying. Yeah. Nobody wants to lose a child.

But you can't, you can't interject your personal grief when you're trying to be sympathetic to others, when you're trying to be compassionate for somebody else, especially when you're having to meet the families of soldiers who died on your watch. Nobody cares about what happened in your family. You have to care about what's happening in their family, in their moment, in.

Megyn Kelly
Their time, especially when you made the decision that cost their lives. It's not some random passerby. It's always inappropriate to bring up your own grief and your own story when listening to somebody else's grief, but especially when you're ultimately the man who made the call to put them in harm's way. It's just, oh, so far, the convention has been filled with these moments of heartache, but really motivating moments, too. The heartache is being told for a reason. My mother's pain at losing her son to fentanyl overdose, a brother's pain at losing his sister to a brutal crime incident, rape and murder, families who have been affected by illegal immigrants committing harm against their loved ones, and then the gold star families. And I think it's appropriate to bring home what the real life consequences have been.

So we've been talking in and out about he may go, looks like he's going to go. So who then, right? Look at this. This just hit from insider advantage. This gets a good rating on the average of polls, and it has a matchup. This is post assassination and it's likely voters, the best voting group between Trump and Harris.

Georgia, Trump's up ten.

Florida, Trump's up ten. Pennsylvania, Trump up seven. Nevada up ten over Harris. Arizona, up six.

Right now she's not looking like the second coming.

Byron Donalds
No.

Megyn Kelly
And so do you think, I know all the DEI, how are they going to bypass a black woman when that's like their voter base and all that?

But they are practical people over on the Democrat side and they do know how to win. So what do they do?

Byron Donalds
Well, first and foremost, they're not stepping over Kamala Harris.

Megyn Kelly
They do not. They're not.

Byron Donalds
Dude, they would have so many infrastructure disasters in their party if they stepped over her. So that's not gonna happen. I don't see that happen. And secondarily, they have a major money situation.

In my view, Joe Biden has to accept the nomination and then not run.

Megyn Kelly
Okay, explain that.

Byron Donalds
So the way I understand it, and we should definitely have campaign finance people on to explain this, but the way I understand it, that all the money that they've raised has been for the Biden Harris joint fundraising committee. So it's the two of them together.

The money is his to spend because he's at the top of the ticket.

But if he doesn't accept the nomination, then that committee cannot spend that funds on another candidate. He would have to accept the nomination and then step down from the ticket. And then she actually moves into top position on that ticket. And then they would probably have a convention style situation where the congressman want the money. Vice president. But you're talking about $200 million.

Megyn Kelly
You raise that again with these motivated Dems who are like, it's all hands on deck, Trump, you probably could, but.

Byron Donalds
Why would you take that chance, especially considering.

Megyn Kelly
Because she's not likable.

Byron Donalds
But you have, now you have, this is where the Democrats entire apparatus of voting is backfiring against them because they have a lot of states where ballots are going out right after their convention. Pennsylvania. I think they go out with the first week of September, I think that's when they go out in Pennsylvania. So people are going to get ballots and they're going to start voting those ballots while she's running around the country raising money. At the end of the day, raising money is a hard thing. It's hard enough to raise $10 million. You had to raise $300 million. So they're going to need that money to even be able to mount a campaign. So there's some structural stuff, which is why I think it's going to be her and then whoever else they put on that ticket. It's going to be very difficult for them to step over her. They already have a problem with black men. If they have a problem with black women, those polling numbers become actual results on November 5.

Megyn Kelly
Wow. There's just not, there's not a lot of great options facing Democrats. And you know what? It's their own fault.

Byron Donalds
Serves them right.

Megyn Kelly
It's their own darn fault. There's also another report out today that Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the co chairs of his reelection and the biggest fundraiser, I think, certainly out of Hollywood, who's got an unlimited funding ability, has said to Joe Biden, the donors are gone.

Byron Donalds
Yeah, they're gone.

Megyn Kelly
The money's done.

Byron Donalds
Listen, I was hearing him on Capitol Hill before the convention very quietly. I'm not going to name the Democrats. But they were like, no, he's done.

Megyn Kelly
It's over.

Byron Donalds
It's over. We're not doing this.

It's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when.

Megyn Kelly
Is there last question. Is there any chance he announces this if it's true, like tonight, tomorrow, to steal Trump's thunder?

Byron Donalds
I don't think so. And I mean, stealing Trump's thunder, I mean, it's only going to feed into what Trump's doing up here because this is Trump's first public address since Pennsylvania. It will still be the bigger story. I think if I'm in their mind for a moment, I'm going to try to lay out what I think might happen. The Olympics are next week.

I think Kamala Harris is probably going to go over to Paris.

This is gonna be one of the great repackagings of the next wave in american leadership.

Megyn Kelly
She'll go from the bridesmaid to the bride.

Byron Donalds
Absolutely. It'll, it'll be Cleopatra. It'll be amazing stuff. They're gonna try to repackage her the best that they can. And then when they have to do their little convention of the, the, what is it, the video one or whatever they gotta do.

Megyn Kelly
Yeah, right.

Byron Donalds
Then you'll do the handle switcheroo because.

Megyn Kelly
And he'll blame Covid.

Byron Donalds
Well, listen, as far as I'm concerned, with the way this thing has gone, he's had long, Covid, for three and a half years.

This administration has been an absolute disaster. And transitioning to her, the key thing is what has she actually ever done?

She's risen very, very fast. Now she's vice president.

When did she actually do anything of consequence? The last time would probably be when she was attorney general. And if the stories and Tulsi Gabbard does it better than anybody, when you go through her record when she was attorney general, it was highly political and it was abysmal.

And now you're going to put that in the Oval Office? I don't think so. We need Donald Trump back.

Megyn Kelly
Wow. Byron Donalds, what a time to be in politics, in news, in America. Never seen anything like this. So great to have you on the set.

Byron Donalds
Thank you.

Megyn Kelly
All the best to you.

Byron Donalds
Thank you.

Megyn Kelly
To be continued. Okay, don't go away because Matt Taibbi is up next. And we are going to go over some of the journalistic malpractice we are seeing everywhere this week. I'm Megyn Kelly, host of the Megyn.

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Megyn Kelly
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Donald Trump, Jr.
Go to serious siri xm.com mkshow to subscribe and get three months free. That's siriusxm.com mkshow and get three months free. Offer details apply.

Megyn Kelly
It's so windy here in Milwaukee and we're in this booth that's like a wind tunnel. Maintaining the hair has not been an easy project.

In the wake of the news that Joe Biden almost certainly. Am I going too far? I don't think so. Is going to drop his bid for reelection, we decided to take a stroll down memory lane and look at the show that has, hands down, had the most emotional story arc. We're of course, referring to Morning Joe and it's star Joe Scarborough. There has been no one who has defended President Biden quite like he has. After the Robert Hur report called the president a well meaning elderly man with a poor memory, Joe was enraged. He told us Biden is cogent. In fact, more than cogent. He was insulting him by calling him just merely cogent. He's better than ever. Then, after the debate, Joe Scarborough admitted that Joe Biden tragically did not rise to the occasion. Then it was, hold on, dems. Give Mister Biden time to decide his own fate. Anything could happen. A resurrection of sorts. And now Scarborough is back to admitting it's not going to end well if this keeps dragging out. Would you watch this?

Joe Scarborough
Soldi, when I said he was cogent? He's far beyond cogent. In fact, I think he's better than he's ever been. He spent much of the night with his mouth agape and his eyes darting back and forth. He couldn't fact check anything done. Donald Trump said he missed one layup after another after another, tragically did not rise to the occasion last night. This is the last chance for Democrats to decide whether this man we've known and loved for a very long time is up to the task of running for president of the United States. It is July 5.

This happened eight days ago, and decision time is not upon us yet. I think we should first honor a Mandev who was first on the ballot 54 years ago by giving him the time and the space to make his decision. Such an historic decision should not be made in haste. But Joe Biden now has what I would dream of having if I were running for president. Joe Biden now can say he's having to fight media elites, billionaire donors, Washington politicians. You know, it's, it's really incumbent on people that are around Joe Biden to step up at this point and help the president and help the man they love and do the right thing.

This is not going to, this is not going to end well if it continues to drag out.

Megyn Kelly
Oh, Joe, Joe.

You know what came to mind as soon as I watched those clips? Who remembers the movie? Sybil, here's a short little clip.

No, you keep them away from me. I will, I will, I will do it. I will do it.

Donald Trump, Jr.
I just love you today.

Megyn Kelly
Around the neck.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Just tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle.

Paper is valuable. Paper is valuable. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It's valuable.

It's valuable.

You can see now.

Megyn Kelly
I'm dying.

My team put the civil clip together. Well done. Joining me now, Matt Taibbi. He's editor of Racket news on substack. You're the perfect person to have today.

Matt Taibbi
Oh, thank you. Great to be here, Mickey.

Megyn Kelly
I mean, it's really like the stages of grief, right? Denial, bargaining, anger, acceptance.

Matt Taibbi
Yeah. Dabda, right? I forget. Isn't that what it is? Yeah.

Megyn Kelly
Yeah. That's what we're watching play out before our very eyes. And I, you know, I would be remiss if I did not call on the mika Saad, because she, too, is finally after her. I mean, she just repeated the White House, White House talking points when she came back on the air and tried to say, we didn't see what we saw with the debate.

Matt Taibbi
Right.

Megyn Kelly
It was all his advisors faults for sending him on in nine time zones, you know, two weeks ago for the debate, but now even she's coming to see reality. Watch her.

The dems need to get. Get it together. They really need to get whatever they've got going. Whatever it is. The problem should not be our candidate. The focus should be on Donald Trump.

You know, it may or may not be Joe Biden. I trust Joe Biden's abilities. I also trust Nancy Pelosi's political acumen. Nobody knows politics more than her. If there is a change, it's got to be a change that gets Barack Obama behind the candidate, Michelle Obama behind the candidate, George W. Bush behind the candidate, former presidents and world leaders and people who understand the importance of democracy.

A cumin, that's not.

Matt Taibbi
I think it's acumen, isn't it?

Megyn Kelly
Cumin, that's a spice.

Matt Taibbi
Yeah, I was gonna say, you put a little bit of in your chili, I think.

Megyn Kelly
So how about the problem should not be our candidate? Refresh me on how that happened again. Was it people like these two?

Matt Taibbi
Well, the phrase is almost word for word what Joe Biden said in a meeting with donors. He said, the bullseye should be on Trump. Right? I mean, that's a DNC talking point. The focus should be on Trump.

But, yeah, no, that entire reel, it's actually worse than that, because if you go back far enough, remember they were hyping Donald Trump once upon a time.

Megyn Kelly
I remember.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Right.

Matt Taibbi
Oh, it was an epic moment when you're on stage there in South Carolina or wherever it was. So they've. You pick Sybil, I think, of Game of Thrones, that character who could change his face on demand. Right. You know, so. But it's like that. You comedy writer, couldn't come up with something better.

Megyn Kelly
They're so insincere. Here's one more of Scarborough, longer of him. And listen to who he's, like, blaming, like, who he thinks is to blame for the position Joe Biden's in right now.

Joe Scarborough
We have known him for a long time. Mika and her family, extraordinarily close to the Bidens, have always felt the connection.

You know, it's really incumbent on people that are around Joe Biden to step up at this point and who exactly help the president and help the man they love and do the right thing.

This is not going to, this is not going to end well if it continues to drag out. Like, the anger that I hear.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Yeah.

Joe Scarborough
Is not in Joe Biden.

The anger I hear are the people that are keeping him in a bubble.

Megyn Kelly
Of their own interests or who may.

Joe Scarborough
Have their own interests, some financial, in keeping him in the race.

Megyn Kelly
Joe Biden deserves better, Matt. I can't.

Matt Taibbi
I know.

I don't think they're even aware of how bad that sounds. That's the funniest part about it. He could be describing them.

Megyn Kelly
Yes.

Matt Taibbi
Right. You know, I covered Joe Biden in 2019 2020 on the campaign trail, it was obvious to me that he was mentally impaired. Everybody else covered it up. I mean, there were other people who wrote about it, but not these types. And as long as they thought they could get away with it, they did. Now they can't. And now they're saying it's always the fault of his aides.

Byron Donalds
Please.

Megyn Kelly
And they're angry. They're angry at the people who have kept him in the bubble so he couldn't hear the truth.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Right.

Megyn Kelly
What is the truth today? Is it that he's cogent and better than ever? This is the best? Or is it that he's not cogent and someone needs to tell him to step aside?

Matt Taibbi
That's right. Joe said, you know, I know Joe personally. He's never been better. This is the best Biden that there's ever been. He was actually less guarded before, and that was to his detriment.

So he wasn't even talking about what was relayed to him by AIDS or anything like that. He was talking about his own personal relationship with Joe Biden.

Megyn Kelly
Yes. So you could tell him right now, look into the camera, because we know he watches your show every day and say you've become infirm. I'm sorry, but we've all seen it. And you're going to cost the Democrats how many houses in the Senate and how many houses, how many seats in the reverse that, how many seats in the House and how many seats?

He's, I don't use the P word. That's where I draw the line of my swearing. But he's too much of a P word to actually do it. This is the closest he's going to come. It's absurd. So let's move on. Because one of the most shocking things that's happened in the media this past four days, five days since the assassination attempt has been like, the trutherism. There's a trutherism that's being born about whether the assassination attempt actually happened.

All right, hold on. Here is, here's just a little bit of it. This is the latest iteration. Ari Melbur MSNBC host suggesting that not that this didn't happen, but that the Trump bandage is really fake news.

Matt Taibbi
Oh, right, yes.

Megyn Kelly
Is Trump acting? Yeah, you know, because why would he have to do that, Ari? Because he didn't get shot in the ear. Like, why would you have to act with your fake bandage? Do we have it?

We're trying to get it, but this is on the heels of, we played earlier in the show, Joy Reid coming right out, being like, why haven't I heard the briefing? Was the ear actually shot? And so on. Here's Ari.

Donald Trump, Jr.
This was also showmanship by a politician known for his mastery of what they call unscripted reality tv. Here's how the New York Times put it.

J.D. Vance
On the first night of this convention.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Trump was his own biggest prop. He entered the vip box, a large white bandage on his injured right ear, the result of a close call on Saturday with a would be assassin's bullet. And that made it the most potent.

J.D. Vance
Placard in the hall.

Donald Trump, Jr.
That'S fair. A placard for delegates to fill in, an image for political mobilization, a spectacle for this candidate who we know is, bye, his own admission, obsessed with assorted spectacles.

There is a political quest here to mine and use Donald Trump's injury, and whether his allies and Republicans or the candidate himself do that in a way that overextends their credibility will be decided by the voters.

Matt Taibbi
It's incredible. I was talking about this last night with some other reporters when George Bush did the mission accomplished photo, there was some backlash among reporters. This is a staged event.

It's propaganda. We don't want to use it. There's a little bit of legitimacy to that point of view. Like, I'm not obligated to use a White House photo when they stage the scene. But what happened to Donald Trump. This photo, which they're now calling photoganda, they made up a word for it. That's what happened. It's a news photo of something that actually happened at the event.

And there are people who are calling for him, for newspapers to not use that image.

They're talking about the bandage being a prop.

I mean, if it was 4ft high, that might be ridiculous. But it's an inappropriately sized bandage.

Megyn Kelly
It's hard to bandage an ear. It's like either that or the wrap around the head, which they'd really go nuts over.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Right?

Matt Taibbi
I mean, and he's, from what I understand, he might need surgery for it. I mean, it's an open question, whatever. That's, it's just a ridiculous thing to make an issue of.

Megyn Kelly
It's born of their hate. They can't, they don't realize what they're showing us about their true feelings.

Matt Taibbi
Right.

Megyn Kelly
And it's just absurd. I mean, we all saw the bloody ear when it happened. It's definitely gnarly. I'm sure President Trump, a, doesn't want to parade it around for everybody to look at, like, but it's still an open wound. B, it's still an open wound. As far as we know, it wasn't stitched. And I'm sure he doesn't want to expose it, him being a germaphobe to tens of thousands of people.

Matt Taibbi
Right.

Megyn Kelly
In this arena.

Matt Taibbi
Absolutely.

Megyn Kelly
You know, he's 78 years old himself. It's just ridiculous.

Okay, so there, then there's the truth arism, because it's not just joy Reid and the soundbite. We played Michael Steele, former RNC head, wanting to know the details about, you know, the bullet. Let's see more. I want to know, you know, more about the actual shooting. And then we had Kara swisher out there yesterday saying, oh, he did get up awfully fast.

Like, like what? Like he, it was all a setup.

Matt Taibbi
Right? That's obviously the, somebody died right behind him.

Megyn Kelly
Right? What did Trump have that man killed?

Matt Taibbi
Right?

Megyn Kelly
Like, what's the theory that this is all made up and it's not, this is not just the lunatic fringes.

Matt Taibbi
No.

Megyn Kelly
All over MSNBC, some CNN ers. So what is it they're so angry about the Trump, Trump being triumphant and looking like a superhero in that one photo?

Matt Taibbi
I don't know. I mean, I think it's like a mass psychogenic illness, but it's been kind of in place since the beginning of the Trump presidency. You know, the reporters have sort of just agreed to agree upon certain themes, and they, they're like deer in a herd. Once 50% of them agree to go one way, they all go, you know, and this, the talking point today, is questioning whether the bullet really hit him. Maybe it was glass from a shattered teleprompter. That's the, that's the line that some.

Megyn Kelly
People going, but there was no shattered teleprompter.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Either way.

Matt Taibbi
Why not just own it and say, okay, he did get up awfully fast. I mean, cenk uygur, who's not. No. Has no love for Donald Trump. He tweeted, I have to say, that was a gangsta moment, right? Just say it, you know, move on. If you have criticisms about his policy or other things, you're gonna go there. Yes, but why not? But why do this? It just makes you look bad. I just don't understand. As a reporter or as a journalist, you lose trust when you do that. There's no gain there.

Megyn Kelly
They can't stand it. And you're talking about the photo, ganda. There's this debate amongst photographers on whether their iconic photos of Trump ought to be used. They don't like seeing them used over and over and like the campaign might use them, and they don't want that. It's like it's history.

You don't get to say how it gets used after the fact by a copyright, maybe, but just in terms of editorial judgment, that's up to the news people.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Sure.

Matt Taibbi
And this was a criticism that a lot of journalists got during Russiagate when, you know, there were reports that were contrary to the popular narrative about him, they would say to us, well, this is going to be used by the Trump campaign.

They're going to publish this. Well, it's true. What are we going to do about that?

It's not a legitimate criticism to say, to worry about who benefits from a true image or true fact or whatever it is.

Megyn Kelly
Meanwhile, the same people who are wringing their hands over that, over at MSNBC, for example, are faking their background as if they're here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Matt Taibbi
Did they really do that?

Megyn Kelly
They're not here.

They are not here, but they're broadcasting from a set that has the RNC in the background so they could. Oh, my God, there it is, digitally superimposed. Now, they do come on and say, live from New York. So they are technically disclosing that they're not in Milwaukee, but they don't keep going back to it and alerting the audience who might join two minutes late that they're not actually here.

And they continue to ignore gold star families and others, and they're basically fake newsing their way through the RNC.

Matt Taibbi
Yeah. You know, it's interesting because I was at the 2016 convention, and there were. But there were tons of media who were hostile to Donald Trump there at that time because I think they thought he was going to lose. It was sort of a celebration moment for them, but they're not here. Conspicuously, there are a few networks who aren't friendly to Trump, who are here, and a few more sort of objective ones. But why not? Why do that? That's crazy.

Megyn Kelly
I know. It's like, I don't care whether they come or they don't come, but don't stay home and then try to make it look like you spent the money and the time and the effort to come to Milwaukee, get to know the locals, get the feel for the convention.

Matt Taibbi
Right.

Megyn Kelly
Maybe if they'd bothered to come, they would have taken the gold star families instead of what they did, because you would have seen, oh, my God, something incredible is happening in this arena right now.

Matt Taibbi
But no, they're probably going to end up with brats on their set. Right. Like eating Wisconsin mustard and shit.

Megyn Kelly
A big schlitz here.

Matt Taibbi
Exactly.

Megyn Kelly
Okay, there's a couple other moments we've got to get to.

Last night, there was a great moment where JD Vance talked about his bio, which is just perfection. It's just amazing, the stories in his past and the characters, you know, that's why Ron Howard made a movie out of the book. And the star of his life and his story is his grandmother, mama, who I talked with the audience about earlier this week, used to call him affectionately shithead.

But as she was telling him, get good grades, you could change your life. You can be anything you want to be. Don't be a victim. Sorry for yourself. You know, that kind of thing. And here is a little bit of him talking about mamaw in the speech.

J.D. Vance
Mamaw was, in so many ways, a woman of contradiction. She loved the lord, ladies and gentlemen. She was a woman of very deep christian faith.

But she also loved the f word.

I'm not kidding. She could make a sailor blush.

Now, she once told me, when she found out that I was spending too much time with a local kid who was known for dealing drugs, that if I ever hung out with that kid again, she would run him over with her car.

That's true.

And she said, jdehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe no one will ever find out about it.

Megyn Kelly
Ma'am.

J.D. Vance
Let me tell you another mammoth story.

Now, my mama died shortly before I left for Iraq in 2005.

And when we went through things, we found 19 loaded handguns. They were stashed all over her house, under her bed, in her closet, in the silverware door.

And we wondered what was going on.

And it occurred to us that towards the end of her life, Mamaw couldn't get around so well. And so this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm's length of whatever she needed to protect her family.

That's who we fight for. That's american spirit.

Megyn Kelly
Which leads most normal people to be like, I wish I could have known mama.

But not at ABC News. Here was their reaction.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Talk about this. Mama having 19 loaded guns to huge applause inside this convention hall.

Strong beliefs across this country on all ends of the spectrum here. I'm not sure everybody at home received that line. Perhaps the same way.

Megyn Kelly
19 guns also struck me, David, just after that assassination attempt.

Matt Taibbi
Talking about guns and applause here in the audience.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Yeah, it was a striking moment, for sure.

Megyn Kelly
Oh, my God.

Matt Taibbi
They just have no sense of humor.

And this is really sad because, you know, I grew up a Democrat, and part of it was because they did have a sense of humor. I mean, they were the party that embraced people like Richard Pryor and, you know, all the SNL characters back in the day were, who were actually funny at that time.

But how can you not laugh at that story, right? Even if you're, you know, for gun control, it's kind of a funny story.

Megyn Kelly
And I say, do your homework, because reading his book about why she had 19 guns, she did not live in a good area there. Everybody was stealing from everybody. There was a lot of violence in their lives. Like, shut up, Martha Raditz, with your million dollar life.

Matt Taibbi
Right. I.

Megyn Kelly
We don't know what you're talking about.

Matt Taibbi
Security.

Megyn Kelly
Right. And David Muir, too, in a rare moment of partisan, he's usually not so partisan, but that was not a good moment for him. All right, here's our worst for the night. The worst.

And it takes a lot, given the competition that you've just watched. Here's JD Vance talking about before he moved to Middletown, Ohio. He was from, he was raised in Kentucky in his really early years in the Halla. And that was with Mama and a long history of Vance hillbillies, you know, doing all sorts of things to each other. The neighbors you did not cross each other, did not end well. Really colorful family, if you read the book. So we told a little bit about that area of Kentucky and how we would like to actually wind up buried there. Someday. Watch us.

J.D. Vance
Now, when I proposed to my wife, we were in law school, and I said, honey, I come with $120,000 worth of law school debt and Aethereze cemetery plot on a mountainside in eastern Kentucky. Now, that cemetery plot in eastern Kentucky is near my family's ancestral home. And like a lot of people, we came from the mountains of Appalachia into the factories of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Now, in that cemetery, there are people who were born around the time of the civil war. And if, as I hope, my wife and I are eventually laid to rest there and our kids follow us, there will be seven generations just in that small mountain cemetery plot in eastern Kentucky. Seven generations of people who have fought for this country, who have built this country, who have made things in this country, and who would fight and die to protect this country if they were asked to.

Megyn Kelly
I give you Alex Wagner on MSNBC.

Alex Wagner
But I do think there were some sort of Easter eggs of white nationalism in the speech. One of the things that stuck out to me was when he started talking about what America is. He said, America is not just an idea. It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. The thing about America is that it's not a group of people with shared history. And you had a long sort of a paragraph, at least, about this plot in eastern Kentucky where his seven or six generations of his family are buried. And his hope is that his wife and he are eventually laid to rest there and their kids follow them. It reveals someone who believes that the history that the family should inherit, and indeed, the history that should be determinative in the story of the Vance family is the history of the eastern Kentucky Vances, and not the Vances from San Diego, which is where his wife is from and where her indian parents are from. But in America, it doesn't always have to be the white male lineage that trumps, that defines the family history, that that branch of the tree supersedes all else. And I just think the construction of this notion reveals a lot about someone who fundamentally believes in the supremacy of whiteness and masculinity. And it's couched in a sort of halcyon, you know, revisitation of his roots. But it is actually really revealing about what he thinks matters and who America is, and that America is a place for people with a shared western background. And that is the idea of America.

That is the nation of America that he wants to resurrect.

Megyn Kelly
Cut to Joy Reid and Lawrence O'Donnell. Yes. Yes, it was. That moment was about his whiteness and his maleness, Matt.

Matt Taibbi
Right. So I remember during the Bush years and with the Terry Shiva scandal, remember that in the media, we always love those stories about, you know, people who saw the face of Jesus and tree stumps and things like that.

This is exactly the same story. They see, like, toxic white masculinity everywhere, even where ness. It isn't really.

I mean, there are things you can criticize about the republican party, about the platform, if you want to, but again, they're. It's such a stretch, it's such a reach to read that much into what's really just a true detail about his life.

Megyn Kelly
Who, like, who would bring identity politics into where we get buried? You know, I'm just as important as you are. Doesn't seem like Usha has a family plot and that JD does and a history in his family. I mean, if she has some family plot, maybe they. Maybe they go there, but it sounds like she actually thought this was a bonus and she realized her loving husband Washington, it was an important thing to him. How does it turn into, like, your whiteness?

Like, everything, everything has to be reduced to this bullshit?

Matt Taibbi
I mean, if you're gonna take that position, then everything in american history is some kind of expression of toxic white masculinity. He's celebrating his personal family's history.

What isn't an expression of that if you're looking at things through that lens?

Megyn Kelly
She would have done better had she had better acumen.

All right, finally, we appear to be on the brink of Joe Biden withdrawing as candidate for reelection.

Matt Taibbi
Right.

Megyn Kelly
And how long will it take, New York, minute or shorter, for the media to go back to protecting the democratic nominee?

Matt Taibbi
Oh, I think, you know, my personal guess is Saturday is when we're going to hear the news. I mean, that would be the prime time.

Donald Trump, Jr.
Do it.

Matt Taibbi
If you wanted to dull any kind of bounce from this convention for the beginning of the next work week.

But America has such a short attention span now. A lot of people were saying they're going to give up. They're not going to do all the crazy stuff they've been doing, all for the last eight years. I disagree. I think they're going to double down again. They're going to find some new stupid, crazy narrative, and they're going to back whoever is the nominee as if nothing happened as soon as they can.

Megyn Kelly
Yeah.

Matt Taibbi
Do you think so?

Megyn Kelly
100%.

Matt Taibbi
Right.

Megyn Kelly
All skepticism of the democratic nominee will evaporate, and there will be an anointing of Kamala or whomever it is and very little back checking or, you know, fact checking or biochecking on that person's story, then it'll be all about Trump, too, and how evil he is. The assassination has already been completely forgotten. The attempt, they memory hold that they don't want to talk about it because he looks good. So they'll spend time on how he's the devil, he's still Hitler and that'll be that.

Matt Taibbi
Yeah.

It's a one note messaging campaign at this point. They don't know how to do anything else. Memory holding is what they do. And I think that's where they'll go.

Megyn Kelly
And that's why they're boring and they have a failing business model, unlike us. Matt, great to see you.

Matt Taibbi
Great to see you.

Megyn Kelly
Thanks to all of you for being with us this week. The crowd's been fantastic. But tomorrow we'll recap the final night, including President Trump's much anticipated speech.

Welcome to the Megyn Kelly show
Thanks for listening to the Megyn Kelly show.

Megyn Kelly
No b's, no agenda, and no fear.