Pompeo Delivers Unprecedented RNC Speech
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: But if you're looking at it from a conservative perspective, Michigan and Pennsylvania, two states, the President did flip last time had been consistent Biden leads for a long time. They're looking at a narrow path that includes very careful targeting.</s>DAN BALZ, CHIEF CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes, I think that's exactly right, John. And, you know, you honed in on Wisconsin as the tipping point state in this election, which I think people have believed it's likely to be, and have thought that for, you know, the better part of the last year. You know, you're right. At this point, the former Vice President Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, looks to be in pretty good shape. But we know that in those battleground states, things are a little bit more fragile. And so, there's a long way to go in this. We will see whether this convention begins to turn things in the direction of the President. That's clearly what they need to get out of this and then to figure out a way to sustain it.</s>KING: And so you have, Lisa, a turnout machine, the convention just as the Democrats did, the Democrats, hey, moderate Republicans, come on in. Hey, suburbanites, come on in. Hey, African Americans, please turn out. That's what the Democrats, the Republicans, the President's evangelical base, the farmers there and the thing. One of the questions has been with the controversies distract this President. We now know he's invited to the White House on Thursday night when he gives us acceptance speech, congressional candidate from Georgia who believes in the queue non-conspiracy theory. We know they had to bump from the program last night, another speaker who retweeted some very anti-Semitic horrible, horrible remarks that she's done so in the past as well. Are these distractions to the President or are they part of his coalition?</s>LISA LERER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Frankly, I think they're part of his coalition. We know that QAnon really is this online conspiracy theory designed to support the President. And so, what's been one of the most interesting things to watch I think over the past two nights, has been how the President has -- and his team have tried to sort of cut the cake between rallying the base, as you mentioned, the social conservatives, folks in rural states, farmers and the people that they really need to make inroads in if they want to win this election, which is largely folks in the suburbs. You know, President Trump, of course, won the suburbs by four points last time around. This time, many of these suburbs and some of these battleground states, he's down by double digits. Every Republican who has won a presidential race since, I don't know, 1980, has won suburban voters. So that is a crucial battleground for the President. And you've seen those overtures to those voters in a lot of different ways over the past two nights.</s>KING: Dan, we've covered races with the incumbents where we always talk about the Rose Garden strategy. But this President, as always, rewriting the rules, if you will, blowing through the norms literally using the Rose Garden. Melania Trump's speech last night in the Rose Garden, the President appearing several times last night at White House events, including the use of United States Marines to swing the doors open for him as he walked into a naturalization ceremony. And the Secretary of State, who in the past, normally sits out conventions. A Secretary of State and Democratic and Republican administrations saying, you know what, I represent America and the world, I'm going to sit this one out. Not Mike Pompeo, who in the middle of an official taxpayer funded trip pops up in the convention from Jerusalem.</s>MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm speaking to you from beautiful Jerusalem, looking out over the Old City. President Trump has put his America First Vision into action. It may not have made him popular in every foreign capital, but it's worked.</s>KING: The ethics Rs (ph) in D.C., you know, are throwing their arms up saying, file a complaint, violates this, violates that? Does it matter to voters?</s>BALZ: It probably doesn't matter to many voters. It certainly is worth raising flags about. I mean, the degree to which he has appropriated the federal government to make it as if it's his own, and to put it into a political campaign and a political convention is certainly unprecedented and deserves the scrutiny it's getting and the criticism and the questions about it. But I don't know that in the end, voters are going to make a determination based on whether there's a violation of the Hatch Act. I mean, there's a more fundamental issue which is what do they think of this President's performance in office and how would they judge Joe Biden as an alternative. But there's no question, again, that what they're doing is trampling all of the norms that we're used to at political conventions,</s>KING: And they will continue. The President's acceptance speech Thursday night delivered from the White House. The Vice President tonight speaking at a national park. Lisa, one of the big challenges for the President is he has been the incumbent during this horrible pandemic. Larry Kudlow, his economic adviser last night referred to the coronavirus in the past tense. Melania Trump to her credit, again, acknowledging the pain and voicing her condolences for everyone out there who lost their loved one, but still saying that her husband was on top of this. Six months ago today, this is my question. Can they convince voters with this four- night convention or will voters remember the long path of this including this. This is all in one day six months ago today.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The risk to the American people remains very low. It may get a little bigger, it may not get bigger at all. When you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done. We have it so well under control. We're testing everybody that we need to test. And we're finding very little problem.</s>KING: The convention presents a very different reality. Can they convince people that at least that they can turn the page?</s>LERER: I mean, certainly, that's their hope. But, John, I got to tell you. I think that is going to be awfully hard. People are living with the daily impacts of this pandemic. Many people have lost jobs, those who still have jobs and are fortunate to be able to work at home are still doing so. You have parents whose kids are heading back to school or not heading back to school or heading back to online school. Child care for so many families is still a disaster. I just think it's going to be really hard to convince the American public that what they're seeing and experiencing in their daily lives is something that is in the past tense and something that the President took swift action on. So, I do think they're really trying to read reconfigure reality here and it's going to be pretty tough to do.</s>KING: Lisa Lerer, Dan Balz, appreciate the reporting and insights. We'll continue the conversation as we move forward. Again, the halfway mark convention resumes tonight. Join us here on CNN for our special coverage. And coming up next, NBA players now discussing a possible boycott that in response to that police shooting of Jacob Blake.