[Blitzer:] President Trump certainly hope to deliver a spectacle with a Republican presidential convention this week. And now, his campaign is helping a post-convention bounce in the polls will help close the gap with Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. Let's discuss with our White House correspondent, Jeremy Diamond. And our Washington correspondent, Jessica Dean. Jeremy, so what are the expectations at the White House? I think you're speaking to your sources over there. Do they think this fast- moving new cycle, 66 days to go, that the President will stay, first of all, on message and sustain any post-convention momentum?
[Jeremy Diamond, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Well, I think there's certainly a hope within the Trump campaign and inside the White House that the President can indeed take this momentum that he has coming out of the Republican National Convention and move that forward to tighten the race with Joe Biden in a meaningful way. Most of the President's advisors are under no illusions, at least privately, that the President is facing a deficit against the former Vice President, and he has a lot to do in order to tighten up that deficit. Certainly, they are more optimistic coming out of this republican national convention than they were in the weeks prior. But, of course, the question, Wolf, about whether or not the President can stay on message is an entirely different one. And nobody in Trump world is under any illusions that the President has trouble doing just that. Nonetheless, it seems that the President, so far, is intent on continuing to hammer some of the messages that we heard during the Republican National Convention, which is to say try and frame try and reframe at least his response to the coronavirus as something that was successful and also really hammer home this law and order message. Wolf, we have just learned that the President will, in fact, visit Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday, and not to meet, it seems as of now, with the family of Jacob Blake, who was of course shot by the police there, but instead to survey some of the damage that was incurred as a results of the riots that took place there and also to meet with law enforcement. So, I think you are going to see the president, once again here, mixing official and campaign events in the weeks going forward to try and hammer home that message and, of course, to try and tie Joe Biden to some of the protesting and some of the rioting that we have seen in American cities over the last several months.
[Blitzer:] Wisconsin, a key battleground state which the President narrowly carried four years ago. You know, Jessica, you cover the Biden campaign for us. The former vice president announced he would be returning to the campaign trail to stump in key battleground states after Labor Day in September. Normally, this would of course, be a given, but coming during this coronavirus pandemic, how big of a development is this? Because basically in recent weeks, in recent months, he's been stuck there in in Delaware.
[Jessica Dean, Cnn Washington Correspondent:] Right, Wolf, this is significant. He's really stayed in Delaware and Pennsylvania since COVID, really gripped the country back in March and he's done small events with small businesses and communities in Pennsylvania and Delaware. But this him traveling to these battleground states, he says he would like to do this after Labor Day, he mentioned Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Minnesota as states that he would like to visit. But you can make expect to see that this will be done very much like what we've seen in Pennsylvania and Delaware previously. They've always taken great pains to make sure that these events are socially distanced, that all the protocols are followed, people are wearing masks, that they're six feet apart. And we would expect to see that out on the campaign trail, as well. Wolf, and Vice President Biden saying himself, that he does not anticipate doing any sort of rallies, that he would only travel if he can follow the rules of each state and make sure that this is done safely. Interesting to note, though, the only other time we saw him travel outside of that Pennsylvania-Delaware region is when he went to Texas to meet with George Floyd's family in the aftermath of his killing. And he said last week that he would consider going to Wisconsin if he could do so in a way that was safe for everyone, and that made a difference. But, Wolf, as of right now, no specifics on that, no firm plans on that.
[Blitzer:] Jeremy, let's get back to the headline. You just reported that the President has flatly decided that he will visit Kenosha on Tuesday. This potentially is a very significant development indeed. Earlier today, he said probably he might be doing it, but now it's already a hard yes, right? Yeah, that's right. The White House Deputy Press Secretary, Judd Deere, issued a statement as Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews just a few moments ago, the president, earlier in the day, had suggested that this was a possibility. Now, the White House confirming that the President will indeed do this. And you have to wonder beyond, of course, the campaign message that the President is going to try and hammer here by trying to tie the Democrats to some of the violence that we have seen in those streets in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after, of course, many hours of peaceful protests in that city. That beyond that, the President is entering here a very combustible situation and is likely to really only inflame tensions. This is not a president who has been the consoler in chief that many presidents have tried to be in times of division and in times of national tragedy. Instead, this is a president who has chosen, time and again, to fan the flames of division and really to stoke those divisions for his political gain. And so you have to wonder, the president entering a situation like this, what is he thinking and what are his advisors thinking about some of the fallout that could come here, and particularly if he could only make if he might make the situation worse there in terms of the protests and in terms of some of the rioting that we have also seen in that city. We saw the president walking down the stairs over there at the Joint Base Andrews getting off of Air Force One. He got into the presidential limousine; they call it the beast. They're driving to the White House, Jeremy, because the South Lawn, where they have the convention, the rally and all of that, it's still not capable of allowing Marine One to land there, is that right?
[Diamond:] Yes, that's right, Wolf. We've seen the president because, of course, he used the South Lawn for this political convention over this entire week, they were not able to use the South Lawn, we're typically you see, Marine One actually landing there. And again, this is kind of, you know, going back to the president using the South Lawn of the White House for this political convention, this is how the president is campaigning in times of a pandemic. You have seen Joe Biden, try and kind of do these virtual events, try and do socially distance responsible events. The President is starting to beef up his campaign travel. But while he has not been able to do some of those campaign rallies, we have seen instead, the president use all of the trappings of the presidency, whether it is campaigning from the Rose Garden, or from the South Lawn of the White House, or really using official events travel outside of the country in order to hammer his rival Joe Biden. That is the strategy that we are seeing the president employ in these times. And I do think again, you're going to see that amplified and continue in the weeks ahead.
[Blitzer:] All right. Jeremy Diamond, Jessica Dean, guys, thank you very much. Let's get some analysis to discuss the state of the presidential contest. Joining us now, Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst, senior editor over at the Atlantic as well. What about the news we just heard from Jeremy, Ron? The President will actually be traveling to Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday. Is that a good decision?
[Ron Brownstein, Cnn Senior Political Analyst:] Well, it's interesting because it tells you two things. It reaffirms the message of the convention that they are all in on the argument that Joe Biden, you'll be less safe and Joe Biden's America as their path back in the election. It felt like the only thing that his heart was in, in that kind of interminable Castro-esque speech he gave Thursday night was that argument, but it also to me shows the challenge in trying to make that the center of the campaign because the convention really made two interlock arguments, you know, one, as I said, is that you will be less safe in Joe Biden's America and the other one is that the coronavirus is solved, you know, they talked about it in the past tense. They had a giant event on the White House lawn without masks or social distancing. In effect, the President is saying to people, you should be more concerned about something you're experiencing for the most part on your television than you are something that you are experiencing in real life. And I and that's a hard thing to do. And the fact that he's going to Kenosha just shows how much effort it takes to kind of keep the focus on that. I've just had one other point. It is not a given that even if you believe that disorder in cities is a problem that you believe the President Trump's iron fist is the solution. I think a big difference from the 60s is that when Richard Nixon promised law and order, most suburbanites thought he could deliver it. But if you look at polls, Wolf, there are a lot of people who think that President Trump's approach makes things worse, potentially makes them more vulnerable to violence, because he's so racially divisive, so belligerent. And as Jeremy said, you know, he tends to put out these fires with gasoline. So, again, not clear he can shift the focus to this on any sustained basis. And even if he does, not clear that he wins the argument, certainly by not any convincing margin. So, Ron, the conventions are now over in a normal election cycle campaigns look to capitalize on a post-convention bounce. Do you anticipate that the President is going to get a significant bounce out of what happened here in Washington over the past four days?
[Brownstein:] I would think he's going to get something. I mean, he's been polling at 41, 42, sometimes 40, against Joe Biden, and in our deeply polarized era, that is a very low number. So, it's hard to believe that four nights of kind of reminding Republicans why they don't like Democrats and painting him in a very positive light would not have some effect. But the long-term trend, Wolf, is precisely because we are so dug in the bounces are much smaller than they used to be. They were bigger in the 60s and 70s than they were in the 80s and 90s, and those were bigger than they've been in the last 20 years. And I think you saw that in the viewership, you know, I mean, there were a lot of voters who just did not tune in because they kind of have made up their mind about Trump. To me, the key question, the key challenge he faces is that you can go back in the history of polling, there are very few examples, maybe Harry Truman is the only one in 1948, a candidate from either party who was trailing in the polling immediately after their own convention and still won the popular vote. Like I said, I don't know if anybody has done that since Truman. And I think if Trump is still trailing in the polling, immediately after this convention, it would say he is highly unlikely to win the popular vote, doesn't mean he can't win the Electoral College, but it does mean he's in the same position of having to pull in inside straight for a second election in a row. So, I would be looking for that, not only the margin, but whether he's still behind after his own convention. That's often a high point for candidates.
[Blitzer:] Yes, good point, indeed. Ron Brownstein, as usual, thank you very, very much. This note to our viewers, disinformation lies, CNN Films presents "After Truth," a film that looks at how fake news is used as a weapon against democracy "After Truth," later tonight after
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