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JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you, Rachel. And we will be talking to you throughout the night.
It was before a crowd of more than 1,000 delegates at the Republican state convention in Springfield, Illinois in 1858 where Abraham Lincoln said a house divided against itself cannot stand. This week in Cleveland, we have seen real divisions in the party of Lincoln, and heard questions raised about how they unite, as you just heard from Rachel.
We explore those now with John Feehery. He’s a Republican strategist and columnist for The Hill newspaper. He worked for many years on Capitol Hill for members of the House Republican leadership. And Leslie Rutledge, she’s Arkansas’ attorney general. She’s also a speaker you saw on stage here last night.
And we welcome both of you to the program.
LESLIE RUTLEDGE, Arkansas Attorney General: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Leslie Rutledge, let me start with you.
Is the Republican Party that we have seen at this convention both in the speakers and in the messages we have been hearing, is that a united party?
LESLIE RUTLEDGE: It is a very united party.
And I think that what we have seen this week, as the delegates work through the platform, as they work through the rules and all the issues, and what it boils down to is that the Republicans are ready to take back the White House. We’re ready to grow jobs across America, to push back on the regulatory environment that hurts small businesses.
And that’s why we are seeing Republicans this week uniting behind Donald Trump and Governor Pence.
GWEN IFILL: John Feehery, we have — you have been to many conventions. You have worked on Capitol Hill for some time. Or you did from some time.
Now we see a convention that feels very different from the convention that nominated Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, someone very different from when they nominated John McCain and Sarah Palin. What would you say is the difference?
JOHN FEEHERY, Republican Strategist: Well, I think it’s a completely different dynamic, because we have a non-politician who is really kind of dominating this whole — I think the most effective speakers, including you, were people who are not in the Washington mind-set, some people who were kind of — a lot of normal Americans kind of expressing themselves.
I think that Trump has kind of brought that to the table. Many times, we have been this establishment party. We are not the party of George Bush anymore. We have moved on. In many ways, we’re a more populist party. We’re a party that is very frustrated with how Washington has operated to a really nth degree.
And I’m not sure if we’re a divided party ,but there are a lot of sore losers out there and a lot of people who are not comfortable with Donald Trump.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, what about that, Leslie Rutledge? What is going to happen to those delegates? As you know, he got the lion’s share of the delegate votes. He’s the nominee of the party, but there were, what, 700 and some votes for somebody else. How does that element of the party come together?
LESLIE RUTLEDGE: Sure.
Well, Donald Trump has already united the party. While there may have been votes for someone else on the floor, but across America in those primaries, new voters were coming out in droves just to vote for Donald Trump. And that’s what we were seeing, this enthusiasm behind the outside-Washington candidate in Mr. Trump, in Governor Pence, because they know that things must change and that Hillary Clinton is dangerous.
She’s — deception and dishonesty are second nature to Hillary Clinton. And that’s what I talked about last night in my speech. And that’s why, when we look at the Supreme Court, people ask me, why is this election so important, Leslie? And I tell them, as attorney general, as the chief legal officer, we look to the Supreme Court nominations. And for me, it boils down to those two words.
GWEN IFILL: You just mentioned that you did spend a lot of time on the floor last night talking about Hillary Clinton. That seemed to be the theme of the night, as much as jobs and the economy.
So, is this an anti-Clinton convention or a pro-Trump convention?
LESLIE RUTLEDGE: Well, it’s both.
And certainly it’s prominently pro-Donald Trump, because we want Donald Trump to be president. We are supporting him 100 percent. But what we don’t want are four more years of the same failed policies that hurt Arkansas and businesses around the country.
When we look at these small businesses, which are the backbone of America, we want to get these regulatory burdens off of the small businesses. I’m raised on a cattle farm, married to a row crop farmer. We know firsthand the sort of regulatory burdens on our farmers and on industry across America.
JUDY WOODRUFF: John Feehery, who else does Donald Trump need to reach out to, to win this election?
We both are familiar with the so-called autopsy, with the report done by the Republican Party after Mitt Romney’s loss in 2012. In essence, it said the party needs to reach beyond its base to Hispanics, to minorities. What does Donald Trump need to do?
JOHN FEEHERY: Well, I think there are two groups that are really worrying for him, and that is female voters, because he’s getting crunched by female voters.
I’m glad that you’re here talking, because you need to make that case. He has got to change his messaging, because I think, for a lot of the people, a lot of women voters, he has is not being particularly kind of sensitive in his language.
The second group, I think he’s got to expand the working class. He’s really gotten effective with white working-class voters. But there’s plenty of African-American working-class voters, many Hispanic working-class voters that are really frustrated about this economy, haven’t really had much going on in the last couple of years.
And I think if he can spread that message about he can bring a more pro-business philosophy and grow jobs more effectively, I think that was kind of a wasted opportunity yesterday. Yes, we need to bash Hillary Clinton, but I’ll tell you what — because that unites the party. But we also have to have a positive message about how Trump can help grow this economy, because ultimately people want that.
GWEN IFILL: Well, let’s ask Leslie Rutledge to respond to that.
LESLIE RUTLEDGE: Sure.
GWEN IFILL: Just so happens you’re a woman. Just so happens you’re a very big Donald Trump supporter. How does the party — or does the party need to do what John Feehery is suggesting?
LESLIE RUTLEDGE: Well, as I mentioned last night in my remarks, that Donald Trump understands that women, as well as men, are not single-issue voters.
And for far too long, the Democratic Party and certainly Secretary Clinton have treated women as if we were single-issue voters. Women an men care about jobs. They care about economy. They care about national security.
GWEN IFILL: But I didn’t hear that conversation on the floor last night.
LESLIE RUTLEDGE: Well, if you listened to my speech, you heard me say that exact line, that Donald Trump — unlike Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump knows that women and men are not single-issue voters.
We care about the jobs, the economy and national security, verbatim, and that’s what I said last night. And we’re going to keep talking about that, because women and men, that’s what they want. They want a safe place for their families to live. They want to be able to have a job, to be able to pay their bills, go to those soccer games. And that’s the sort of America that people across this country want.
JUDY WOODRUFF: John Feehery, you were just saying that some of Donald Trump’s remarks haven’t been sensitive was the word you used.
What kind of language do you want to see him using that he hasn’t been? What do you want him to stop saying? What do you want him to start saying?
JOHN FEEHERY: Well, listen, I think that when you’re talking about fixing the immigration system, and I think Donald Trump needs to let the private Donald Trump come out.
From everything I know about from what I have heard about Donald Trump, privately, he’s a guy who does a lot of listening. He is a guy who is not full of the bravado. He is a guy who actually is very effective in small groups. Everyone I have talked to says that.
He needs to let the private guy out, because I think the bravado and kind of the language that gets beyond the pale a little bit — and we all know what it is — he needs to scale that back. And I think if he can — just continue to pound on Hillary Clinton is not sufficient.
(CROSSTALK)
GWEN IFILL: Has this convention — I want you both to take a stab at this — has it helped Donald Trump?
There have been distractions. We saw the Melania Trump speech distraction. We have seen the rules distraction, the Cruz voters rising up, booing the Trump plane today as it landed. I wonder whether you think this convention has been distracting overall or whether it in the end helps introduce Donald Trump to a broader audience?
LESLIE RUTLEDGE: Absolutely.
When we talk about Melania Trump’s amazing speech, I mean, by and large, it was a terrific speech filled with wonderful messages about Donald Trump as a husband, Donald Trump as a father and a grandfather and really introducing us, but for that distraction that was unfortunate, because she showed that she is a strong, smart, confident woman and would be a tremendous first lady.
Likewise, we heard from Donald Trump Jr. last night. We are going to hear from more of the Trump family to get to John’s point to see Donald Trump the man. And four years ago, we didn’t see enough of who Mitt Romney was. They didn’t really showcase that enough. And I’m hoping that we have learned from our mistakes and that we are showcasing what an incredible person Donald Trump and the entire Trump family are.
JOHN FEEHERY: Listen, we have had some hiccups at this convention.
One of the best things that happened is finally the never Trump people have ended their fantasy land. We have the candidate. Now we can start looking forward. I’m looking forward to a good speech by Mike Pence and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz tonight.
And I’m looking forward to see what Donald Trump says tomorrow night. And hopefully we have a little bit more of a glimpse of who he is as a real person in private. He has a great family. They’re very, very poised. Let’s talk about that and let’s talk about what he can do for the rest of our families.
GWEN IFILL: John Feehery, Leslie Rutledge weigh in on the future of the Republican Party.
Thank you both very much.
LESLIE RUTLEDGE: Thank you all.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you. Thank you.
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