RACHEL MADDOW: I want to bring in our friend Michael Beschloss, because, by the rules of this broadcast, once you’ve been invoked we have to- we have to find you. Michael Beschloss, we have invoked your name in terms of talking about, I mean, one very simple metric of this speech which is that it is by far, by a mile, the longest convention speech ever given in the modern era. You suggested that that might itself tell us a little bit of something about the function of Donald Trump's candidacy vis-a-vis his party right now.
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: It sure does. And the records for second-longest and third longest were: Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. But this one really beat all. And, you know, to get away from the jokes, which are obvious with a speech like that, which mentioned everything went on much too long, the reason why Castro and Kruschev spoke for four hours or five hours at a time, and they really did and they mentioned everything that came into their brain, that’s what it sounded like tonight, is because they were dictators. And the people who worked with them were terrified to tell them they should make a shorter speech. And that’s what happens when you’ve got a cult. May I suggest what the most important thing about tonight is, Rachel?
MADDOW: Please.
BESCHLOSS: This historical moment is the one thing he did not mention. You know, he said on Day One, he’s going to start drilling for oil, and he’s going to close the borders. That’s not what he’s been promising for the last number of months. He’s been promising on Day One to be dictator for a day. And all I am saying is that historically, the most important thing about tonight, a subject he either intentionally or otherwise avoided, is how he will he change this country. Is he going to use a complicit Supreme Court with this new immunity ruling to become the most powerful president we have ever had? Making arbitrary decisions, some of them perhaps unlawful as long as they are called “official acts”, and make radical changes like, you know, pull America out of NATO, conceivably, until Russia, in his own words, under certain circumstances, “do whatever the hell you want.” This is the most decisive moment in American history I have ever seen in a presidential election. And I think we can’t be dissuaded. 15 weeks from now, we will know if this night led to renewed democracy, rebirth of freedom, as Lincoln wanted us to have, or whether it led to dictatorship and the strongest president in history doing all sorts of things we can’t imagine.
MADDOW: NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss, putting a cap on it for us tonight. Michael, thank you. Absolutely priceless.
