REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION HAS OFFICIALLY COME TO A CLOSE.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THIS YEAR'S U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

JOINING US ONCE AGAIN LIVE FROM MILWAUKEE.

WE'VE GOT OUR SPOTLIGHT POLITICS AND OF IN A KEY HEATHER SHARON AND NICK BLUMBERG AND HERE IN STUDIO WITH A POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, SANTANA JACKSON AND NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR ERIC NESBITT.

THANKS FOR STICKING AROUND WITH US.

HEADER STARTING WITH YOU, PLEASE.

WHAT MESSAGE DID TRUMP WANT VIEWERS TO TAKE AWAY FROM HIS SPEECH AND WAS HE SUCCESSFUL AT THEM?

WELL, CONFUSING SPEECH REALLY BRAND AS SO.

THE FIRST 20 MINUTES WAS ESSENTIALLY MINUTE BY MINUTE RECOUNT ATION OF THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON SATURDAY.

AND THEN IT REALLY BECAME A STANDARD TRUMP RALLY SPEECH THAT FAR OFF OF THE TELEPROMPTER AND THE PREPARED SPEECH THAT INCLUDED GRIEVANCES.

IT INCLUDED PROMISES TO CONTEST AN UNFAVORABLE ELECTION RESULTS.

IT MIGRANTS AND IMMIGRANTS AS BEING LIKE HANNIBAL LECTER.

I'LL HAVE TO CHECK THE HISTORY BOOKS.

I DO BELIEVE THAT'S THE FIRST TIME HANNIBAL LECTER HAS EVER BEEN REFERENCED IN A CONVENTION SPEECH.

AND I THINK THAT THERE WAS NOT A LOT OF SORT POLICY.

WE DID NOT HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT ABORTION.

WE DID NOT HEAR ANYTHING REALLY OTHER THAN TO SORT OF HIS PREFERRED CULTURE WAR ISSUES.

WE HEARD A LOT OF ANTI TRANSGENDER PROMISE IS WE ALSO HEARD SORT OF PROMISE IS TO KEEP INFLATION DOWN WITHOUT ANY SPECIFICS ABOUT HOW ALL OF THAT IS GOING TO WORK.

AND IT, YOU KNOW, TO HEATHER'S POINT IS TRUMP'S SPEECH, IS THAT MUCH OF A DEPARTURE FROM WHAT WE'VE HEARD FROM HIM IN THE PAST?

IT REALLY WASN'T.

IT CONVENTIONAL HEARD FROM ITS UNCONVENTIONAL, A TEA FROM REGULAR POLITICAL SPEECHES, BUT REALLY IS HEATHER KNOW BEYOND BEGINNING I DON'T KNOW IF EVER AGAIN HAD PRESIDENT CANDIDATE REFERENCE THE BLOODIEST PART OF THE BODY HE WAS TALKING ABOUT HIS HERE.

YOU KNOW, I WENT IN A CLASSIC, I GUESS, SORT TRUMP MEANDERING SEND.

IT WENT FROM VERY SERIOUS AND SOMBER TO SORT OF ALMOST.

JOKING ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED THERE I HEARD LAUGHTER FROM THE FOLKS THAT WERE SETTING BY IT.

AND I WAS STANDING ALONGSIDE WERE OTHERWISE WRAPS AND HANGING ON EVERY WORD FROM SAID AND SHOUTING BACK AT HIM.

I LOVE YOU.

WE LOVE YOU.

HOW I WANT ADD, BY THE WAY, I THINK THIS IS INTERESTING BECAUSE EARLIER WE HAD AN INTERVIEW AND WITH CONGRESSMAN I'M SORRY.

8 SPOKE WITH CONGRESSMAN MIKE BOST.

HE HAD SAID, YOU KNOW, EVEN IF YOU HEAR A DIFFERENT TONE, REMEMBER, THIS IS THE SAME AND A LOT OF CONJECTURE.

WILL HE BE DIFFERENT FOLLOWING AN ATTEMPT ON HIS LIFE THAT COULD CHANGE A PERSON, BUT IT REALLY SEEMS IS NO MATTER IS IS CONGRESSMAN POST NOTED YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR TOWN.

STILL THINK I AS WE WERE JUST SAYING HERE IN STUDIO IS IN NEW COKE OR OR CLASSIC COKE.

IT'S STILL TRUMP IS WHAT IT NICK, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE BROADER IMPACT OF THE CONVENTION?

YOU KNOW, WHO ARE CONVENTIONS REALLY FOR?

WELL, I MEAN, THESE CONVENTIONS ARE ESSENTIALLY A GRAND SPECTACLE.

THE FOLKS WHO ARE GOING TO MAKE THE TRIP TO MILWAUKEE FROM NEAR AND FAR, THESE ARE FOLKS WHO ARE ALREADY ALL IN ON DONALD TRUMP.

YOU KNOW, WE'VE BEEN TALKING ALL WEEK ABOUT THIS MESSAGE OF UNITY, BOTH WITHIN THE ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY AND NATIONALLY, YOU KNOW, EVEN IF YOU LOOK BACK AT 2016 WHEN TRUMP, YOU KNOW, VERY HANDILY WON THE NOMINATION, EVENTUALLY IT WAS STILL A FIGHT.

THERE WERE DIFFERENT FACTIONS WITHIN, YOU KNOW, THE HALL THERE.

THERE ARE DIFFERENT PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL PUSHING BACK.

THERE WERE SOME MORE RESILIENT, NEVER TRUMPERS AT THIS POINT, BOTH WITHIN ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY AND CERTAINLY NATIONALLY, EVERYBODY'S ALL IN.

SO IF YOU'RE HERE, YOU'RE WILLING TO LISTEN TO WHATEVER THE MESSAGE IS.

I WILL SAY WE DID START TO SEE SOME FOLKS WALKING OUT OF THE YOU KNOW, AS THE SPEECH KIND OF DRAG ON AND ON.

BUT THESE CONVENTIONS ARE MESSAGING.

THEY ARE THEATER.

AND AT THIS POINT, THEY VERY MUCH ARE PREACHING TO THE CHOIR WHEN IT COMES TO THE GOP.

THIS IS THE PARTY OF TRUMP.

SO ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO WAS IN THE AUDIENCE TONIGHT, I WANT TO TALK FORMER FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP APPEARED FINALLY WAS WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE NOT SEEN HER AT ALL THIS AND SHE FINALLY GOT HER SORT HEROINES, YOU KNOW, WALKING UP TO HER SEAT.

IS IT STRANGE SANTANA FOR A CANDIDATE SPOUSE TO BE SO ABSENT FOR SO LONG FROM THE CONVENTION?

IT DOES THAT MAKE ANY INDICATION ABOUT HOW INVOLVED OR WHAT KIND OF FIRST LADY SHE MIGHT BE IF HE'S REALLY IF HE'S ELECTED AGAIN, I THINK HE'S BEING CONSISTENT WITH HOW SHE'S HANDLED BEING FIRST LADY ALL ALONG.

AND QUITE FRANKLY, THAT IS HER BUSINESS SHE HAS HAD SON TO RAISE AND SHE'S HAD A FAMILY TO KEEP TOGETHER.

AND I RESPECT JUST WITH MY OWN BACKGROUND.

I GET THAT THAT HAVING BEEN SAID ONE WONDER THAT THE HOPEFULLY SHE WILL USE THIS PLATFORM EVEN NOW TO SPEAK TO MATERNAL MORTALITY.

THAT'S A VERY REAL ISSUE FOR US TO SPEAK FOR WOMAN'S AGENCY.

THAT'S A VERY REAL ISSUE FOR US.

I'M NOT ASKING HER TO BE A PROPONENT OF ABORTION OF THE TERMINATING PREGNANCY, BUT TO FOR WOMEN, TOO, RECEIVE THE CARE AND RESPECT THAT WE DESERVE.

I'D LIKE TO SEE THAT.

BUT IT IS ULTIMATELY HER DECISION.

A WOMAN'S AGENCY TO HANDLE TO HANDLE A SELFISH, LET YOU KNOW WHAT KIND FIRST LADY SHE WOULD BE IF HE'S ELECTED AGAIN, WE CAN'T DETERMINE THAT.

I MEAN, AND I'M NOT HERE TO TO TEMPERATURE GAUGE ON HER MARRIAGE AND HOW SHE DOES HOW SHE LIVES HER LIFE.

THAT'S NOT ERIC, WE TALKED ABOUT THIS A LITTLE BIT BEFORE.

ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I'VE NOTICED THAT I'VE HEARD FROM THE GOP THIS WEEK, THE GOP PIVOTING TO TELL VOTERS TO VOTE EARLY, WHICH IS TYPICALLY A DEMOCRATIC TALKING SO I WAS A LITTLE SURPRISED TO HEAR THAT FROM FROM THE TRUMPS IN PARTICULAR THIS WEEK.

LARA TRUMP MENTIONING IT YESTERDAY AND DONALD TRUMP IN A VIDEO THAT WAS PLAYED DURING THE CONVENTION.

THAT HAS BEEN A KEY ADVANTAGE THAT DEMOCRATS HAVE HAD OVER REPUBLICANS VOTING EARLY MEANS YOUR BANKING VOTES, RIGHT?

YOU'RE PUTTING THEM IN THE BANK.

DAY OF VOTING.

YOU KNOW, IF IT RAINS, WE KNOW THERE'S LESS TURNOUT RIGHT?

TRAFFIC.

SO DEMOCRATS HAVE REALLY MOBILIZE VOTERS.

THEY HAVE EDUCATED VOTERS.

YOU SEE THE MINING UP.

THERE THE AND THIS IS BEEN A BIG ADVANTAGE.

AND REPUBLICANS NOW REALIZE IT.

AND SO THEY'RE PIVOTING AND WE'VE GOT ABOUT 45 SECONDS LEFT.

THE DNC IS COMING TO CHICAGO IN ABOUT A MONTH.

THIS WHOLE TEAM WILL BE WORKING ON IT.

THEN TO, OF COURSE, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE KEEPING YOUR EYE ON AS WE GET CLOSER TO THAT?

RELIEF OR FIRST, IT'S WHO THE CANDIDATE IS GOING TO BE A.

WILL IT BE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN RUNNING AGAIN FOR A SECOND TERM.

ARE WE GOING TO HAVE SOMEONE ELSE IN HIS STEAD?

THAT IS THE KEY QUESTION.

OF COURSE, YEAR COMING OFF OF 4 DAYS OF COVERING THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION WITH CHICAGO BEING THE HOST CITY FOR THE DNC.

WHAT LESSONS IS CHICAGO GOING TO LEARN?

NO MATTER WHO THE NOMINEE MAY BE IN TERMS OF SECURITY, WHAT IT MEANS FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES.

THERE ARE A LOT OF LESSONS, PERHAPS FOR THE DNC TO TAKE AWAY FROM THE RNC AND ENSURE THEY'VE BEEN WATCHING A CLOSE WATCH.

I WILL MAKE UP THAT RIGHT NOW UP WHOEVER IT IS, IT IS GOING TO END SIMILAR COMPASSION.

IS THIS WITH A BIG BALLOON DROP?

OKAY, OKAY.

I'M NOT TAKING THAT BACK BECAUSE I THINK I THINK I'M ON YOUR SIDE ON THAT AND OF IN A KEY HADASH ROENICKE LUMBER.

GREAT JOB OUT