♪ Welcome to this week in South Carolina's special report.

I'm Gavin Jackson at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where former President Donald Trump, just days after an assassination attempt on his life, formally accepted his party's nomination and that of his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D.

Vance.

The attempt on Trump's life on Saturday, July 13th has energized the thousands of supporters in the heart of one of the most important swing states in play this November, which is set to be one of the most consequential.

As part of our continuing coverage of election 2024, myself, reporter, Maayan Schechter, and producer, Aimee Crouch, have embedded with the South Carolina delegation this week, where 50 delegates and 47 alternates were in attendance.

SCETV and South Carolina Public Radio were the only news outlet, with the delegation all week, attending daily breakfast and events for the state's congressional delegation, Governor and Lieutenant Governor.

We were given exclusive access to folks throughout the week, including Governor Henry McMaster, who back in 2016 was the first statewide elected official in the country to endorse Trump.

That got McMaster a key spot at that year's RNC, naming Trump the nominee.

And so began a strong and enduring relationship between the two.

While McMaster didn't speak, this year, we did ask him about the convention and that attempt on Trump's life.

>> But you look at Donald Trump who from the very moment he announced, has been under attack by his opponents to the left, and people in between.

And they tried to put him in jail.

Criticized family, criticized his work, And the only thing left was something physical like this.

And then there that came with an attempted assassination.

And but, but for his turning his head slightly to look to his right, that bullet would have gone in his head and he'd be dead right.

And that was, that was on the minds of people last night.

And I tell you, it was on his mind, too, when he came walking out.

That was his first public appearance.

And I was sitting up there in that family box, and I could see the tears in his eyes when the people were cheering and supporting him.

And you don't see that sort of thing very often, but I saw it then anyway.

So the, the enthusiasm, the, the, you know, the love is the right word.

the support and excitement in that arena yesterday and last night, particularly when he came out was something that...

I bet this is my 10th Republican National Convention and I have never seen anything like that.

This is...this is a rare time I'd like everybody to know whether you're for him, against him or whatever.

This...this is a rare time in American history.

And we have to be sure we do the right thing.

Gavin> Governor, you said it was on everyone's minds.

It's, of course, still very fresh.

When we think about what could have happened, the horrible possibility there, what could have happened with this party, with this country, do you think?

We heard former Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy saying we were thrown a hair's breadth of a potential other civil war.

Do you think that it would have been that extreme, or how do you think things could have been?

Gov.

McMaster> I don't know.

I mean, the Civil War was quite something, another Civil War.

I don't...I don't know, I guess maybe the historians will have to try to look at their crystal balls and look back and look forward.

But I think it would have been a period of great chaos for us, because here we would be, if...if he had been disabled.

Let's just say that, then you can't postpone the convention.

So what...what would what would have happened and then what would have happened without him?

I believe... that he is the only man on the scene today that can do what I think, and everybody in that arena thinks is necessary right now.

He is, he is strong.

As I said one time, he is the face of strength in America today and with without his perseverance, I don't know what, I don't know what would happen.

In the, in the arena, in the convention, I think it is no telling what would have happened.

There have been well, technically there I think there would have been campaigns going on, different candidates presenting themselves and trying to get elected.

We'd be working through the different delegations, trying to get the votes.

But there's only one Donald Trump.

And just like there was only one Ronald Reagan.

I'm remember him very well.

I got to be with him a little bit way back.

I admire him.

And I admire Donald Trump.

In fact, I think they're a lot of very much alike.

Gavin> Governor, you're a young 77, former President Trump's 78.

Joe Biden's 81.

Age has been a big question when it comes to this presidential race.

Obviously, you're fine here as the governor.

But when you look at that national office and people raising questions about Joe Biden's age and cognitive abilities, what are your thoughts when it comes to being that old when it comes to running the country, essentially the world?

Do you think that Joe Biden is too old to be running the country?

Gov.

McMaster> I don't know if he's too old.

I, wonder about his condition.

I met him years ago when I was working for Strom Thurmond in the Senate in Washington.

He was a he was a young, vigorous man, just a little bit older, as you said, than I am.

Last time I spent much time with him was in 2019 when Senator Hollings died and had a funeral.

He and I and Jim Clyburn and Judge Duffy were the eulogists.

And afterwards, at the reception, we were over there and everyone was talking to him, and he and Jill were there.

I mean, he was lively.

He was...he was on.

He was funny.

He really got a great sense of humor.

But, certainly he's got older.

And you can tell it and whether that affects his... how much that affects his ability.

I don't know, and I won't guess.

There are people who knew him a lot better than I do say it doesn't affect him.

Others say it does.

But the people who voted for him all over the country, and that's the way democracy works.

And...I don't know if there's some rule that once you get to be so old, you can't do this or that.

It depends on the individual.

And everybody just have to make up their mind as to whether he's not as fast, he's not as swift physically as he was.

But as far as making decisions, everybody will have to make up their own mind on that.

Gavin> Governor, just a few more questions here.

You cast off.... Gov.

McMaster> I have plenty...

I have nothing else to do.

(Gavin laughs) Gavin> Governor, On Monday evening, you cast all 50 delegate votes for former President Donald Trump for his nomination.

He was formally nominated shortly thereafter.

Ohio Senator JD Vance was also announced as his running mate.

What are your thoughts on Senator Vance being named his running mate?

and if you've met him, if you had interactions with him, what are your takeaways from that?

Gov.

McMaster> I don't really know JD Vance.

The...I know the others.

Tim Scott made a great... great speech last night.

I think that's a... a president or any leader in a position like that has to make their decision on, on the person they think will be the best to work with them.

And there's a lot more to working with somebody than just your resume and your experience.

Now, there...there's some other potential candidates had a lot more experience than J.D.

Vance does, but his...his has been very important experience.

And he is I think he's, he's got a great future.

But the main thing was that that was, as it should have been, that is a personal choice.

And I can see the two men...

I can see them.

Knowing...knowing Trump fairly well, I can see them working together very well.

And that's important.

You have to have some sort of a bond where each knows what the other's thinking without having to tell him.

And I think because of his age, because of his his looks, because of his, his history, that is.

I'm speaking of J.D.

Vance.

I think he is.

He is probably the perfect choice.

And if President Trump thinks so, then it's correct.

Gavin> Now, were you hoping maybe Senator Tim Scott would have been his running mate at some point?

Gov.

McMaster> I...Tim is...Tim is great.

I was...I can see pictures of that, as well.

That would have been a great, a great thing.

Tim Scott is...

I've known him for years and, in fact, when he was running for, county council, I was party chairman, and we, he, he says we sent him his first campaign contribution to the Republican Party, and he's just gone up and up.

Tim Scott is an inspirational figure, as you saw.

So...so I envisioning all of it.

And, I could I could see that as well.

Gavin> Senator Tim Scott, a one time presidential hopeful with his short lived campaign last year, gave a fiery speech on Monday evening, shortly after it was announced that Ohio Senator JD Vance would be Trump's running mate, a position that Scott was on the shortlist for.

Sen. Tim Scott> Thank you.

(applause) Hello, Milwaukee.

(crowd cheers) Are you ready for four more years of Donald Trump?

(crowd cheers) Oh, me, two.

Listen, if you didn't... if you didn't believe in miracles before Saturday... you better believing right now.

(crowd cheers) Thank God almighty that we live in a country that still believes in the King of Kings.

And the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega.

(crowd cheers) And our God, our God...still saves.

He still delivers and he still sets free.

(crowd cheers) Because on Saturday, the devil came...to Pennsylvania holding a rifle.

But an American lion got back up on his feet (crowd cheers) and he roared.

(crowd cheers) Oh yeah!

He roared.

(crowd cheers) (crowd chants "Fight") Yeah.

Yes he did.

Yes he did.

(crowd chants "Fight") You see, America, this is a difficult time for our nation.

Inflation is crushing families.

Illegal immigration is crushing American workers failing schools and victim hood culture are crushing our poorest kids.

And the weakness of the commander in chief has invited world wars all around our world.

Joe Biden is asleep at the wheel and we're headed over a cliff.

(applause) Gavin> Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was the last opponent standing between Trump and the nomination, earlier this year.

She won only one primary, the District of Columbia, and also won 97 delegates total, including just three in her home state of South Carolina before dropping out after Super Tuesday in early March.

Haley last week released her delegates and instructed them to support Trump and said she was not invited to the RNC, which was fine with her.

However, on Sunday, Haley was invited and accepted a primetime speaking slot for Tuesday.

Fmr.

Gov.

Haley> I'll start by making one thing perfectly clear, Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period!

(crowd cheers) (crowd cheers) (crowd cheers) Our country is at a critical moment.

We have a choice to make.

For more than a year, I said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for President Kamala Harris.

(crowd jeers) After seeing the debate, everyone knows it's true.

If we have four more years of Biden or a single day of Harris, our country will be badly worse off.

For the sake of our nation.

We have to go with Donald Trump.

(crowd cheers) We should acknowledge that there are some Americans who don't agree with Donald Trump 100% of the time.

(crowd jeers) I happen to know some of them.

(crowd jeers) And I want to speak to them tonight.

(crowd cheers) My message to them is simple.

You don't have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him.

(crowd cheers) Take it from me, I haven't always agreed with President Trump, but we agree more often than we disagree.

(crowd cheers) We agree on keeping America strong.

(crowd cheers) We agree on keeping America safe.

(crowd cheers) And we agree that Democrats have moved so far to the left that they're putting our freedoms in danger.

(crowd cheers) I'm here tonight because we have a country to save, and a unified Republican Party is essential for saving her.

(crowd cheers) Gavin> The convention is a unique experience in American politics.

It serves as the official nomination ceremony for a party's nominee, and as a time to solidify and unite behind the party's platform.

Republican pollster Robert Cahaly of the Trafalgar Group told South Carolina Republicans that despite the groundswell of support after the assassination attempt, that fortunes could change if more political violence ensues.

>> I picture one of the things that happened after George Floyd, you know, like one of the police...

If a bunch of conservative, pro-Trump people did one incident like that, the entire national media narrative would turn on the look at all of this violence and politics, and the Republicans need to know, do not feed into that.

And, you know, and both the Democrats and Republicans in every party is a... is kind of a radical element.

And keeping those people under control is very important.

It's important that the Democrats to keep them under control.

And it's important for the Republicans.

I mean, we had, you know, Bernie Sanders supporters shoot up a congressional baseball game.

We've had a Supreme Court Justice, have somebody who came very close to getting to his home.

You know, we had what happened to Pelosi's husband.

It's on both sides.

But, I think the narrative could shift... quickly,...especially when that's the narrative, I think many in the mainstream media would like to see.

Gavin> I know, I don't, but I know what you're saying.

And just kind of wrapping up here when you talk about, when you just look at the situation, when we talk about political violence, I mean, just your own personal thought about this entire situation that we're in.

I mean, it's still very fresh, but what are your thoughts?

What are your initial takeaways?

I mean, did you expect something... did you think something like this could happen?

Robert> Absolutely.

Gavin> Or was it just a matter of time?

Robert> Oh, I was expecting something like this to happen.

I mean, this is... this is the kind of thing.

I mean, we don't know what this guy's motivation is yet.

We don't know much about him.

I hear rumors, but I don't know what's real.

But I do know that when you constantly say things like somebody is worse than Hitler, you know, and they take one joke about being a dictator on day one about the border and turn it into he wants to be a dictator, you create and you dehumanize a person.

I mean, and really, I don't see that going both ways.

I don't see people trying to dehumanize by.

But I think they've been trying to dehumanize Trump.

And both of them are human.

Both of them deserve to be treated with a certain amount of dignity.

And I respect the fact that the president did what he did to reach out on a personal level and that kind of dignity is what needed to return.

But yeah, I didn't expect something like this.

I don't I'm not sure it would be the last thing.

I mean, you know, somebody with a knife attacked Lee Zeldin last time.

And then there was, you know, a bunch of violence in front of his house.

So this stuff happens and it's not new and it doesn't.

It's not like, oh, we live in a terrible age.

You know, they assassinated Lincoln 150 years ago.

I mean, we...they, you know, we've had assassinations and we've had everything in this country.

And there's no..

I mean, at this point, we're nowhere near the late 60s as far as that kind of stuff.

So it...it doesn't mean we're in a new realm, but I think it is something that we should be concerned about.

The rhetoric has gotten a little much.

And it's one thing to fight and it's one thing to go say you want to win the fight.

It's another thing that, like I said, when you dehumanize your opponent, you open the door for them to be treated in a way that's inhumane.

Gavin> Drew McKissick has been the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party since 2017, and was a national co-chair of the Republican National Committee until Trump overhauled the leadership this past March.

Despite those party machinations, we spoke with McKissick about how Republicans can't take a Trump victory for granted, and the party must be united.

>> 100%.

I mean, you've seen poll numbers from some of these states now.

I mean, oh, we're looking good in Georgia, looking at North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, we're up there and so forth.

You know, to me, one, this is halftime right now.

We're thinking about a ball game.

We're in halftime.

You got to play the entire game.

You know, not like some teams that I pull for occasionally, which only play three quarters of a game and then, you know, then it's over.

And so, no.

We won't see that.

We're going to play the whole game.

And it's true that...that...that excitement again is what's going to carry us all the way through.

But you don't want to get overconfident.

I tell people all the time, I've spoken in blue states and red states with county party leaders, state party leaders, and tell them, you know, any blue state can become a red state.

Any red state can become a blue state.

Same for congressional districts and counties.

All you have in front of you is the next election, and the need to do the fundamentals.

Have a message that resonates.

Do the organizing to turn out the vote and raise the money to make those two things possible.

If you do that and you execute, you can be successful.

That's what we've done in South Carolina over the last 30 years.

You know the history that you've seen here.

We used to be a solid blue state, obviously, and that changed because election after election, we were making the headway.

We focused on picking our targets and we executed and we won and that's the thing that we can't forget.

We still have to do the work.

Gavin> Drew, we're talking on day three of the RNC right now.

We saw a big push for unity.

We've seen a lot of different voices speaking from the debate stage, we also just saw, former Governor Nikki Haley, a former Republican presidential candidate, as well as other Republican presidential candidates like, the senator from Florida...

I should say, the governor from Florida, Ron DeSantis, and even Vivek Ramaswamy were on the stage yesterday.

Tell us about that message of unity.

But also, you know, maybe the importance of seeing a lot of South Carolinians on that, on that stage.

We also saw Senator Tim Scott, who was in that race, too.

Drew> Sure.

Well, first off, good politics is about addition and multiplication.

If you're doing it right, you're adding and you're multiplying, you're doing it wrong.

You subtracting and dividing.

Leave that up to the other party.

And, you know, any party that does not have people within it who occasionally disagree with one another is probably not big enough to win an election.

Gavin> Drew tell me about, you know, how we see South Carolina play a role at this convention.

You know, we've had some big prominent speakers.

I don't feel like every delegation has as many speakers.

Maybe I'm just being biased here, but, like, what's it say to you?

What would you say to South Carolina?

Well, we have so many folks who are on the center stage.

Drew> We do.

And, you know, I think over the years you look back through history, South Carolina, as I like to put it, you know, has a, disproportionate share of political leaders around the country for our population and have for as long as you can see, throughout history.

Politics is a little different in South Carolina.

Sometimes it's a little bit more rough and tumble, sometimes sharper elbows, but that...if you think about it in political terms, it's like practice for the big leagues.

You know, we end up with the guys and gals who've done it successfully statewide.

When you make it out of South Carolina on the national stage, you've got skills.

and it matters.

And it helps.

and those are the folks who know how to then go out and build coalitions on the national stage and then, as a result, become leaders in their respective areas.

and we've seen that within the National Party, we've seen that with in Congress.

We've seen that with governors.

and I think, we'll continue to see that.

Gavin> Besides the formal nomination process and party platforms, the convention is a giant pep rally.

There are tens of thousands of folks out here, eccentric outfits, sideline events and electrified speakers each day, including our own Tim Scott and First District Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who spoke on Wednesday evening.

(crowd cheers) >> I'm a single mom and a rape survivor.

Two women tonight who can relate.

Please know you have a friend and a sister in me and I...and I will fight like hell for you.

(crowd cheers) I'm the daughter of an Army brigadier general and a schoolteacher.

I've admired my dad's Distinguished Service Cross from Vietnam.

I've endured the rigors of a Citadel education.

And today I represent a district that includes Paris Island, where we make Marines.

(applause) What we're witnessing today is proof that strength preserves peace and weakness, invites war.

Gavin> Of course, the biggest night of any convention is the final night in which the nominee gives her formal acceptance speech.

This took on an even more significant role this year, with Trump being shot just days prior.

He appeared Monday evening in his first major public appearance since the attempt on his life, sporting a bandage over his right ear and sitting next to his newly announced running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.

But on Thursday, Trump struck a different tone.

A ton of unity, though his fiery rhetoric still remains.

Pres.

Trump> In watching the reports over the last few days, many people say it was a providential moment, probably was, when I rose surrounded by Secret Service.

The crowd was confused because they thought I was dead and there was great, great sorrow.

I could see that on their faces as I looked out.

They didn't know I was looking out.

They thought it was over, but I could see it.

I wanted to do something to let them know I was okay.

I raised my right arm, looked at the thousands and thousands of people that were breathlessly waiting and started shouting, fight, fight, fight!

(audience chants "Fight") Pres.

Trump> Thank you.

Once my clenched fist went up and it was high into the air.

You've all seen that.

The crowd realized I was okay and roared with pride for our country like no crowd I have ever heard before.

(applause) Never heard anything like it.

For the rest of my life, I will be grateful for the love shown by that giant audience of patriots that stood bravely on that fateful evening in Pennsylvania.

Gavin> It was a historic week in Milwaukee as the Republican Party unified behind its ticket and bonded in their excitement.

As they look beyond the attempt on their leader's life.

This week provided an initial reaction to how the ramifications of that event will affect the race and the country's future going forward.

Every day, Americans are rightfully concerned about where we are heading as a country.

Despite our differences, political or otherwise, at the end of the day, we are all Americans, stronger together than divided.

And stay tuned for our coverage of the Democratic National Convention and the South Carolina delegation in Chicago coming up in August.

We'll leave you tonight with some sights and sounds from the convention.

For South Carolina ETV, I'm Gavin Jackson.

Be well, South Carolina.

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