There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet in a certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side. I felt that.

That was Donald Trump there with his big and extremely lengthy speech that he has just finished delivering to delegates here at the Republican National Convention.

The amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin's bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight. We would not be together.

It is very late on Thursday night. In fact, so late. It's Friday morning, really. We're going to be running through what Donald Trump had to say, what it all means, what's been happening through the week. A lot of those thoughts will also be on our Radio 4 episode this week. It has been just the most extraordinary few days in American politics. We'll go through all of the highlights. Welcome to Américast.

Américast. Américast from BBC News.

Hello, it's Justin in the worldwide headquarters of Américast in London, England.

Hello, it's Sarah Smith here in Milwaukee at the Republican National Convention right in the auditorium.

Hi, it's Anthony right next to Sarah at the auditorium where Donald Trump has just He finished his acceptance speech.

Okay, there's a timing issue right at the beginning of this, guys, because we are literally minutes away from the start of the Today program, the program I present here in London. I know that I'm doing the headlines today. Basically, if we go on and on for too long, or if I do, I'll miss the headlines and I'll lose my job. There's a lot of tension in this room.

You'll need to keep it brief, Justin.

I'll need to keep it brief, which everyone will be relieved by. I tell you what, just to kick off a thought, hats off to Chris Lassavita, who is this Republican political operative. I first came across him many years ago. He was the media adviser to the Swift Boats campaign. I don't know if you remember this, Sarah and Anthony, the people who did for John Kerry. When John Kerry was running against George W. Bush the second time round, John Kerry had been on the Swift Boats in Vietnam. Chris Lassavita is a very able political operative, and he has now come, it seems to me, to the very top of his career, because what he has done is keep Donald Trump disciplined. That, it seems to me, is the most extraordinary fact of the night. It does come down to his team, but particularly this guy, Chris Lassavita, who I think we're going to hear an awful lot more about.

Well, to an extent, like Copper, he was started on the script, and it was a measured, composed Donald Trump that was reading the words that had been for him, and he's always completely different when he's on the teleprompter than when he's ripping at his rallies. I was almost thinking, There's not enough energy in this. He's not giving the crowd what they want. Then he went off into meandering sections 5, 10 minutes long, where it was all the things we're used to hearing from him at his rally, some of which aren't true, some of which are grossly exaggerated, some of which have far more were President?We've talked about how happy everybody is here and what Donald Trump has to say. What do you think at the end of it, though, it all adds up to? Outside of the convention center, people watching in, is it a bump for the Republicans? Has anybody been paying any attention at all? Does it make any difference?I think the week itself will help the Republicans. I think this was a very slickly-produced convention. I think that, as you mentioned, putting diversity on stage, trying to reach out to suburban women, to black voters, to Hispanic voters, and of course, with JD Vance, to white working class voters and get them even more engaged. I think that's a good strategy for them. Donald Trump is riding momentum, and at the moment he is ahead.I'll tell you how I know he must be on the up. Melania turned up.She did.We see so little of her. She was there when he launched his campaign 18 months ago. She's done one fundraiser. I know that I checked all of this because I wrote a piece for BBC Online about Melania. She came in at the last minute. She waved to everybody. She appeared on the stage and was off again.There was a very awkward kiss, I thought, between the two of them. I half caught it as it was happening, but Donald Trump leaned in and it looked like Melania tried to make it a cheek kiss. The dynamics between the two of them were on display, I think. This may be the last time we see her for the entirety of the campaign.She's fascinating, though, isn't she? She's so mysterious and she uses her appearances so cleverly, I think. But by doing it so infrequently, it makes it so special and so newsworthy when she turns up that she gets maximum effect out of it and then can disappear again for months. Yeah, the moment she came in, the lights dim, they said, the future first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, its spotlights were around.And then Beethoven' Ninth Symphony, I think a horn a horn solo from that started playing, and then she just floated in in this red dress and walked up the stairs. It was a unique entrance, but she sat by Donald Trump for all of maybe 30 minutes, and then she stood next to him on the stage after the balloon dropped or as the balloons were dropping. That was the entirety of her time here at the convention. Sarah, what a week it's been. Four days of convention. It started with Donald Trump making a triumphant entry into this arena behind us. As you can hear all these balloons popping. We We got news that Donald Trump's case in Florida on the documents was being dropped, dismissed by the judge, something that Donald Trump mentioned in his speech. Of course, we had JD Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, being announced, giving his speech last night, and then Donald Trump's acceptance speech tonight. All the while, Joe Biden and the Democrats have been engaged in a circular firing squad. Joe Biden had a high-profile interview on Monday night that maybe wasn't all that effective in staunching the bleeding. Then, of course, he pulled off the campaign trail during the stop in Nevada because he tested positive with COVID.All of these Democrats, the calls for him to stand aside have only been escalating more and more.It's the most astonishing split-screen effect, isn't it? Because you've got Donald Trump here, proudly sporting that white bandage on his ear and bestriding the stage, looking like some returning hero. The pictures of Joe Biden after he contracted COVID and he suddenly flew on Air Force One from Las Vegas, where he was meant to be doing a campaign event back to Delaware, so that he could isolate at home. He looked really bad when he was going up the steps onto the plane to fly home. Then somehow he managed to look even worse when he disembarked in Delaware. He looked frail, he looked unwell, and he just looked unbelievably old, whilst Donald Trump is being celebrated here for his survival.He's an 81-year-old man with COVID. I mean, you're going to look old and run down and tired. I had COVID in January, and I felt miserable, and I'm 50 something. It is not surprising, but it is not the look you want to have when you're being contrasted with Donald Trump, who just survived bullets being fired at him and was triumphant in his return to the stage here.Yeah. I mean, an astonishing week of events that I don't think is going to be rounded off with us knowing what Joe Biden's fate is going to be. I mean, there have been some very high-profile interventions this week. It's been reported that Nancy Pelosi has suggested that he should go, that Barack Obama is worried about the viability of his candidacy. But we haven't heard from the Biden camp themselves, except for them to say he hasn't made a decision to step down. Be a few days yet before we do?Not only hasn't made a decision to step down, but that all the reports are wrong and that he's still busily planning his next steps in his campaign. The reports have all over the map at this point. It's very difficult to tell, but you've got to understand. Joe Biden is back in Delaware now. He is surrounded by his tightest circle of family and advisors, and nothing is going to leak out of that. I think what you're hearing now are people who are trying to put pressure on Joe Biden. They're not getting anything back from that pressure. And so they're slowly, steadily upping the amperage going into this, trying to get some a reaction from the campaign, try to get the results they want, which is Joe Biden stepping aside sometime soon.Yeah, it's been really interesting, I think, to read the denials and the non-denial denials, as they're called in politics. So for instance, it had been reported that Joe Biden's speechwriter was working on remarks for him to deliver to say that he was leaving the race. So he came out and said, Absolutely not. This is completely 100% totally untrue. That's a straightforward denial. It was reported that Nancy Pelosi had said to him that she didn't think he could win. The denial that came from her office It was not a straightforward denial like that at all. It was all about we respect the confidentiality of the discussions and not everything that's being reported is 100% accurate.Yeah, that isn't exactly a denial. Not 100% accurate. Okay, well, we can guess which ones are. But yeah, clearly, Nancy Pelosi is moving behind the scenes and trying to evaluate and get her hands around how to deal with this situation. Clearly, Barack Obama is also very concerned in this. We saw public statements Hillary Clinton and the Clinton saying that they support Joe Biden and reports that they were pressuring their donors not to back away from him. You have a bunch of players in this, and they're all moving around. It's enough to be some a political drama movie with all the pieces that could land up in different places by the time this is all over. All right. Well, it's been a crazy night here, a very long night for all of us. Sarah has already popped off to do all of her other obligations. You can still hear the balloons popping behind me as they start to clean up the convention site, but it has been a wild ride over the past four days. We are going to, of course, continue reporting on this story in the days ahead, and you know the way to get in touch with us.That's WhatsApp, +44-330-1239480. Email, americast@bbc. Co. Uk. Social media, #americast. Discord, you can find the link to that in the of this podcast. And of course, you can hear Americast first and in full as a podcast on BBC Sounds. See you all later.

were President?

We've talked about how happy everybody is here and what Donald Trump has to say. What do you think at the end of it, though, it all adds up to? Outside of the convention center, people watching in, is it a bump for the Republicans? Has anybody been paying any attention at all? Does it make any difference?

I think the week itself will help the Republicans. I think this was a very slickly-produced convention. I think that, as you mentioned, putting diversity on stage, trying to reach out to suburban women, to black voters, to Hispanic voters, and of course, with JD Vance, to white working class voters and get them even more engaged. I think that's a good strategy for them. Donald Trump is riding momentum, and at the moment he is ahead.

I'll tell you how I know he must be on the up. Melania turned up.

She did.

We see so little of her. She was there when he launched his campaign 18 months ago. She's done one fundraiser. I know that I checked all of this because I wrote a piece for BBC Online about Melania. She came in at the last minute. She waved to everybody. She appeared on the stage and was off again.

There was a very awkward kiss, I thought, between the two of them. I half caught it as it was happening, but Donald Trump leaned in and it looked like Melania tried to make it a cheek kiss. The dynamics between the two of them were on display, I think. This may be the last time we see her for the entirety of the campaign.

She's fascinating, though, isn't she? She's so mysterious and she uses her appearances so cleverly, I think. But by doing it so infrequently, it makes it so special and so newsworthy when she turns up that she gets maximum effect out of it and then can disappear again for months. Yeah, the moment she came in, the lights dim, they said, the future first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, its spotlights were around.

And then Beethoven' Ninth Symphony, I think a horn a horn solo from that started playing, and then she just floated in in this red dress and walked up the stairs. It was a unique entrance, but she sat by Donald Trump for all of maybe 30 minutes, and then she stood next to him on the stage after the balloon dropped or as the balloons were dropping. That was the entirety of her time here at the convention. Sarah, what a week it's been. Four days of convention. It started with Donald Trump making a triumphant entry into this arena behind us. As you can hear all these balloons popping. We We got news that Donald Trump's case in Florida on the documents was being dropped, dismissed by the judge, something that Donald Trump mentioned in his speech. Of course, we had JD Vance, Donald Trump's running mate, being announced, giving his speech last night, and then Donald Trump's acceptance speech tonight. All the while, Joe Biden and the Democrats have been engaged in a circular firing squad. Joe Biden had a high-profile interview on Monday night that maybe wasn't all that effective in staunching the bleeding. Then, of course, he pulled off the campaign trail during the stop in Nevada because he tested positive with COVID.

All of these Democrats, the calls for him to stand aside have only been escalating more and more.

It's the most astonishing split-screen effect, isn't it? Because you've got Donald Trump here, proudly sporting that white bandage on his ear and bestriding the stage, looking like some returning hero. The pictures of Joe Biden after he contracted COVID and he suddenly flew on Air Force One from Las Vegas, where he was meant to be doing a campaign event back to Delaware, so that he could isolate at home. He looked really bad when he was going up the steps onto the plane to fly home. Then somehow he managed to look even worse when he disembarked in Delaware. He looked frail, he looked unwell, and he just looked unbelievably old, whilst Donald Trump is being celebrated here for his survival.

He's an 81-year-old man with COVID. I mean, you're going to look old and run down and tired. I had COVID in January, and I felt miserable, and I'm 50 something. It is not surprising, but it is not the look you want to have when you're being contrasted with Donald Trump, who just survived bullets being fired at him and was triumphant in his return to the stage here.

Yeah. I mean, an astonishing week of events that I don't think is going to be rounded off with us knowing what Joe Biden's fate is going to be. I mean, there have been some very high-profile interventions this week. It's been reported that Nancy Pelosi has suggested that he should go, that Barack Obama is worried about the viability of his candidacy. But we haven't heard from the Biden camp themselves, except for them to say he hasn't made a decision to step down. Be a few days yet before we do?

Not only hasn't made a decision to step down, but that all the reports are wrong and that he's still busily planning his next steps in his campaign. The reports have all over the map at this point. It's very difficult to tell, but you've got to understand. Joe Biden is back in Delaware now. He is surrounded by his tightest circle of family and advisors, and nothing is going to leak out of that. I think what you're hearing now are people who are trying to put pressure on Joe Biden. They're not getting anything back from that pressure. And so they're slowly, steadily upping the amperage going into this, trying to get some a reaction from the campaign, try to get the results they want, which is Joe Biden stepping aside sometime soon.

Yeah, it's been really interesting, I think, to read the denials and the non-denial denials, as they're called in politics. So for instance, it had been reported that Joe Biden's speechwriter was working on remarks for him to deliver to say that he was leaving the race. So he came out and said, Absolutely not. This is completely 100% totally untrue. That's a straightforward denial. It was reported that Nancy Pelosi had said to him that she didn't think he could win. The denial that came from her office It was not a straightforward denial like that at all. It was all about we respect the confidentiality of the discussions and not everything that's being reported is 100% accurate.

Yeah, that isn't exactly a denial. Not 100% accurate. Okay, well, we can guess which ones are. But yeah, clearly, Nancy Pelosi is moving behind the scenes and trying to evaluate and get her hands around how to deal with this situation. Clearly, Barack Obama is also very concerned in this. We saw public statements Hillary Clinton and the Clinton saying that they support Joe Biden and reports that they were pressuring their donors not to back away from him. You have a bunch of players in this, and they're all moving around. It's enough to be some a political drama movie with all the pieces that could land up in different places by the time this is all over. All right. Well, it's been a crazy night here, a very long night for all of us. Sarah has already popped off to do all of her other obligations. You can still hear the balloons popping behind me as they start to clean up the convention site, but it has been a wild ride over the past four days. We are going to, of course, continue reporting on this story in the days ahead, and you know the way to get in touch with us.

That's WhatsApp, +44-330-1239480. Email, americast@bbc. Co. Uk. Social media, #americast. Discord, you can find the link to that in the of this podcast. And of course, you can hear Americast first and in full as a podcast on BBC Sounds. See you all later.