mentality, but they're in there. sensible word is it's debate prep, not a crisis management meeting, getting ready for tomorrow night, continuing to do fund raising. their team is continuing to send out rapid response e-mails about hillary clinton. you know, putting donald trump on television last night at midnight in that video statement that was sort of predone, that went out on facebook was different. we obviously have not seen that before. but i think that there is a sense -- this is not july. right? this is not a controversy that happened in may. this is october. this is the beginning of october. and there is just not enough time to let this potentially sort of drift away or sort of float off into the ether and be consumed by the news cycles. we're close to the election here and that's what makes this different. >> timing makes the difference. hallie jackson, really appreciate it. and joining me now on the phone, former rnc chairman and current msnbc political analyst, michael steele and here in studio, former rand paul adviser, elise jordan. thanks to both of you. michael, i want to start with