Clinton. John we will try to keep things kosher tonight. Obama tours a flood zone. A rigged system road trip stops in austin, texas. It is part of his retooled Campaign Tactic to shift this race onto Hillary Clinton, her email controversy, and her foundation. The clintons made the state department into the same kind of pay for play operation as the arkansas government was. Think of what happened back then. The amounts involved, the favors done, and the significant number of times it was done require and extradited investigation by a special prosecutor immediately, immediately, immediately. John today, the ap reported that more than half of Hillary Clintons meetings were with individuals who gave money to the Clinton Foundation in some way, and yesterday brought a new troubling batch of emails. It showed messages between bill clintons longtime aide and Hillary Clintons longtime aide. They include requests for meetings between state Department Officials and individuals who have donated large sums to the Clinton Foundation. The documents raise questions about whether special access was granted to folks who gave to the foundation. In terms of substance, my question for you, how troubled are you in terms of Good Government versus substance, and what is the potential political fallout of this unfolding controversy . When the American Public is tuned to the idea that the government is not representative of the people, that it is rigged, that there is cronyism, this could not come at a worse time. This is something that is not good for american transparency and democracy. I am flabbergasted that this is not a problem they had seen coming for years. The activity of the Clinton Foundation has been criticized by the media in a peripheral way. You would think you would want to get your Foundation Activities on the straight and narrow. John first of all, we have to give that the Clinton Foundation does a lot of wonderful work around the world. They are trying to distract, but those arent the issues. The issues are access of rich people to people in policymaking positions. If its established the state department changed policy, it will be explosive. We dont have that yet. There is still something steamy and seedy, but its not the way either party would want business to be done in our government. Alex you cant get past the number that the ap is reporting. Those numbers are a problem. John lets be clear about this. Clinton met with representatives of 16 foreign governments that donated 170 million to the clinton charity. There is no quid pro quo proven or asserted, but this is what the Obama Administration was worried about, and now it has the potential to be a huge distraction. Alex donald trump has been largely disciplined in his new quest to keep pressure and focus on Hillary Clinton, which says you are grading him on a curve, he has not done anything to sideline his message in more than a week. If donald trump keeps this up, what can the Clinton Campaign do to flip the script . John lalala, look over there look over there she will give a speech on thursday about the Trump Campaign is full of people with news reports about people on the trump staff that plays into the bad parts of this campaign. Clinton is really good at misdirection. They will try to distract as quickly as possible and focus on that. Alex there was a massive New York Times piece that detailed Donald Trumps own web of connections to foreign governments, foreign banks, 650 million in debt, complex web of Financial Transactions that involve foreign entities undisclosed, that seems like a Good Opportunity for the Clinton Campaign to play defense. John we will talk with our guest about Donald Trumps lack of transparency. On top of everything else, you have vladimir putin, and everyone seems to has forgotten paul manafort, ukraine, which is even more troubling than anything going on with the Clinton Foundation. There are plenty of other things to say. Alex and we did not even get to talk about the pickles. John after more than a week after the flooding, president obama visited baton rouge. Sometimes once the floods pass, peoples Attention Spans pass. This is not a oneoff. This is not a photo op issue. This is said to make sure that a month from now, three months from now, six months from now that people are getting the help they need. One of the benefits of being five months short of leaving here is that i dont worry too much about politics. John he may not worry too much about politics, but it is political season, and the matter has become a source of controversy. Donald trump has been hitting barack obama and Hillary Clinton for not going to the flood area sooner. Democrats say that what matters are the relief efforts and not the optics. It is political season, a campaign, so who is getting the better of this argument right now . John i think the president is under exaggerating. He has not cared about politics and optics for a long time. This is part of the obama playbook. He continues marching forward, favorables rising, and he will be an effective surrogate for Hillary Clinton. I do not think this is something she will have to address on the campaign trail. John if you go back further to the longer unfolding political drama, the bp oil spill, 50 days after the beginning of that catastrophe, you had barack obama who did an interview that exemplifies what his attitude has been about this question of substance versus optics. They are saying here is a guy who likes to be known as cool, calm, and collected, and this is not the time. This is a time to spend more time in the gulf and kick some im going to push back hard on this. This is an idea and the media has run with it. I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the gulf, a month ago i was meeting with fishermen and talking about what a potential this crisis could be. I dont sit around and talk to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they know who potentially has the best answers so i know whos to kick. John at the time, the rationalism would not plug the hole in the ocean floor faster. At the same time, people look to the american president for leadership. He has stuck to that. These many years later, it seems like in this case now, everyone is saying, stay away, mr. President. Alex ish. Im going to give you an ish on that. I do remember writing in some piece that the administration had its boot on the throat of bp. There was a call for indignation from the white house, and it was delivered from the press secretary. We were getting the indignation and the cool, calm, collect. Up next, trumps imigration plan sounds awfully familiar. We will discuss that and more when we come back. Alex welcome back. We are learning more about Donald Trumps tobedetermined plan on how to deal with the 11 Million Immigrants currently in the united states. His proposal sounds not very new. I just want to follow the law. The first thing we would do is we will get rid of all the bad ones. We have a lot of people that have to get out of this country. The police know who they are. We dont do anything. They go around killing and hurting people, and they will be out of this country so fast that your head will spin. We have existing laws that will allow you to do that. What people dont know is that obama got tremendous numbers of people out of the country. Bush, the same thing. A lot of people were brought out of the country with it the existing laws. I would do the same thing, and i just said that. I dont think you can put it in a soundbite or rush through a speech, let alone a plan. It is such a Novel Concept to people in washington. Public opinion shows that the vast majority of americans want to enforce laws and not add more laws. Alex this sounds a lot like the current immigration policies we have in place. What is going on here . John he still says he will build a wall. That is not obama. No wall under obama. But Donald Trumps deportation plan seems to be the same as obamas, except obama does it terribly and he will do it terrifically, humanely, and more tough. I dont know. We discussed this a little bit yesterday. I think that Kellyanne Conway is freaked out about hemorrhaging white suburban women in battleground states and is trying to find some way to get donald trump in a place that will reassure some of them who otherwise are kind of freaked out by the racist and nativist sort of stuff. Alex it is tight rope ballet, give them the whistle that it will still be the harsh deportation policy that we have been talking about citing dwight eisenhower, but reassuring moderate republicans that its not going to be the harsh deportation thing that weve been talking about for the last few months. John bill oreilly said you liked operation wetback. I said i was not , which is a lie. In the world we now live, pivots are harder for everybody. Its harder for this guy given the things he has said. When we come back, what Hillary Clinton was up too late as night after these words from our sponsors. Are you enjoying being a grandparent . It is the best. Do wish you had more time . I would be distraught if we did not have facetime. Do you do that a lot . I have. Have you considered using facetime instead of email . [laughter] [applause] actually, i think that is really good advice. John that was Hillary Clinton looking amazingly comfortable and relaxed on jimmy kimmel last night. This is stuff you study. What did you think . She is so much more relaxed than she used to be. It is obviously something she really worked on. There was an infamous appearance on the Stephen Colbert show in 2008. Are you telling me that there is no one in this theater who can fix this mess that we are in . [laughter] [applause] i can. How are you feeding this . Try toggling the input. Ok. I just love solving problems. Call me anytime. Really . Sure, call me at 3 00 a. M. John why is that infamous and what is bad about it . It played to all her weaknesses. She is trying to be funny rather than letting comedy come to her. She is worried about getting a message it was right after the debate, i can fix it. I am the fixer. Comedy by definition is not supposed to be on message. That was clearly the problem with it. She went to colbert and said we will be on your show if we can cover these talking points, and she is clearly stumbling over them. Alex she is scripted there versus nonscripted. John lets play jimmy kimmel and talk about why it is better. On one hand, it is a serious chance for americans to tune in, and if they have not made up their minds. I want to take it seriously and talk about what we can do and how important it is, but you have to be prepared for wacky stuff that comes at you. I am drawing on my experience in elementary school. [laughter] [applause] you know the guy who pulled your ponytail. But that meant he likes you really. Maybe donald trump has a secret crush on you. Are you in good health . Well, this has become one of their themes. Take my pulse while im talking to you. Ok. Make sure im alive. Theres nothing there. John ok, so thats obviously better, but just unpack why that is better. What is she doing differently that makes it more effective and natural . She is not trying so hard. Shes being reactive rather than proactive. She has loosened the reins a little bit. She is more comfortable in this situation letting the professional take the lead. She was on broad city, a Comedy Central show, and she just blended into the atmosphere of that show. She went in and let them be funny and served as their comedic prop that allowed her to be relaxed and in on the joke rather than trying to force the joke. Alex can i hazard a wild theory . Donald trump has created an atmosphere of unscripted real talking that is unique to american politics. I wonder if you think the unbuttoned clinton is a reaction to that. He has created an atmosphere of off the cuff, unscripted that she is picking up on. Hes an easy guy to react off of. All you have to do is her goal is to be a normal human being. I am a sane person. I am a regular person. You might not want to have a beer with me and hang out, but look, i have grandchildren. That joke about the guy pulling the ponytail is a great joke. That is exactly how they think of donald trump. That is a terrific line and probably not the last time we have heard it on the trail. John there is an element where people think she is not good in spontaneous situations. I find her better in these situations now rather than saturday night live. They have a broad idea of what they will talk about, but they are not strictly scripted. It works out well for her. Take my pulse says you go along with this and then she gives a relaxed answer. That is good. Whereas a script that says you have to be here, talking to a bartender, but it was funny because and donald trump says he is the center of everything. You guys take the jokes. Ill be the one whos just cool for being in the joke. John you are carrying the comedy. You are the donald trump of the studio. Alex good hit. Good hit. John coming up, mike murphy coming up with us next. Since Cable Television is on its way out and the Cable Networks are largely not making money, since the internet in the fact most will get their news on demand from their device, broadcast television is definitely done. Abc, nbc and cbs will be out of his this by the end of the decade and cable is on its way out because of the expense of the infrastructure. You can go and watch info wars online. They simulcast with a hundred radio stations and there will be about 5. 5 Million People watching. The cost to get on the internet, nothing whatsoever. Future. The way of the alex well, well, well, that was Trump Advisor Roger stone delivering a speech about whether trump has plans to build a media empire after the election. Joining us is mike feldman, democratic strategist and former chief of staff to al gore. And coming to us live from los angeles is mike murphy. Mike and mike, good to be book ended by both of you on this tuesday. What is going on with roger stone talking about the demise of cable news . Is he laying the groundwork for the Trump News Network . Mike you are not going to find me that the end of broadcast television is near for a number of reasons. It is clear that there is a backup plan. It is clear that there are a number of people come right up to the top of the Campaign Thinking about how to harness this group of constituents who have rallied behind donald trump and my guess is that can take on a number of forms. John mike murphy, heres my question for you we have seen Donald Trumps behavior you are famously never trump and think trump is a disaster. We see his behavior in the controversy he has had. We now see himself surrounding himself with steve shannon, roger ailes, sean hannity as trump baxley trying to win this election or does he have some longerterm endgame that is more hollywood than washington d c . Mike before i do that, my old friend stone was protecting the end of television on am radio. Morse code is the only thing older than that. [laughter] things change slower than they think. Trying to tell the future of trump is a Risky Business because it is so dramatic. But he appears to be better at least at constructing the next great streaming business than a winning president ial campaign. He now has the pieces that could lead to something akin to what glenn beck did when he traded his own pay streaming network, which is getting a smaller audience but generating revenue. I dont know if it will be a heist for money rather than a president ial campaign, but theres no question the president ial campaign is having real. Alex were hearing news reports today that donald trump has pumped to the has upped the rent on all of his copies now that the campaign is being funded by small donations and not trumps dockets. What do we make of that . Mike they saved because they are expanding their staff any more square footage, but i think they would hold themselves to a higher standard. Between the airplane and rental space, theres a lot of selfdealing going on here. I think its not a coincidence trump decided to up his overhead the minute he got his hands on an income stream from his donors. John we have talked a lot im going to get to Hillary Clinton a few minutes, but lets talk about a few things from donald trump he has not releases tax returns, disclose almost nothing about his health records, that out the law zoo, wazoo, indebted to the bank of china. He is by far the least transparent president ial candidate of our lifetimes. Will he ever start to pay a price for that . Mike i would argue he is paying the price for it. Were having this conversation now on a week when the conversation could have been about secretary clinton and emails in the foundation, hes largely step on that message with his own actions and questions about his own campaign. I think he has been paying a price. Theres a sense that people are not being told the full story and people are looking at both candidates trying to figure out can i sleep well at night knowing they are my president . I dont think he has gotten away scott free but mr. Murphys point, he may be undergoing a not at preventing him from releasing his tax returns i would be interested to read the fec report. Alex i asked both of you these question this question is there such thing as a pivot in american politics in this day and age . Mike i think you can evolve a bit at you cannot be the man of thousand faces. Part of the problem trump has is that he has pivoted so many times, when is he not pivoting . He is like a real time pivot machine. It creates a number of trust issues for his voters. Its it has political interest to be less terrifying on the immigration issue but if he ever starts to gain traction, he will pay the price when it comes to his supporters that are very nativist. I think he has checkmated himself on that. You will see lots of pivoting optics, the occasional kinder adjectives. They will start putting soccer moms behind him at the rallies, but the core message never changes because it affects trump. I dont think any Campaign Management team can put it in the box. John im not going to let you answer the pivot question because we are running short on time, but i want to get to the Hillary Clinton question. You are a supporter but not affiliated with the campaign. How big a problem is the foundation for her and how are they handling it . Mike its a question about whether people can trust and believe in her. As all of us know, theres a Cottage Industry of clinical Industrial Media complex that has then focused on this for a long time. Its interesting to note that the Trump Campaign has been focusing on this and im sure mike is wondering how with 17 candidates in the race they nominated the one who actually donated to the Clinton Foundation, which is an odd thing. [laughter] it is something they have two manage through. I think the foundation has done incredible work and it is hard to deny it. I hope people focus on that a little bit. It is unusual that the foundation which would normally occupy a certain protocol for a former president than how the secretary of state came president i get the appearance problem, but i think it is a political issue and is very much seen in the political context. People watching the campaign with them you that nonand people who have to decide who they want to lead this country in the fall get that fact. Alex we have to leave it there. The magisterial mike murphy and the majestic mike altman. Mike feldman. Check out mike murphys podcasts called radio free gop. Mike it is good. Alex we will turn from the state of trump to the Fourth Estate after these words from our sponsor. John who in the world would be better to talk about Donald Trumps love hate relationship with the press than my next guest . Thank you for coming on the show. Jim glad to be here. John sean hannity owes the campaign what . Jim hes not only a very supportive television host, hes also an advice giver. He would reject the advisor label, though not entirely. He would admit he has a lot of interaction with the campaign and people around the candidate and his son, don junior, that he is a supportive tv has to is not a journalist. John if you called him a trump whisper, what he reject that . Jim i think you would like that. Alex theres so much talk on the campaign trail about liberal media bias and you have two former news had that are active advisors to a campaign and someone who is currently on tv advising a Political Campaign but theres no discussion about that. Jim the tail that wags the dog is now the dog. Alex a very large dog. John we just talk to murphy and feldman about this do you buy the Conspiracy Theory that he knows hes going to lose the election but between them he is setting himself up to run a media empire after he loses in november . Jim i buy it halfway. I believe he wants to win the presidency. I believe that. I have no reason not to. Is nothing definitive. That said, hes had amazing success and he has drawn ratings and we have heard him complain why am i not getting a cut of that money . I dont doubt hes interested in making a media play. Alex to what agree has a support he has been getting from bite from breitbart been in the news . That it is an editorial breach . The support for those policies and a kind of Political Campaigning . Jim i think at breitbart, it was the reporter who was allegedly manhandled roughly by his manager and breitbart sided with the Trump Campaign over its own reporter. John i think thats true. It looks increasingly like trump might want to make a media play. Does there come a moment where fox says we are propping up a potential competitor . Alex cozy up with Hillary Clinton . John we have seen murdoch do this before with Tony Blair Alex fox was created to specifically be an answer to what was seen as liberal bias in the media. Jim there were stories about this during her Senate Campaign that there was some friendliness. I dont know because the fox audience, part of it loves trump. When megyn kelly fought with trump earlier this year, that was a problem with segments of their audience. It is intriguing and i would not rule it out, but they are running a business and need to keep their ratings. John gawker is dead and there are so any eulogies that one of our millennial staffers has installed a gawker blocker. Should we care . The new york culture, media culture, us in the business alex the Fourth Estate. Jim even the fifth estate. We should care on two levels. Gawker was part of the media culture, the modern iteration of spy magazine. It was a reverend it was irreverent and went too far. It offended me, sometimes a lot, but it stood for internet era journalism. But to me, much more importantly is that a billionaire put out of his is through lawsuits and people say how can you defend gawker . Whos next. Alex with all due respect, i was a long time tween reader of spy magazine. Magazine. Was no spy jim i agree. Its the bratty year younger brother john you take the notion that gawker may have been irresponsible but they did not bring this on themselves. The story is a ruthless billionaire put a publication out of his this. Out of business. End of story. Jim even if they did bring it upon themselves, a billionaire putting media out of business because he did not like what they were writing, who is that whats to stop and oligarch from russia coming over . Probably a lot of things. [laughter] john a word of advice for you. Dont piss off peter thiel. Coming up, Trump Movement and what it means for the election. If you happen to be watching us and washington, d. C. , you can listen to us on the radio radio ad bloomberg 99. 1 fm. We will be right back. Alex we are still 77 days away from the election but our next guest is assessing what trumps candidacy means for the future of the Republican Party. Here now to talk about it is the Washington Post political reporter. Great to have you with us. From the piece that you wrote, trumps legacy is predicated not just on whether he loses, but the margin by which he loses. Talk about that. Karen if there was any doubt on the part on the part if there was any doubt on the part of traditional publicans that what trump has created is going to indoor after trump win or lose, his decision to bring in a new Campaign Chairman who represents the entire antiestablishment media environment put that to rest. So now the question for a lot of them is they are assuming hes going to lose. If he loses big, they think it may repudiate everything he has stood for. That might lay the groundwork for the party to do a traditional rebuilding effort, but if it is close, trump is him trumpism is not only going to indoor, but there will be a major battle in the party over who is to blame for this loss. Is that the people who nominated donald trump or is it the one to did not get on board . John theres a Downside Risk to trump losing big, which is they could lose the senate or house conceivably. In washington dc, among republicans you know, is there more fear that trump wins somehow or that he loses . Karen the much hated inside the beltway republican establishment, i think they would like to see if he is going to lose, to do it cleanly so that theres not a lot of doubt as to what was to blame. They dont want it to be so big that it takes down a lot of senate candidates. Most republican incumbents are running better than trump in their home state that if the bottom flat out drops out, hes going to take a lot of republican incumbents with him. Alex before the appointment of Stephen Bannon to the campaign and roger ailes as an formal advisor, ive talked to a couple of never trumpers who believed the coalition would evaporate or more into the morph into the broader electorate. Does anyone think thats possible at this point . Karen i think not. What they would argue is this is not ever going to be a share of the electorate that can get to 51 . The fact is it has gained a lot of market share in the Republican Party. Donald trump himself is not going anywhere. He will probably still be on the stage as well. John you quote ed rollins in your piece where he talks about how the Republican Party came the chamber of Commerce Party and is no longer the party of small business. That goes to the question of populism. Trump has unleashed these forces of populism. And they are very powerful. Is there anyone in the Republican Party who imagines a future in which the Republican Party is populist, more populist than it has been over the past few cycles at least, but not nativist, xenophobic am a sometimes racist . Is there a way to incorporate the good parts of populism and leave out the bad parts . Karen it would depend. Interestingly enough, it would depend on substance and policy. How do they navigate freetrade . How do they navigate immigration after this election . How do they navigate a set of policies that have become so dogmatic in their conservatism, so wedded to things like tax cuts that largely and if its the wealthy that they dont really feel responsive to the everyday concerns of people on main street . That and this frustration with the party that seems to be benefiting everyone else is one of the things that fuels this. Alex when you look at donald trump, a lot of people will say the groundwork was laid by sarah palin who rose to the National Stage on an unlikely character for republican politics. What about folks is a Donald Trumps policies could actually win a greater role in the american democracy were it not for donald trump . If there were a better messenger, maybe this is a winning platform for the Republican Party. Karen not only a better messenger, but it would have to shed the kind of nativist, xena phobic xenophobic parts of it. Theres a nationalism that has a appeal to large swaths of this country. Alex thank you as always. We will be right back after this quick break. John do you know what you can do . You can signup for the brief, our daily newsletter. It is brilliant. While youre there, please check out a great new story for more insight into Donald Trumps obamalike immigration plan. Will you be here tomorrow . Alex i will be here tomorrow if they let me in the door. I havent done anything to disqualify myself. Go in peace and pickles. John i say sayonara. Rishaad it is wednesday the 24th of august. I am rishaad salamat. This is trending business. Rishaad we will be visiting singapore, sydney, and beijing this hour. Asiapacific markets extending wall street gains. Investors are waiting the fed. Off, record profit in the first dividend in seven years. The turnaround plan is seemingly working