Transcripts For KQED Washington Week With Gwen Ifill 20160611

Temperamentally unfit to be president. [cheering] while donald trump works to calm nervous republicans. He know some people say im too much of a fighter. My preference is always peace. But can he shake questions about his statements that a judge of even mexican or muslim heritage cannot treat him fairly . Its sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. Left on the sidelines, Bernie Sanders. Well, here we are in mid june. Covering the week, gene cummings Political Editor for the wall street journal. Ed okeefe political reporter for the Washington Post. The Washington Bureau chief for Time Magazine and the White House Correspondent for real clear politics. Awardwinning reporting and analysis covering history as it happens. Live from our nations capital. This is Washington Week with gwen ifill. Corporate funding for Washington Week is provided by gwen good evening. This week was nothing less than extraordinary. And its possible the political world will never be the same. But is it because there is a likely woman nominee . Is it because Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren now have liberal leverage . Is it because republicans are beginning to worry they are stuck between a rock and a hard place with the unpredictable, presumptive nominee . Or it is because no matter what happens next we are in for a crazy, volatile slide at the conventions in cleveland, in philadelphia. Hillary clinton and donald trump were both in washington today speaking to groups at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. Clinton at planned parenthood and trump at the evangelical faith and freedom meeting. The real problem for clinton was trump and for trump, clinton. She is now under criminal investigation. First time ever by the way a president of the United States endorsed somebody under criminal investigation. Interesting. When donald trump says lets make America Great again, that is code for, lets take america backward. Well, donald, those days are over. Gwen lets pick it all apart. Nothing this year has been conventional. Gene, did this week alter the course of the race . It could have. You know, obviously time will tell. But it looks like gwen weve learned to say that whenever we cover this particular campaign. The damage trump did to himself over the judge is significant. And i think lasting. How deep it is, we will find out. But his poll numbers in a fox poll dropped six points. His standing in the Hispanic Community is rock bottom. And those are things that he now has to figure out how he can overcome and repair. They havent figured it out yet. He lost one endorsement from senator kirk. Others were on the fence about to run. These next five weeks if it is like this going into the convention we could see the convention we once thought we would. An ugly, contested affair. So theres that on that side. On the other side, Bernie Sanders appears to be moving pretty quickly, faster than i would have thought, to go ahead and line up and align the Democratic Party. Hillary clinton got a very important boost not just from the president but when Elizabeth Warren came out and endorsed her so quickly because that is the signal. She was Bernie Sanders before Bernie Sanders was Bernie Sanders. Lets talk a little about the Hillary Clinton breakthrough. We talk often about her bad weeks. This was a good one. It was, for her, a real high point. She talked about it as a milestone. And we all saw her on the stage in brooklyn emotional. We saw her talking about her mother, heard her talking about history and about the history of women going before. And in every way it was the pinnacle of a career that weve watched for decades and her effort to turn so quickly to try to bring donald trump down in every way that she can began with that speech, that celebratory, victorious speech. You could see how grateful she was that she was being able to turn to that point and, you know, in every way wanted to take a victory walk with her arms spread out and being happy to count every delegate and every vote. Bernie sanders, too. Well get back to that in a minute. I am curious, michael, to talk a little bit about what it is that she, not only that she accomplished, but how she accomplished it. Usually donald trump manages to only fall if he falls on his own petard. If he makes a mistake. How much of it did she accomplish and how much did he help her have a good week . Most of this year Hillary Clinton hasnt been in control. She hasnt been in control of the criminal investigation against her, hasnt been in control of Bernie Sanders who has been beating her. This week she ended the primary season big with winning california which was very important. Bernie sanders would not be acting the way he is acting now if he had won california. That was his own marker and he failed to get there. And now she sees things opening up for her and not just her. The democratic establishment. Bernie would say the establishment, the joe biden, barack obama. The senate leadership. Now sees a race they can actually control. They know how theyll run against donald trump. She is very comfortable attacking donald trump. She knows how to attack donald trump. They focus group these lines. They know exactly what their playbook is. And she now controls the roll out. So much of the good news this week was you had this very well coordinated, incredibly well orchestrated rollout of endorsements that kind of kept everybody captivated and the way were used to being captivated by donald trump every week. It definitely felt looking back as if it had been planned way in advance. The Washington Post today has a story in which donald trump says he is not that worried about his comments about the judge saying he is of hispanic heritage even though he was born in indiana because, a, he doesnt think anyone is actually paying attention, real people are paying attention to it. And he also says, you know, don king endorsed him, so its not he is not a racist. The idea nobody is paying attention is ridiculous frankly. I spent part of this week in las vegas talking to voters. We sort of deployed a bunch of us out to talk to people now that we know that is the race. And let me tell you, everyone knows about it. And i had several notably i had one hispanic woman say to me, you know, he makes some interesting and some valid points. But hes a racist. So i cant vote for him. She said that. Yes. And i had another guy who said something similar. You please, if it werent for that, maybe i would consider him. Yes, he is an outsider. Yes, hes different. Hes been successful himself and why wouldnt we want to be successful . You hear that from people. I heard it vividly this week. Idea that this isnt being heard, i think this was heard much more and why he has hit rock bottom and will go even further with hispanics is so many of them look at what he said about this judge. Its not just that the judge is hispanic. Its that his parents emigrated to this country and he was born here. That is every young hispanic voter in this country who will be voting in this country for the next 60 or 70 years. My parents emigrated to this country. Exactly. My mother did, too. You have essentially lost any hope of winning those people. Probably for the rest of their lives if he is nominated by that party. And when he talks about nobodys paying attention, they arent nobody. And they are paying attention. The other thing, james, so rightly you were talking about the fox poll and the drop in six points. That is not because Hillary Clinton was going up. It is because donald trump was dragging himself down. If you pleasing about what you were covering out if you think about what you were covering out in the real world when you have an echo chamber in the capital as you point out with lawmakers, republican lawmakers, repeating this idea of textbook case of racism and over and over again each one of them, the majority leader of the senate, senator mcconnell, you know, trying to issue in big, bold letters, warning donald trump. Back up. Back up. Change your tune. I think it is important to remember also that he doubled down on this three or four times over a fourday period before fimely pulling back. He was his only adviser. He was choosing to do it by himself and he was doing it. Hell back off this now but even if you watch the faith and Freedom Conference today, this instinct to pit people against each other and campaign against the other is still very much it is so embedded in who he is as a politician. He made the point today in front of the evangelical crowd that he wants to bring more money to the inner cities but the way he would do it was by taking money away that would go to refugees. And by hammering again these outsiders, these foreigners are taking our money. These muslims. It is all encoded into who he really is. At the same time he then says i am not out to divide. Im out to unite right after. These things are right next to each other. The other thing is the teleprompters. You know, clearly, he gets it. He understands he has made a very big mistake. And give Newt Gingrich credit. To use the teleprompters or not . He is not so good at them. Not good at them but not using them is how he got himself in trouble. Hed wander off message. To give Newt Gingrich credit, he went right out and said it. That was one of the biggest mistakes hes made. It really bothered trump that gingrich said that but gingrich was one of the few people trying to Talk Straight to the guy. And say, fix it. You have made a big mistake. His first big mistake was an 11minute speech in which he litigated the entire Trump University case. This judge of course is in charge of the Trump University case. Thats when he began to wander way off. He had notes. He did that on purpose. Yes. He did that in that judges back yard on purpose. The flip side is that he is not ready to give up the free wheeling donald trump. He is going to have a rally this weekend in tampa. He is planning his rallies for weekends to get the massive crowds. He loves the massive crowds. He is not going to disappoint them. He also gave, even after he sent out the statement saying his comments about the judge were misconstrued, without actually explaining how they were misconstrued, he continued to give interviews in which he, when asked, said, im not backing off what i said. He is not he is not going to put himself in a bottle. There is this tension here where well have a speech next week about Hillary Clinton which will be on teleprompter, which will be like the speech he gave on tuesday night on teleprompter. Like the speech he gave today on teleprompter. But the guy who sits in his plane and tweets about pocohontas, Elizabeth Warren, is also still very much there. That is what has the republicans so scared. Of course Hillary Clinton is doing her teleprompter speeches, but hers which have been well received, she attacked him on foreign policy, not really, attacked him on being unstable is what she was really saying and is apparently going to do the same thing on domestic, Economic Issues this coming week. Lets go back to Hillary Clintons week. In addition, to winning and to clinching and making history, she got Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth warren, who is i think the last female democrat in the senate to endorse her finally and not only endorse her but throw her arms around her last night on rachel maddow. What was that about . Well, as weve said, again, i had a vote ther week say she should pick Elizabeth Warren as a running mate because she is the Bernie Sanders woman. That was the quote. That was what she said . Yes. It was a guy. He said, pick Elizabeth Warren because she is the Bernie Sanders woman. She is the liberal chance of that happening . Female embod emmitt of what he has been running around the courpt talking about. Whether that happens is to be seen. Getting her endorsement was critical. If we had gone into the weekend with her still hemming and hawing the situation would have been much worse. Elizabeth warren had signed the letter signed by all the female members of the senate urging Hillary Clinton to run. And so we should give her some credit for that. That the idea that she signs that and then rather, you know, sitting out the primary, as soon as the primary is clear where its going, she is out and shes helping hillary. You know, that can have far more impact than anyone endorsing her. They had a meeting this morning at ms. Clintons house and apparently didnt talk about the Vice President al race. And the senator has sent every signal that she can that she is happy where she is. They all do that. But if you look at her on the campaign trail and you look at the way she operates in her office, shell talk to her local press much, much more than shell go out and court the national press. Here is the question. I dont want to get into the v. P. Thing yet because there is plenty of time. There is. Im curious whether Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, have changed this and made it more, given liberals more leverage in this campaign than they would have otherwise had. This is a clinton who came from the days of the third way. So its not a different person. But she didnt have to pay attention. Well, i think there is no doubt that even if Bernie Sanders lost the nomination fight he and Elizabeth Warren have the keys to the future of the party. I think Hillary Clinton knows that. Everybody else in washington, the Democratic Party knows that. They have to figure out how to pursue what they want to pursue recognizing there is this populace uprising happening within the Democratic Party much like the republican party. The question we have over the next week is, Hillary Clintons votes havent moved but that poll, the fox news poll, was finished on wednesday. If what i think is likely to happen happens by next week when the next round of polls come, Hillary Clinton will have gone up significantly because democrats will be ewing. And that will set in a week or two, you please, the starting gun for this race. There is probably no one who was more unleashed this week than president obama. He met with Bernie Sanders. He then dropped to hillary the endorsement and watched his oldest daughter graduate from high school. In between he slow jammed the news on the tonight show with jimmy fallon. Mr. President , since youre here, i got to ask. Have you been watching all the election coverage this week about donald trump . No, but i have been watching my new favorite show. Orange is not the new black. Im going to need you to netflix and chill. I think there was a mic drop at the end of that. The president campaigns with Hillary Clinton next week in wisconsin and it seems he is chomping at the bit to me. You as well . Indeed. In fact, watching president obama talk now for i would say months you could see the animation. The white house word is enthusiasm. He is enthusiastic. I would say thats an under statement. That he there is a personal dynamic between the president or, you please, a rift between the president and donald trump that goes back to the Birther Movement and the birth certificate. And president obama is appalled. Appalled at the kinds of things donald trump is saying and believes that he can be such an emblem of what it takes to be president. His own numbers, his own job approval has gone up in contrast with what is happening on the trail. What weve seen is the president s very formal kind of endorsement delivered informally. Via social media. Well see the president do all the formal kinds of things. Big rallies. Well see a lot of this, too. Because he reaches that demographic and audience. And a tweet this week by one of the clinton spokes people i thought was important to remember. He said, now, i think he was tweeting the video of her, of him making he said, now imagine her, the president , bill clinton, michelle obama, joe biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders all out there campaigning for her. That will send some people fleeing i think into the closet. To them that sounds horrible. Well, yes. But sent into the right neighborhoods, sent into the right states, sent to the right places. The weapons the democrats have are amazing. Who wants to campaign on donald trump, right every expresident both democrat and republican opposes donald trump. I mean, he doesnt have any of the kind of weaponary. But if this is an outsiders year isnt that an advantage . It might be. But democrats will try and paint donald trump as, frame the election as outsider insider, will frame it as someone unfit and dangerous and out for himself. I think for obama, there is a way in which trump is the perfect opponent for him to go out of the white house with. I mean, he has staked so much of his second term on this idea the 2012 election showed the future of america, that there is a demographic change happening, that a younger electorate is coming of age. That a less white electorate is coming of age. And he gets a chance now. He always said, this is my last campaign. He gets a chance now to have a Third Campaign in which he can cement for the country if he can turn these people out or help turn these people out. Once again the idea of a third obama term does not thrill some people. No. But i think michael is right. If they can change the argument from outsider insider to competence and incompetence. That is a winning argument. We have under estimated donald trump every step of the way. True. He had a bad week. So we can all agree upon that. This was not his best moment. But if he gets himself back up on a roll, if he does start to discipline himself, if he can borrow from paul ryan some decent policy platforms so that he can make a substantive argument for his candidacy, hell get right back into this. This thing will be tight. Final thoughts his main weapon will be trying to disqualify Hillary Clinton so hammering her over and over again. She is pretty weak. Okay. Thanks everyone. We have a short show tonight so we can give you the opportunity to support the stations that support us. Stick around for the Washington Week webcast extra where we take you behind the scenes of the 2016 campaign. Plus, online see our deep dive into the history of women running for president. Hillary clinton made history but she is not the first one to try. Find that later tonight and all weekend long at cbs. Org Washington Week. Find that all weekend long at pbs. Org Washington Week. Ill see you right here around the table next week on Washington Week. Good night. Steves while neighboring croatia is famous for its coastline, slovenia enjoys its own 29mile stretch of adriatic seafront. Thats about one inch per resident. Its best stop the town of piran. Many adriatic towns are overwhelmed by tourists and concrete, but piran has kept itself charming and in remarkably good repair while holding the tourist sprawl at bay. Crowded onto the tip of its peninsula, piran cant grow. The main square was once a protected harbor until it began to stink so badly they had to fill it in. A colorful mix of work and pleasure boats fill todays harbor. These days, pirans walls are inviting, rather than defensive, and the town is simply an enjoyable place in which to relax. Explore the evocative back lanes. Hike up to the cathedral. Scale the venetianstyle bell tower. On top, catch your breath by enjoying views of piran and nearly the entire slovenian coastline. The trafficfree harbor front, lined with slovenes enjoying fresh seafood, is made to order for a stroll. Swimmers frolic while sunbathers claim more than their share of the national coastline. Piran clusters around its showpiece square, piazza tartini. As with most towns on the adriatic, it was long ruled by nearby venice and retains its venetian flavor. In fact, the town is officially bilingual slovene and italian. Today the square is enjoyed by visitors and locals of all generations, savoring the good life where the slavic world, the alps, and the mediterranean all come together. Hello and welcome to kqed news room. Coming up on our program, a look at a historic law u that changes how the terminally ill can choose to die. Plus, a prior devoted to easing the journey in their final days of life and well talk about whats next after this weeks primary election, but first, a look at the Sexual Assault case involving a Stanford University student that has sparked global outrage. Listen to survivors activists gathered today to deliver a petition with more than a million signatures calling for the removal of the judge in the case. Last