Time for you to head to bloombergpolitics. Com right now. We say sayonara. Hardball with Chris Matthews is next. Game time for clinton and trump. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Steve Kornacki in for Chris Matthews. The Labor Day Weekend is upon us. While that means americans will have a threeday weekend to celebrate the waning days of summer, it also marks the traditional kickoff of the general Election Campaign, the home stretch. Now that means less than ten weeks to go until election day and all indications are that the candidates are entering this home stretch on an uneven playing field. Politico reporting today that the Clinton Campaign is quote,
displaying unchecked confidence, noting that advisers to Hillary Clintons campaign have identified so many paths to an election day victory they are now focusing not only on the one or two battlegrounds that would ensure a win but on opening up the possibility of an Electoral College landslide. Thats the view from clinton world. Meanwhile, the Trump Campaign is yet to answer some fundamental questions about how they can pull this thing off. Quote, the plan to get to 270 electoral votes remains unclear. The battleground state deployment plan is a work in progress. Money from big donors is slowing to a trickle and aides are confused about who is calling the shots. Donald Trumps Campaign is teetering, threatening to collapse under the weight of a candidate whose personality out weigh his political skill. Thats from politico. With that in mind, lets take a look over here at the big board about where things stand in this race as we hit the labor day home stretch. What you are looking at is not where the race stands right now. This is where republicans wanted the race to stand right now. When this general Election Campaign began a few months ago, when donald trump locked down the republican nomination, if you had said then to republicans where do you hope this president ial race stands at labor day, they would hope it looked Something Like this. A very close race in terms of electoral votes and a battleground that would look Something Like this. Basically a 5050 chance for donald trump to get to 270. But we will show you now piece by piece what it actually looks like. Thats because there have been some developments over the last few months. We will start with two states that everybody, and i mean everybody, at the start of this Campaign Said were swing states that no longer look like swing states. Im talking first about virginia. Latest poll there, Hillary Clinton up 12 points. Virginia, this is a state republicans won clear through 2004. 2008, obama won it. 2012, he won it. You can see here by four points. Hillary clintons lead has exploded into double digits in that state right now. Not looking like a swing state neither for that matter is colorado. Our most recent poll there has Hillary Clinton running 14 points ahead. What does that do to the map . Two states we thought were swing states right now are looking a lot more like Hillary Clinton states. Heres Something Else thats changed in the last few months. Some of these red states, states we all just penciled in at the start of this and said they will be trump states because they are always republican states, they are not looking like red states right now. Im talking about north carolina, a state mitt romney won by two points in 2012. Most recent poll, Hillary Clinton up by two in north carolina. How about georgia, a state mitt romney won by seven. A state that last voted for a democrat for president back in 92. Most recent poll there has got trump up four. Not a very Comfortable Lead for donald trump. It is a lead but you cant call that a safe red state with a margin like that. How about missouri. Mitt romney won this by ten points. Donald trumps up a single point in the most recent poll. How about arizona . Again, double digits for romney four years ago. Three for trump right now. So what does that do to the map . It takes these four red states we are talking about here, you cant call them red states now. You cant say carolina is in the bag for trump, you cant say georgia is, you cant say missouri is, you cant say arizona is. Look how that starts to change the electoral map. Now, some of the other battleground states, lets give you a quick view of what it looks like on the ground in those states. You can start with new hampshire. Look at this. Remember, donald trump won this in the primary. Four years ago, barack obama won it by six. Hillary clinton, new poll out in the last few hours, 11 point lead. There have been a couple polls like that for her in new hampshire. Pennsylvania, how much talk have we heard from republicans about trump competing in pennsylvania . It was five points in 2012. Most recent poll this week, seven points for Hillary Clinton. There have been polls, some putting her double digits ahead in pennsylvania. You can go right through them. Hillary clinton leading, small but leading in florida. A state obama won by a point. Hillary clinton leading, again, small margin but bigger than obamas in 2012, four point lead
for Hillary Clinton in ohio. Wisconsin, down to three. Democrats would like that to be more. Thats actually good news for donald trump. But still, bottom line, thats a Hillary Clinton lead in wisconsin. Iowa, best news for donald trump. In any swing state, the best news right now, its right here. A tie. Hes not ahead, hes in a tie in the most recent poll. This is a state obama won by six points. Nevada also, Hillary Clinton, a smaller lead than president obama had but still a lead. Keep that in mind. All those battleground states, you cant point to a single one right now where donald trump is ahead. These are states hes got to be flipping. In fact, you look at it and say shes up double digits in new hampshire, high single in pennsylvania, those are looking blue right now. Bottom line, heading into the home stretch, look how close she is to 270. Look how far he is. The gray states left, trump would basically have to run the table to get to 270. He needs a shakeup to get back in this race and to have a path to the white house. Im joined by msnbc political analyst david corn, Washington Bureau chief of mother jones, annie holman, hugh hewitt, conservative radio host. Hugh, start with you. Home stretch is here. Donald trump is down. Hes trailed consistently in the National Polls all summer. What is the single most important thing he has to do to get back in this game . I think you said there needs to be a shakeup. Wisconsin, iowa and nevada are the three states where hes got the best news. I think it does come down to pennsylvania in the end. Luckily today, i know you are coming to this later in the program, so i dont want to spend too much time on it, but on october 20th, 1973, there was a saturday night massacre. September 2nd, 2016 is a friday night massacre of the doj and fbis narrative and reputation on Hillary Clinton and the emails. Its a disastrous story for Hillary Clinton. It will change the race beginning monday and i dont think the old labor day, i think
we will all study this report over the weekend. She had a terrible week. He had a very good week. That shakeup is beginning. Okay. Youre right, we will get to that a little later in more detail. But david corn, a version of the same question i asked hugh, i will ask you, but from Hillary Clintons standpoint. Shes ahead. What is the biggest threat that Hillary Clinton faces in the home stretch of this campaign . Is it the email story . Is it the doj . Is it Something Else . What is the biggest threat that could trip her up . I read the report. Other people read the report by now. It doesnt go any further than what we already heard, she was careless or reckless with handling the email which she apologized for. Its a real problem, a real issue, but she didnt know something about classified material. Donald trump didnt know what the Nuclear Triad was. You dont think thats a threat. What is . I think the thing she needs to worry about the most is that donald trump becomes sane. He had a chance this week. He went to mexico, he got kudos because he didnt drool while standing next to a foreign
leader but then he came back and gave a speech that was supposed to be part of a pivot, minority outreach. He lost, i dont know, half of his latino advisory board. Hes not doing anything to reach those voters in swing states that you just went through. I think now shes like muhammad ali playing ropeadope. Just let him flail. If he stays where he is, shes in a good position. Basically, make no mistakes, do well at the debates which are the next possible turning point if they happen in this campaign. But really, let him go around and around like the tasmanian devil who cant keep his own latino advisers aboard. After a Campaign Meeting at trump tower yesterday, top aides were confident of victory following his speech wednesday night. According to the Washington Post trumps tough talk on immigration combined with a whirlwind trip to mexico on wednesday had, in the words of one adviser, won him the election. The New York Times reported yesterday several associates close to trump told his son eric
trump is in real danger of using. Rnc strategists indicated to the younger mr. Trump his fathers already narrow path to 270 electoral votes he needs to win could vanish going through the swing states one by one. Party officials showed eric trump his father was drastically underperforming other republicans in the polls. Thats sort of a version of what we just walked through there in terms of what the state by state map looks like right now. But they mentioned the first article we have there, the immigration speech. Trumps campaign apparently according to this reporting, they feel they took a big step forward with the immigration speech this week. Given the polling realities, the swing state realities, all hes up against, do you think he helped his cause at the end of this week by what he said this week on immigration . I think he helped his cause by the trip down to mexico and in answer to david corns question, yes, donald trump looking president ial is a big threat and even howard wolfson, former Communications Director for Hillary Clinton, said Donald Trumps trip to mexico was a home run. Now, the media is analyzing
Donald Trumps speech in phoenix in very different ways. I watched it and i heard a tough tone but in fact, in terms of substance i thought he was actually kind of the middle of the road. Many of the things he outlined are actually u. S. Policy and administration policy. I understand the speech was fiery but i think a lot of voters listening, they like that message from donald trump that hes going to be putting america first. I would be surprised if Hillary Clinton disagrees with that. Lets stay on that for a second. Its interesting, we talked about the tone of this speech and the emphasis donald trump had there on crime, he had the parents of victims of crimes that had been committed by Illegal Immigrants. Im looking just when i sort of slice and dice the demographics here trying to figure out why clintons winning, why trumps losing, im not the only one to look at this, but it comes down to these white suburbanites, to people who are a little more conservative economically, pocketbook issues, they worry about their taxes. But they dont like the idea of
being associated with somebody who says the inflammatory things donald trump has. Im just looking at the tone of that speech this week and im having a hard time seeing how those voters warm up to him because of it. Well, it depends if they listen to it or to the coverage. I was on with you on wednesday night. I agree that i thought it was a very energetic speech but comprehensively in the middle of the republican position on immigration. Going back to your i think very completely accurate assessment of the map, wisconsin, iowa, nevada are where donald trump has to shake the map up. How does the speech play in those three states and in pennsylvania. I think it plays very very well. Its not going to get you back colorado. Thats gone. I think its a completely blue state right now. Nevada is a funny state because of trumps presence there. How does it play in iowa, pennsylvania and wisconsin . He promises security to a country worried about security. He elevates for the media to understand the victims of crime of those not in the country
legally. And he does so with a little bit more humor and grace than we are used to and especially the visit to mexico. It was his very best day of the campaign, in the middle of a week where Hillary Clinton began with the front page of the Los Angeles Times and ended up with this terrible report today. This time next week we will see a much tighter race. Some senators this week say they believe a hillary win is in the cards this year. Senator john mccain is using the prospect much a Clinton Presidency in a new tv ad. Check it out. If Hillary Clinton is elected president , arizona will need a senator who will act as a check, not a rubber stamp, for the white house. In louisiana, senator bill cassidy said on cspan last night that its not the republican message thats at fault but the messenger at the top of the ticket. The message that we have is pretty good. It may turn out that mr. Trump is not the messenger. Maybe he is. But it really seems to boil down to mr. Trumps personality being not what people like as opposed to some of the issues. I think where the issues are, republicans are kind of where many of the American People are. Amy, that mccain ad just takes me back 1996, when the republicans concluded bob dole was toast in the president ial race, they wanted to save the congress, they started campaigns saying give us a check against a second term of president clinton. Seeing shades of that right now. I think that ad has a lot more to do with john mccain being in a tough reelection battle and hes trying to appeal to the moderates, his moderates, in arizona. You always have to ask the question in politics compared to what. We are talking about donald trump and his tone or his demeanor. Well, Hillary Clinton this week, it was reported by the Washington Post is at her highest negativities and unfavorability in her career. The bad news that has come out over last week and this week, including the clinton foundation
and the revelations by the a. P. That half of the people that she met with who were outside of government were donors to the clinton foundation. This has not been good for her. I would actually say that that very fiery speech that she gave attacking donald trump and donald trump voters, i thought that was a sign of weakness. Typically the top of the ticket, they are the good cop and the Vice President ial candidate are the bad cop who slings the mud. Well, Hillary Clinton was willing to sling that mud because i think shes afraid of donald trump and is trying to frame him as unacceptable and is afraid his message is getting through. David corn, very quickly, this is a story we have been talking about, i say since the 90s. Hillary clinton, the high negative numbers, high unfavorable numbers, are we at a point where we have to say whatever happens in this election, she may still win, that problem for her in particular is just unfixable . It may be. But her negative numbers as high as they are are still lower than Donald Trumps. I still cant get over how anybody can look at his speech which drove his own latino
advisers out of the campaign, kicking, screaming and running as something that would play well with the general electorate and put him in a better position. Its ludicrous to think that he gained when he lost his own supporters. So i think theres a long way to go before donald trump shows any of those voters that you talked about, the suburban republicans and moderates, that hes the guy with the temperament, the knowledge or the ability to talk in a way that doesnt cause them to pull their hair out of their head. All right. Thank you for the time. Appreciate it. We are, we talked about it a little, we will get a full report on the fbi notes on Hillary Clinton in just a minute. Also coming up, on the eve of trumps trip to a black church in detroit, basketball star dwyane wade says trump used his cousins death for political gain. Thats ahead. Plus, the first president ial debate now just over three weeks away. We are learning more about the two big things Hillary Clinton is planning to do when she takes the stage against donald trump. And the inside story of how trump changed his immigration speech wednesday night to try to stick it to the mexican president after learning that the president had tweeted that mexico wouldnt be paying for trumps border wall. Finally, the hardball roundtable will be here to tell me and you three things about this president ial race that you might not know. Mapping the oceans. Where we explore. Protecting biodiversity. Everywhere we work. Defeating malaria. Improving energy efficiency. Developing more clean burning natural gas. My job . My job at exxonmobil . Turning algae into biofuels. Reducing Energy Poverty in the developing world. Making cars go further with less. Fueling the global economy. And you thought we just made the gas. Energy lives here. I thought my bladder leakage meant my social life was over. Wearing depend underwear has allowed me to fully engage in my life and im meeting people. Unlike the bargain brand, new depend fitflex underwear
is now more flexible to move with you. Reconnect with the life youve been missing. Get a free sample at depend. Com. The fbi today released notes of its interview with Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server that contained classified information. She told investigators she had used a personal email address as secretary of state out of convenience and she did not remember anyone raising legal concerns about it. For the details we go to Nbcs Kristen Welker at the white house. What are the headlines coming out of this . There are a lot of headlines. Let me give you a few of the big ones. One, secretary clinton saying she didnt remember all of the
briefings that she received on how to handle Sensitive Information because of that concussion that she suffered back in 2012. Thats one of the revelations from these documents thats raising some eyebrows. Another one, she told fbi investigators that she didnt know what the letter c meant on some of the emails. It stands for confidential. She said she wasnt clear about that. I spoke with a former federal official who said that is really hard to believe given that she was secretary of state, given all that the briefings that she had. Then finally, the fbi saying that they had no evidence that her server was ever hacked but at the same time, thats inconclusive because she had so many different devices that she used, as many as 13 over a period of time, so they say its not conclusive that her server was never hacked but they just dont have any evidence to suggest that it was. This of course all providing fodder for donald trump. He called her a liar, of course. You guys just had that
conversation in which hugh hewitt seized upon this controversy and the bottom line here, it keeps the email issue in the headlines for yet another day, heading into labor day, and it continues to fuel those high unfavorable ratings and voters lack of trust in her. This is something she needs to address after labor day, particularly in the debates. That story that started well over a year ago. Entering the home stretch of the president ial campaign, still there. Thanks for the time. Well be right back. Its a performance machine. With this degree of intelligence. Its a supercomputer. With this grade of protection. Its a fortress. And with this standard of luxury. Its an oasis. Introducing the completely redesigned eclass. Its everything you need it to be. And more. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Hey julie, i know todays critic. Need a sick day. Dads dont take sick days. Dads take dayquil severe the. Nondrowsy, coughing, aching, fever, sore throat, stuffy. Head, no sick days medicine. The perfect kidfriendly hotel. Simple to book which is great for families. Finally whatever captain obvious. Hotels. Comto 50 labor day sale. And get an extra off
you have tremendous numbers of africanamericans that have really had a hard time. I mean, beyond belief. And you know, i read the numbers where you have so many in poverty and the crime is horrible and the education is terrible and they live terribly. And i say what do you have to lose. I say to them what do you have to lose, give it to me, im going to fix it. And a lot of people are agreeing with me. What do you have to lose. The democrats and the Hillary Clintons of the world have done a terrible job. Shes been there for 35 years. Shes done a terrible job. Welcome back to hardball. After a week of trying to shore up the hispanic vote, donald trump is now focusing on the Africanamerican Community. Today he sat down with a roundtable of business, civic and religious leaders in philadelphia. Tomorrow he heads to detroit to visit with great Faith Ministries, a primarily black church. Yesterday the New York Times reported that the normally unscripted trump would leave nothing to chance in detroit. Quote, mr. Trump had planned to be interviewed by its pastor in a session that would be closed to the public and the news media with questions submitted in advance. Instead of letting mr. Trump be his freewheeling self, his campaign prepared lengthy answers for the submitted questions, consulting black republicans to make sure he says the right things. This morning, that pastor, wayne jackson, said he would have new questions. Take a listen. These answers, i mean these questions are not going to be
just as a matter of fact, i have questions they dont know about, no one knows about. I changed them after that came out. I want to make something very clear. There was no conversing with the Trump Campaign and myself to try to get him up in hand with these questions. Tonight there is growing confusion about tomorrows meeting. The campaign is saying trump will address the congregation. Pastor jackson is saying he will not. For more on trumps visit, im joined by dina bass, and jonathan allen. So donald trump, the interesting thing in this outreach hes been doing the last few weeks, outreach to the black communities, he really hasnt spoken in front of a predominantly black audience. Hes delivered this message largely in front of white audiences. We played a clip of it there of what he has been saying at least until now, where he stresses sort of negative aspects as he sees it of black life in america, talking about crime, talking about poverty, things
like this. If he goes to a black church in detroit tomorrow, with that message, how do you think that will go over . You know, i think first of all, its important to recognize that we have been complaining about the fact that donald trump has not gone to the black community. Now people are complaining that he actually is going to the black community. Its a great thing that hes going there. When he gets there, i hope that he will talk about these issues that hes raised before but i think he should also talk about jobs and the economy. These are areas where black americans are struggling and we do need more jobs and Economic Opportunities in places like detroit. But we also need, you know, Economic Opportunities in place of Educational Opportunities as well. I think its very important that donald trump is going there. I think that it will be helpful if he changes his language so that its not as negative but hes pointing out the fact that for 30 years, Hillary Clinton has been talking to the Africanamerican Community and
has earned the vote of africanamericans but shes done very little to improve the plight of people in areas like detroit and areas like chicago. So im excited to see what happens after this meeting with bishop jacksons church. In terms of the politics of this, theres the new National Poll from usa today and Suffolk University that breaks down the respondents by race. Among black voters, trump is getting just 2 of support. You can see it there. That puts him not just well behind Hillary Clinton, but also behind gary johnson and jillertn party candidates. There was also a poll a few weeks ago that put him at 1 . Had Hillary Clinton 91 , donald trump 1 with black voters. I know theres a school of thought out there that while this is on the surface outreach to black voters, donald trump is really using this as a way of reaching the different segment of the electorate, white voters. You think theres anything to that . Absolutely. Lets take this in a couple parts. Number one, when you are polling
at 1 or 2 among africanamericans, what that really means is you are within the margin of error of zero. Its possible, obviously its not going to be zero, but its going to be very low. Number two, i do think hes absolutely trying to communicate to white moderate republicans that hes not a bigot, that he can go talk in africanamerican communities about issues of importance to africanamericans and perhaps also to latinos later on. I think the idea is to make them more comfortable with the idea that they are not voting for someone who is a bigot. But this interesting thing hes doing at great Faith Ministries in detroit, is somewhat surprising. The whole idea for him is to go in there and show that hes got comfort with and he is comfortable with the Africanamerican Community, to be able to go into a black church and speak about issues in a way that is reassuring about his intentions, yet we find out that all of the questions and answers are scripted which shows the exact opposite, that hes so uncomfortable that hes not willing to go in there and actually have a real discussion. I dont see it, you know, with all due respect, i dont see it as an issue of him being uncomfortable. I think that what we have to understand and you have been there, we have seen this happening with other candidates, it is very common for campaigns to receive questions in advance and it is very common for staff to prepare remarks. We know this of donald trump. He is not a scripted candidate. So even if he takes these comments and reads over them and reviews them, we know that donald trump in most situations, he is going to speak from his heart and he is going to say what he wants to say. I think that Kellyanne Conway has done a great job. Im glad steve bannon is there. The bottom line is that from the very beginning, this has been donald Trumps Campaign and trump will be trump, whether you give him a script or not. Thats terrible for donald trump. We are still trying to figure out exactly what is going to happen at this church tomorrow. We are hearing something from the Trump Campaign, Something Else from the church itself. The original reporting they have told us at times is wrong. We will find out when he gets
there exactly what this is. Also, since the beginning of this outreach, trump has been making the last few weeks, he has stepped on his own message a few times. Last weekend after nba star dwyane wades cousin Nykea Aldridge was shot to death in chicago, trump tweeted dwyane wades cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in chicago. Just what i have been saying. Africa nchd americnamericans w trump. This morning, dwyane wade broke his silence and responded. I was grateful it started a conversation but on the other hand, it was just bad taste in my mouth because of what my family is dealing with and what our city of chicago is dealing with and it looks like hs the been used as a political game. There is this particular example. Heres what im curious about. The Republican Party in general more than a half century now, back to Barry Goldwater in 1964, you cant find a republican nominee for president who has broken 20 of the black vote. In general, republicans do not do well with the black vote. But donald trump, 2 in this poll we put up tonight, 1 in ours. Hes doing even worse. Diagnose the problem as you see it. Why is he doing even worse than republicans who normally dont do well at all . You know, Donald Trumps rhetoric in the black community has not been helpful. I will completely admit that. I will not cosign on the language hes used. But what i cannot stand is this idea that this week, we have had i think 90 deaths in chicago and these are cities that have been led by democrats. So the only thing i can say to that is i dont understand why the message doesnt resonate that we continue to give our loyalty to democrats and have gotten very little in return. I think its very important that candidates like donald trump raise awareness and speak in ways that may be a little controversial but dwyane wade said it. Hes brought attention to this situation. I think that is very important. All right. Thank you both for the time. Up next, first president ial debate just over three weeks away now. We have got new details about the two things Hillary Clinton is planning to do when she finally meets donald trump on that stage. Using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework. Wire. And plants needed to give my shop. A face. No one will forget. See what the power of points can do for your business. Learn more at chase. Com ink see what the power of points can do for your business. When heartburn comes creeping up on you. Fight back with relief so smooth and fast. Tums smoothies starts dissolving the stant it touches your tongue. And neutralizes stomach acid at the source. Tumtumtumtumtums smoothies, only from tums. Its a very specific moment, the launch window. We have to be very precise. If were not ready when the planets are perfectly aligned, thats it. We need really tight temperature controls. Engineering, aerodynamics a lit second too long could mean scrapping it all and starting over. Propulsion, Structural AnalysisMaple Bourbon caramel. Thats what were working on right now. From design through production, Siemens Technology helps manufacturers meet critical deadlines. I think thisll be our biggest flavor yet. When you only have one shot, you need a whole lot of ingenuity. I wodont know where id be without itre so when i heard about conartists committing medicare fraud. It made me so mad i wanted to give them the old onetwo one, never give your medicare number to get a free offer or gift two, always check your medicare statements for errors
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wild card while at the same time not doing further harm to her image. Quote, Hillary Clinton has expressed frustration, even a little trepidation about her first faceoff with donald trump later this month. Recently telling one person close to her that shes perplexed about which donald trump will show up. She has told friends since the spring at fundraisers and in private huddles shes especially worried about the new scurrilous attacks on her family fed to trump by allies like roger stone. Quote, over the past two or three weeks advisers have been peppering her with trumpian attacks including awkward wild card shots at her family. Politicos glen thrush who wrote that story joins me now. Thanks for taking a few minutes. They want to know which donald trump will show up. We know theres the bombastic donald trump who would say little marco rubio, we know that guy. Whats the other trump, though, they think could be out there . The trump that we saw in mexico with the tranquillizer dart sticking out of his neck. This domesticated version of
trump. Hillary told a crowd at a fundraiser in the hamptons this week that she was concerned that he would attempt to project gravitas and frankly, thats actually a much more difficult sort of debate for her. Their whole game, i think this is a weakness, i think people on their team, on clintons team, are trying to compensate for that weakness, they have really been relying on trump acting like a wild man. If the guy comes out and tries to behave president ial as he seems to be getting in terms of counsel from Kellyanne Conway, his new Campaign Manager and roger ailes, that in and of itself is a tame wild card that will be more difficult to deal with. So whats the thinking . Do they then try to rile him up . Do they give her some lines to try to provoke a response . How do they handle that . Yeah, absolutely. Part of the point of my piece was she really has a twofold challenge. The first is to deal with him if hes crazy. The second is to make him crazy so that they can deal with him if hes crazy because she will look better by comparison. But the second component of that is to really deal with these trust issues. We just saw this whole batch, this 11page summary of her discussion with the fbi. We have seen a real erosion in her trust numbers. The Washington Post reported a couple days ago its at a 25year high. Shes got business of her own to do with the American People. Frankly, for a really long time, their strategy has just been to beat the hell out of donald trump and pray for the best. We have seen significant erosion in her numbers. Interestingly enough, you look at the polls as well as i do, donald trump has not picked up the support that Hillary Clinton has lost. The three or four points nationally. So they are just kind of laying out there. What she really needs to do is what she has always needed to do. Make the case, the affirmative case with the American People shes trustworthy and likeable. Im trying to picture, trying to remember a National Debate with as much anticipation as this one. The only one i can come up with is sarah palin in 08. This is times ten. Excellent reporting. Good to have you on. Appreciate it. Up next, new details about how donald trump changed his immigration speech after a tweet from the president of mexico saying that mexico wont be paying for that border wall. Well she loves to say, well, fantastic a lot. I do say that, you see. I study psychobiology. Im a fine arts major. Nobody really believes that i take notes this way, but they actually make sense to me. I try to balance my studying with the typical college experience. This windows pc is a life saver being able to pull up different articles to different parts of the screen is so convenient. I used to be a mac user but this is way better. What would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. Truecar has pricing data on every make and model, so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. Now youre an expert in less than a minute. This is truecar. Welcome back to hardball. The wall street journal has shed new light on Donald Trumps immigration speech wednesday. Reporting that trump revised his speech at the last minute after seeing a tweet by mexicos president pena nieto. The tweet was the mexican president s public vow not to pay for trumps proposed border wall which trump had previously said he had not discussed in the earlier meeting. The journal reports that mr. Trump was peeved that nieto had gone public and the mexican president had broken what trump considered a deal, the question of keeping the question of paying for the wall off the table. So mr. Trump inserted a new
sentence into his immigration speech after noting he would build a great wall along the mexican border, he added this. We will build a great wall along the southern border. And mexico will pay for the wall. Believe me. 100 . They dont know it yet but they are going to pay for the wall. Joining me on the roundtable, katherine rampbell, Jonathan Alter and beth fouhy. So beth, end of the week, im trying to put in perspective a little bit what trump got, what he didnt get out of that wednesday in mexico. That night in arizona. The speech itself obviously the headlines from the hard line rhetoric from mexico earlier in the day, it was the image, it was having him stand on the same stage and try to project a different image. Which of those do you think ends up having more resonance at the end of the week . That meeting with the president is going to be just wiped from history basically. Except for their sort of proxy twitter war that was such a tiny
little moment compared to that speech that happened in prime time, that big speech in phoenix. Prime time carried live by us, by cnn, by others. So much incendiary material there that Hillary Clinton can chop up into ads and certainly will, we will probably start seeing them next week. In my opinion, that speech was basically, could spell the end of the Trump Campaign. It was a speech that basically pushed away everybody but his base. Unless his base can somehow materialize and redouble and retriple into a winning coalition, i dont see where wbr id wbr26187 he goes from here. Speaking of the point you just raised, in response to trumps visit to mexico, the Clinton Campaign has a new web ad. Take a look. Whos going to pay for the wall . Who . We did discuss the wall. We didnt discuss payment of the wall. b
okay. Putting Everything Else aside, i will defend trump on a very very narrow point. I dont think he ever claimed he was going to negotiate payment for the wall in his first meeting. When he has no leverage because hes still a candidate and doesnt actually occupy wbrid wbr26637 the oval office . I will give him that without being commentary on anything else. But to the point beth was just raising, we talked about this earlier in the show, in terms of the politics of this for trump, when you look at the voters who have been defecting from him, the traditional republican voters, the sort of culturally moderate suburbanites. I think hes given up on them. Does he just drive it up with
everybody else . I guess. That speech as beth noted was very much a play to his base. Even lewandowski, his former Campaign Manager, who may or may not still be being paid by trump, went on tv and said this was an attempt to get white male voters. I think hes basically given up on anybody on the fence at this point. I dont agree with that. I think he was very erratic which didnt help him. He lied which didnt help him. Clearly in the short term. But he lies every time his lips move so i dont think that was particularly out of the ordinary. What he did here rather interestingly to me was appealing to two constituencies. He threw red meat for the base. He secured that business because he needs the sporadic white voter who doesnt usually come out and is not being counted by any polls except the l. A. Times poll which shows trump even. He needs them to be motivated to come out. Thats what that speech was about. Do you think that could work . It could work. Absolutely could work. Nate silver agrees that it could work. The pollster. Or the poll aggregator. The one who said trump had no shot at winning the republican nomination. Spoton in 2008 and 2012. But my larger point is that what he did for the white women suburban voter, who i do not believe hes given up on, is he did what in the military is called covering your retreat with fire. So that speech was like a military force is withdrawing, they dont want to be seen as cowards in retreat so they lay down a huge barrage of fire to cover their retreat. What was he retreating from . A commitment all year long to deport 11 Million People immediately. That was not in the speech. So when he and hillary are discussing this in the debate, he will have a semirational
policy on immigration. I think the question, though, jonathan is saying theres about five million or so undocumented in the country right now that are not visa overstays, no criminal record, anything like that, and trump in this speech, if you listened very carefully, is basically saying nothing about legal status or anything, hes basically saying we will leave them alone. I didnt hear that. Can he now, in a debate, can he be more moderate on this . Honestly, i dont really understand why the focus on how many people he would deport and when has become such a discussion. There was so much else in that speech to offend suburban women. Characterizing so many immigrants as criminals, taking away jobs, murdering people. He has a whole group of women coming up onstage talking about the Illegal Immigrants who murdered their children. Conot have painted immigrants to this country in a more negative light. The disagreement about who and when they would be deported just seems to be a tiny fraction of the point he was making that night. Right. What he said and what they said the day after, too, was its
nothing about giving legal status or giving citizenship to anybody. Its saying that a few years from now, down the line, after we have done all the priority deportations that he outlined, they would then revisit it. Im just thinking if your goal in doing that is to sound more moderate, is to change your tone and appeal to those voters, if thats all youre offering and its couched in all this other rhetoric, i dont see how you win those voters over. Again, i feel like every time he does an interview about this he changes his mind about whats happening to the 11 million. Hes changed it twice since wednesday night. Exactly. He can now say or people can ask him rationally, isnt your policy of deporting criminals first the same essentially as Barack Obamas policy. And when he says well, in that respect, yes, it is the same, in a debate that might sound appealing to moderate voters. Im not sure that ones going to happen. The roundtable is staying with us. More to talk about. Its not a banner that goes on a wall. Its not something you do now and then. Or when its convenient. Its using stateoftheart simulators to better prepare for any situation. Its giving offshore teams onshore support. And its empowering anyone to stop a job if something doesnt seem right. At bp, safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. What comeso mind when youer think about healthcare . Understanding your options . Or, if youre getting the care you need . At aarpadvantages. Com, you n find helpful information about healthcare options. Leaving you more time to think about more important things. Like not having to think about healthcare at all. Surround yourself with healthy advantages at aarpadvantages. Com health. You can play hardball all week long online. Follow the show, like us on facebook, access to videos, photos, as we hit the road covering the wild president ial campaign in 2016. Well be right back. My eyelove is making a story come alive. Eyelove is all the things we love to do with our eyes. But its also having a chat with your eye doctor
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strategy might be. We had glen thrush earlier today. The donald trump who shows up to debate Hillary Clinton, is he going to try to reen act what he did in mexico city, try to be more calm and a different guy . I dont think so. I think where he feels comfortable, where he feels like hes in his element is where hes a little more off the cuff, a little more off the cuff, a little bit more of a bullying personality. I think his campaign is probably going to want to keep him on script and prep him for those debates, but all the reporting that ive seen on this has indicated that he has resisted reading policy briefs and doing a structured mock debate and things like that. So i think his preference is probably going to be a little more off the cuff, which may or may not work. Sounds like thats what the Clinton Campaign wants. They dont want trump to show up and try to look president ial. They want donald trump to show up like he did in the republican primary debates. And i want to give a shoutout for our commander in chief forum here on nbc on wednesday. That will be a dry run for donald trump, to be standing in
front of an audience getting questions that are much deeper and much more policyfocused than he is getting anywhere else. And he will be pressed to go deeper than he has been especially on issues of foreign policy. Hell get a taste of that and decide whats the best way to go. His natural state, or playing in the policy arena and go toe to toe with Hillary Clinton. We keep looking back to these republican primary debates. We forget sometimes, ten candidates on the stage, they had commercial breaks every 15, 20 minutes. Donald trump could stand there and disappear for 20 minutes at a time. The whole conversation could play out around him. Totally different dynamic. Oneonone commercialfree against Hillary Clinton. Its going to be harder for him. He doesnt know really much about the issues in detail. He can make gaffes that reveal his ignorance. But for the last couple of weeks, hes had this stump
speech that hes been reading from a teleprompter. He has 25 days between now and the first debate. Three times a day hell be reading that speech which is full of oneliners that are pretty effective. Its a pretty good speech, whether one agrees with it or not, and he will be able to take elements of that stump speech, which he has pretty much committed to memory now, because hes read it so many times and slot them in in answer to various questions. Sounds like the evolution into something resembling a conventional candidate. The round table is staying with us. Up next, these three will tell me something i dont know. This is hardball, the place for politics. Nah, id never with a kid in the car. Its ok. Im not here. [phone vibrating multiple times] im there. Around hgets the wafe. Bird but for all the other birds who could use a few more minutes of sleep, weve got you covered. Enjoy free breakfast on the run and free wifi. Book at hampton. Com for a guaranteed discount. When heartburn comes creeping up on you. Fight back with relief so smooth and fast. Tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touch your tongue. And neutralizes stomach acidt the source. Tumtumtumtumtums smoothies, only from tums. Using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the fruit. Veggies. And herbs needed to create a popup pickyourown juice bar in the middle of the city, so now everyone knows. We have some of the freshest juice in town. See what the perf points can do for your business. Learn more at chase. Com ink
were back with the hardball round table. Tell me something i dont know. This november, a record high number of states are considering expanding legalization of marijuana. So right now, california, nevada, arizona, massachusetts and maine are thinking about legalizing recreational marijuana. Flord, north dakota, medical marijuana. Jonathan . The wall street journal reports about Donald Trumps mob connections. He wasnt in the mob, but he did not take proper precautions when he was in new York Real Estate to insulate himself from mobbed up characters. He even went to the Birthday Party of the daughter of a big