Transcripts For MSNBCW Hardball With Chris Matthews 20190907

That is about 175 miles from dublin, where the Vice President s official meetings were actually being held. Pences aide said he stayed there at, quote, the suggestion of the president. That has now prompted Congressional Democrats to investigate the administrations expenditure of taxpayer money at trumpowned properties. Then it was the president s seeming fixation, a fixation that is in full force at this hour on a claim he made sunday about Hurricane Dorian. That was when trump on twitter stated that alabama would, quote, most likely be hit much in parenthesis harder than anticipated. That prompted a clarification from the National Weather service in birmingham. But the story was far from over with the president seemingly riled up by the News Coverage of the matter in the oval office on tuesday. He unveiled a map of potential stormaffected areas that appeared to be doctored with a sharpie to include alabama. At the time trump said he didnt know about the edits to the map. That map that you showed us today looked like it almost had a sharpie. I dont know, i dont know. However, the Washington Post now reports that according to a white house official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, quote, it was trump who used a black sharpie to mark up an official map, though nbc news has not matched that reporting. Throughout this week, trump has posted 11 tweets and multiple maps in an attempt to justify his original claim, even enlisting a Government Official to defend him. The Washington Post notes that, quote, in effect, trump was attempting to bend time, claiming an projection that was several days out of date was accurate at the time he warned alabama of a dire threat that didnt exist. And now this saga appears to be continuing as we speak. Late tonight, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an unattributed statement saying that the information provided to the president through monday demonstrated that at least, quote, tropical stormforce winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact alabama. Joined now by annie karni, White House Correspondent for the New York Times, Eugene Robinson is a columnist at the Washington Post, and noah rothman is you. Annie, let me start with you, and we just ended that introduction on the noaa statement that came out within the last hour or two. No name on it, unattributed. It seems an unusual statement in this matter itself is unusual. Any sense where that statement came from, what prompted it . I mean, we dont know yet whether noaa decided to put this out on its own accord or whether there was some direction from the white house that they would like them to do this. But it matches what we saw yesterday, which is that the president had a rear admiral come out and put out a statement saying he had briefed a president and told him that alabama was in the path of the storm. So it matches a path of trump looking for official agencies or people of rank to back him up on this story going into day six, and now this is friday night. This is going to get covered. I assume this will only prolong this news cycle into the weekend, which is an odd move for the president who has prolonged a nonstory into six now potentially seven, eight days. Thats my other question for you. You cover the white house. You have a sense of whats going on there. It seems that when news of dorian started emerging, making its way towards the Atlantic Coast last week, late last week, there was a move in the white house to get trump to cancel that trip overseas to project this image of president ial leadership in a time of potential crisis. Now as you say, at the end of this week, as the storm has continued all week, were talking about a sharpie. What is the sense of folks around trump in the white house . Do they think he is achieving something here, or are they saying this is something he should not be doing, in their view . Well, he is turning this story into really a roundabout way to attack media, which is kind of the overarching narrative of this white house. Now its that the reports about his mistake are inaccurate. Hes trying to get all these ways to show no, i was right, and its the media reporting on me that once again is wrong. We saw at the same time that another big story line of the week was the white house attacking the Washington Post for a story that the paper wrote about trumps lost summer, a huge opportunity to make inroads with policy achievements and on his campaign that was sort of lost to trivial fights. We saw them pushing back aggressively on that. So this is turning into a classic trump doubling down, tripling down, not able to admit a mistake into really another way to call it all fake news. So in that sense, it fits the overarching narrative that is always part of this white house. We mentioned the statement that came out in the last couple of hours from noaa. In that statement, noaa also reprimanded the National Weather service in birmingham, which first corrected the president last sunday, saying their tweet, quote, spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time. Now a prominent meteorologist in birmingham is speaking out saying, quote, the tweet from the Weather Service in birmingham was spoton and accurate. If theyre coming after them, they might as well come after me. How in the world has it come to this . Gene robinson, as i say, this is a the word i was going to use, i think i used is unusual. There is probably oh, come on. Well, as unusual as it is, though. Yeah. Positive or in the beginning is it positive or negative . Does this change the way anybody views trump . You know, i think its quite negative. And the reason is that, look, this is not the first time we have seen President Trump obsessed over about his coverage, coverage that he felt was or wanted to maintain was excessively negative. Its not the first time weve seen him attack the media. Its not the first time weve seen him not able to let something go. But this is this is everyone was paying attention to this hurricane, and everyone was paying attention to the path of this hurricane. This is kind of simple thing that its very easy to sort of get your arms around. And so i think that people have paid attention. I wrote a column about this the other day. I got a much bigger than usual response from commenters and i tweeted about it once. I think i got a million impressions on the tweet. So people are paying attention. And i dont see how thats good for President Trump. And the statement tonight, throwing the birmingham National Weather Service Office under the president ial bus is just extraordinary. Its absolutely extraordinary. There is going to be an uproar i think inside that agency over, you know, that office doing what it was supposed to do. The president said people were in danger and the Weather Service said people of alabama, youre not. Thats what the National Weather service is supposed to do. If not that, then what . Their job certainly isnt to bolster whatever crazy thing the president says. I think a lot of people are going to be curious to see if there is subsequent reporting on this statement tonight on what may have gone into that. We will see. While the president says he doesnt know about the sharpie made to the map in the oval office, his campaign has embraced a black marker as a symbol in its push to reelect him. The campaign is marketing a set of black markers that are for sale on his website. Noah, he was talking about this. It is trump versus the media. He does seem to see that as what this ultimately is, and to see some kind of advantage in that. Yeah, but anybody whose on board with that message is already on board. Youre not getting new people from this blisteringly, mindnumbingly stupid week of controversy around this. The original tweet wasnt really all that wrong, right . Other states, South Carolina, georgia, alabama, could be impacted more. Just ignoring the criticism around that would have made it go away, but he had to turn it into a weeks worth of controversy. His defenders say well you have to hit back. Theyre calling him a liar. What are you supposed to do, not hit back . And the answer to that is yes, you dont hit back, because it lowers your stature and your failure to admit a mistake, and it was a mistake, a small one, but a mistake nonetheless. The failure to acknowledge that and then double down for an entire week makes you look incredibly small. The fact that they dont see that, his supporters and the president dont see that is going to come as a very rude awakening i think, because this someone of those stories that translates easily. Everybody gets the weather. You dont get why the fed chairman refusing to lower rates on its face is terrible. There is a lot of education. This is one that everybody buys into easy. And as gene said, translates instantly across the political spectrum, and it could hurt. If this resonates with folks already on board with trump, say the trump base, the reality we talked about this a lot, he got elected in 2016. Yes, the base was there, but there was also that Critical Mass of voters who didnt like trump but also didnt like clinton. The reluctant trump voters. Is there a concern around the president that the reluctant trump voters are turned off by behavior like this . There is concern among the president s advisers in general about the path to 2020. I think they see a path. It involves winning all the states they won in 2016 or maybe theyre very interested in minnesota right now as a place they can play offense. They see some ways around this. But theres real concern that this is not in the bag, that, yes, some of these reluctant trump voters who and you see this in the primary challengers he has. People like joe walsh who is a long shot candidate who is not going to be the republican nominee, but he was a trump supporter in 2016 because he hated clinton. And he says now i have seen him in office, and ive had a change of heart. This cant go on. And the idea for people like walsh is that this creates a permission structure for other people who voted for trump in 2016 to say, you know, its not embarrassing to say he didnt i got it wrong. Im out too. So the campaign is taking these challengers both seriously and unseriously. They see them as kind of a joke, but theyre making a lot of efforts to prevent any real challengers from bubbling up and having a clean Convention Next year where there is no challenges on the floor. Well, and gene, it seems to be there is a pattern here in these moments of national tragedy, potential natural disaster. These are moments where past president s, democrats or republican, would normally rise to the occasion. They would be seen as rising to the occasion by wide swaths of the country, not just their own supporters. And i noticed this when you had the dayton and el paso tragedies a couple of weeks ago. The polling after majority disapproval of trumps conduct during that, charlottesville, majority disapproval. Puerto rico. We havent seen polling on this week yet, but were talking about a hurricane, and we end the week talking about a sharpie. It just seems for that type of voter were talking about, these are opportunities for trump to reassure them. Yeah, and he doesnt do it. Trump is objectively awful at this. Whatever your politics, he is just terrible at projecting the kind of empathy and leadership that a leader should protect, should project at a time of crisis. You know me. Im not a conservative republican, right . But after 9 11, i was so proud of george w. Bush when he stood in the rubble of the world trade center. I mean, he made me proud to be an american. Made me proud of him in that moment. There were other moments when i wasnt so proud of him. But donald trump is not capable or has not demonstrated any capacity to evoke that sort of embrace from americans in general. He just doesnt have that empathy, gene. And noah, its interesting. Look, everybody told trump in the 2016 campaign he was going to lose. He couldnt win. The strategy wouldnt work. And he ends up president. I get the sense that that has internally given him license to ignore all advice after, because after all, he is president. Yeah, i mean that only gets you so far. You can defy history only so often, and eventually your luck runs out. It happens to everybody. And its going happen to the president eventually. We dont know when. This president has been really lucky. He hasnt encountered any sort of national disaster, sustained military operation abroad. The disasters that he has dealt with have been not unprecedented in scope. Horrible but not unprecedented in scope. You mentioned puerto rico. His response to that has been duly criticized. You cant talk about disaster in puerto rico without him indulging his own ego, his wounded ego, and the exogenous crisis he faced so far is at the border. What did he do . He circumvented the process in order to build the wall. So god help us if we face a real sustained crisis because the president s ego is always entwined in his response to these things. They are inseparable. That Emergency Declaration and the aftereffects that were going to talk about. Annie karni, Eugene Robinson, noah rothman, thank you all for joining us right now. I appreciate that. Coming up, the humandirting from pentagon projects to pay for that border wall. Schools and Daycare Centers for military families are on the projects on the chopping block. It is a consequence of the president s controversial Emergency Declaration. Plus two president ial candidates are here to play hardball. Republican bill weld on the move, under way in several states to prevent primary challenges to President Trump, and democrat Steve Bullock with the democrats message for Rural America and how he can break through into that top tier of candidates. Weve got much more. Stay with us. And. Thats your basic threepoint turn. [ scoffs ] if you say so. Im sorry . What teach here isnt telling you is that snapshot rewards safe drivers with discounts on Car Insurance. What . Or maybe he didnt know. [ chuckles ] im done with this class. Youre not even enrolled in this class. I know. Im supposed to be in ceramics. Do you know room 303. Oh. Thank you. Yeah. Good luck, everybody. Oh. Thank you. Yeah. You wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. Welcome back to hardball. We are learning more about the human cost of the pentagon redirecting funding from its budget for military Construction Projects in order to build President Trumps promised border wall. On tuesday, the pentagon announced it would redirect 3. 5 billion freed up by President Trumps Emergency Declaration in february from 127 projects that were planned in 23 states and around the world. Among them are a number of projects that impact daytoday life for military families, like schools and Daycare Centers. Today the New York Times reports on one of those projects, quote, for almost two decades, families at ft. Campbell, a sprawling army base along the kentucky tennessee border have borne the brunt of the countrys war efforts as a steady clip of troops from special operations units deployed to afghanistan and iraq. The report adds, quote, the pentagons decision to divert more than 16 million from the construction of ft. Campbells middle school means 552 middle students in fifth, sixth and seventh grade will continue to cram themselves into 30 to a classroom at some cases at the bases aging middle school. In february, Lindsey Graham was asked about the prospect of redirecting the middle School Funding for a border wall. I would say its better for the middle school kids in kentucky to have a secure border. Well get them the school they need. But right now we have a National Emergency on our hands. For more im joined by democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of michigan who serves House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees. And Carlos Curbelo. Thank you for being with us. Congresswoman, let me start with you. We have all the numbers there, 23 different states around the country. In real terms, what is the impact of a move like this going to be . Well, i think there is sort of two impacts. There is the average human toll for kids and families and for our bases and our ranges, and then there is sort of the strategic point, which is the pentagons budget has long been a very bipartisan thing. And i think taking this issue, taking the money away from the pentagon and putting it on a wall brings the pentagon into this political conversation in a way that is not good for the pentagon. Its not good for the country. So it has a human face, but it also has a strategic kind of position its playing. Carlos curbelo, we had that clip there from Lindsey Graham saying look, well get you a school later. We want to deal with the border right now. When you had that motion in the senate to try to do away with the president s Emergency Declaration, only 12 republicans in the senate voted to do away with it. The rest of them voted with the president. Is Lindsey Grahams view there the consensus view in the Republican Party now . Well, a lot of republicans at least privately are very critical of this decision. Of course, few of them are actually willing to stand up and say so. And the sad part about this is the military appropriations consresswoman said usually a bill that is built through consensus. Its many times the first one heard on the house floor of all 12 proelsz bills because support for investigating in military infrastructure, for improving quality of life for our men and women in uniform, and their families. This is a white house, steve, that boasts about its commitment to military funding. And in many ways, they do get credit for securing major increases in defense spending in line with what many generals have been asking for. However, now theyre taking a giant step back by taking away money from our men and women in uniform and their families and using it to fund a border Infrastructure Project if the president could not get congress to agree to. Well, pentagon Officials Say that the military projects are simply being deferred. The Washington Post reports that deputy undersecretary of defense told reporters, quote, if congress were to back fill the projects in our request, none of the projects would be delayed. But we do realize this could cause some delay. Congresswoman, essentially what theyre say here im sorry, my audio cut. Congresswoman, you hear me now . Congresswoman . I dont think shes with us. So let me see if we can work on that issue, and ill go to you, Carlos Curbelo, because you understand how Congress Works as well as anyone. This idea of backfilling, of the administration saying were going to take the money from the pentagons pot here. But congress if it wants can reappropriate new money and can fund those projects all over again. Is there any chance of that happening . Thats just kind of a bizarre concept, steve. Congress appropriated these funds for military construction. Now the administration is taking them without congress authority to use for another purpose that hasnt been authorized by congress. And theyre telling congress okay, well, if you really want to fund those projects, you can backfill those funds because weve taken what you approved and used it for something else. This is not really a reasonable request to make to the congress, although i think there are many members of congress who would like to see the military made whole again, because there is that need for improved military infrastructure. A lot of the housing and some of these bases, its really a shame when you visit and cant believe our men and women in uniform live under these conditions. These are important projects. I just dont see how this gets resolved smoothly because the white house was so impressive in does she aggressive with in the way they went in and took these funds by declaring an emergency. So congresswoman slotkin, i understand we worked out the issue. We have you back with us. The question im asking here is the idea of this backfilling the administration saying look, we took the money, but you can reappropriate new money. Is there is that something youre at all open to . I mean, listen, no one wants our military families to be caught in the middle of this whole scenario. But just think about the implications, right . The pentagon came to us. They said here are our needs. This is what we need for the war fighter, for our families. We went around and talked to everybody, both sides of the aisle. We got them the budget. They came and testified about. And then they turn around and take 3. 6 billion and let the president move it. We dont just have money growing on trees. And i feel strange doing it and saying it as a democratic congresswoman, but i think we are the ones being fiscally prudent here. You dont just take 3. 6 billion and say oh, well find an extra. I think this idea that were going to automatically backfill, it sets this precedent for any president , democratic or republican in the future to just look at the pentagon, see it as their piggy bank for any pet im all for Border Security. Im a former cia officer. I worked my entire life trying to prevent homeland attacks. But we have to do something that is sensible. Im also on the Homeland Security committee. Lets have that conversation where it belongs, in the Homeland Security committee, not rob the pentagon and our military families to pay for it. You clearly dont like the president. Does that mean from your view, you got to vote here, from your view, backfilling is a no . I mean, its going to be tough to get me there, because i think we have to make clear to the pentagon leadership if youre going to come to us, say you really need this money for our soldiers, for our marines, for our bases, we got to believe that that Needs Assessment is true, and that you need it urgently. And if youre willing to risk that money on something that the president , his pet project, youre going to feel some pain from that. So those conversations are happening now in washington. We get back on monday. So well see this state of play. But the pentagon has relied on bipartisan support. Weve largely trusted them in many ways for many, many years, and it just breaks faith with congress in a way that is very, very untraditional for them, and its not good. Well, ft. Campbell which we were mentioning, of course, it is notably in the home state of the Senate Majority leader, mitch mcconnell. Back in january in an oped in the louisville courier journal, mcconnell touted he secured much needed assistance for ft. Campbell, ft. Knox and the Bluegrass Army depot. Helping the men and women serving there keep america safe. Senator mcconnell opposed a Senate Resolution we were just talking about there to terminate the national Emergency Declaration. He voted in favor of President Trump on that one. Asked about the diversion of funding from the ft. Campbell middle school project, a spokesman for mcconnell said we would not be in this situation if democrats were serious about protecting our homeland and worked with us to provide the funding needed to secure our borders during our appropriations process. Carlos curbelo, in the old days, it was a nobrainer in politics that congressman, the congresswoman, the senator who brought home the bacon, who brought federal dollars back into the district was good for life, was going to constantly be reelected by a grateful electorate. That conventional wisdom has gone by the wayside in the last number of years. Do you think it still applies at all . Would members of congress potentially pay a political price for these projects being shut down . There is still a price to pay. Look, our politics have become a lot more tribal. So people are less pragmatic about supporting their members of congress, and certainly there are overarching concerns out there like military funding, like deficit spending that do require the attention of congress. But, look, republicans got to call this honest. The truth is the president probably could have gotten a lot more than 3. 6 billion for border infrastructure if he had negotiated a bipartisan deal on immigration. And there are great opportunities out there. A lot of democrats, even a good number of republicans want to solve the daca issue. Other republicans and democratic coalitions understand that funding Border Security is important. So there is a deal out there. The president just hasnt been able to close it. And after all, he said he was the great deal maker. All right. Former congressman Carlos Curbelo and congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. Thank you both for being with us. Appreciate it. Thanks, steve. Up next, fending up primary challengers may get a little easier for President Trump this weekend. Im heading over to the big board to show you why this could end up being a very big deal. Youre watching hardball. Ed. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. past them because she didnt sknow they were talking to her. G and she would just walk right deborah i just could not hear. I was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair, but nobody even sees them. avo our nearly invisible hearing aids are just one reason weve been the brand leader for over 70 years. deborah when i finally could hear for the first time, i started crying. I could hear everything. avo get special anniversary savings and your chance to win a seven day hawaiian cruise. Call 1800miracle today. All right. Welcome back to hardball. Remember, we always talk about there is general elections and there is primary elections, and there is all sorts of important differences between them obviously, but one of them is who runs them. The primary elections are run by political parties. Political parties get to set their own rules, and that means that some state republican parties loyal to the republican President Donald Trump are changing the rules when it comes to their president ial primaries and caucuses next year. Changing the rules as in doing away with them apparently. It looks like arizona, nevada, kansas, and South Carolina, the state republican parties there are looking to do away with their primaries and caucuses. It would prevent any kind of potential embarrassment for President Trump in a republican primary. Remember South Carolina usually one of the early states. Nevada one of the early states. It would prevent any potential trouble for him in a contested primary. And of course he does have some primary opponents. Bill weld, the former Massachusetts Governor. Hes already running. Joe walsh, the former onetime congressman from illinois. He is already running, and now mark sanford, former governor of South Carolina, former congressman defeated in a primary at trumps urging last year, he is now considering a run. The president could have three opponents in the republican primaries next year, but these primaries one by one it seems are being taken off the board by state republican parties. Thats not all of them. Of course New Hampshire, the critical first in the nation state, that one is still going to have a primary. Opportunity here for the republicans. But how much opportunity . Because remember, when you talk about trump in a primary, trump as a general election proposition, he is clearly vulnerable. This is gallup, their most recent poll. They have National Approval rating at 39 . That screams vulnerable in a general election. But gallup also tracks trumps Approval Rating among republicans, among the folks who are going to decide who the republican nominee is. That sits right now at 88 , and it has been at 88 , 89 , 90 , basically, the entire trump presidency. This number just has not budged. But here is a question. Donald trump sitting at 88 . He has been around. He has been stable at 88 among republicans. What about past president s, okay . Past president s who have received serious primary challenges, right . Where were they with their own parties in terms of Approval Rating . How does it compare to trump at 88 . Thats one way to gauge potential vulnerability to a primary challenge. So the last president who got a serious primary challenge, you got to go back to 92. It was george h. W. Bush. And when his challenger pat buchanan got in the race, bushs Approval Rating was 75 . So not as popular as trump. The other thing with bush, that number had been extremely high because of the gulf war in early 91. It was already falling by that point in late 91. And by the New Hampshire primary, it was down in the 50s. Again, thats movement you just havent seen with trump support among republicans. How about jimmy carter, 1980. Ted kennedy almost got the democratic nomination from jimmy carter when ted kennedy got in the race, carters Approval Rating with democrats was just 40 , 40, 40 . Gerald ford. Ronald reagan took him all the way to the convention in kansas city in 76. Ford was at 60 when Ronald Reagan decided to run against him. And then of course lbj, the vietnam war, Eugene Mccarthy got in the race in late 1967. Lbjs approval with democrats was just 57 . So, again, you see here support that is just lower, in most cases significantly lower with their own party than trump was. There is one modern president who got a couple of primary challengers whos a lot closer to where trump is right now. That president Richard Milhous nixon got two republican congressmen, one from the left, mccloskey, one from the right ashbrook ran against him in 72. Nixon was at 82 . When ashbrook got in, 84 . Neither of them got anywhere challenging nixon that year. Nixon as a general election candidate, he was able to roll past george mcgovern. He was much better positioned than trump right now. But in terms of a primary, that is what any potential republican primary challenger is up against, running against donald trump. Up next, how do those republican challengers feel about this, about those canceled primary elections . Im going ask one of them. Im sure he is going to have plenty to say about it, next on hardball. If you have moderate to thsevere rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. Ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. Humira can help stop the clock. Prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Help stop the clock on further irreversible joint damage. Talk to your rheumatologist. Right here. Right now. Humira. Did you know you can save money by using dish soap to clean grease on more than dishes . Using multiple cleaners on grease can be expensive, and sometimes ineffective. For better value, tackle grease with dawn ultra. Dawn is for more than just dishes. It provides 3x more grease cleaning power per drop, which cuts through tough kitchen messes, pretreats laundry stains, and even tackles grease buildup on car rims. Tackle tough greasy messes around your home, and save money with dawn ultra. Brand power. Helping you better. The Democratic Party rigged the nomination to give it to hillary clinton. It was a rigged race. It was totally rigged. And Debbie Wasserman schultz rigged it for hillary clinton. The whole entire purpose of her campaign is to keep our system rigged and to stop change from happening at any cost. Remember, folks, its a rigged system. Just remember it. Its a rigged system. Its a rigged system. Dont ever forget it. Welcome back to hardball. That was thencandidate donald trump back in 2016. During that campaign, he repeatedly accused the Democratic National committee and Hillary Clintons campaign of rigging their partys nominating process for her. As i mentioned in our last segment, the news today, South Carolina, nevada, arizona, and kansas appear poised to cancel their republican president ial primaries and caucuses next year. And that is not sitting well with President Trumps republican challengers. Joining me now is one of those challengers. We just talked about him a second ago, the former governor of massachusetts, bill weld. Governor, thanks for taking a few minutes. Steve, always a pleasure. Let me just ask you, do you have any recourse to stop these states from deciding to cancel primaries and caucuses . I dont know about a lawsuit. There are some precedents for this during president ial years, but i dont think there are precedents when it was a successful twoterm republican governor running against the incumbent who was reelected with 71 of the vote and left office with a 75 popularity rating in his state that would be me, of course. So i dont think i think these precedents dont really hold up. I think the money rationale is kind of a phony its too expensive to hold an election. Elections are the most important thing we do in a democracy. And even if this has happened before, it is antidemocracy. And a vote is the ultimate expression of choice. There are a lot of republican women who disagree with the president on issues like lets say in cases of rape, does a woman really have to carry the rapists child to term . Thats what the president and recent state statutes in the south expressed. To me, thats taking women back to the stone age, and people should have a vote on that. What does this do to your Campaign Strategy . Does this basically mean this is about New Hampshire fundamentally for you if these other ones are kind of going off the board . Well, you know, i think its interesting that the president alternates between being arrogant and being paranoid. He was in New Hampshire not long ago, and he lectured the voters of New Hampshire at his rally there, you dont have to choice. You have to vote for me. On the other hand, this is the same president whose state party earlier in the year tried to abolish the New Hampshire primary, the first in the nation primary that gives New Hampshire about 25 of its clout in our country because every four years people have to go to New Hampshire. And New Hampshire understood that. And that motion basically failed for wont of a second. But what a stupid idea. And it comes from i think the president s paranoia, insecurity, if you will. He wants anything but a contest, anything but a choice. You obviously are facing an uphill battle here. You have got now some company, though. Youve got former congressman joe walsh running and former congressman mark sanford considering getting in the race. Right. Realistically, given all of the builtin Institutional Support that the president enjoys, every extra challenger that you have to deal with, doesnt that just dilute the send a message to trump vote . Oh, no. I think its great that these guys are getting in. And ive told both of them that. It will be a more robust conversation. Mr. Trump, with his oneword platform is a hoax, a wall. He doesnt really want a conversation. I dont think hes deep enough on the issues to hold up his end in a real conversation. But i know mark sanford really well. He knows a lot. He is very experienced. Joe walsh is very articulate from the right. You know, if there is three of us, i dont even know. I think weve already had our first invitation for a televised debate, and i think there would be more than that too. Will that would be very good for all three of us in terms of publicity. I welcome these guys. I tried to persuade larry hogan of maryland and john kasich of ohio to get in earlier. Who knows, they may yet. But i think that will stir up lot more interest in the primary on the republican side that can only be good for me. We mention too just the president s Approval Rating with Republican Voters right now, how steady that has been. What that translates into, just to give folks a sense of it, when youve been tested against it in polling, i think you can show the most recent poll in New Hampshire. This is the most recent national poll. This was suffolk a couple of weeks ago. Trump 90, weld, 5. Up in New Hampshire turnover summer, there was a cnn poll that had it at 867. One thing i wanted to ask you about when i look at these numbers is this. This is ultimately obviously Republican Voters. And you have been republican governor of massachusetts. You endorsed barack obama in 2008. You were the libertarian Vice President ial candidate in 2016. I remember you were on this network a couple of days before the election in 2016. You gave an endorsement to Hillary Clintons character, seemed to be suggesting if folks felt they were wasting a vote on the libertarian ticket to vote for hillary instead of trump. Can you understand if republican primary voters are hesitant to look at you as somebody who they would consider loyal to the Republican Party . Well, i can understand how a poll thats focused on the Republican State Party apparatus and the Party Leaders is going to come out 1000 in favor of President Trump, because the Republican Party, state party in all 50 states is the trump organization. Theyve put those people in there. So of course theyre all for President Trump. And my job is to make sure that the people voting in the republican primary go beyond the Republican Party leaders in the state. And as you know, steve, there are 20 states that permit crossover voting where democrats and independents can take a republican ballot, including New Hampshire, massachusetts, vermont, and new england, wisconsin, 20 of them, and im going to be focusing on those states to persuade independents and democrats to come in. And if they dont care for President Trump, vote against him twice, once for me in the republican primary and once vote for whoever they want in the general. Im getting a lot of traction with that argument. All right. Former Massachusetts Governor william weld, thanks for taking a few minutes. Thank you, steve. All right. Up next a narrowing field, a shrinking debate stage. They are presenting new challenges to the Democratic Candidates who are polling lower. Can a candidate polling in the Single Digits hope to turn things around . Were going ask one of them how he mans to do that. That is next on hardball. Buckle up for some insurance themed fun at Progressive Park children yeah announcer ride the totally realistic traffic jam. Beep, beep, beep, beep children traffic jam announcer and the worlds first never bump bumper cars. Children never bump announcer its a real savings hootenanny with options that fit your budget. Thats fun for the whole family. Announcer only at progressive par. Maybe an insurance park was a bad idea. Yeah. Yep. Play it cool and escape heartburn fast with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Tum tum tum tums with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Woman 1 i had no symptoms of hepatitis c. Man 1 mine. Man 1 . Caused liver damage. Vo epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. Vo whatever your type, ask your doctor if epclusa is your kind of cure. Woman 2 i had the common type. Man 2 mine was rare. Vo epclusa has a 98 overall cure rate. Man 3 i just found out about my hepatitis c. Woman 3 i knew for years. Vo epclusa is only one pill, once a day, taken with or without food for 12 weeks. Vo before starting epclusa, your doctor will test if you have had hepatitis b, which may flare up, and could cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. Vo tell your doctor if you have had hepatitis b, other liver or kidney problems, hiv, or other medical conditions. Vo . And all medicines you take, including herbal supplements. Vo taking amiodarone with epclusa may cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. Vo common side effects include headache and tiredness. Vo ask your doctor today, if epclusa is your kind of cure. Welcome back to hardball. Next week, ten candidate lsz participate in the third democratic president ial primary debate. The remaining candidates did not qualify. That includes montana governor steve boick. He unveiled a plan targeting Rural America, focussing on agricultural, Economic Development and other issues like health care. In an interview with the associated press, he warned the democrats have not incentivized talking to the voters that we need to win this election. He added we need to make sure voters know we can improve upon their lives. Thats less about a revolution than addressing the problems of here and now. Governor Steve Bullock joins me now. Governor, thank you for taking a few minutes. Great to be with you, steve. What is the message to rural voters that democrats arent delivering that you can. First, were not showing up. If a third of the counties in iowa win obama, obama, trump and look over the last ten years, two thirds of the counties in this country actually lost businesses. Those are the exact same places that voted for donald trump. So First Showing up and saying you shouldnt have to leave your school, your community, your church or synagogue to make a decent living. Actually then connecting on those issues that matter to them when 20 of rural hospitals in this country are at risk of closing. And, the Trump Administration is trying to rip away the aca. When you turn around and say that farmers are losing money literally farm bankruptcies are increasing, and the Trump Administration isnt doing anything for them along the way. So fighting for their issues which are really the here and now which are those pocketbook issues from education to Economic Development to health care. What about you know this from montana, probably better than any of the other Democratic Candidates the importance to rural voters of guns and in the context of democrats right now obviously theres a push here for background checks, assault weapons ban, beto orourke saying to go farther than that. Does that issue lose rural democratic voters . Look, im a gun owner. Im a hunter. 40 of the households in this country actually have a firearm in it, but if we look at this as a Public Health issues, universal background checks, the vast majority of nra members, most folks in rural areas got their guns through a background check. There ought to be commonality we can reach here. The nra was a hunting and gun safety. 30 million bucks they put in they put into the trump campaign. So at some point, even gun owners have to say, we can do more to keep our community safe. I dont think that loses rural voters. When you ran for reelection in montana couple years ago you were against universal background checks back then. Thats telling you where your state was on that issue. It was not an issue where there was a lot of support. Well, but even all throughout, ive ve toed 14 gunrelated bills. And every time ive run for office, theyve said, oh, bullock is going to try to take away peoples guns. I dont think that thats where ive ever been or we as a country are. What we want to do is actually keep people safe along the way. And i think of even since ill never forget it was after the vegas shooting. Im sitting in my office saying i dont know what to write in this template to lower the flags. A staffer says, write in the proclamation, a staffer says we have a template for Mass Shootings then. Since then i have lowered the flags nine times. Since parkland seven times. I think people are tired of seeing that and saying there are steps we could make that wont threaten and wont say were going to take away everyones guns but actually can do a better job of keeping communities safe. We mentioned the debates. Another one coming up next week, did not meet the qualifying threshold for that. The next one that have is mid october. You got a shot to qualikwauqual that. I hope im there. If everybody goes to stevebullock. Com, provides that one dollar donors, yes well get there. 150 days for iowan First Express preferences. Go back to 2004, put it on the big board, right, that john kerry was at 4 , 31 days out. Al sharpton was beating him. The way this has always gone, it hasnt been debate rules that narrow its the early states that people take big fields and make much smaller. Steve bullock on his way to New Hampshire. Thank you for joining us. Youre watching hardball. E job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. Play it cool and escape heartburn fast with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Tum tum tum tums with new tums chewy bites cooling sensation. Struggling to clean tough messes with wipes . Try new mr. Clean magic eraser sheets. Just wet, squeeze and erase icky messes in microwaves and on stovetops for an amazing clean, get the power of mr. Clean magic eraser in new disposable sheets. And now for their service to the community, we present limu emu doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] its an honor to tell you that Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. And now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Well, next week is a big one in politics. On monday, the house and senate will be back after their august recess. And on tuesday, north carolinas ninth Congressional District is going to hold that special election to fill the seat thats been vacant all year. And on thursday the top 2020 democratic president ial candidates will face off in their third debate of the season. So, yes, a big week ahead. Youre not going to want to miss it. And Chris Matthews will be back on monday to take you through all of it. That is hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. Up next a special edition of all in with chris hayes in front of a live studio audience and that starts right now. Tonight on a special edition of all in spare us the theatrics. Behave yourself. I have seen americas future, and it looks like brexit. Call me mr. Brexit. Plus, what to do in the era of climate catastrophe with bill nye. Big movement on guns with david hogg and the friday conference for what matters most for dems in 2021. Live from studio 6a in rockefeller plaza. All in begins right now. [ cheers and applause ]. Hello. How are we doing . Thank you all. Thank you. How are we