Week, trump made even more controversial comments, like attacking the federal judge presiding over his Trump University fraud case. I have a judge who is a hater of donald trump, a hater. Hes a hater. His name is gonzalo curiel. Reporter and then tossing out to the crowd that the judge is mexican. So what happens is the judge, who happens to be, we believe, mexican, which is great. I think thats fine. Reporter but it is not accurate. Judge curiels parents may have been mexican, but he was born in indiana. During the gop primaries when trump made remarks about mexicans that made many in his party cringe, his popularity grew. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, i assume, are good people. Reporter that was the first of many teflon moments for trump. Unconventional, even offensive statements not sticking. In fact, even helping with Republican Voters looking for someone different. The question now is whether that trump teflon still works with the general electorate, especially when Hillary Clintons central case against trump already is that hes unhinged, too risky for the oval office. Donald trump is an unqualified, loose cannon who cannot get near the most powerful job. Reporter in a poll last week, only 31 says trump had the personality to serve effectively as president , compared to 61 for clinton. Even though most Republican Voters and leaders say they will rally around trump, there is some evidence they will expect more from him now as their nominee. After he said this about john mccain, fellow veteran bob dole denounced trump. Hes a war hero because he was captured. I like people that werent captured. Reporter now dole is backing trump, still wants him to say hes sorry. Im going to try to get trump to issue an apology. I mean john mccain suffered, tortured, broken arm. What do you expect . Reporter but dont expect trump to morph into the apologizing type. Last week while in new mexico, he went after the states republican governor, susana martinez. The governor has got to do a better job. Shes not doing the job. Hey, maybe ill run for governor of new mexico. Ill get this place going. Reporter and today an explanation that produced that revealing moment. She was not nice, and i was fine. Just a little bit of a jab. But she wasnt nice, and you think im going to change . Im not changing, including with her. Reporter dana bash, cnn, washington. Dana, thank you very much. Here to discuss all of this, alan dershowitz. Also with me, mark preston, cnn politics executive editor. Mark, what are the takeaways from todays press conference with donald trump . A couple things. One is that he was able to raise close to 6 million, which is an amazing feat, something weve never seen in a president ial campaign. He said that he was not looking for accolades for this, which was i dont want to use the word lie, but it was disingenuous on his part to say so because he was looking for accolades. Also, you know, he kept on saying that he did this for the vets and this for the vets. Yes, he did do it for the veterans. However, i was there in iowa that night when he held this event. This was a deflection because he did not want to attend a fox president ial debate because he felt that they werent being fair to him. And this was his way of deflecting. So three takeaways from that is, yes, he raised the money, but this was a political play on his part. He said he wanted the ratings to be bigger than theirs at the time. And the ratings were good if you go back. So his supporters and heres what i think is very important, especially in youre a trump supporter and youre watching. They love the tough talk. Even if youre a trump surrogate. But you say theres a down side to this rhetoric. I think so. Look, i think that the tough talk has gotten him to this point. He was able to appeal to conservative republicans who dont have much trust in the media, okay . But now were transitioning to a general Election Campaign where he has to have outreach to independents and disaffected democrats. Thats what his goal is at this point. I think taking on the media and trying to fight, you know, every reporter in the world is just not a smart strategy. You know, his people because people its not its a people think its a popularity contest. In some ways, it is, but its really about delegates and states and different dem oh graphics, and thats the important part of it. Go on. Exactly. Look, for donald trump to try to take on the immediamedia, which way is a very fractured industry. Were not necessarily friends with our competitors. But what hes doing is hes bringing us all together in this solid art to the fact that he has decided to take us on and quite frankly has personalized it. I think thats where the real issue is. Hes now made it personal with specific journalists. Mr. Dershowitz, there have so many things he has said and done that would sink other candidates. How long do you thunk he can continue to be teflon . Well, i think he can continue until the election. But he shows very, very bad judgment. For example, attacking this judge who has the case pending before him. And you can see it already had an impact. The judge actually said in one of his opinions that one of the reasons he was releasing all this damaging information about Trump University was because trump has placed the integrity of these Court Proceedings at issue. And so the judge actually took into consideration the fact that trump attacked him and the Court Proceedings, and he allowed that to influence his judgment about turning over these documents, which are very, very harmful. The documents themselves dont show criminal conduct, but they show the kind of fraudulent allegations about the university, which i think when the public reads them will be will not help will not help donald trump. So, you know, he has to he doesnt worry about even shortterm or longerterm implications of what hes saying. He gets immediate feedback, but if he were the president and he made statements like that about judges, statements like that about other political leaders, it certainly would not serve the interests of the united states. Alan, i want to ask you this since you brought up the judge. There are two active class action suits filed by former suits and a third civil case by a new York State Attorney general eric snyderman. The first trial is set to take place in november. Do these cases have merit . I think these cases have merit. They wouldnt have merit if they were brought as criminal prosecutions, but they do have merit as civil. After all, people are paying an enormous amount of money, as much as 30,000, and they were told that they would be getting something in exchange for that. And i think the evidence will show that they didnt get what they bargained for. And i suspect that he will lose those cases. But he will lose them probably after the election is over. But i think when we see whats in the material, well find it quite disturbing. Now, look, he has a right to criticize the judge. Thats protected by our constitution. He has a right to say what he wants to say. But we as voters have the right to judge him on the basis of what he said and the attack hes made on the judiciary. You know, the judicialry ry is above reproach, but this kind of personalizing the way he did, pointing out the ethnicity of the judge, is something i think will not in the end help him win the independent voters hes going to need to win to win the electoral votes of key purple states. Yeah. And the question is, is it going to help him, mark, when over maybe some of the party establishment, because we heard paul ryan saying, you know what, this is about principles. He was on tonight with sean hannity, talking about not having the establishment behind him. Listen. Bob dole endorsed me, and it was very nice. And that was very nice of him. He called me last week, so that was great. I mean i dont i dont need their endorsements. I dont think it matters whether or not i get, you know, potential president ial endorsements. Look, the world is a mess. This country is a mess. And im not looking for their endorsements. I just want the peoples endorsement, and im getting that because as you said, the Biggest Group of people ever i mean we have so many millions of people. And youre not just talking about by a little bit. I have millions more than you look at dwight d. Eisenhower. You look at ronald reagan. Millions more than they had. So its been a great thing actually. But nobody has to endorse me. What i want is the endorsement of the people. Thats the only thing that matters to me. Mark, is he right . You think his supporters care what endorsements he gets or who is attending the convention . Well, perhaps his supporters who helped him win the primary dont care. But the fact is if he does want to win in november, he needs a very high turnout of Republican Voters and conservative voters to come out in addition to the new voters he has brought along. Whats interesting is hell say, you know, so and so endorsed me last week. It was very nice of them to endorse me. Then when somebody doesnt ebb dors him, he says he doesnt want their endorsement anyway. Heres the bottom line. Its not that theyre endorsing him. The thing for donald trump right now is that he cant have republican thinkers and leaders that are out there questioning his candidacy. Thats the big problem. Are they questioning his candidacy . Paul ryans refusal right now to go all in with donald trump does not necessarily help donald trump. Alan, this is how Hillary Clinton responded to Trumps Press Conference today. Listen to this. Hes attacking everybody, fellow republicans, democrats, the press. You just name it. He attacks everybody. Its a recipe for gridlock in washington, and thats what weve got to break and get away with. You know, he seems to believe or at least is demonstrating that insulting and attacks is his mode of operations. And, you know, i just dont think thats going to cut it. So she is taking a page, as you can see, from donald trump calling in now to news programs. Alan, last week she called him a loose cannon. Do you think that she can get that definition to start resonating and to stick with people . Well, i think its about crying wolf. She uses it very infrequently, and he calls everybody by names. So i think people begin to ignore what he calls people after a while. Shes been very selective. Calling him a loose cannon, i think, will stick. Its not only that it will cause gridlock in this country. Just imagine our Foreign Relations with great britain, with other allies. Its going to be a disaster if he starts making National Security decisions based on his personal dislike for people in other countries. And i think the namecalling may get him votes in the republican primary, but i think that middle group of voters, that large group of undecided and independent voters, are going to want stability. Theyre going to want to see the market being stable and the markets will react more positively to Hillary Clinton than they would to donald trump. So i think he has to i think both candidates have to look for the voters in the middle, and shes doing a much better job of doing that. Now, if shes pushed to the left by sanders, shes going to lose that middle. So i think this is going to be a fight to the middle, and i hope that Hillary Clinton has the determination to stick to her kind of centerist liberalism rather than be pushed hard to the left, which may make her lose some of the middle votes. Im going to give mark the last word. I think that the donald trump that we see right now is not going to be the donald trump should he win the presidency. As a businessman, he clearly has shown that hes willing to adapt and change his positions to do what he has to do to try to get something done. So what we see now i think will be different than but thats a risk. I think this is important. Hang on, alan. This david french, bill chris to kristols third paernt candidate is this a real thing . When we come back, donald trump hot under the collar about his fundraising for veterans. What do vets themselves think . Im going to talk to two of them when we come back. S . Why do people put milk on cereal . Oh, are you reading why people put milk on cereal . Why does your tummy go grumbily, grumbily, grumbily . Why is it all mimics a stomach grumble no more questions for you ooph, that milk in your cereal was messing with you, wasnt it . Yeah, happens to more people than you think. Try lactaid, its real milk, without that annoying lactose. Good, right . Mmm, yeah. I got your back. Lactaid. Its the milk that doesnt mess with you. I just wish it had been for a better reason. Me, too, but the eulogy that franks daughter gave was beautiful. I just feel bad knowing they struggled to pay for the funeral, especially without Life Insurance. I wish they wouldve let us help. But, it did make me think, though. About what . Well, that i could leave you in the same situation. I dont have Life Insurance, either. If something were to happen to me tomorrow, how are you pay for my funeral . Or my other bills . Nothings gonna happen to you tomorrow. You dont know that. I made a promise to always take care of you kids. Without Life Insurance, im not keeping it. Besides, i already looked into it and between my budget and health, well. You should call massmutual. They have a new policy called guaranteed acceptance Life Insurance. I got covered with one call, and it was an affordable option for reliable coverage. What do you think, mom . I think its time to make sure i keep that promise. If youre age 5075, its easier than ever to get reliable coverage at an affordable price. Call massmutual today for guaranteed acceptance Life Insurance. With no medical questions or exams, you cannot be turned down. With one phone call, you can get coverage ranging from 2,000 25,000, and premiums can start at less than 10 per month. Guaranteed acceptance Life Insurance can help your loved ones cover expenses such as funeral costs, remaining medical expenses and credit card bills. We have several payment options, and benefits are paid quickly and directly to your beneficiaries. They can use it for any expense they choose. For more than 160 years, our policyowners have mattered most to us. Massmutuals ratings are among the highest of any company in any industry. You can feel confident we can help you protect the people who matter most to you with guaranteed acceptance Life Insurance. Call massmutual today at this number. Call now headache . Motrin helps you be an unstoppable lets rock this kind of mom. Back pain . Motrin helps you be a. Side planking, even though youll feel it later kind of woman. Body pain . Motrin helps you be an. I can totally do this in one trip kind of woman. When pain tries to stop you, motrin works fast to stop pain. Make it happen with motrin® liquid gels. Also try motrin pm to relieve pain and help you sleep. Donald trump announcing today that he has raised and donated 5. 5 million to veterans groups. Here to discuss is perry obrien, a coorganizer of the Group Veterans versus eight. And carl higby, a former navy s. E. A. L. , who is a trump supporter. Thank you to both of you for your service. I really do appreciate it as vets. I want to get your response to donald Trumps Press Conference today and his donations to veterans. You first, barry. Sure. I was there as you mentioned as part of the vets versus hate movement. We were there for the second time in a week in front of trump tower trying to hold donald trump accountable for his attempt to defraud the veteran community. And we are trying to call attention to his ongoing use of veterans as political props to support an agenda of bigotry and hate. And i gather you feel differently about that. Very strongly. I mean i think its a little bit petulant to go and say that hes only donated 5. 5 million. I mean thats more than Hillary Clintons even dreamed of. The fact of the matter is donald trump, what is he so hating about . He hates people who hate america. I mean youre talking vets versus hate. America, i mean, trump is for america. Why dont you guys speak out about the people who hate america like islamist people that are coming here to attack our way of life . Why dont you speak out against that heighate . You mean people who practice jihad, not necessarily muslim. Talking about a significant portions of muslims who dont like our way of life. Wow. Im astonished. Thats just an utterly racist comment. Islam is a race . Oh, no, its a religion. Thats what we need to be clear about is islam is not a race. Islamophobia and antimuslim rhetoric, which im sure you and i are both subjected to in the military and serving overseas, has a deeply racial component to it. You and i probably were surrounded by people referring to muslims as hajis. Sure. Right . Which is actually a benevolent term in their society. Is it the way that we use it . No. Of course not. We were just chatting. You just blanket said i dont like muslims five minutes ago. I dont like their culture and the influence its trying to have on my great nation. This is the thing were trying to confront is a candidate who is using veterans as props. Very few willing. Mostly unwilling to advance an agenda of hate receired that do reflects the larger veteran community. The vast majority of whom worked very, very closely with muslim interpreters, with activeduty soldiers who are muslim, and all of whom actually donned the uniform and served our country unlike donald trump, who i think, as is becoming increasingly clear. Only seems interested in serving himself. You worked with a large number of muslim veterans, and thats why you cofounded this group, right, that youre the coorganizer of this . Im one of many organizers across the country. Its been a spontaneous emergence of veterans around the country who are fed up with a public figure trying to use veterans in this way. A lot of people listening, and i wanted to let you guys discuss this. But you talk about muslim culture in general and you dont like it. Are you certain of the words that you just said . Yeah, absolutely. I think that the culture of islam islam is not a religion. It is a political ideology mass carrizing as a reli