Those who are serving in the michael and who have sacrificed. Gwen another week unlike any we have ever seen. We take a look inside the latest twists and turns with Doyle Mcmanus of the Los Angeles TimesDoyle Mcmanus. Manu raju, senior Congressional Correspondent for cnn, Philip Rucker of the washington post, and Alexis Simendinger of real clear politics. Announcer awardwinning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. Live from our Nations Capital this is Washington Week with gwen ifill. Funding for Washington Week s provided by thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. So we asked them, are you completely prepared for retirement . Ok, mostly prepared prepared . Uld you save 1 more of your income . It doesnt sound like much, but saving an additional 1 now could make a big difference over time. Im going to be even better about saving. You can do it. It helps in the long run. Prudential the announcer additional funding s provided by the xq institute. Newmans own foundation, donating all profit from Food Products to charity and nourishing the common good. The ford foundation. The ethics and excellence in journalism foundation. And koo and patdrishra yuen through the yuen foundation. Committed to bridge cultural differences in our communities. The corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. Gwen good evening. Live by the sword, get poked by the sword. Thats what happens when candidates rely too heavily on polls. Donald trump more than any candidate this year has cited polls to explain his success. But now the wormed worm has turned. A number of postconvention polls out this week tell the story the nbc news wall street journal has clinton up by nine points. The New York Times poll has them tied. In the real clear politics average of polls shes leading by 6. 7 points. Trumps response . I would say right now its the best in terms of being united that its been since we began. Were doing incredibly well. Were leading in the state of phil . Ou saw the poll. Were leading in ohio. Were about tied in pennsylvania but i think were going to be leading the next time. So i think weve never been this united. Gwen well, perhaps thats clear in the polls he sees. Real clear politics has clinton leading in all threes three of those states. And the palpable nervousness among republicans some even going so far as to say they will vote for clinton. I hate to ask this because it seems i ask every week but is this another turning point, doyle . Doyle im going out on a limb and say maybe. Because all those numbers were from last weekend. Those didnt even absorb the weight of all the mistakes donald trump made this week, which is one of the reasons republicans are afraid he may be in some kind of free fall. Gwen some ended on the 4th the so some may be doyle it got close. But it takes a while for this to work its way through. Simply looking at this in a Historical Perspective i think you have to go back will 44 years to be the George Mcgovern campaign to find a week in which a nominee has suffered so much selfinflicted damage all at once. Could this be a turning point . Absolutely. But there are still 90 days left and its still theoretically possible for mr. Trump to get his act together and gack back to the fundamentals which made this a very close race. Alexis one of the things you look at in terms of where he is now is you have to admit that he is still getting big rallies and has gotten a lot of financial support. One ncht caveats weve all been talking about inside our own media organizations is, as doyle says, be careful to lean too far into the future here because he still has a reservoir of support. He is still getting these rallies and the money he reported in july was quite impressive, right . Gwen doctors 80 million. And the cash on hand is not that far behind the Clinton Campaign, even though we would say hes not on the air and hes behind in organization on the ground. It is still possible as doyle is suggesting, i think, for the campaign to shift ahead. Now, one of the things were going to look for nix week is mr. Trump has decided to give an economic address next week in detroit. Thats the smartypants audience there listening to the nominees economic plans. We would expect to see him prepare for that and have real tangible proposals to make. So thats another thing to watch but hes trying to take some of this advice. Phil the real nerveracking part for the trump carpe shall campaign its the polls in the battleground states. Thats what makes a lot of republicans nervous. Michigan. Hes going to detroit but in michigan he thought he could do well there given the economic anxiety felt in the state, rail against trade, but the recent poll there has him down double digits. Also in pennsylvania. Another state he thought he could do well in in the general election. Struggling there and in New Hampshire losing and that possibly having a down ticket impact in kelly ayotte, the New Hampshire senator now down down in that poll. And today a poll from georgia having Hillary Clinton up by four. Will those numbers stay there . We dont know. Still a lot of time. There could be debates. Gwen but these are not the states in which she was supposed to be leading. Phil thats right. Clearly never racking. This and phil stat down week for an interview about so many things. He said there is a lot of dirty pool played at the election, meaning the election is rigged. I would not be surprised, the voter i. D. , theyre fighting as hard as they can fight so you dont have to show voter i. D. So whoo what is the purpose of that . How many times say person going to vote in a day . Phil, i had trouble getting the inflection right. Phil you were close gwen thank you. But what is true about this . Fix he went on in that phil he went on in that strue to say people would be able to vote 10 times in estates that have dont have voter i. D. s. Thats just not true. They have a system of making sure people only vote once. I think hes laying the groundwork for, if he loses to Hillary Clinton, to contest the election and say it was rigged. Thats dangerous for the country. We have a history in the country where when candidates lose, they concede graciously. I dont know if were going to have that here. Gwen when i read the triments of the interviews he does, especially with newspapers and i also see how you were trying to guide him to certain points in and clarity, does it feel that way at the time . Yes, i went into the interview trying to lead him into a conversation a couple times but really have him elaborate on things. Sometimes he doesnt make his initial point clear. He was pretty distracted, kept looking at himself on the television. But it if you look at the transcript it shows what he thinks and what is on his mind. Gwen back to the chauns. The gold khans, the gold star couple. Trumps comments have cut through in a way that other insults, such as to Chris Christie and john mccain, have not. Why is that, doyle . Doyle one reason is that it was so easy the correct and gracious swers answer from donald trump was so easy for any normal person to figure out. That is, i honor their sacrifice and im not going to get into a fight with them, we just disagree. Yts thats what george w. Bush did with Cindy Sheehan in 2004. Thats the sorted of again erik lay person you dont mess with gold star families. For pigss politicians, for other republicans its actually compounded. Because this was such an easy one to figure out a way out of, why turn sb a controversy that went on not just for one day but two, three days. He could have put it to bed in his first interview with George Stephanopoulos a week ago. And he didnt. Gwen and then the purple heart recipient said something to the effect, manu, well, this is an easier way to get it, which veterans and others were not thrilled with. It also came in the wake of, of course, this fight with the gold star family so it just comtounded compounded this certain. I think in fairness donald trump was not trying belittle the purple heart but it just came across that way. The it all underscores the concern in the party that donald trump is just not focusing on what could unit the party, which is Hillary Clinton. The interparty squabbles, the grk not endorsing paul ryan or mccain. Attacking kelly ayotte, this does nothing to serve their cause. Donald trump may be listening to some of this criticism because in the last couple days hes been focusing on Hillary Clinton. Hes been going after her so clearly, i think hes recognized its taken a toll the last couple days. Gwen but weve seen a lot of people jumping ship. Paul ryan has said, he has stuck by him. Reince priebus has stuck by him even in sticky spots before but these seem like missed opportunities or selfinflicted wounds. Manu thats right. E khan controversy, people like to see trump attacking people in power or politicians. These are not politicians, these are grieving parents who whose son gave his life for the country. For trump to do what he did exposed a sort of lack of decency at the core. Sally bradshaw, the longtime bush family advisor withdrew from the Republican Party is and is voting for Hillary Clinton. Gwen be the president this week, alexis, did a kind of remarkable thing in lock stop as he has been doing with Hillary Clinton, which is leap at a chance in response to a question in a News Conference to declare donald trump unfit for office. I dont think weve ever heard that word between candidates. Hes calling her unfit as well the alexis it was unprecedented. One was the sitting president of a party taking on the other Party Nominee and declaring them unfit. And the eagerness to do that while standing next to a visiting head of state at the white house gwen the Prime Minister of singapore. Alexis there was a state dinner that evening. The president , however, was totally prepared for this question and knew he was going to get it question. Gwen we could kind of tell [laughter] alexis and the president was writing and making notes to himself as he sometimes does of things he wants to say and then just marched right into it and as you say was echoing in large measure what Hillary Clinton, the democratic nominee has been saying the but it was stunning and the president has been continuing to talk about this. He just did a short press conference at the pentagon this week before leaving for vacation and he, you know, launched into it again that he doesnt trust donald trump to handle nuclear or international policy. Thats echoing the Clinton Campaign again. Gwen well, lets talk about Hillary Clinton. Theoretically if your opponent is is having a bad week, you are having a good one . Doyle . Doyle it would have been a monumentally bad week for hillary if donald trump hadnt been absorbing so much coverage. Hillary clintons real problem, she did another interview about the f. B. I. Investigation of her emails and she asserted that james comey, the head of the f. B. I. , had said she had been completely truthful in everything she said. Thats not what james comey said. He said there was no evidence that she had been untruthful in her interview with the f. B. I. Theres a big gulf between those two and shes been called on this several times. She cannot seem to deal with this problem and in a sense its her equivalent of someone, of Donald Trumps problem with anyone questioning his judgment or attacking him. She got called on it by reporters. She finally by the end of p the week said she had shortcircuited the answer, she had sorted of telescoped it a bit. I think she needs to do better. Manu im sorry. And afterwards she still went back and said everything that james comey said confirms what i said to the public and that then launched into this very legalistic answer about the emails, a very convoluted, tortured explanation. Gwen i sometimes wonder if that is on purpose, she knows its con voluntary convoluted and twisted and hard for the average lay person to get. Alexis but the price shes been paying is in the trust numbers in polling. Shes had to address that over and over again. She addressed that again on friday. She continues to say i regrets, its a mistake and keeps saying how shes working to earn back the american electorates trust she said on friday it makes her feel bad. Gwen that is a real achilles heel. Phil and here we are a week after the Democratic Convention in philadelphia, trying to recaft recast her as someone with good character. But still in the polls, ericans have not that opinion of her. Gwen but trumps numbers continue to improve. The interesting thing about those numbers, while observe a. M. As standing is very good, there is still a majority of this country that believes the country is going in the wrong direction. The right track wrong track numbers, so to speak. 4 in the recent n cnn poll believe the country is going in the right direction, so there is an inconsistency there. While she can say im pushing for an obama third term and a lot of voters are ok with that, it may not work in some parts of the country. Doyle in her jobs tour this week, her Central Economic argument was were doing better than people give president obama credit for but we can do much better than that and i understand the country is hurting. Gwen hasnt he been making that argument . Doyle he has. And the one i think she made with more effect and more passion is no matter what you think about me, look at donald trump. Look at what donald trump is like. She did a stop at a necktie factory in denver where she ld up a type of trumps that said made in china. And did they talk about job training . Yeah she said but look at trump university. The core of the hirg Hillary Clinton campaign is im not donald trump. Alexis and you started by requesting asking about some of these republicans who are saying theyre not going to vote for donald trump. Some are saying theyre going to vote for her because they cannot or wont vote for donald trump. So this idea of making it a referendum, you dont have to love me, shes saying, but think about it. Manu you may not trust either person but you can trust that im economy and qualified to do the job. Gwen but heres the thing. Peel back the onion a little bit. Does it matter who runs for you campaign, what the discipline is in a campaign . How much is this Campaign Year mostly just people reacting to emotion and how much does it matter, as the joke goes, if they hide the phone from mr. Trump . Phil phil it does matter. The republican establishment is pulling their hair out. Hes distracted by the khan family or paul ryan or john mccain and picking fights when he should be making this change election. If he can make the election a referendum on Hillary Clinton he has a fighting chance and today its a referendum on donald trump. He did a couple be events in maine that is not necessarily republican territory. A split electoral state. Maybe he can peel off one vote. He should be spending more time in ohio where he has to win. He has to win in florida, virginia, pennsylvania. Youre not, you know, some of the decisions that hes making about where hes spending his time is prompting second secondguessing as well. Doyle which is one of the reasons one of the pieces of news that threw a real chill into the republicans this week is that paul man fort is on the brink of giving up and walk iing away. Gwen but he did say the one person running that kitchen is mr. Trump, which left the distinct impression that he cant. Doyle the fundamental question here is, is there a strategy and is there any sensible adult management . And there isnt a whole lot of evidence that there is. Manu you heard paul ryan today in a radio interview say i wish donald trump had more discipline. Gwen thats a nice way of putting it. Paul ryan and scott walker all had enough discipline to stay away from the trump event there tonight. Finally, quickly, the debate debate begins immediately and donald trump purposely stirred the pot this week. Where do we think it stands now in manu it looks like the debate negotiations are going to get going. Trump told me he wanted to have three debates. Headtohead matchups with Hillary Clinton. He wants to help pick the moderators. Gwen and to be clear, ron johnson, the libertarian candidate and jill steen, green party, have to reach a threrblingd threshold of like 15 in order to do it. Doyle the fundamentals in this situation are that this race has reached a kind of equilibrium with Hillary Clinton ahead of donald trump by some snub, were not sure what it is. What donald trump has to do is upset the equilibrium. Thats why he has to do the debates. The whole notion he was never going to do the debates, that would have been the definition of clinical insanity because the debates are his last best chance at really changing the dynamic of the election. And thats really why he probably lost the iowa caucuses. He was leading, and then he decided to bail on the debates because of his feud with megyn kelly. That turned off a lot of voters. Alexis i was struck at the convention by how many people close and supportive of Hillary Clinton are running their hands gether gleefully saying this is going to be her knockout punch. But you know what . Debates usually favor the challenges. I was also struck by donald trump saying he was looking for the ratings. Gwen and as we go off the air tonight, im hearing donald trump has reversed himself and actually endorsed paul ryan. Were done with the show but not done talking. Come join us for the rest of the conversation on the Washington Week webcast. You can find that shortly and ule all weekend long at pbs. Org washingtonweek. Keep up with daily developments with me and Judy Woodruff at the pbs news hour and well see you here next week on Washington Week. Ood night. Announcer funding for Washington Week is provided by thousands of people came out today to run the race for retirement. So we asked them, are you completely compared for prepared for retirement . Ok. Mostly prepared . Could you save 1 more of your income . It doesnt sound like much but saving an additional 1 now could make a dig big difference over time. Im going to be better about saving. You can do it. Helps in the long run. Prudential. Xq institute. Additional funding is provided by boeing. Newmans own foundation, donateding all profits from newmans Food Products to charity and nourishing the common good. The ethics in and excellence in journalism foundation. The ford foundation. Koo and patricia yuen, through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. The corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Reliable, hello and welcome to kqed newsroom. Im thuy vu. Coming up on our program, workplace diversity. It continues to lag in the tech industry. Well talk with a woman at the forefront of efforts to change that. Plus from edgy opera to political art. Well bring you our bay area arts preview for august. First, an important case for students with disabilities in california. This week the u. S. Department of educations office of civil rights issued a finding that calls into question the use of prone restraint on special education students. Its a practice that involves immobilizing a student facedown as a disciplinary method. The federal report found that oakland student