According to the Washington Post, abc news, Cheesecake Factory poll, voters favor donald trump over Hillary Clinton 46 to 44 . But how do you feel about it . 46 to 44, if you do the math, that only adds to 90 . The final 10 kept whispering kill me. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It is may 24th. Mika has the morning off. Willie, as you know, its may and this time of the year she goes around the world and tries to help young rebels trying to train them im in an undisclosed location in a Counter Intelligence operation. Willie, we will get through this, which may be one of the uglier days in recent american political history. I say that because of what happened yesterday. We knew that the bill clinton allegations were coming. We didnt think they would come this early or this hard, but the vince foster charges bringing
those up and casting a light on suspicious activities. Thats about as low as it goes. And i was shocked that its already happening in may. Yeah, were in 1993 Conspiracy Theory territory right now. Weve got a great group around the table. Ill talk about more than that. Former Communications DirectorNicole Wallace, the managing editor of Bloomberg Politics cohosts, with all due respect, 6 00 p. M. On msnbc mark halpe n halperin. This is the pregame show for that. And anchor of bbc news kaddy kay. Donald trump took it to a new level. He discussed the 1993 suicide of clinton aid vince foster has been the subject of far fetched
and widely dismissed conspiracy theories. Something president clinton alluded to at a Campaign Rally this past friday. I know the republicans have been mean to her and say terrible things. Theyre good at this. They delegitimize the people they dont like. You think the stuff they said about her is bad . They accused me of murder. My memories are short. Its what they do. Yesterday the Washington Post published this when asked in an interview last week about the foster case, donald trump dealt with it as has about many edgy topics. Law enforcement officials and a subsequent federal investigation have ruled fosters death a suicide. Trump continued to level of the allegation of rape against president clinton yesterday. His campaign posted a video to i instagram. We should note clinton was never charged and denied the allegations when they were first made in the 1990s. Wbr id wbr2691 trump tweeted the link with a comment, quote, is hillary really protecting women . No woman should be subjected to it. I tried to pull away from him. [ laughter wbr id wbr2861 ] trump spoke about the personal nature of his attacks in an interview last night with bill oreilly. Im not sure that this is a b
good thing to do that. Youre talking about what im doing . Im only responding to what they do. Theyve been nasty. Shes been very nasty. And i said i would like it to be on policy. Do you know it makes the country look bad abroad and things like that. That worries me. I understand the clinton attack machine. I got it. I think it has to be dealt with somewhat. I think maybe i dont like doing that. I dont like doing that but i have no choice. When she hits me on things i have no choice. You have to do it. So, joe, lets talk about this as a Campaign Strategy for a presumptive nominee in a president ial election. In some dark corners of the internet, i think maybe the vince foster story has currency. When youre trying to win a general election, how does it help . Well, i think it helps about as much as accusing your republican opponents father of being friends with Lee Harvey Oswald and somehow applying he
may have had something to do with the assassination of jfk. I wonder what nicole republicans who are bob corker yesterday one of them, what republicans who are now going and trying to treat donald trump with respect as their presumptive nominee, what are they thinking . What are you thinking . What are what are people like myself thinking . That donald trump is im sure hell text me and tell me. That instead of building a coherent Foreign Policy, a consistent Foreign Policy where he doesnt change positions every year or two instead of building a coherent education policy, instead of building any coherent policy that hes going out and hes dredging up murder conspiracy from the 1990s that only kooks were trying to sell
25 years ago. And this is where he is. Right. This is how he was going to grow. This is how he was going to evolve. Twitter wars against cnn because of saturday afternoon segments and vince foster conspiracy theories . Right. And, listen, i think its good that we spend a beat talking about this not because the substance of these attacks are worthy of any air time, but because they speak directly to Donald Trumps state of mind. And i think the word inside the Trump Campaign is that the greatest concern is how you get him to want to learn about the intracys of Foreign Policy. How do you get him to read other than i had twitter feed. This is what the campaign is putting out there. This is on Donald Trumps mind. I think the polls last week showing him in striking distance of Hillary Clinton and even a couple of points ahead in the Battle Ground states showed republicans that he can win this
thing. He could be the next president of the United States. But to win over the swath of voters that you need to put you over the top, to narrow the gender gap among women, you dont do it by drudging up conspiracy theories. Theres a consta Donald Trumps brief political life giving legs to the Birther Movement, to seeing Barack Obamas birth certificate, to dredging up the clinton infidelities, and now vince foster. If you are animated by those topics, youre already for trump. So to win over new voters, the kind of new voters you need to win during a general election, you have to move off this stuff. Ive seen no pivot over the past week or two, Mark Halperin, ive seen a candidate that seems to be digging down even deeper into his bunker at a time he needs to move aggressively toward picking up female voters,
hispanics. We could go down the list. We talked about it on the show two weeks ago. The window is very short for donald trump to actually start moving in areas to clean up some of the messes that are there when you look at the polls. But no evidence that hes doing that. In fact, hes just pushing down on the accelerator. Hes driving toward the entire party toward the side of a cliff. When he talks like that, its the presss responsibility to move from being theater critics and marveling at his political skill to say the two sides are not fighting equally or the same degree of seriousness about the office for which theyre running. Well, john heelman, you look at Donald TrumpsApproval Rating yesterday. 27 . Yeah. You look at the fact that 58 of americans say hes not
qualified to be president of the United States. Right. 60 of americans say they disapprove of donald trump. 76 of americans say they disapprove of the way that he treats other people, and its hard to believe that any of those numbers are going to do anything but go in the opposite contradicti direction of where the Republican Party wants them to go. He may bring down Hillary Clinton or bill clintons Approval Ratings but his come down, too. Can anyone tell me the theory of inside his mind inside Donald Trumps headquarters for doing this . I cant. I think its within Donald Trumps own mind. This is, as nicole said, a real reflection of some of how he thinks hes going to need to win. And, you know, i just i have to say, joe, i think its not even a question, clearly this kind of attack is not going to
improve his dismal fave, unfave ratings especially with voters in this country. I dont think hes going drive Hillary Clintons favorable numbers down very much. For anyone with whom these attacks resonates they already hate Hillary Clinton. They believe worst of the clintons. Hes setting up by the clintons by going after them it puts them in the position where they can be the high road candidate. Because he knocked them off their game when he first raised this last december. Now they seem resolute on being able to argue were not indulging in this. Were going to stay on the high road. Were not going to address it. Theres not that much more to say. Once you got to vince foster might have been murdered, where else do you go in the land of clinton conspiracy . This will be spent relatively soon and the clintons will emerge better off because the fact it looks desperate and it does not, i think, affect her
badly at all. Wait, theres more. Sean hannity has been viewed as favorable to Donald Trumps campaign. On his radio show hosted three women who accused bill clinton of sexual conduct. The women praised donald trump. Broad rick recounted parts of their allegations which the Clinton Clintons denied. I usually say sexual assault. But rape is the perfect terminology for what happened. I made a huge mistake by not coming forward sooner. By denying it, i had denied it. Yep. Because you were afraid . Oh, yes. Yes i was afraid. Tell everybody about the hillary encounter. She comes directly over to me and starts her little talk about how appreciative she was the very thing i was doing in bills campaign, and i started to leave. I didnt want to have anything to do with her. You felt she knew . She pulled me back in to her and said very low she said do you understand everything you do . And it frightened me. Im so appreciative to donald trump for bringing it i couldnt. Its difficult for me to bring it forward. Its too painful. But i appreciate his efforts. If youre listening in the car that was Juanita Broderick talking to sean hannity. That was the theory of the case for donald trump. The indiscretions of bill clinton matter because Hillary Clinton, according to donald trump, enabled many of them. Yeah. Hes already made the case before that shes the enabler and chief of his pack of dillows and hell bring out Monica Lewinsky and the way she talked about the other women. As with some of the things donald trump has done about people in the past and the way
he described them, theres a kernel of truth there that, you know, history books have been written, books have been written about the clintons in which Hillary Clinton did not always resolutely stand up for those women against her husband. And thats what hes trying to twist to say there are these incidents. There are these quotes about what Hillary Clinton said about some of these women. Hes trying to say that shows she is not the defender of women that shes trying to portrait herself is. And the theory of the case for him is ill go after it in order to boost my Approval Ratings with women and drag hers down. Joe . Yeah. Yes, willie, and [ laughter ] depressing. I dont know. I dont know. I want to be careful how i say this. Yes, there are still unresolved questions regarding all of the women who were interviewed on sean hannity last night. Christopher hitchens wrote an entire book about it. No one left to lie to. Not only what bill clinton did with these women and Hillary Clintons role which doubt is highlighted in which its not a pretty sight. But i can tell you, as somebody that was there on the ground floor back in the late 1990s, theres a reason why these issues were not pursued with more vigor. And the reason is politically after impeachment, the American People did not want to hear about bill clintons sexual past. A a lot of these women unfairly were brushed aside. A lot of them were treated, you know, they had the clinton operation called it the shuts and nuts operation. They would say women came on to bill clinton inappropriately or
they were nuts. And, yes, it was a very ugly chapter of not only the clintons marriage but also in american politics. But i get to my point, in 1999, we saw bill clintons Approval Ratings go up to 60, 61, 62, 63 . Americans didnt want to hear about this anymore. They had decided bill clinton did not treat women well and said, okay, next topic. And they wanted to move beyond it. And they have. I find it hard to believe that 17 years later, Mark Halperin, that this will have anymore resonance than it had in 1999 well, look, joe, trump has shown since this general election has got underway he can dominate the debate every day. And the clinton folks said in the prelude to this match up
that they knew they had to stop that from happening. So shes going to try to talk about housing and the economy and jobs. This show is not the only one drawn to talking about Donald Trumps tactics even to denouncing them. Its possible, again, i think it should be less about theater criticism and looking at what hes saying and if its a serious argument for someone who wants to be president. Its possible he can dominate that the election comes down to which one are you more of sick of . Which one represents more fundamental change which is what the voters want in many ways. This may be a way to run out the clock. Again, its may. As john said. Its may. Hes started running out the clock awfully early. And, secondly, again, weve said repeatedly, the republican primaries, republican primaries,
republican primaries. I need somebody with five minutes that wants to win a primary. I can explain how you win a republican primary. A general election when youre running for president of the United States. Far different. Far more complex. And donald trump, im flabbergasted he thinks its going to move him a step closer to the white house. Exactly. Because this is not what he needs to shore up. Right. He has this base covered, if you will. People know hes going play dirty. I think republicans in losing the last two National President ial campaigns were looking for someone tough to go up against the clintons. Hes proven that he is that guy. Thats how he won the republican primary. But now the people that are left to be convinced to them he need to prove he can get his head around complicated questions of commander in chiefdom. Hes not answering those questions with these attacks. Hes not doing himself any
political good with the people that are still on the fence about him. And, frankly, what bob gates raised on this show, the questions about temperament. He makes those questions worse. He hurts his case about temperament. He hurts his case proving to the people who might be impressed and convinced that hes the change agent we might need in washington but they dont want to put him in charge of americas military arsenal. He is hurting his case with that swath of the jury that is really still undecided about both his qualifications and his temperament for the top job. John, i agree completely. Hes already got the votes that he needs, the anticlinton votes who believe in these sort of theory, and this isnt a wash. When you Start Talking about murder conspiracy theories from 1993, start accusing bill clinton of rape for things that happened in the 70s, the 90s,
and all youre doing is, yes, youre locking down your 27 that approve of you nationwide, but youre just pissing off the other 60 that disapprove of you and making more entrenched their opposition of you. Think about the math weve seen and the polling everybody was talking about on television yesterday including us. You know, trump republicans have come home to donald trump. Thats one thing weve seen. Hes consolidated republican support. He has a big advantage at the moment with independent voters. What do independent voters care about with this care . Why are they parked with donald trump. The swing. The people who decide this election. Theyre not people moved by arguments about vince foster or about augments or wjuanita. I dont think those things will move independent voters. If we look at polling numbers there are a bunch of those people are concerned about the fact that donald trump hasnt released tax returns yet. The pollings show that. You had 60 of independents saying they want donald trump to release his taxes, to me is a character issue. Thats what theyre saying. We want to know more about you. Were with you now but we want to know more about you and who you are. What hes conveying to those voters is hes going to be fixated on these kinds of issues. I think thats not a winning strategy. It doesnt seem to be the way to win. Hes bolstering the base. Hes already got the base as nicole and everybody said. It seems to me this is not, again, a likely strategy to lock up an election where he is the underdog. No matter what else happens. Hes the underdog in this election for reasons we understand about the Electoral College and demographics. This is not helping, i dont think, the way i look at how
its going to play out. If you look at the nbc poll in the last couple of days Hillary Clinton has leads among women. Americans favor Hillary Clinton on womens i