And a bigleague hitter. Nuclear tests. North korea would not dare do such a thing for president. The Trump Campaign blamed Hillary Clintons tenure at the state department. Hillary clinton hopes to end the Program Button only strengthened. Only on the counterpoint, Hillary Clinton statement was about the temperament to be commanderinchief. Confronting the threats we face with steadiness and strength. It has been unusually tuned to National Security. They have rallied for the topic in recent days. The major event was when the candidates squared off on nbc. This friday,you on postlabor day friday, the last the National Security hubbub. Donny it was captured by everything that happened this weekend. It was a simple hand to hand combat. Any dad for thing that happens bad thing that happens, it happened because of weakness and because who is watching. I have a strong hand to fix with applicant to. Hillary clinton says that is a scary and unsteady hand. John unusually small. Donny that is the calculus. Trump iscan public not offering anything other than i will huff and puff and blow your house them. John both campaigns thought they won this week. Most people thought donald trump did better. Some people thought that was because the questions were easy , sayingas in washington i killed her in the debate. It is interesting both campaigns think they have the upper hand. One thing that happened as a result of the coverage is that the focus on substance is starting to move to the fore. Now, people are looking at the substance of things. I think that plays into Hillary Clinton sabr. s favor. It aou cannot help man of the people versus just im strong and this is what i will do. No, here are the problems and what are your solutions . I really do. The fact trunmp thought he won is scary. ,ohn back in the ussr is putin talked about what obama said on him. Trump seemed to dismiss claims by american intelligence that russia was beyond the recent Cyber Attacks against the democratic party. Mr. Trump maybe the democrats are putting that up who knows . I think it is pretty unlikely. Who knows . I hope if they are doing something, i hope somebody will find out so they can end it. That would not be appropriate at all. John trump mentioned russia again this afternoon on his speech while contrasting his foreignpolicy views. Administration, on the other hand, will work with any country that is willing to partner with us to d defeat icis and islam and terrorism. That includes russia. If they want to join us, that is just fine. John a bunch of republicans are freaking out that donald trump cannot stop complementing putin. He said putin was a stronger leader than president obama. In response, the chairman told the ap that trump does not agree styleutins stali goof government. Mike pence and ben carson have taken his side. We spoke about what benefits he gets. Today, we wanted to revisit this topic because it is focused on whose face believes he has the answer. Says i respectmp him as a leader that guy is in control. What he does not say he is not a strong leader because he killed his opponent. He is banking on the visceral component. Public doesrican not understand he is a villain, a butcher. Yeah, we need a that guy is tough. He has that country where he wants it. Is making a bet that this really people will react. Agreeing but i think he is doing it because he is such an egomaniac and a narcissist that anybody that says anything nice about him, he is liking him. There is no shado strategy. Not like him. If you dig, you find all the reasons not to like Vladimir Putin. Even those that dont, then dont look at him and say that is the guy i want to run. Donny donald trump, he admires this guy. That is frightening. To him, it is very scary as an maybe ourin his mind, executive branch does not operate like that executive branch it is scary stuff. Hillary clinton and her army of donaldnites 2014, trumps foundation gave 100,000 to a group suing eric scheinman. He is the same guy that brought the case to trump university. The group trump gave money to was Citizens United which was run by Trumps Campaign manager. Report comes after questions resurfaced about a bondite donation to pam around the same time her office was thinking about joining trump university. How big of a problem is this . John i think it is significant. The bondi story was problematic because he had the Charity Donate to her pack. It was a charity donating to another charity. University claimed a. Raud then he takes his charitable money and donates it to an outfit that is all about seeking to reach and about someone who is going after him. Practices,o corrupt not just because of corruption itself but it is because he wants the claim that for Hillary Clinton. Donny irony. Obviously, Hillary Clinton that iq test donald trump, every way he has conducted business, whether you go back to the sweetheart deal of Chris Christie on casinos coming , using influence, everything he is running against. I have never seen a bigger hypocrite run for any office. It is one after the other after the other. The irony is this is what he is 22 what instance where we can drive 25 instances where donald trump as act where we can find and 25 instances where he is running against the. John it is something people in brooklyn are noticing. There are early efforts to go after trump which has not gotten a lot of action. Suddenly, the press is going back into those things again and he is getting less of a free pass. We have some great guests coming up. Harold ford and paul ryan. Donny no way. John he is here. We will talk to the paul Ryan Communications director and former Hillary Clinton chief strategist and guru. First, our sponsors. Donny i like this show. Now it is time for junior and senior. Joining us now is a man that John Heilemann described as pretty. And the advisor of mitt romney. I want to quickly join with you howie. Simple three senses. Ee sentences. I agree. I thought she continued to demonstrate her prowess and command. Politically, he had a pretty good week. John he has a lot to say. Donny only three sentences. I will keep it short. I think she should be doing better. I think she will be doing better over time, but the more time she has National Security discussions, it gets bogged down into discussions of email which is where she does not want to be. She has the potential to be much stronger. It is very simple. Trump, i dont want to be talking about National Security because anytime i talked about it, the media talks about does this person have the temperament to sit in the situation room and have a tough decision. When he goes on and on about talking about these generals rolling over in characterizing the Intelligence Briefings he is receiving. Lastly, the stuff he said about putin is jarring. I dont get it. Who is he speaking to a less he really believes it . Does helative effect, have the temperament, does he have a judgment to do it the Big Decisions . We have come to a place where everyone the race has tightened over the last couple of weeks. Just explain first of all, how nervous does it make you watching these bowls . Polls . The race has tightened this much. How nervous are you . As alook at this versfirst practice round. Mr. Trump will not change his file. We are making a case he is unpredictable, unsteady, unproven in many fronts. The problem we have at the moment that secretary clinton is offering is not something the country is not rewarding her with yet the next debate, the first debate will be the most watched. I agree with a lot of things dan said. Clinton has to be mindful of what he was saying. I think there is some village validity. We need to see stronger in the white house. If i was secretary clinton, i would try to smother the answer. Succint answer. You cannot beat him at his game. She needs to beat him at her to rate and forced him to talk about substance which he is entirely incapable and in neept at doing. Donny this is a judgment on his temperament but dont the debates have to come down to a level of knowledge and granularity . That is what has to happen from here on in. Ao, it is not a question of pe soup, it is a question of could he hasnt my question . Ppo,. He know ale. Wound up,unhinged highly emotional trump shows up, some of which we saw at the primary scum i think she is in rimary, i think she is in great shape. That is a massive advantage for her. If he shows up the way he showed up at the press conference, calm, sober, i think they sedated him, i think that is a problem. It is a normalizing effect of being on stage. To your question, what she has to do is constantly yield time and save tell us your plan and explain. Rubio saidly that. Tell me your health care plan. Tell me specifically. A combination of that and hanging on his own words. Overreach, and was just his own words. Very specific details. A combination of that, if he is calm. Talk there was a lot of for months about trump collapsing and paul ryan continues to blubber around the tight rope. It does not seem like the party is not banding together. Ist explain what you think now the relationship between the Republican Party and down ballot republicans. I think most down ballot republicans believe trump will probably lose. They think it is a probably good thing if he loses but they dont want him to lose so badly that he crushes some of these house and senate seats that hang in the balance. They get he will probably lose, they think it is probably a good thing they think they can rebuild. It can be great for conservatism, but they dont want him to get so crushed that they lose the senate and the house. Donny next week, game plan for Hillary Clinton. Give us the playbook. Harold i think part of it was talk. Theink the form itself, questions may have benefited on mr. Trump more. I think she has to do she has to smother him with her answers and vision. She meets the multiply the events she is doing each day. President obama is committed to spending october to this campaign. He may have to start a week or two sooner for africanamericans and young voters. Secretary clinton has to deploy bill clinton to talk about the economic message and how it will play out. John we appreciate it. Willing to pound it more. Otherwise known as senior or junior. Sean spicer joins shontz weiser joins usin a little bit. We will talk about baseball. John less than a month before the baseball playoffs, the chicago cubs of the best team in plac baseball and the record has been nothing short of bigleague. Leach and theill franchise has fascinated ties with donald trump and Hillary Clinton. We said prove it and he filed this. Will the story in Major League Baseball and perhaps in all of sports, jakarta cubs. The the chicago cubs. The best record in baseball. For all the excitement the Cleveland Cavaliers conjured, thats nothing compared to what would happen if the cubs won the world series. They have not won a championship since 1908. The cubs are no strangers to president ial politics. Ronald reagan loved the team. He would do Radio Broadcasts of cubs games. He would alternately bring that full circle, taking the amount of the first pitch. Bill clinton saw his final baseball game inwardly and barack obama, even said he was shearing last year for the cubs to win the world series. Flashforward to the 2016 season. Cubs win the world series, it would be a party we had not seen in decades. If it happens, it will be one month before the president ial election in which you can count on it being a factor in the race. In some ways, a cubs pennant race may have concerns. back in the 1990s, all was good for donald trump and the cubs. You throughout the first pitch, sing the seventhinning stretch and became Close Friends with sammy sosa during his home run chase. That has changed. After the Ricketts Family which owned the cubs began financing antitrump super pacs, he exploded. He said they arrested really spending money against me. You better be careful, they have a lot to hide. Still angry, he threatened to run attack ads against the cubs. And then there is Hillary Clinton and her struggle to convince voters, she is authentic. While she is a cubs fan, we think she claimed cubs fandom. Jeevan sang wit she even saying with harry caray, but that changed. When she ran for senate in new york, she claimed to be a yankee fan as well, much to the chagrin of Rudy Giuliani. The fact is i have always been a yankee fan. I thought you were a cubs then. I am. Will she is willing to sign an executive order vanishing the trumps. The cubs and their dance with destiny. I cannot wait for october. In this case, it is easier to dance with a thirdparty candidate. John we will be right back. Hey hows it going, hotcakes . Hotcakes. This place has hotcakes. So why arent they selling like hotcakes . With comcast Business Internet and wifi pro, they could be. Just add a customized message to your wifi pro splash page and youll reach your customers where their eyes are already on their devices. Order up. Its more than just wifi, it can help grow your business. You dont see that every day. Introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. Comcast business. Built for business. We will be joined by sean spicer, our inhouse campaign people. Saying to trump . What is he saying to trumps people about his fixation with putin . A lot of things have made republicans uncomfortable. This example is at the top. You saw it in paul ryans face. Factotion it is just a if a democratic candidate had it they would have in thatucify him instance you can say trump was trying to say they had been warned. The potent thing is in a different category. When clinton said would Ronald Reagan have said anything like this, that resonates. They think i do not want to be asked this question. I dont want to be confronted this from the top of the ticket. Isnt going to matter . Probably not. It does not make him more popular among folks at the rnc and republicans. Donny joining us, john spicer. Thank you for joining us. Im sure you have been eavesdropping. We are talking but your candidates infatuation with Vladimir Putin. If you were alone in a room with mr. Trump and counseling him on his stance what would you say . Donald trump has done very well without my advice. He will continue to do well. Im not going to give him advice. He speaks for himself. He articulates something why americans are tired of doublespeak. He speaks his mind. That is something that most americans find attractive. Think it is ok that he gives kudos to a man who is basically a dictator, who jails journalist . A man who invades countries . Do you think it is ok . I think a lot of folks in the media are overplaying this. He was clear about the context to which he was doing it. Saidve him a koppelman and i appreciate his complement. I dont agree with their system of government. John do you think Vladimir Putin is a better leader than barack obama . Differento totally systems of government. John that is what donald trump is saying. I think we should be respectful of the office of the president of the united states. John that is what donald trump did. Do you agree with him or not . I gave you my answer. You did . Donald trump speaks for donald trump. Our job is to help get out the word and make that contrast with Hillary Clinton. Hes been very clear, taking part of that quote in context or out of context is misleading. He did not approve of the system of government or some of the actions. He was talking about the following that he had in the decisive this with respect to how russia is dealing with isis. John i dont think it is an unfair question to ask you. It is a straightforward question. I dont think it matters what i think. Donald has stated his position. You are doing mental gymnastics is not getting us any further. Donny Rudy Giuliani went on record and said mr. Trump has acknowledged the Birther Movement was false and barack obama is a u. S. Citizen. As donald trump said that . Not that im aware of. Mayor giuliani spends a lot of time with him. Followup, i heard mr. Trump say now he believes barack obama is a legitimate president. Mayor giuliani said that. Does he speak for the Trump Campaign on this matter . He spent a lot of time with him. He has his counsel. I am sure if the mayor said it that is what he believes. I have no reason to doubt. John do you know as a matter of fact whether he believes barack obama was born in america . Heard him say that. It has not been a subject of conversation. John there has been a lot of reporting right now about the state of relations between the rnc. You are at the point of this. One of the chairman didnt put out a statement after immigration Statement Speech there was a suggestion of discord. There was never a statement drafted, never asked for. There was never a statement. There was never a draft. There was never a thought on email. It was completely false. , i havee of relations been up there, the chairman has been up there, we held a call about our ground game with dave done touting what we have to put the most comprehensive ground game in terms of voter contact and people on the ground. We have a tremendous relationship with the Trump Campaign. It is one of the best operations ive seen in politics. Donny there has been talk about the camp campaign. We will have the greatest get out ground game. When we see field offices we see Hillary Clinton with 50 offices. How is