That wraps it up for us. I will tell you hardball with Chris Matthews starts right now. Cool hand barack. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews, in washington. The president has offered a calm but tough criticism of Donald Trumps statement this week, on possession and use of Nuclear Weapons. What the statements you mentioned tell us, they tell us that the person who made the statements doesnt know much about Foreign Policy or Nuclear Policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally. We dont want somebody in the oval office who doesnt recognize how important that is. Well, we know who is he talking about. One of the most eventful and
challenging weeks for donald trump in his campaign so far. The new York Business leader has been understandably in damage control, when he said women who receive an abortion should receive some type of punish. Opponents alike, afterwards the Trump Campaign issued a statement, and then another statement, then on thursday, he told the New York Times if you answer one question incorrectly in some form or misunderstood or misspoke, it ends up being a big story. That doesnt happen with other people. Thats trump talking. For those that wish to watch the entire block of wednesdays town hall dedicated to the topic of abortion rights. Go to hardball. Msnbc. Com. If do you want to watch it now, well show it at the final segment of the show. We begin with trumps path forward, after a number of challenging days. Katy tur is in new york, chris
jansing, joy reed also joins us. Thank you all for joining us. Right now, first of all, katy, who watches this guy hourly, how is he going to get beyond this week . This has not been a great week . How does he move past the defeat in wisconsin and regain his sea legs by new york, where he should win . I think weve asked that question any time he has run into some controversy or another. Weve seen Something Else will come up. There will be another controversy. The thing is he is doing the sunday morning talk show circuit this weekend. He has been asked about abortion by cbs, so thats going to make that conversation last a little longer. He is not expected to do well, so that will be a blow. Donald trump needs to figure out a way to get past it, regain his momentum and come in strong to new york, but i think the reality is, in order to do that, the campaign is going to probably open up yet another controversy, chris. Let me ask you about women. I want you to all talk about this, women and trump, numbers that are devastating among women. I keep thinking a lot of republican out there, a lot out there, who may have different views on abortion rights, than even their husbands have. A new gallop tracking poll, 70 have an unfavorable opinion of him. How he tries to bridge that gap in a general election. Right now, the campaign isnt acknowledging that they have a problem. Instead, what theyre doing is saying that he is won women in the past. They believe that he is going to be able to speak directly to women, as they go on. If they get to the general election, if they get this nomination, they thiwill be ablo speak to each woman. The issue, a daunting number. When they deal with it if he in fact the nominee, theyve
admitted it is a huge problem, one that could put Hillary Clinton until the white house, it worries them about what theyre going to try to do to mitigate it is to target older white women who have liked Donald Trumps message and just try to mitigate the damage theyve done with younger women. Theyre also trying to appeal to white men in large numbers. White men that could potentially be democrats or independents, and theyre hoping that the number of men coming in from outside of the party will mitigate the damage theyre doing with women, mitigate the damage with minties, and left them to wins in states that they wouldnt have won in. Colorado, pennsylvania, states that have traditionally gone to democrats. They believe they can win those over in the fall. But its unclear if that is going to be the case. A lot of polling out there that shows that donald trump, if he is facing off against Hillary Clinton, would lose in a landslide in the electoral college. Let me go to chris jansing. Chris, you know, a couple of times in the midwest, candidates won for the United States senate, not because they were fantastic, although some of them were good, their opponents said stupid things about rape and things like that, and they were able to cruise into office. Hillary clinton might be thinking right now, if i run a regular campaign, not especially this auguy will hand it to me. I just talked to somebody in the Clinton Campaign who said to me when you have unfavorables with women, nationally that are above 70 , there is nothing you can do. There is absolutely nothing you can do but try to you cant balance that out with white men. You have to win 90, 95 of the men who vote. He is going to have to do some sort of major change. Were not seeing it here in wisconsin. I have been talking to a
lobbyist, he says he is seeing here for example, its in the high 70s, but its interesting, chris. Your conversation with donald trump on abortion, for example, the argument has been made by several republican insiders here that it was two levels bad against trump. It was bad on its face, because people didnt like the message was bad. But it furthers put a cherry on top of a belief here that he does not have depth on the issue. Its why a lot of Business People that i talked to feel that they made them nervous. A couple of them brought up the nuclear issue. I think in a weird way, you know, what the president talked about today, criticizing trump and the criticism weve heard from him on abortion, it goes to depth. Those are the kinds of issues that are going to be trouble for him with women, with men, across demographics. Joy, respond to this. The Washington Post looks at
his polling and point today red flags. His negatives are huge among moderates, young people, hispanics, white evangelical pr protestant. He would start the general Election Campaign as the least popular candidate to represent either party in modern times. But it might not be too late to stop him and according to the New York Times that is scaring many of the Republican Party right now. Quote, republicans who once worried that mr. Trump might gain overwhelming momentum, are now becoming that mr. Trump might become i love this phrase, zombie candidate, damaged beyond the point of repair, but too late for any of his rivals to stop him. Headline writer came up with that phrase. All the tv shows i dont like to watch about zombies, crashing into the village or whatever, coming across the horizon scaring the hell out of the
people. The walking dead happens to be my favorite show. Oh, my god. You and have i go the to compare taste buds here. Its a great show. So i think the zombie candidate is really true. You look at the groups you cited, so much trouble with. Donald trump when he first started out one of the things you would hear republican consultants say is he might actually be able to expand the base because more moderate and former democrats who really arent lowering the tax rate could gravitate to him. Why he is doing so badly in wisconsin, 22. 5 white v evangelicals, tailor made for ted cruz any way. Women with his comments about, you know, everything from the bullying of a white woman
reporter, to his feud with megyn kelly, he has spent zero Time Movement conservativism, for like 40 years, the doctrine is you dont make the sub text of the antiabortion into text. You dont take it to its logical conclusion, you know, other than Richard Murdock and akin, some of these guys that make a mistake, youre not supposed to give away the game that you want to criminalize abortion. Well, he hasnt studied enough conservativism. So he winds up in this territory. He is as offensive to Movement Conservatives as he is to moderates. He is almost a guy without a country. The one small part he has, working class white men for the most part, are with him to the end. When you get to new york, they only have less than 10 white
evangelical protestant. He could still win new york. Going at trump in his usual sarcastic way, the wonderful condescending way of chuckling in his cheek, have you noticed that, the Old Press Club thing, making fun of him, like he is a tv barker, the way he did it, will trump respond to that, come back at obama and knock him off again. It has been in the past, but im not sure if he is going to be doing that. I mean, the next time were going to see him in the public is tomorrow. Potentially, he could lash out against the president , but lately, he hasnt really done so. Obama has come out a few times and really trashed, if you will, donald trump, his candidacy. But trump has not responded in every circumstance. Listen, when it comes to his base, this is exactly the stuff they like. This is red meat for them. They dont like the president , they dont like Hillary Clinton, theyre generally not democrats,
and for they are, theyre disillusion disillusioned. Treats the candidacy as if its a joke, they like donald trump even more, because they dont like the establishment pushing back. They dont like the idea of people in authority pushing back against their candidate. They take it personally. They believe donald trump is fighting for them. But when is going to be able to maintain that support on top of all of the controversies that are escalating as we go on, he is only going to face tougher questioning when it comes to policy if we get into the general election. A debate against Hillary Clinton, but she has depth when it comes to policy and knows what she is talking about generally because she has held office so long, part of the state department, daily briefed by her staff. She has a large staff of people making sure she is on top of the issues. She has been in politics for decades. Donald trump no, sir have that depth. If his supporters stick with him, theyre going to stick with
him because they like he is not a politician and that he stumbles on things. As the weekend progresses, well be following, the word for moderate republicans, prochoice republicans. Theyre not going to like his comment about punishment, i dont think any kind of republican, except perhaps the crazy far right, not many of them, i mean criazy, dont like the itchy trigger finger when it comes to Nuclear Weapons. Thank you. Coming up, a forceful president obama Weekend Press conference, touts progress made in the Nuclear Security area. If donald trump takes office, could we see it undone, breaking the relationships in north asia, europe and the middle east. The primary, two days away, heating up with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Kans can sanders pull off i victory, and can they pull it off in new
york. Wednesdays town hall, coming up, the whole block, this is hardball, the place for politics. Is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student . Is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves . Is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the Natural World . Whatever your definition of success is, helping you pursue it, is ours. Tiaa. He is. Rrible at golf. People say im getting better. No ones ever said that. But id like to keep being terrible at golf for as long as i can. Hes just happier when hes playing. But hes terrible. For the strength and energy to keep doing what you love, try new ensure enlive. Only patented ensure enlive has hmb, plus 20 grams of protein to help rebuild muscle. And its clinically proven formula helps you stay you. Oh. Nice shot. New ensure enlive. Always stay you. There looking for jobs right now. The march Unemployment Rate increased to 5 , up slightly from 4. 9 , but for a positive reason. More americans looking again. Well, last month, the economy added a healthy 215,000 jobs. That helped propel stocks up today with the dow finishing a four month high. Up nearly 108 points. Well be right back. , with creative new business incentives, the lowest taxes in decades, and new infrastructure for a new generation attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. Like in rochester, with worldclass botox. And in buffalo, where medicine meets the future. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow
today at business. Ny. Gov hezbollah
test. President obama spoke about the proliferation of Nuclear Materials at the conclusion of a two day Nuclear Summit in washington, where leaders of 50
countries addressed the threat of nuclear terrorism. It came as donald trump seemed open to abandoning this countrys policy on the spread of Nuclear Weapons. On tuesday of this week, trump said he would be open to allowing countries like jam pan, the only country that suffer a nuclear attack, south korea and saudi arabia mass destructions, Nuclear Weapons. Lets watch. Its been a u. S. Policy, though, for decades. It may be a policy. Can i be honest. Maybe it will be time to change. Pakistan, china has it. So you have no problems with japan having Nuclear Weapons . At some point, we have to say you know what, were better after if japan presents itself against this maniac in north korea. If south korea will start protecting itself. Saudi a rarabiaarabia. Its going to happen any way. China, pakistan, russia, you have so many countries, right now that have them. Well, on this friday evening, president obama was asked about trumps statements. Here is what he said. What the statements you mentioned tell us, they tell us that the person who made the statements doesnt know much about Foreign Policy or Nuclear Policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally. Our alliance with japan and the republican of korea is one of the foundations. One of the cornerstones of our presence in the asia pacific region. It is underwritten, peace and prosperity of that region and it has prevented the possibilities of a Nuclear Escalation and conflict between countries that in the past and throughout
history have been engaged in hugely d hugely destructive conflicts and controversies. So you dont mess with that. We dont want somebody in the oval office who doesnt recognize how important that is. Our hardball town hall on wednesday, he also refused to rule out the use of Nuclear Weapons in the middle east, even in europe. I was against iraq, i would be the last one to use the Nuclear Weapons. Can you tell the middle east were not going to use them. I would never say that. I wont take my cards off the table. How about europe . I cant say that. You might use it in europe. Im just saying. Im not taking cards off the table. Joined by joe cicione, valerie plane, who worked to
prevent the Nuclear Materials with her time with the agency. Howa howard fineman, i want to start with joe. Ill start with valerie. How does this strike you. Youve spent your time in the cia and actually monitoring any danger, fatalistic that japan, the only country in the world suffer a Nuclear Blast in hiroshima, some day get a nuclear program, south korea bouncing off north korea,. Hi, chris, thanks for having me on. Unbelievable to hir his statements on this. He is just clearly has given no thought whatsoever. His policy of winging it is really catching up with him. Its not working. When he finally released his
list of Foreign Policy advisors, it wasnt va rmplvarsity. Its going to happen any way, thats exactly the wrong stance to take. This Nuclear Security summit, the president obama has convened pulling together over 50 World Leaders to say we have to do something about this. And theyve made progress. It is significant. But i have to say, with 15,000 Nuclear Weapons still in the world, we still have a ways to go. You know, joe, he said that during the course of the meeting today with the 50 countries, they came to talk about the possible horror of more proliferation, discussions on the sidelines. What do you think those discussions were like today among world leader whose came to prevent happening what trump seems a little more less interested in stopping happening . Well, as president obama said
today, countries around the world care what we think. They Pay Attention to our elections. It is unnerving to see the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party saying things like this. Overturning 70 years of by partisans National Security strategy. Every president since harry truman has tried to stopped. Weve never encouraged it. Not israel, not great britain. So to hear trump saying these things, talking about nuclear use, is unnerving. Im sure president obama had his hands full trying to reassure our allies, that were not spiralling out of control. Ive argued with people not knowing something isnt a statement of a lack of intelligence. People can know a lot about certain things. I listen to all night radio, talking about sports. Jimmy roll