During her tenure as advisor to the secretary of state and the scrutiny shes under because of it. Thanks for watching. Sayonara. Coming up, hardball with Chris Matthews. Trump takes on terrorists. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. For the third monday in a row, donald trump is trying to regain the offensive after three weeks of slipping poll numbers that have damaged his competitive position. Today in what was billed as a major speech on Foreign Policy, trump laid out new details about how he would fight terrorism at home and abroad. It comes after trump last week accused both president obama and Hillary Clinton of being the founders of isis. Well, today he attacked clinton, saying she lacked, catch this, the mental and physical stamina to take on the terrorist group. Here he goes. With one episode of bad judgment after another, Hillary Clintons policies launched isis on to the world stage. Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on isis and all of the many adversaries we face. Not only in terrorism, but in trade and every other challenge we must confront to turn our great country around. Chief among trumps new proposals today is what trump calls a new policy of catch this phrase, extreme vetting. Which would accompany his proposed temporary muslim ban on those seeking entry to the United States from countries affected by terrorism. Heres trump. The time is overdue to develop a new Screening Test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting. We must also screen out any with hostile attitude towards our country or its principles or who believe that sharia law should supplant american law. Those who do not believe in our constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into our country. Im joined by msnbc political analyst howard fineman, global editorial director of the huffington post, msnbc terrorism analyst malcolm nance and conservative talk show host dana laesch. Before we get into technical stuff, what did you make, howard, of trumps claim that Hillary Clinton lacks the physical or mental stamina to do the job of fighting terrorism . I think hes doing whatever he can to widen the gender gap even further. Because the implication here is
i think just under the table a little bit, you know, im a man, i can take on the bad guys, shes a woman, maybe she cant. What do you make of that, dana . I dont know necessarily if it has anything to do with the gender gap. What does it have to do with, then . I dont know. I dont know if hes going after i dont think you even need to bring in her health or stamina. I think you just look at her Foreign Policy record. Why is he bringing in her stamina, lack of physical and mental stamina . Why bring that up in a speech on Foreign Policy . A direct shot at her personal ability to do the job. I didnt write the speech, i dont climb into his head so i dont know. I can only tell you what i witness from the outside. I look at it like why not just go after the fact her record with honduras, with libya, in egypt, her record of pushing for the wrong reform in syria. Theres a number of things we could touch at. Lets talk let me go with malcolm. So glad to have you and your expertise today, and wisdom. Suppose we had all these rules
in place, and im for any effort, nobody knows what to do so everybody should try. Trump is right in there with everybody else. Extreme vetting, the ban for muslim countries that have had terrorism, all that, what would have been which of those would have been effective in stopping 9 11 . Well if you asked those 19 guys are you here to do damage, do you like our country, want to turn it into sharia law, are you hostile toward american values, i assume they would have done when we do, have you been near wild horses this week, have you gone through vegetable patches, the question you ask every time you come into this country, you go no, no, no, no, no. I assume they would have gone no, no, no, no and would have been here. Whats the good of this extreme vetting number . What does it do . I have no idea. Because to tell you the truth, 9 11 was a special mission. Those were trained operatives who were sent here to use as you said the visa system properly to come into this country and then act as sleeper agents until they activated and did the attack. Same thing with the attack we saw in europe. This extreme vetting donald trump is talking about today is nonsense. It really has no basis in reality. Theres only so much you can do. We use national intelligence, deep Level National intelligence about members of isis but to tell you the truth, there are far more disturbing things in his speech than that. Every time you go in a bank they say do you promise not to rob this bank and everybody would say im not going to rob the bank and the bank robbers would say it and then rob it. What is extreme vetting . It sounds ridiculous and i know it is, but what is extreme vetting . Obviously the bad guys will lie. Yeah. I dont really trust bad guys to work on the honor system. I think there are two things with this. First off, im pleased that people are saying islamic terrorism. Im glad we are finally at that stage. Trump is. We need to identify it. You think obamas not clear about who our enemy is . Well, when we have the fbi
who is redefining words in their documents so as to omit words like sharia and other instances, yeah, i think we are not being very clear. We need to be. Thats important. But heres the thing about this. With the creation of a commission, i guess i wonder why do we need to create another commission, why cant we have the fbi, cia, dhs, why cant we have these agencies simply do the very thing we are, the campaign is talking about having this commission do . I think thats something that maybe perhaps we should look into instead of creating another commission. Good point. Here he is. So everybody watching knows what we are talking about, you are referring to what trump today proposed as a new domestic commission, his word, to root out homegrown terrorism, people here who have become terrorists while here. One of my first acts as president will be to establish a commission on radical islam. The goal of the commission will be to identify and explain to the American Public the core
convictions and beliefs of radical islam, to identify the warning signs of radicalization and to expose the networks in our society that support radicalization. To accomplish your goal you must state a mission. The support networks for radical islam in this country will be stripped out and removed one by one viciously, if necessary. Viciously, if necessary. I didnt like that phrase. Viciously . Yeah. That said to me, its like he said were going to do it in a way that will bother people purposely. It will be really horrendous. Im not even sure exactly what it meant. You trying to figure out in a local mosque is the imam, is he saying things that would stir radical thinking and radical behavior, right. Okay. I think we do that already. Whats he up to . First you will have a Propaganda Commission designed to tell everybody whats wrong
with all of these people. Then you are going to viciously strip them out. Thats the eterm he used. He repeated it, in these terms, viciously extreme, extreme, all of that is donald trump trying to communicate a sense of anger and retribution that hes going to carry out and hurt them while were doing it. Thats his theory. For his people, for the people at his core, this actually was a welldone speech for those people. Lets go to malcolm. What is the usefulness of this kind of proposal which first of all, most conservatives, not sure trump should be called a conservative anymore, they hate all these commissions. Theres millions of them. They are everywhere. Commission on this, commission on that. Its called nanny state, its getting in our face. If you could detect crime or criminal intent before it occurred, we would have it made. We would have it all made. There wouldnt be any more crime because we could spot them with interviewing people. You want to commit a crime, put them away. You cant spot crime ahead of time. Human nature isnt susceptible to previews. We dont preview our behavior. Your thoughts. Youre the expert. Can i be honest with you . Sure. I have been doing this a long time. I have heard a lot of things this last year in this campaign but im going to tell you right now, this is the single most unamerican thing i have ever heard in my life. I have heard deep undertones of this. Hes talking about creating a politboro type organization that will root out extremism viciously within the United States . This is mccarthyite level of studies. Visualize what it would be. Obviously he will have to either nationalize the federal armed forces and intelligence apparatus in order to turn it inward on u. S. Citizens in order to investigate our own citizenry for suspected networks. This is not going after humphrey
bogart for whether he was in the communist party in the 1950s. This is a war on american citizens under the guise of the name of terrorism. I have been doing counterterrorism for 35 years. I have never heard anything like this and this is dangerous, dangerous talk. Dana, your thoughts on this . I dont want this onesided attack. What do you think, what you heard today . What did you like in his proposals . Let pme put it positively. I was in the middle of my Radio Program when he spoke. I checked out the transcript and walked away with a couple of things. First off, i think when he was talking about this commission which i just said earlier im not quite sure why we couldnt have the fbi or dhs to do it because the dhs is if we all remember, created in the aftermath of 9 11. There has been complications with this. We have seen complications with the politicization of going after radical islamic terror even in the language that is being used in fbi documents. I think we need to remove the politicizing of going after radical islamic terror, remove that. I think thats one positive step
that his campaign has made. But you know, as you mentioned, im a conservative libertarian. I dont want to see a ton of different commissions. I just want to see the departments that have been charged with protecting United States citizens with regards to keeping us safe, making sure that we dont have homegrown terror attacks, making sure we are not having radical islamic terrorists come into the United States. I want to see the departments to be able to do their jobs. Im not quite sure how this commission is going to fit into that. But i like the fact we are acknowledging what we are fighting against. I do get the sense, i have to tell you this, i do get the sense that if there was a 3 00 a. M. Phone call, donald trump would probably answer it as opposed to Hillary Clinton because he cant stop tweeting so he always has his phone. You know he would be able to answer something. Look, im not an expert. Malcolm is. I think they know who they are going after. I think tell me right now, your judgment of our fbi efforts. Is our fbi leading in the right wing, left wing direction, too soft, too politically correct or too tough . Where would you rate our efforts
right now in terms of catching bad guys as they become bad guys . I think they are excellent at catching the bad guys. We have caught virtually everybody. We are evaluating this on the one or two that get through the network. As we have seen, many of them, many of them are u. S. Citizens and to then categorize the children of immigrants of which we are all, as potential threats to the United States and to focus Law Enforcement and intelligence efforts on that runs up to a flat constitutional violation right off the bat, then secondly, try to propagandize the United States with it. This is dangerous. Its just dangerous. Its wrong. Its absolutely wrong. Is it wrong to look for islamic terrorists among islamic people . No. Its wrong to look, thats a false im asking a simple question. Its not wrong to look. But as we know, terrorists who come into this country have no structure around them that makes them whether they are going to be a muslim or not. Radicalization from christians who have converted, we have had american citizens who are completely unreligious go out and become terrorists and adopt terrorist ideology in one day. When the brits used to fight the ira it was pretty smart to start with the irish. It wasnt stupid of them or wrong. But that was a homogenous society in a geographically limited area in which Northern Ireland was infiltrated already with British Forces and british people who could turn grass who would turn information on them. The United States is 320 million people. You are essentially saying we will turn a flashlight, a spotlight on to the entire nation to root out a class of people which are nameless and classless which could actually create far, vast more quantities of terrorism. If i im just trying to find out where you put the needle here. Wheres the needle going to be. The more terrorism we get, will the needle more towards the more right wing point of view . You know it is. We know the more that goes on the tougher government will get. Dana . We have gone after a lot of limited government individuals here in the United States before and have had government departments, bureaucratic agencies which have been weaponized to do so. Im glad to see we are coming to some concrete agreement about how its perhaps not very good to do that. I will say this. I think we need to be more selective about our immigration process, as much as other countries like mexico and ireland are. I do think we need to be aware we cant politicize the religion, a religious fundamentalism, we have zealots coming out that dont like our way of life and we need to stop being politically correct about it. Thats why i will say the republican nominees resonating with a lot of people. Thank you all. Coming up, as donald trump talks National Security, his Campaign Chairman paul manafort, this is tricky, is facing serious questions about undisclosed Cash Payments in the millions he reportedly accepted from the prorussian Political Party in ukraine. The Clinton Campaigns pouncing on the story as you might expect. Manafort says the reports are false, he didnt take money from any government, he says. Plus Hillary Clinton campaigns with Vice President joe biden up in scranton today, where biden came from. Clinton is hoping he can help her win the final piece of at the lelectoral puzzle. If she can beat trump up there shes got it. And the hardball roundtable is here with their take on trumps news strategy of attacking the media. Hes attacking everybody and accusing Hillary Clinton of cheating her way to victory. Thats pretty desperate. Let me finish with trumps charge he has more mental and physical stamina than hillary. I have an obvious way for him to prove his point. And so. My new packing robot will make jet warehouses even more efficient. And save shoppers money. Genius smoke alarm sounds oh no. Charlene . No. Charlene. No. Charlene. Why is she wearing earrings . Why is it a she . Shh. At jet. Com, we always find innovative ways to save. Get 15 percent off your first order. The Editorial Board of the wall street journal issued a devastating critique of the Trump Campaign today. Quote, by now it should be obvious that none of this is working. Its obvious to many of his
advisers who are the sources of the news stories about dysfunction. They may be covering for themselves but this is what happens in failing campaigns. The difference is that the recriminations typically start in october, not midaugust. If they cant get mr. Trump to change his act by labor day the gop will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the senate and house and other down ballot races. Thats the wall street journal editorial page. Thats supposed to be the friend of republicans. Well be right back. Ross new yo, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, Creative Business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships, and the lowest taxes in decades are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state for business to thrive. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov
one number 21 in the books. A dog, talked. Were decedent from the mighty wolf. A voice was heard. If you build it, he will come. A girl discovered magic. A revolution began. Welcome, to the wonders that happen, everyday. Welcome, to it all. Comcast. I also believe that we can find Common Ground with russia to fight against isis. Welcome back to hardball. That was donald trump and his Foreign Policy speech this afternoon. He made no mention during his speech of the latest distraction for his campaign. New questions about his campaign manager, Paul Manaforts ties to the prorussian party of ukraine. Todays New York Times reports that manafort who ran a Political Consulting firm was the recipient of 12 million in cash from the party of former
ukrainian president viktor yanukovych. The article states handwritten ledgers show 12. 7 million in undisclosed Cash Payments designated for mr. Manafort from mr. Yanukovych. Yanukovychs prorussian Political Party from 2007 to 2012. Investigators assert the dispersions were part of an illegal off the books sy