He invented cable news. Cable news talk shows. Just an incredible force. Until tomorrow, well be back same bat time, same bat channel. Thanks for watching. Sayonara. Coming up, hardball with Chris Matthews. Do or die . Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. 83 days shy of the election and donald trump needs a game changer. Forget the talk of resets and pivots. He needs a new fact that makes it all different. A new nbc poll has clinton with a ninepoint lead. Shes at 50, hes down at 41 and the trend is downward. The candidates were running even before the conventions but clinton has pulled away and is holding her lead. According to the latest monmouth poll, trump is also behind in florida where clinton leads trump again by nine points, 48
to 39. Without florida, its hard to see how trump gets it. Hes also battling history as politico reports today, no candate in Donald Trumps position at this stage of the campaign has gone on to win the popular vote in november in the modern polling era. Time is running short for trump to reverse the trajectory of the race before voters preferences become locked in. While trump and his campaign faced the need for a game changer to shake up the race if they can hope to win and one target seems to be the health of his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Heres what trump said about clinton in yesterdays Foreign Policy address. 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. Well, this follows trumps charge of last week that clinton
needs to sleep for three days in between campaign speeches. Here he goes. Her speeches are so short, though. They dont last long. Theyre like ten minutes, lets get out of here. Go back home and go to sleep. Three days later, she gets up and she does another one and goes back home and goes to sleep. Joining me are susan page, Washington Bureau chief for usa today , and matt schlapp. Theres something in the air. I heard it this weekend with a bunch of democrats in massachusetts this weekend. Im reading something this morning, somebody has a 1 million bounty out for hillarys Health Records. Trumps talking about hannity is ranting on this topic. Whats going on. What are the republicans up to on this health issue . They are getting desperate. Why are they on to this . What do they know . Is there something we dont know in the Health Records . Something that could change this election around . No. No. Theres no indication theres anything like that. This was something that was thrown out there about a year or so ago that Hillary Clinton had somehow had strokes or something. Its ridiculous. What happens when a campaign appears to be failing, and they make charges that dont seem credible at all, it actually reflects more on the person making the charge. Is it smart to make a charge like this if they know its not going to be proven true . Its smart if they can lead into something actually coming out or they can force some information out of her medical records. Why would they go into a wall on this . Why Say Something that will be proven wrong within a matter of weeks . Because donald trump why do it . They dont think beyond the next news cycle. They are just desperate and grasping for straws and you can see it. Susan . Why push this button . We will show you hannity who is relentless on this. Donald trump actually has been pretty clever through the primaries in finding some weakness in an opponent giving him a nickname that in fact low energy jeb. Low energy jeb. Little marco. But this one seems kind of outrageous, doesnt it . She traveled a million miles as secretary of state. She she had a bed in the plane. I would like that bed. She keeps a perfectly full campaign schedule. Has this bounty of 1 million . Have you heard this story . I have. Look whats it about . A guy wants to drop 1 million, obviously shes not giving her medical records to this guy. Whats this about . Its fair in the sense shes pushing donald trump very hard on tax returns. His failure on tax returns. He will push her back on her weakness. Is it a weakness or you just dropped that on us . Whats fair to say when you sit in green rooms in tv studios, democrats often say people in the press often say hey, shes awfully hard, shes not very available, hes very available, hes too available, its hard to get her on our shows, hard to does that mean shes hiding ailments . I dont know. Shes certainly behind some kind of veil. I like the way you drop this in there. Perfectly legitimate to say she doesnt do news conferences, she hasnt done a news conference. Thats a perfectly fair line of attack. But saying that reflects ill
health . I just dont see the link. Wheres the evidence . Whens the last time she did that . Did what . Asked for questions ahead of time. She went to a Grammar School and asked for them ahead of time. She did a press conference in front of a favorable press pool. Do a real one. If shes so far up, this is such a cakewalk, go let it all hang out. I know that theres something to that about asking for the questions ahead of time. If im not mistaken, Hillary Clintons doctor put out something that addressed this some time ago. I dont think theres anything, theres nothing to see here as the police would say. I think roosevelts doctor probably did it. Jack kennedys. They always put out the records. If people arent going to believe what a doctor says whats the point . Put out the records. Then we can see. It was reported in 2012 clinton suffered a fall in her home, conspiracy theories have been pushed about the former secretarys health. Sean hannity as i said of fox news has invited doctors to try to speculate on clintons alleged medical conditions based on video and photographs of the candidate. Heres a clip from last week. Was there a possibility she had a mini stroke, tia . What do you think, doc . You know, the picture you showed as shes going up the stairs speaks a million words. Is she really fatigued, is she dehydrated. One of the main reasons why she fell in 2012 and had the concussion was severe dehydration. They are holding her and going up the stairs so she may be really dehydrated, she may have arthritis, she may have fallen again. We dont know. There are a lot more questions that are unanswered. Theres a thing in the paper did called the goldwater rule. Stop giving diagnoses about somebody you have never met. The candidate speculation, clintons own doctor last year as you say gave her a clean bill of Health Reporting that shes in excellent physical condition and fit to serve as president of the United States. Thats a pretty strong statement. This isnt real or this is real . Shes put her records out. She has. Put your medical records out. Not your own personal doctor. How about tax returns . It doesnt work that way. Look, this is the way this conversation is going to go. This is the way the conversations going to go. Hillary clintons doctor has put out a statement about her health and fitness as chris said, John Kennedys doctor said he didnt have a addisons disease. Lets see his taxes. People are saying donald trump didnt pay taxes. Lets see it all. I love that. So what are you hiding . Why do you want to go to the tax returns . I dont think donald trump paid a penny in taxes. They could both be hiding something. Who knows. We are talking about transparency. Never mind. Politico reports the Clinton Campaign is already preparing for the worst from trump especially when it comes to the facetoface political combat of the president ial debates themselves. Quote, the person picked to be Hillary Clintons sparring partner in her upcoming debate prep sessions is expected to confront her about the death of vincent foster, label her as a rapist enabler and invoke the personally painful memories of Monica Lewinsky and gennifer
flowers. Heres what trump said at a Campaign Rally this saturday. Her husband, bill clinton, who by the way, remember what he said, de not hahe did not have that woman . Then a couple weeks later, oh, you got me. Oh, im so glad they kept the dress. Im so glad they kept that dress. All right . Its great. You know why . Because it shows what the hell they are. You know, susan, there was a sense not too many years ago when you wouldnt talk about the dress the way he just did. Because we are really talking about dna evidence and the whole routine. Its hard to believe theres a corner of the unpleasant hes not willing to go into. I think you have to assume, assuming we have debates, that he will bring up these issues and i dont think the attack by him is particularly perilous because we have had these
before. They didnt even kp bill clinton, get bill Clinton Clintons are very good. When you come in on those, they always make you look bad. The question is, her response. Its not the attack. Can she respond in a way that is serious and thoughtful, doesnt look too defensive, deals witness and gets rid of it and makes the issue, him asking the question. That is harder than you would think to do. Its not something shes had to do in the past because this was not these are not issues that democratic primary opponents were going to raise. How would you play it if you were a debate challenger . If you had to play the sparring partner. Would you come in like that . Yeah, absolutely. What would you say . What about monica . You knew about it. I dont think she knew bit, myself. I would say all of that. I would talk about all the scandals we are all very very familiar with and i would keep coming at it again and again and again. Because the end of the day he knows hes not going to be able to throw her off on substance. She knows it so cold and so well. These are the kind of things, its not going to be what he says. It will be as susan points out how she reacts. I have never seen her blow
up. Have you . She doesnt tend to have that kind of i would be more likely to blow up. She doesnt seem like she blows up. She can be a little stern which is appropriate in some of these circumstances. How she plays it will be the most important thing. Shes not going to do a jack nicholson. You cant handle the truth. Shes not going to do that. That never seems to happen. The perry mason moments where you go you cant handle the truth they always quibble is what they do. These questions of the scandals are very they are relevant. If you look at the bernie sanders, part of his appeal was shes part of the past, she owns washington, shes scandal after scandal, everyones in her pocket. I think the fact is this. Does it play into the now, whats going on now with the clinton foundation, whats going on now with how she was secretary of state where she said there would be a wall between the foundation and her being secretary of state. Then we found out there are employees who are dualhatted. Thats not a very good wall. Dont draw a red line unless you mean it for yourself. Thats right. Dont give it to somebody else. Thats right. The fact is that it plays into the past. I dont think trump should hit on the past. He should hit into the present. We all know about the past and it aint pleasant. What we also know about the past is its not just sex stuff. Its all the question about everything shes done in office from the missing rose, you know, law firm records to the 1,000 im saying dont lead with it. We all know this. We all know this. [ speaking simultaneously ] i have one problem with her from the past. Its not evil necessarily. But its the part of politics i dont like. The fundraising. The motel 6 stuff. Using the white house as a fundraising stunt, having people come in, stay at the lincoln bed and all the money they raised. It was to me irreverent. What about the pardons on the way out the door . You got a problem with that. . Every one of these things is reflected in the value of the stock. The sins of the husband are not the sins of Hillary Clinton. Donald trump needs to be careful here because he may offend women even more than he already has if
he goes down the wrong path the wrong way. She might just she should. Im not any more responsible for my husbands behavior than ivana was for yours. Shes not going to do that. She wont get dirty . No. If she has a standing here its to say how dare you raise those issues. Lets talk about what affects americans. That is old. We have been doing this for 30 years. We are tired of all that. Let me tell you one thing that works in politics, the attack from the defensive position. People do root for the person under attack. When somebody is seen going at you, because you are behind in the polls, they go wait a minute, lets see what she has to say. Theres a tremendous prejudice toward the person playing defense. Remember reagan . There you go again. We root for the guy under attack. The New York Times today talk about a game changer reported that roger ailes until recently chairman of fox news, has been advising trump and will play a role in his debate prep this fall. The times notes ailes is deeply familiar with the republican lines of attack against mrs. Clinton and with the controversies that have surrounded her and her husband going back to their days in the white house. The Trump Campaign disputes the storys accuracy which is always a way of not really disputing it, saying they are longtime friends but he has no formal or informal role in the campaign. Okay. Ailes has a long history of advising many successful candidates dating back to richard nixon. In 1998 he famously prepped George Herbert walker bush for an explosive confrontation with dan rather on live television. Lets watch this moment in history. I want to talk about why i want to be president , why those 41 of the people are supporting me. Its not fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on iran. How would you like it if i judged your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in new york . Would you like that . That was called a showstopper. That was roger ailes advising the Vice President at that time if you want to take on a sparring partner, take on the
liberal dan rather, beat him in the preliminaries and you will look very good taking on mike dukakis. Brilliant politics. You know it was planned. You know he didnt think about that. He had to sign up. Roger was holding the sign up for bush to go to. He also prepped reagan, i wont use my opponents youth and inexperience against him in the mondale debate. He gave nixon the great aid to have faux hourlong sort of debates with people like Bud Wilkinson moderating it and ed brooks sitting in the first row. Matt . I think the fact is this. Ailes he has his own situation. Is he going to help with this . Ailes and trump are friends for decades. They talk a lot. I dont care whether its formal or informal. This makes republicans and conservatives very happy. Hes a shrewd operator. The fact that he might be talking to donald trump about how he handles his first debate is just music to all of our ears. Who are you betting on the first debate . With the largest audience in the history of politics . Who you bet wins . Trump needs it. I think he will perform. Who wins . Hillarys going to win. Roger ailes the challenger tends to win. Roger ailes will not make any difference for donald trump just as every other parade of professionalism give him a brakeak. Paul manafort knows what hes doing and donald trump rejects everything Paul Manafort suggests. Not only does ailes have expertise he probably has trumps ear. He may be something trump will listen to. Ailes has been there. Hes been there. Hes good. I tell you whsh, when it com prepping people, antiestablishment mentality is the heart of that guy. The chance to take down a clinton is rich. Thank you, susan page. Thank you for your partisanship. Thank you for your reasonableness and some partisanship. Coming up, donald trump says he will vigorously, viciously
fight terrorism on u. S. Soil. I dont like that word. He wants an idealogical test for all immigrants and something he called extreme vetting. Would any of trumps, this is my question, this is the cutter, the acid test, would any of his antiterror proposals actually prevent a 9 11 . Would anything have stopped, anything hes talking about, have stopped what happened here in 2001 . Would any of it worked . My theory, no, it doesnt work. You dont ask somebody if theyre going to rob the bank before they rob the bank. No, im not going to rob the bank. Why would they say im going to rob the bank . Its idiotic. Talk about being for it before you were against it. From invading iraq to pulling out of iraq to attacking libya, time after time, donald trump has supported Foreign Policy decisions hes now blasting away at and we have the video to profit. Can Hillary Clinton excite progressives with the prospect of actually running the government, taking over with the prospect of taking the senate, the white house and the house . Finally, let me finish with the
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