Transcripts For MSNBCW Hardball With Chris Matthews 20160902

MSNBCW Hardball With Chris Matthews September 2, 2016 23:00:00

Time for you to head to bloombergpolitics. Com right now. We say sayonara. Hardball with Chris Matthews is next. Game time for clinton and trump. Lets play hardball. Good evening. Im Steve Kornacki in for Chris Matthews. The Labor Day Weekend is upon us. While that means americans will have a threeday weekend to celebrate the waning days of summer, it also marks the traditional kickoff of the general Election Campaign, the home stretch. Now that means less than ten weeks to go until election day and all indications are that the candidates are entering this home stretch on an uneven playing field. Politico reporting today that the Clinton Campaign is quote, displaying unchecked confidence, noting that advisers to Hillary Clintons campaign have identified so many paths to an election day victory they are now focusing not only on the one or two battlegrounds that would ensure a win but on opening up the possibility of an Electoral College landslide. Thats the view from clinton world. Meanwhile, the Trump Campaign is yet to answer some fundamental questions about how they can pull this thing off. Quote, the plan to get to 270 electoral votes remains unclear. The battleground state deployment plan is a work in progress. Money from big donors is slowing to a trickle and aides are confused about who is calling the shots. Donald Trumps Campaign is teetering, threatening to collapse under the weight of a candidate whose personality out weigh his political skill. Thats from politico. With that in mind, lets take a look over here at the big board about where things stand in this race as we hit the labor day home stretch. What you are looking at is not where the race stands right now. This is where republicans wanted the race to stand right now. When this general Election Campaign began a few months ago, when donald trump locked down the republican nomination, if you had said then to republicans where do you hope this president ial race stands at labor day, they would hope it looked Something Like this. A very close race in terms of electoral votes and a battleground that would look Something Like this. Basically a 5050 chance for donald trump to get to 270. But we will show you now piece by piece what it actually looks like. Thats because there have been some developments over the last few months. We will start with two states that everybody, and i mean everybody, at the start of this Campaign Said were swing states that no longer look like swing states. Im talking first about virginia. Latest poll there, Hillary Clinton up 12 points. Virginia, this is a state republicans won clear through 2004. 2008, obama won it. 2012, he won it. You can see here by four points. Hillary clintons lead has exploded into double digits in that state right now. Not looking like a swing state neither for that matter is colorado. Our most recent poll there has Hillary Clinton running 14 points ahead. What does that do to the map . Two states we thought were swing states right now are looking a lot more like Hillary Clinton states. Heres Something Else thats changed in the last few months. Some of these red states, states we all just penciled in at the start of this and said they will be trump states because they are always republican states, they are not looking like red states right now. Im talking about north carolina, a state mitt romney won by two points in 2012. Most recent poll, Hillary Clinton up by two in north carolina. How about georgia, a state mitt romney won by seven. A state that last voted for a democrat for president back in 92. Most recent poll there has got trump up four. Not a very Comfortable Lead for donald trump. It is a lead but you cant call that a safe red state with a margin like that. How about missouri. Mitt romney won this by ten points. Donald trumps up a single point in the most recent poll. How about arizona . Again, double digits for romney four years ago. Three for trump right now. So what does that do to the map . It takes these four red states we are talking about here, you cant call them red states now. You cant say carolina is in the bag for trump, you cant say georgia is, you cant say missouri is, you cant say arizona is. Look how that starts to change the electoral map. Now, some of the other battleground states, lets give you a quick view of what it looks like on the ground in those states. You can start with new hampshire. Look at this. Remember, donald trump won this in the primary. Four years ago, barack obama won it by six. Hillary clinton, new poll out in the last few hours, 11 point lead. There have been a couple polls like that for her in new hampshire. Pennsylvania, how much talk have we heard from republicans about trump competing in pennsylvania . It was five points in 2012. Most recent poll this week, seven points for Hillary Clinton. There have been polls, some putting her double digits ahead in pennsylvania. You can go right through them. Hillary clinton leading, small but leading in florida. A state obama won by a point. Hillary clinton leading, again, small margin but bigger than obamas in 2012, four point lead for Hillary Clinton in ohio. Wisconsin, down to three. Democrats would like that to be more. Thats actually good news for donald trump. But still, bottom line, thats a Hillary Clinton lead in wisconsin. Iowa, best news for donald trump. In any swing state, the best news right now, its right here. A tie. Hes not ahead, hes in a tie in the most recent poll. This is a state obama won by six points. Nevada also, Hillary Clinton, a smaller lead than president obama had but still a lead. Keep that in mind. All those battleground states, you cant point to a single one right now where donald trump is ahead. These are states hes got to be flipping. In fact, you look at it and say shes up double digits in new hampshire, high single in pennsylvania, those are looking blue right now. Bottom line, heading into the home stretch, look how close she is to 270. Look how far he is. The gray states left, trump would basically have to run the table to get to 270. He needs a shakeup to get back in this race and to have a path to the white house. Im joined by msnbc political analyst david corn, Washington Bureau chief of mother jones, annie holman, hugh hewitt, conservative radio host. Hugh, start with you. Home stretch is here. Donald trump is down. Hes trailed consistently in the National Polls all summer. What is the single most important thing he has to do to get back in this game . I think you said there needs to be a shakeup. Wisconsin, iowa and nevada are the three states where hes got the best news. I think it does come down to pennsylvania in the end. Luckily today, i know you are coming to this later in the program, so i dont want to spend too much time on it, but on october 20th, 1973, there was a saturday night massacre. September 2nd, 2016 is a friday night massacre of the doj and fbis narrative and reputation on Hillary Clinton and the emails. Its a disastrous story for Hillary Clinton. It will change the race beginning monday and i dont think the old labor day, i think we will all study this report over the weekend. She had a terrible week. He had a very good week. That shakeup is beginning. Okay. Youre right, we will get to that a little later in more detail. But david corn, a version of the same question i asked hugh, i will ask you, but from Hillary Clintons standpoint. Shes ahead. What is the biggest threat that Hillary Clinton faces in the home stretch of this campaign . Is it the email story . Is it the doj . Is it Something Else . What is the biggest threat that could trip her up . I read the report. Other people read the report by now. It doesnt go any further than what we already heard, she was careless or reckless with handling the email which she apologized for. Its a real problem, a real issue, but she didnt know something about classified material. Donald trump didnt know what the Nuclear Triad was. You dont think thats a threat. What is . I think the thing she needs to worry about the most is that donald trump becomes sane. He had a chance this week. He went to mexico, he got kudos because he didnt drool while standing next to a foreign leader but then he came back and gave a speech that was supposed to be part of a pivot, minority outreach. He lost, i dont know, half of his latino advisory board. Hes not doing anything to reach those voters in swing states that you just went through. I think now shes like muhammad ali playing ropeadope. Just let him flail. If he stays where he is, shes in a good position. Basically, make no mistakes, do well at the debates which are the next possible turning point if they happen in this campaign. But really, let him go around and around like the tasmanian devil who cant keep his own latino advisers aboard. After a Campaign Meeting at trump tower yesterday, top aides were confident of victory following his speech wednesday night. According to the Washington Post trumps tough talk on immigration combined with a whirlwind trip to mexico on wednesday had, in the words of one adviser, won him the election. The New York Times reported yesterday several associates close to trump told his son eric trump is in real danger of using. Rnc strategists indicated to the younger mr. Trump his fathers already narrow path to 270 electoral votes he needs to win could vanish going through the swing states one by one. Party officials showed eric trump his father was drastically underperforming other republicans in the polls. Thats sort of a version of what we just walked through there in terms of what the state by state map looks like right now. But they mentioned the first article we have there, the immigration speech. Trumps campaign apparently according to this reporting, they feel they took a big step forward with the immigration speech this week. Given the polling realities, the swing state realities, all hes up against, do you think he helped his cause at the end of this week by what he said this week on immigration . I think he helped his cause by the trip down to mexico and in answer to david corns question, yes, donald trump looking president ial is a big threat and even howard wolfson, former Communications Director for Hillary Clinton, said Donald Trumps trip to mexico was a home run. Now, the media is analyzingDonald Trumps speech in phoenix in very different ways. I watched it and i heard a tough tone but in fact, in terms of substance i thought he was actually kind of the middle of the road. Many of the things he outlined are actually u. S. Policy and administration policy. I understand the speech was fiery but i think a lot of voters listening, they like that message from donald trump that hes going to be putting america first. I would be surprised if Hillary Clinton disagrees with that. Lets stay on that for a second. Its interesting, we talked about the tone of this speech and the emphasis donald trump had there on crime, he had the parents of victims of crimes that had been committed by Illegal Immigrants. Im looking just when i sort of slice and dice the demographics here trying to figure out why clintons winning, why trumps losing, im not the only one to look at this, but it comes down to these white suburbanites, to people who are a little more conservative economically, pocketbook issues, they worry about their taxes. But they dont like the idea of being associated with somebody who says the inflammatory things donald trump has. Im just looking at the tone of that speech this week and im having a hard time seeing how those voters warm up to him because of it. Well, it depends if they listen to it or to the coverage. I was on with you on wednesday night. I agree that i thought it was a very energetic speech but comprehensively in the middle of the republican position on immigration. Going back to your i think very completely accurate assessment of the map, wisconsin, iowa, nevada are where donald trump has to shake the map up. How does the speech play in those three states and in pennsylvania. I think it plays very very well. Its not going to get you back colorado. Thats gone. I think its a completely blue state right now. Nevada is a funny state because of trumps presence there. How does it play in iowa, pennsylvania and wisconsin . He promises security to a country worried about security. He elevates for the media to understand the victims of crime of those not in the country legally. And he does so with a little bit more humor and grace than we are used to and especially the visit to mexico. It was his very best day of the campaign, in the middle of a week where Hillary Clinton began with the front page of the Los Angeles Times and ended up with this terrible report today. This time next week we will see a much tighter race. Some senators this week say they believe a hillary win is in the cards this year. Senator john mccain is using the prospect much a Clinton Presidency in a new tv ad. Check it out. If Hillary Clinton is elected president , arizona will need a senator who will act as a check, not a rubber stamp, for the white house. In louisiana, senator bill cassidy said on cspan last night that its not the republican message thats at fault but the messenger at the top of the ticket. The message that we have is pretty good. It may turn out that mr. Trump is not the messenger. Maybe he is. But it really seems to boil down to mr. Trumps personality being not what people like as opposed to some of the issues. I think where the issues are, republicans are kind of where many of the American People are. Amy, that mccain ad just takes me back 1996, when the republicans concluded bob dole was toast in the president ial race, they wanted to save the congress, they started campaigns saying give us a check against a second term of president clinton. Seeing shades of that right now. I think that ad has a lot more to do with john mccain being in a tough reelection battle and hes trying to appeal to the moderates, his moderates, in arizona. You always have to ask the question in politics compared to what. We are talking about donald trump and his tone or his demeanor. Well, Hillary Clinton this week, it was reported by the Washington Post is at her highest negativities and unfavorability in her career. The bad news that has come out over last week and this week, including the clinton foundation and the revelations by the a. P. That half of the people that she met with who were outside of government were donors to the clinton foundation. This has not been good for her. I would actually say that that very fiery speech that she gave attacking donald trump and donald trump voters, i thought that was a sign of weakness. Typically the top of the ticket, they are the good cop and the Vice President ial candidate are the bad cop who slings the mud. Well, Hillary Clinton was willing to sling that mud because i think shes afraid of donald trump and is trying to frame him as unacceptable and is afraid his message is getting through. David corn, very quickly, this is a story we have been talking about, i say since the 90s. Hillary clinton, the high negative numbers, high unfavorable numbers, are we at a point where we have to say whatever happens in this election, she may still win, that problem for her in particular is just unfixable . It may be. But her negative numbers as high as they are are still lower than Donald Trumps. I still cant get over how anybody can look at his speech which drove his own latino advisers out of the campaign, kicking, screaming and running as something that would play well with the general electorate and put him in a better position. Its ludicrous to think that he gained when he lost his own supporters. So i think theres a long way to go before donald trump shows any of those voters that you talked about, the suburban republicans and moderates, that hes the guy with the temperament, the knowledge or the ability to talk in a way that doesnt cause them to pull their hair out of their head. All right. Thank you for the time. Appreciate it. We are, we talked about it a little, we will get a full report on the fbi notes on Hillary Clinton in just a minute. Also coming up, on the eve of trumps trip to a black church in detroit, basketball star dwyane wade says trump used his cousins death for political gain. Thats ahead. Plus, the first president ial debate now just over three weeks away. We are learning more about the two big things Hillary Clinton is planning to do when she takes the stage against donald trump. And the inside story of how trump changed his immigration speech wednesday night to try to stick it to the mexican president after learning that the president had tweeted that mexico wouldnt be paying for trumps border wall. Finally, the hardball roundtable will be here to tell me and you three things about this president ial race that you might not know. M

© 2025 Vimarsana