Neighborhoods, the smartest people who work for you in your staff, they all live in the same neighborhood. Whether theyre black or white or asian. Theres this book written, theres a test if you are part of the new elite. The new elite are corporate executives, really quality lawyers, doctors and because its now at the point where it is meritbased, whether youre part of the elite, weve kind of forgotten about ordinary americans out there. And so, its like, it drove my boys crazy. It had them take the test in the book and it said, have you ever been on a Factory Floor . Were you raised in a neighborhood where over 60 of the people Didnt Go To College . If you get a chance to go to starbucks or mcdonalds for coffee, where do you go . Do you know anybody who has whole milk if their refrigerator . Because Everybody Else has skim milk . Elitist. So part of it is that its
understandable, the good news is, its based on Merit Advancement in many cases now, but the bad news is that these folks who were the people who are not the salt of the earth, theyre the stuff that makes everything grow. And theyre capable of so much more. Thats why i think our focus on free college education, our focus on making sure that theres child care and get women back in the job market. Our fox on things that are just basically simple fairness. Minimum wage. I mean, people want to know that we really do my dad used to have an expression, chris. He said, i dont expect the government to solve my problem, but i expect them to understand it. Let me ask you about the things that mr. Trump, who you want to beat up, because you do, i know you do, you said so. Mr. Trump comes out there and Doesnt Annknow anything about politics or have any ideology,
but he jumped on these issues. Illegal immigration, trade relations, which have cost the Manufacturing Base in this country, and wars which have cost the lives and the arms and legs of their kids. Because its not the elite were talking about that are fighting these wars. Its those people were talking about from pennsylvania, western pennsylvania. So he comes on and grabs these three issues . Why were they available to him . Why werent the democrats figuring out these things . Theyre open to him. Well, by the way, they were available to us. Thats why barack and i ended these two wars. Were still engaged, but were not talking about spending 10 billion a month. Were talking were not talking about 200,000 people, 170,000 people in a war zone. They were available to us. And we were talking about making sure that we take all the actions in the world trade organization. We brought more actions against unfair Trade Practice than any administration has. And a lot of people like my son went to war, and came back war heros. And what we did is, thats why
we focus so much on military families. And so, but, look, when people have been really everybody liked beau. Well thank you. Thats nice of you to say. Its true. I do. But, anyway, trump comes along, for example, you never heard me criticize the tea party. And the reason i didnt is because a lot of people are scared, beat up, and what happens, they lost a lot, and what happened during the Bush Administration and the great recession, and theyre angry. And so theres two ways to deal with it. And people go out and you find a scapegoat. And it had to be because of the government. I remember we were running in 2008 a woman standing on a chair at a corner with about 100 other people saying, dont take my medicare. Isnt that funny . They think government Isnt The People who created medicare . So i think when youre appealing to peoples fears and anxieties, you can make some gains. But the end of the day, i think youre going to find, ill make you a bet, that in the state of pennsylvania, a significant number of those noncollegeeducated white women and men vote democrat before this is over. The reason im involved in this, what you were talking about, i was reading the Washington Post, everything youve ive been thinking, Bobby Kennedy when he died, his trains coming down through jersey to pennsylvania and washington. And you see white guys. A white guy with a dirty face, saluting. Thats right weve lost that gut connection, i think, with the working people out there. We have black support, the democrats do, the liberals do. But this is gone. This salute to the Democratic Party. How do you get that back . You can do it, i think. Because you have to talk to them. You have to engage with them. You have to go and let them know that you understand their act anxieties. Look, when barack the president picked me up coming from philadelphia in 2009 to go down to be sworn in, thousands of people were along the track in delaware. There were those white guys in hard hats, saluting. And because ive always i get it. But i think we got to the point where a lot of local democrats took it for granted. And look, the other part of this is, you know, i may be mistaken, but i think after sam nunn left, im the last guy in the senate that got a majority white male vote in their state. But again, a small enough state write paid attention. And by the way, i get overwhelming support in the africanamerican commity. Ive seen it. Overwhelmingly. Let me ask you about the downside of trump, the danger
side. It looks like hes losing, you know more than i know, but if he loses, Election Night is sort of predictable, say he carries ohio, maybe. Maybe its close in florida, but he loses. Pretty clearly secretary clinton wince with a pretty strong electoral victory. Its obvious she won. And he says nothing or he says, they screwed me, they rigged this thing from the beginning. What will be the danger and how would you as an elected official be able to deal with that . How are you going to bring back the public with his 38 or 40 . Well i think that youll only have lets say if he gets, god willing, 38 to 40 of the vote. I think at least twothirds of that vote knows its not rigged. Youre going to have people, though. You always have them. Whether they whatever their background, who are going to believe its rigged. I saw an interview on, i think, on msnbc this morning, before i took office. Good habit. Well, yeah. But i saw a guy standing there
and he had all these trump signs and they said, are you going to vote . They said, how are you going to argue its rigged . He said, its a rigged system. Im not going to vote. Its rigged. Look, weve always had that element in every election. The difference is, weve never had the head of a great party saying that it is rigged. But i really dont now, what would be a problem is if, in fact, is if you have a gore, you know, bush election, god forbid, and he says its rigged if he were on the short end. I dont often agree with charles krauthammer, but he wrote a hell of an article about how fragile democracy is and you cant play with it. That should be disqualifying in and of itself, what hes saying. You got elected at an incredibly young age, and you know what lick life is. No ones had your run, if you put it lightly. People are still extremely generous. They are fair, and you know, i think people can tell, you know, not about me, but i think people can tell whether when someone says something, whether they mean it. Yeah. I think they can taste it. They trust you. Your numbers have gone up since you havent run for president. Oh, its amazing. By t way, you guys never gave me credit. They were up before i ran for president. But youre booming now. Is that a lesson there . Dont run for president . If i had known that, i would have announced every two years i wasnt running. Okay. Let me ask you about the world series. Sure. Now, youre a phillies fan, so does that make you a National League fan . A cubby fan . No, im a phillies fan because theyre in philly and i want to sleep with my wife. Shes from willow grove. We know this. She hails from willow grove. Oh, god, is she a philly fan, any sport. I know youre not supposed to say who. Im an American League fan. Really . Howd that start . The yankees . Scranton and the yankees. Everybody in scranton is either theres not many phillies fan in i know about that. Thats how i was raised. My grand pop was a great athlete, went to santa clarita, played football and i was raised on the yankees. Despite the nomination of the National League growing up, all those years. Despite. Despite it. Despite San Francisco and l. A. . Im so old, i remember bob feller. Early win i remember that, four straight. The best the indians had the best winning record with 114 games. And they lost four straight, to the giants. Leo deroacher and those guys. Remember deroachers comment . He said, better to have lady luck on your bench than skill. My grandfather youd to say, its better to have both. Lets think about that tonight, mr. Vice president. Thank you for your time. And well be right back. Youmart sav. Still here in pittsburgh. Coming up, reaction to my interview with Vice President joe biden as he and the president look to help Hillary Clinton into the white house and perhaps protect their own legacy. Plus, donald trump says the polls that continue to show him trailing, in some cases trailing badly, are phony. Thats his word, yet hes touting endorsements that he claims he has, but hes never gotten. They dont exist. And a new prediction from the cook political report. It says democrats could pick up between five and seven seats on election day in the u. S. Senate and win control of the senate. Its all coming up this hour, when hardball comes back. [rockusic playg] [mus stops [record scrat] announcer dont let e. Colimos. Anstimated 3,000 americans die from a foodborne illness each ye. You cat see theseicrobes, but they m be there. Soalys sepate raw meat from vegetables. Keep your family safe foodsafety. Gov. You cat see theseicrobes, but they m be there. Welcome back to hardball. That was, of course, Vice PresidentJoe Biden Sliming actually, slamming well, perhaps sliming as well, Donald Trumps selfdescribed Locker Room Talk in miss interview with hip today. Well, moments ago at a rally in florida, trump responded to the Vice President s words. Did you say where biden wants to take me to the back of the barn . Me. He wants to i would love that. I would love that mr. Tough guy. You know, hes mr. Tough guy. You know what hes mr. Tough guy, when hes standing behind a microphone by himself. Thats what hes he wants to bring me to the back of the barn. Oh. Some things in life, you could really love doing. Our nation has lost and by the way, if i said said that, theyd say, hes violent, how could efdone that well, in our conversation, Vice President biden spoke about how democrats and some
republicans to a lesser extent have lost touch with the White Working Class of this country. Here it is. We dont associate with their difficulty anymore. And its almost like, like somehow, theyre in good shape, but theyre not. Theyre not. The fact of the matter is, those people were talking about built this country. They built it. And they are smarter than we give them credit for. Theres almost like whats happened in both parties, is theres sort of a yielding to pedigree. Yeah. You know, the guy who goes to penn state, University Of Delaware and the guy who goes to yale or penn. The guy at yale or penn must know more. Joining me right now for their reaction individually is robert costa, National Political reporter at the Washington Post and howard fineman, Global Editorial director of Huffington Post and an msnbc political analyst and katie packer is a republican strategist, formerly with the romney campaign. Ill leave the pugilistics aside
for a second here. Robert costa, ive never heard biden lay this out so clearly. The fact that we have this meritocracy gone bankrupt, where only the people at the very top academically are given any consideration by the democrats in terms of policy. He speaks with personal experience, it seems, for a guy who went to University Of Delaware for example, about this almost britishstyle system, if you didnt go to oxford or cambridge, dont talk, were not listening. Its a fascinating interview, especially at this political moment as democrats look at the map and they wonder, in places where trump has been popular in the industrial midwest, can they make some gains . Can they connect with these aggrieved voters who look at globalization and are unanticipate, are frustrated with the economy. And biden made the point that is not just about policy and ideology. Its about the vernacular. Its about making a visceral connection with these voters that have been left behind. Well track David Patrick moynihan, one of our heros, when he talked about this loss of support among the white working
class, starting way back when Bobby Kennedy was killed. Its been gradual, but persistent. Theyre turning away from the Democratic Party, which they view as culturally elitist. Your thoughts . First of all, chris, dont leave pittsburgh without having a cut of minhios pizza in squirrel hill. Thats my number one thing to you i went to pizzi rola in mark square no really bond with the Working Class this pittsburgh, youve got to do that. Two days before the pittsburgh in cleveland, i spent time going to the counties around the city of cleveland, talking to those very white, Working Class voters were discussing. They feel screwed. Its not about the language. You know, its not about learning how to talk to them. As joe biden said, these people are not dumb. Theyre feeling screwed. And theyre feeling screwed by trade policy, which, by the way, wasnt just a matter of the Bush Administration did, thats what the Clinton Administration did. Theyre upset about immigration. And illegal or undocumented immigration, which they feel is taking their jobs. Theyre concerned about Big Money In Washington and the fact that their voice is not heard. Theyre concerned about terrorism. They feel that they are part of another country and its not theirs. And i think a lot of that has to do with policy. Joe biden hit some of it, but he by no means hit all of it. And i think to and i felt back then that trump was going to win ohio and i think he is going to win ohio, because of the decimation of industrial ohio. Thats real and thats happening. Well, you put your name on that one. I think ohio is the one that im watching, is a statement. Even if trump gets blasted away other places, that is one hell of a statement for him to carry a significant state. Katie, your thoughts about this . Were talking about the cultural and economic disconnect between Democratic Leaders a to the highest level and voters who have turned away from the Democratic Party, starting well a couple of decades ago. They have started moving away. I think theres been a real cultural shift, where theres a sense that theres kind of this elitism, within the Democratic Party. But when it comes to trump, its very easy to speak to the anger and frustration of these people that have lost jobs, that have seen their communities collapse, because businesses have left. When you dont have a plan thats accountable to anybody. Its very easy to say, were going to fix all of this, were going to fix immigration by building a wall, were going to have good trade deals. But to not have any coherent plan that anybodys able to challenge you on well, whos got one . Yeah, katie, whos got a coherent plan . If trump doesnt have one, name the other people who do . What are democrats saying to people in ohio . What are they saying to bobby caseys people in pennsylvania . They may not like those individuals, but they dont like the National Democratic tea party quite as much. Right. Can i also say, chris, in talking to those people there and in other states, i think they know that donald trump doesnt have a plan. And theyre almost looking to
trump as a kind of bell to ring in the night. Its a protest vote. And frankly, on trade, hillary doesnt have anything much to say. She says she wants to well, the only thing i would challenge on that is, they may not think he has a plan, but they have bought into this idea that hes been very successful. Hes got a big plane, hes got all these companies with his name on them. So hes succeeded at things. So they are putting a fair amount of trust in him to deliver on some thing. Let me go back to robert on this. Robert, theres a reason this is a good, important topic to get to. Theres economic disconnect with the establishment. The only way you can explain people voting for donald trump is not his personal behavior, not his lifestyle, not that hes been caught up in this audio with Access Hollywood that certainly has hurt him. Its despite that. Theyre not voting for him because of his misbehavior, theyre voting for him despite his misbehavior. Therefore weve got to get, if you care for politics in this country and democracy, youve got to figure out what is it
that may cause40 of the people in this country to vote for somebody, who many believe is disqualified personally by his personal reasons. I think were all hurting the country if we dont learn a lesson. Why would you vote for trump . Its not trump himself. Something else is moving this. For many of these voters, chris, hes disruption. Theyre not voting for trump. Theyre not even entranced that much by his biography. Hes disruption to