You can never get enough of it. Change the way you experience tv with xfinity x1. Good morning. Its tuesday, may 10th. Welcome to morning joe. How is everybody . Its a good day. I was talking to my dad yesterday and he goes donald trump, why dont he stop i dont understand his strategy. I couldnt explain it. With us on set legendary columnist mike barnacle, the managing editors of Bloomberg Politics that airs at 6 00 on Msnbc Mark Halperin who would
not like that show . Last night we had jeff daniels on. He was great. He drives an rv. Yes, he does. Maybe you should switch from the truck or the rv. No. Im going with the truck. So mike and i had a bet about donald trump winning the republican nomination. I get a truck if he wins the nomination. And i have chosen forest green, just so you know. We have an update on that . I do. I have an update. Its on order. Really . Seriously . Its on order. December 20th, 2026. No. Talking about a strike but its on delivery. Speakers . Everything. Dice hanging from the mirror. All right. There you go. Im excited. Ill put a broom in the gun rack. Joe is sick. Hopefully hell join us. Well see. A lot of people said oh, please. Yeah, he wrote an incredible piece for the Washington Post. It matches the conversation and the events. Because the stakes are high for donald trump as he faces a series of pivotal meetings in his bid to unite a fractured Republican Party torn between the establishment and the outside forces that overwhelm them. On thursday trump will sit down with Top Republican leaders in the house and the senate including Speaker Paul Ryan and mitch mcconnell. One of the scheduled attendees is senator roy blunt facing reelection in missouri this year. He put out a statement. Mccarthy signed up to be a trump delegate yesterday. But speaker ryan left wiggle room and potentially opened an escape hatch by saying he would step down as chairman of this summers Republican National convention. I want to get to him better. I dont know him. We had one conversation a few months ago, and basically with the kind of conversation im hoping we can have together, not just the two of us, but all of us how we can unify our party. I believe between now and july we will be able to figure out how to unify our party. If he asked you to step down . Ill do whatever. Hes the nominee. Ill do whatever he wants respect to the convention. Still the emergency rooms
have their reservations freshman senator shelly moore of West Virginia told politico i havent met him yet. I want to talk to him about some issues and others like senator kelly ayotte are trying to balance handling trump. This is a tough balance. You kind of cant do the balance. It doesnt work. It kind of comes out hallow. Trump and preserving their seats in the upcoming reelection. Do you support, do you endorse donald trump . I think each person will make their own decision. Ive said that im going to vote for our republican nominee, but i dont intend to endorse anyone in this race. All right. So either youre for him or not. I guess the problem is theyre trying to figure out what is going to happen still. Are people hedging their bet to the bitter end . She is hedging her bet. Shes in tough race against the governor who is also popular. She believes, correctly, that
her fatd of keeping her job or not could depend exclusive or near exclusively how donald trump performs. She wants to be able to win even if he crashes or burns. Or if he does well, she wants to grab his coat tails. Roy blunt, paul ryan, all the people hes going to be meeting with want to be convinced his conservative principles. What could he say in a 15 or 30minute conversation to undo his record of not having conservative principles . I really have no idea. And nothing hes been doing in the last week or so as he shifted around in the various positions. Some of the shifts are in some ways time honored. In which nominees try to position themselves in a more moderate direction. Trump is in a terrible bind. Everything he does to move to the center to look like he would be a more palatable general election nominee upsets conservatives. The ones who liked his tax plan. I thought he didnt care about upsetting people, mike. I dont think he cares. I thought he didnt care well, he better start caring. Hes the nominee of the Republican Party. Kelly ayotte is a perfect example. Were going to go through several months of various candidates statewide candidates for the senate of congress basically acting as if donald trump is he who must not be named. They never mentioned his name. We have just had the election of a muslim mayor in london. And what happens if donald trump ever becomes president . Does he allow the muslim mayor in london . He talked about that yesterday. He said he would, perhaps make an exception for the mayor of london. I think youre right. He cant erase the past. I think they want three things. They want him to show hes going to race money for republicans and build infrastructure, they want him to be consistent. They dont want every day to be
a different storyline. They just want him to seem like hes got a plan between now and november. They want him to be on the offense against Hillary Clinton. They want him to make the election about Hillary Clinton. If he dhau, i think well win over a lot of the party. Theres a piece in the New York Times about fundraising. Donald is selffunded so far. Hes the president ial candidate of the Republican Party. Hes trashed vast expanses of the Republican Party en route to his high fought, and welldeserved win to the nomination. What does he do now . Say give me some money . Its going to be a mutual thing. Theyll join a fundraising agreement. Trump wants the party to raise money for him. He has no real fundraising apparatus. He doesnt have a donor network. He doesnt bring to bear that most of the republican nominees brought to bear. Theyre staring down the barrel according to that story. He has to raise a billion and a half dollars between now and
september, you know, not very many months. And a number of very senior republican strategists said for any republican nominee raising that kind of money would be hard even if you had a full scale fundraising operation. Trump has literally none of that. Look at these, though. Some Top Republican donors did sign on with trump yesterday. Anthony scaramucci, National Finance chair for mitt romney. Thats paypal peter thiel, Stanley Hubbard. He once gave money to a stop trump pack. He has come around. He told politico so, i mean, first of all, wow. If there was a strong independent candidate, this would be the time, it seems. We have to get to hillary
clinton and her responding to trump yesterday. I see a lot of weakness on both sides. Remember, trump is fundraising from a standing start. He didnt have to do this throughout the republican nominating process. Hillary clinton has a network that goes back literal lay generation. He has all the things in motion. And trump is just starting now. But hes definitely aggressive and ferocious and how she responds to that, i think, could make him look strong or terrible. I think, again, my gut is Hillary Clinton needs to be Hillary Clinton, the one you meet one on one. Yesterday she went out and it seemed like a campaignorganized event. It seemed like everybody around her were sort of like positioned and set up almost human shields from the attacks coming to her instead of the issues she was talked about. She was going get asked the
questions about what donald trump said about bill clinton and where donald trump is going on this. Shes going to have to just be herself. Because herself has always been the best thing for her. This is the event yesterday. Well get to it later. I think its an event organized about families. Of course, she was asked all the questions about bill clinton. The press was relentless about it. It was a very awkward place to be answering the questions. And all the people there were set up. It just it just, at some point, has to be hers to own. She will do an amazing job, if they get out of her way. Back to donald trump, though, and what is going on with him . She may have not have to work a that hard. Hes not. Joe has a piece for the Washington Post entitled the art of the deal. He writes
i guess the point hes making there is hes riffing. It works. It has worked for him through the primary. Theres been a lot of red meat you can throw out there. Now its about consistency, as you said, Mark Halperin. Its about the issues. She will she will just clean up on this, Hillary Clinton. People will be scared. And they will ultimately not want to make that decision. So inconsistent. Shes been through tree president ial campaigns, shes been the first lady, shes backed by hundreds secretary of state. Secretary of state. Shes backed by hundreds of people. Shes won elections. Theyve thought this through and hes not going against the weakness most overrated field of candidates of all time. Hes going against a professional operation. A machine. Spot on, improvising, making it up daytoday, thinking you say one thing on monday and a different thing on tuesday, its going to make winning for him really tough. He needs to be uncharacteristically disciplined while still being himself. And not to mention, willie, were not denying that what he has done is nothing short of incredible. Nothing short of historic. Nothing short of just never seen before in the history of
politics. Modern day politics, for sure. And speaker ryan, i dont think any House Speaker before this has done this. So you can argue hes being careful or a little difficult. But donald trump has to look at his responses. He has it going on in his gut and it serves well this far. Now he has to start thinking about moving forward in the general election and being consistent in his positions. We saw this week with the taxes the wealthy. His tax plan came out lower out last fall and lower taxes for everybody. Now he might raise them for the rich. He cant hopscotch on policy issues like that otherwise people will not take him seriously. He was able to do it in the narrow lane of republican primary voters. But he has to open it now. Dont be sarah palin. Were hearing, like, a couple of different theories at minimum over the past few days. Its instructive to look at what happened to the Trump Campaign over the past few days. The idea he takes on Elizabeth Warren in a twitter war. Why he did that is no one knows. The idea hes going after bill clintons behavior a quarter of a century ago. That he thinks this triggers something in voters minds. Clearly he does. You dont hear it from ordinary people. It leads to the theory that the window is still open for some sort of a third party candidacy. An independent candidacy. I dont know about Ballot Access. What do you think . Well, you know, its a very tricky thing to do. Split it up. There are Ballot Access questions. The deadline for texas passed yesterday. You cant be on the ballot in texas. There are states you get on the ballot. Theres a lot of complex legalities around that. And the question of all the huge obstacles to run against a third party or independent candidate
that existed that have kept people like Mike Bloomberg from running on successive elections. You have to be a win per. Its hard to win. Is there a way for an independent candidate to get on the ballot and get the 270 . Not impossible, but not impossible but not the most likely or probably scenario youre going to come across, i dont think. Donald trump spent the weekend branding Hillary Clinton as an enabler of her husbands affairs. At an event in Northern Virginia yesterday, clinton sidestepped a response after holding a discussion with young families. As she turns her focus to swing states. The meeting was closed to the public and attendees were outnumbered by the press who repeatedly asked clinton for her reaction to trump. Im going to let him run his campaign whoever he chooses. Im going run my campaign which is about a positive vision for our country with specific plans that i think will help us solve
problems that were facing. Do you think at some point youll have to respond to these accusations . You saw what happened during the primary when things he said went unanswered. Why not sort of im answering him all the time. No im answering him on what i think voters care about. Im answering him on the differences between our records, our experience, what we want to do for our country, how important it is to try to unify the country, and i have been very clear that a lot of his rhetoric is not only reckless, its dangerous. What is your substance . Im running my campaign. Im not running against him. Hes doing a fine job of doing that himself. Okay. Very, very uncomfortable situation. Shes being put in. Mark halperin, i guess this set up of events because cable news
outlets dip into them all day kbrp still do those . I think i have an aversion that is stronger than others. I think trying to get coverage but she wants to be showing herself in situations showi showing unity, diversity, women, and trying to focus on issues. So that tableau is in keeping with how they like to run against donald trump for the next several months. Right. Theres also, i mean, what does it say about us, the media, that were asking Hillary Clinton about literally something that occurred 25 years ago and has been resolved, at least legally, and i think resolved i dont know anybody who is concerned that one of the top five issues what bill clinton did 25 years ago. I dont. Maybe im living in a different universe. Shes banking on that. You can see shes playing the four corners offense, which is you have to hold the ball and ignore the other guy. In the case of bill clinton
indrei indiscretions and affairs i think her best policy is to ignore it and trust the voters arent interested in it. And we have Political Party in opposition to Hillary Clinton, the Republican Party, of which a large percentage of that party seems focussed on who has the right to go to what bathroom. What is going on here . No answers . Well, look, if donald trump were here. What he would say, i think, is hes trying to make this not just about president clintons personal life and things president clinton did but trying to take to a slightly different place which suggests that Hillary Clinton was an enabler of that activity and shes never been held to account for that. Thats where hes trying to take the argument. Whether it finds purchase with the press. It seems a little bit as that cowe
caught on camera. Will voters believe that . At least the history has been that people found Hillary Clinton sympathetic figure over president clintons indiscretions, you know, in the late 90s. People looked at having been a survivor and supportive of her husband come through with her own identity and made her senator of new york. It worked to her advantage politically then. Is there some weird which it can be used against her now . I dont see it but apparently donald trump does. Yeah. What do you think . I think that in i cant even imagine what it would be like to be in a situation like that, but i just find that when something is being thrown at you, the best thing is to be honest and vulnerable and real. And i think usually the person throwing the mud ends up looking bad. So i dont know if its fair game. I think in some ways i guess it is. But i think she has to sort of
find her own voice with that. She really does. And i bet you if she gets everybody out of her own way and just kind of speaks from the heart, i bet it would be moving. I bet we would have nothing to say. At all. But well see. I agree with you. A little authenticity there. That was the worst time of my life played out in public and it was terrible. It did my best. I cant imagine how bad somebody would look trying to throw that kind of thing at someone when family issues are so deeply personal and unbelievable ly no anybodys business. Its going to get a lot of attention. Whenever donald trump talk abouts it it gets attention. He has to raise money for tv advertising, then he has the debates. Those moments of messaging and his presentation and how he compares himself to Hillary Clinton those will matter more
regarding his chances than this stuff. And huge challenges in the process of going through those events, huge problems to fix, you know, with large swaths of the electorate now that disprove him. Vast numbers of women, vast numbers of hispanics. Again theres not a way to become president of the United States when 70 of women and hispanics are against you. Can he use the opportunities that mark is talking about to fix those problems . I dont know any of these things hes doing if hes going to stay on bill clintons personal life and Hillary Clintons complicity. If thats a running theme of the campaign, again, maybe im blind to it. I dont see how it solves those problems with those huge constituencies he needs to win some big chunk he doesnt have now. All right. And just as a working woman, i will just say when you think about those years and you think what she has done beyond those years, senator of new york, secretary of state, candidate for president , to say the least,
people want someone who is capable. And absolutely nothing threw her off. Nothing even the deepest heartbreak of her life. She could use this. She could use this to her benefit in a very real and vulnerable way without even i just deal with it. Its not that big of a deal. To your point, who could not identify with Hillary Clinton with heartbreak. Talking about what its like to be wounded and humiliate