Good evening. Im chuck todd here in washington. Welcome to mtp daily. Its deja vu mtp daily. Its a joke gone bad. Inappropriate, and not surprising, oh, by the way, those are just the criticisms from members of trumps own party. Folks, this is a cycle weve watched play out again and again, for trump, where his party has little choice but to eject his rhetoric, even as they end up sort of sticking by him. Heres just a few examples. Hes not a war hero. Hes a war hero hes a war hero because he was captured. I like people that werent captured, okay . I hate to tell you. If you really want to be commander in chief and youre serious about that job, the last thing you would ever do is say anything that would show disrespect for anybody who served. Donald j. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the United States. Were not going to follow that suggestion, that this particular candidate made. Obviously, were not going to do that. The judge who happens to be, we believe, mexican, which is great. I think thats fine. I think judge curiel should be ashamed of himself. Claiming a person cant do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. Well, here we go again. The party finds itself hoping that trump will put a controversy behind him, and focus on a message. Here are just a few examples of republicans urging trump to change course. Karl rove, he must tone it down. Reince priebus, his rhetoric is going to have to evolve. Senator corker, trump is in a defining period over the next two to three weeks. Senator mcconnell. He ought to change directions. Paul ryan, hes going to endeavor to try to change. And folks, those comments may sound like they just happened, but, in fact, they are months old. You have to go all the way back to may 5th when trump became the presumptive nominee, and continuing through june and july, as trump has repeatedly found himself in crisis mode. So today, the campaign is aggressively trying to change the conversation, by pointing the finger at the press over the latest episode. In a fundraising pitch, donald trump jr. Says, you know, everything the media says about my father is all lies and spin, and they are all objectively false. Its a familiar counterattack for trump. He says something controversial, then come the headlines, then he addresses it, then he blames the media. Just a recent example of trump versus the khan family. If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably maybe she wasnt allowed to have anything to say, you tell me. But plenty of people have written that. I was viciously attacked on the stage of the Democratic National convention, by mr. Khan. And i responded to that vicious attack. And what happened the the press took it and made it a big deal. So what now for the Trump Campaign. Im joined by Trump Campaign cochair, sam clovis. Mr. Clovis, welcome back to the show, sir. Thank you, chuck. Good to be with you. I feel like youve been in this familiar space before. Youre in the middle of a controversy. And im asking you to say, whats going on . How are you guys going to refocus . And here we go again pip mean, you had a moment there last week when you had a bunch of people, republicans in the party, very upset about the khan controversy. Begging him to stay focused, stay on message, and then yesterday, sloppy again with language. I think the if you ever run for office, chuck, and i have, and i think that the key to success, no matter what the dynamics, whether how negative or positive the campaign may be, the key is to find to give people reasons to vote for you and not necessarily against someone else. We have a couple of candidates here that have some interesting negative numbers out there. I think that one of the things we really have to focus on is what are whats the message going to be from each Campaign Going forward. Are we going to find the ability to compare and contrast . Are we going to be able to highlight our economic plans . Our tax reform, trade reform, Immigration Reform . How were going to secure the country, how were going to recapitalize the military. How were going to address the deficit. All of those things ought to be that ought to be the message that we focus on Going Forward. All right. Youre the National Campaign cochair. I ask you, why is that not the focus Going Forward . Why has this been so difficult for the campaign to focus . Well, i think, really, the issue is, we are talking about those things. And im not going to sit here and throw bricks at the media, because i think, ive been through this now in the campaign for a year. We see what gets reported. You know, you have some unartful language, and then that becomes the news cycle as opposed to the hourlong message that gets out there, talking about all these reforms. And again, i think its the nature of what we are in right now, in this cycle. This is not like any campaign ive ever seen, chuck. Ive been following politics since 1956. I hear you, sam. Ive never seen anything like this. You know, words do matter. Yeah. And in fact well donald trump has made a lot of donald trump has gotten to where hes gotten because of his words, in some cases, more so than his policies. And now theyre getting him in trouble. You know well, if words matter, chuck doesnt words matter in this case . Well, if words matter, i think that lets lets take a look at some other examples here. Do words really matter to the president of the United States, in the fact that we cannot identify the existential threat that we have to this nation . Do words really matter to the former secretary of state, who stands up and clearly lied to congress, and now that we have the occupation of the issues associated with her emails, do words really matter, chuck . Or is it whats being reported about those words . Because if words matter, if words matter, then we would have this equal and balanced approach to this, and we would be talking about the president of the United States and the former secretary of state. Well, look, i guess, you know, on this front, though, he went out of his way to talk about this, and the fact of the matter is, lets lets i take you at your word, that he didnt mean what some people took out of it. But, the problem is, its who else is listening, right . This has always been the concern, and as president of the United States, a slip of the tongue i mean, look, you want to talk about president obama, he drew a red line and those words mattered. And its been something hes had to deal with. And it was a hard lesson for him, that words do matter. Donald trump is showing that hes got way too many times, where he has allowed his words to distract from a story, and as president of the United States, that could set up to being a diplomatic disaster. I think, you know, that one thing i dont want you to, you know, and youre not, chuck, youre a strong professional, and this is one of the reasons i love coming on your show, is because, you know, you do a very good job with this. But i caution not to conflate issues here. We have a candidate for president of the United States, and the thing you have to remember is that there are a lot of people you and i, that will go out here, you and i can discuss this over an adult be h beverage and we can get down to four decimal places on a lot of these things. But then you have to think about, do the american people, the people who are going to vote, are we really playing to that audience, or do we even know what that audience is . And chuck, you and i have talked about this before. I think a lot of times what happens inside the beltway isnt always whats going on in the real world out there. That, i hear you on. But let me ask you this. How do you right this ship right now . Because it does feel like its on defense, right . You guys are on defense. You know it, how do you right this ship . Whats your advice . I think its what ive said before. Always, always, always, you have to give people a reason to vote for you. And lets go out here and compare and contrast our plans, our ideas, the fact that mr. Trumps created tens of thousands of jobs that he has been part of the free market system in this country, and he understands all of this. And we have a tax plan and trade plan and immigration plans that are really really will set this nation on fire when it comes to the economy. And if the United States has a strong economy, the rest of the world will be at peace. This is really one of the things that over history, weve seen this. And i think this is one of our key selling points, and we ought to be out there pounding that every day, that our plan is going to put and allow us to reach that growth level, to have the ability to recapitalize our security, to do all of those things and every american is going to be better off because of it. Sam, you better be careful, there may become a draft effort by some republicans saying they want you on the ticket here. Well, my success your my success in elections is not good. This is one of the reasons im on the staff and not a candidate. Sam clovis, thanks for coming on today, appreciate it. Thanks, cluchuck, you bet. Let me bring in our panel tonight. Steve, i want to start with you. Sams more on message than the candidate. Absolutely. I mean and he always has a smile on his face when he does it. They dont have enough of that. You get the sense he has a campaign staff, actually some of whom like stam sam really know what theyre doing and know what the message should be and they tell the candidate and suggest to the candidate, its time to change direction, turn the page, but the candidate doesnt listen. This is a you know, you said it earlier in the show. Every single week, he does Something Like this. He steps on his own story. He interferes with his own campaign. And its becoming a really big problem for him. And before i let you defend here, and i know, i want to get molly on this, because the issue, it seems, is if what worked in the primaries is a little bit of this, hey, just let it go tistyle and it did wo. The problem now is, he is now being scrutinized as the president of the United States. I actually think voters werent scrutinizing him as a president. They were scrutinizing him as somebody to make a statement. Well, maybe, but they were also different voters, right . The general electorate that he has to talk to is a Different Group of people, concerned about a different and broader set of issues. But i agree with you. They are looking more for that president ial disposition. They are thinking more about things like you brought up, about like what kind of diplomatic situation a comment like this might create, for someone who was actually the president , wasnt just a reality tv star. So, yeah, things start to look differently through that lens. But look, theres a lot of voters out there, its maybe a closing window, but there are a lot of voters out there who are just tuning in now and are still open to the idea of not voting for Hillary Clinton, and every time another controversy like this happens, those voters get less and less available to donald trump. Kevin, sam kept making an interesting point, and i know you were cheering him on, youve got to tell people what youre for. You watched me i watched you. And i would say that candidate, the candidate you worked for, he does struggle talking about positives. He loves talking about negatives. So how do you well, look how do you make this work . A couple things here because i dont know. One, lets look at the primary, okay . He wiped out an amazing array of candidates. And he did it by being assertive and by responding to every charge, okay . So lets just lay that down as a truth. And thats right, and its a truth for him. Its a truth. And its what worked for him and its what he remembers. And, and, this is a different kind of candidate. Hes a change agent. Now, i know youve heard me say this before, and im going to say it again, with your, you know, forbearance, this is, you know, early to midaugust, i am much more interested in early to midoctober when it becomes battleground state polls. So everyone whos dancing on graves and writing obit wawares the elite are vulnerable to being badly embarrassed. I hear the august argument. Its also postconventions. Its also, stals, youre seeing what happened in the last week. August is the new september, because it is postconvention. You have a the concrete is starting to harden around Donald Trumps feet. And people are beginning to look at him and theyre applying the president ial leadership test and hes failing and hes failing pretty consistently. When you only have about 95 days to go, every single day that you lose a news cycle is a day that youre never going to get back but who says hes losing the news cycle . Well, i i think hes redefining the news cycle. And i think you think wait a minute, kevin does bring up a good point. There were a lot of times we thought he was losing the news cycle, right, molly, and it turned out the attacks didnt hurt, day help. One thing he has in his favor is that outrage fatigue factor. I sat in on a focus group of undecided women voters in swing states thats an interesting way to put it. Say it again . Outrage fatigue factor. Its the new clinton fatigue, right . The off. What a lot of these women were saying, the khan controversy was brought up, the Second Amendment controversy was brou brought up, and they sort of were like, he said something offensive, what else is new . But there are people who have already factored that into their decision. They know if they get onboard with trump, theyre voting for someone who says offensive things and thats part of the package. Its, is the person who says offensive things better or worse than this other person they dont trust. Better be fast. So clean break with the past may mean Something Different than it does in the, you know no, i mean, look, you bring up the point and i think weve all discussed it here. You have a candidate who knows how he got success. And maybe he doesnt want to change that. Sticking around. Stick with me here. Up next, the new clinton republicans. This list is actually continuing to grow. Former connecticut congressman chris shays explains his switch, next. In a normal election year, it would be given a each candidate would receive the backing of members of his or her own party, right . But this year weve seen a number of prominent republicans part ways with donald trump and even drop their support of him altogether. A letter signed by 50 National Security republicans this week prompted us to wonder, how many members of president george w. Bushs cabinet have endorsed trump . Well, the last republican cabinet, its in the white house, how many of them are Backing Trump . How many are outwardly supporting Hillary Clinton . And how many are marked eedly silent. One of the biggest name, hank paulson, is backing clinton. Hes joined by gutierrez, norm mineta, who is a democrat in the cabinet, by the way. Some of the most notable officials who have fallen silent, both of former bushs secretaries of states, Condoleezza Rice and colin powell havent said who they would be voting for in november. Rices name was rumored to be considered for trumps vp, but her camp denied it. Powell said just last month, he wasnt prepared to endorse. So by our count, in total, there are about 19 bush cabinet members who are in no mans land right now. Unclear if more names will voice support for one of these candidates or not, or if well hear about a lot of people writing in Alexander Hamilton on november 8th. By the way, basically, the two for trump appear to be rumsfeld and then, i guess, you would count dick cheney. Well be right back with more mtp daily in one minute. Only an authentic booking. Com property would suffice for jordans Bachelor Party. I dont need a sword, im a firemaid. Ding dong im going to give this place a killer review. I dont know, i just always thought maybe my Bachelor Party would be a little less grated. Wench ahhh ahhh hahaha. Oooh Party Time Party boy ok, ok. Mm hm, party time. Hmm, mmm, mmm. It came out to her people are pay for play. And very big stories today. The problem is, it will be big stories for about two minutes, and then theyre going to drop it. If that were me, that would be the biggest story in the history of the various papers. They go quadruple spacing. Welcome back. As donald trump continues to try to make the media the issue, and tries to put out his own fire, the Republican Party again facing a slew of missed opportunities to hammer their opponent, Hillary Clinton. For the biggest headlines on Hillary Clintons troubles in august maroon shes still facing terrible trust numbers in the poll, misrepresenting james comeys assessment of her honesty. A lawsuit from the parents of two americans killed in the benghazi attacks. A rundown of her troubled jobs record as senator, some substantiative hits. None of these things can care to unforced errors that donald trump commits on a neardaily basis. Many of these clinton controversies have been hanging over her head for years, not just days or months. Republicans, though, seem to be having a hard time knocking clinton when notable figures in their own party are wobbling or even actively defecting. Today, clinton launched the together for america, with the goal of outreach to republicans and independents and shes got a few bigname conservatives who say theyre with her, including former secretary, carlos gutierrez. Former hud secretary, carlie hill, connie marila, john negroponte, and now former congressman, chris shays, republican from connecticut. Well, congressman shays says shes going to vote for Hillary Clinton this november and he joins me now. I have to say, congressman shays, welcome to the show. I think the last time that clinton was so happy with you is when you decided not to vote to impeach bill clint