john: i'm john heilemann, and with all due respect to the summer of 2015, sayonara. ♪ [laughter] all right. happy we are about to get out of town for the long weekend day, sports fans. our special "with all due respect" summer recap. trump, trump, and a whole bunch of candidates not named trump. therer, you know you and is no question that 2015 was the summer of the donald. but it was just a short time ago people were still saying rings .hat things like this i

>> will donald trump run? [laughter] >> we just got over sarah palin. >> he has a long record of clownish attempts to run. >> in june i will announce one way or another. i think you will be surprised. even you may be surprised, but i in june.cing >> i will only be surprised if you say you are running. john: kind of awesome. before the labor day holiday, we thought it was important to pause and contemplate how we got here. told through the lens of this program, the unexpected emergence of donald j. trump. mark: i'm mark halperin. john: i'm john heilemann. thanks for your time and being a program of harper -- mr. trump: a tremendous show. "the apprentice." i am officially running for president of the united states.

john: with all due respect to donald trump -- mark: with all due respect to donald trump -- john: with all due respect to donald trump, you're not the only one who knows how to escalate a situation. happy national donald trump day t. on the show tonight, trump, trump, and trump again. mark: but first, trump. john: and now all returning to our regularly scheduled programming, donald trump. mark: he is a shorter figure. he is over our shack test with a funky and -- heritage. john: this is not michele bachmann or herman cain. this is not a joke candidate that will pop up and go away. mark: every other candidate would kill for his poll numbers. john: speaking of polls, a new poll shows donald trump at 11%, more than double his preannouncement total. mark: he has been telling people for a long time that one he was taken seriously, he would rise. mark: the tops every leaderboard

insight. mark: crazy high best in show marks on everything from handling the economy to immigration. >> here's the latest sign that donald trump absorbs anything you fire at it and uses it as fuel. a new poll has him at 32%. >> donald trump, donald trump, and donald trump. mark: in our ongoing attempt to understand the trump phenomena, we partnered with our colleagues at purple strategies into the best and did a focus group last night with 12 donald backers in new hampshire. >> when you hear him call mexicans rapists, does that bother people? >> didn't bother me. >> what would a trump presidency look like? >> classy. i think he would bring a lot back. >> i look forward to it. >> it's an interesting thing every day. mark: what, if anything, will pierce his teflon? al: he is successfully parlaying a sense of anger and anxiety and there's a healthy dose of racism and what he is doing.

>> a normal candidate in trouble with the stuff. john: in ames, iowa, mark asked trump about his suggestion mccain is no war hero. will trump survive this? will he thrive for will he take a dive? mark: as someone who likes donald trump before this, i can't imagine this will turn them off. john: with all due respect to macy's, you can take the donald off of your shelves, but you get cannot take the donald off of your bus. >> are the people who donate money to the trump campaign? >> they will be coming to you for his super pac. >> how much is donald trump actually really worth yo? >> we came to $2.9 billion. mark: billion? >> billion with a b. john: immigration is the horse that donald trump rode in on. is it time to diversify his portfolio when it comes to issues?

>> $600 billion to deport 11 million people. that's how many people live in ohio. mr. trump: rnc -- john: whoa, whoa, whoa. mark: you have to call lindsey graham's office. >> they called him to torment down. if the mainstream republican party wants him to tone it down, can they? mark: the easiest question anyone asked -- no, they cannot. john: the only one bigger than fox right now that is a powerful place to be, no doubt. we are told it is donald trump versus everyone. the primary of trump. how much is the party freaking out? >> donnell as a possible 30 or candidate -- third-party candidate is a nightmare. >> the trump attack on jeb, calling in a low-energy guy, i think is fundamentally accurate. john: the low t candidate. >> there are pills for that, but jeb is not taking them. mark: what do you think about the way that bush decided to

take him on, saying he is a closet democrat and he's not a real conservative? >> i think that's the way to take him on. he isn't really a republican. he's a unicorn. he something we've never seen. john: with all due respect to those who want kanye west to take on donald trump, that will never happen . mr. trump: kanye west, you know what? i will never say bad about him. you know why? because he loves trump. john: when we come back, donald trump unfiltered. ♪

john: all right, now it is time to take a little trip straight to the donald's mouth. on a number of occasions the summer, mark and i found ourselves fortunate enough to be bequeathed an audience with trumpus maximus himself.

like everyone else, we discovered he had a lot to say. mark: because you have never run before, people are wondering how you will conduct yourself, will you run negative television ads against your opponent as is common in politics? mr. trump: i'm not sure there will be that many ads. people know who i am. mark: will you run negative ads against other republicans yo? mr. trump: i might. i don't know. mark: what will be off-limits gekk? finances, policy, personal? mr. trump: i would not do personal. mr. bush: he should be held to account just like me to fan he should be asked, as he was yesterday, how is he going to pay for it? mark: you have said that he seems low-energy. did you see that? mr. trump: he was a little bit forced. john: he was a little tangled up about anchor babies. mr. trump: terrible.

hispanic and mexicans with the asians. now the asian community is furious with him. that's terrible. john: that's not a phrase you are hesitant about using. mr. trump: no, i'm using it. and nobody has complained when i use it as they do not expect that he would be using it t. mark: how much of your own personal wealth will you be using on this campaign? >> look, i'm an intelligent person. i would say that it could be my campaign does not resonate and i will call you guys and say, john, mark, it's not working. i'm not so proud. i'm proud, but i'm not a proud person and i'm certainly not stupid. mark: there are people who are less wealthy than you who have spent tens of millions -- mr. trump: romney for one. oh, i'm going to spend millions. i will be up to tens of millions in the not-too-distant future. because i am instinctively a

good business person, i'm not going to throw money away. if i think i can win, i'm going to call you guys and say, fellas, i did a pretty good job -- mark: are you committed to going all the way to iowa? mr. trump: i'm committed unless i see i am not going to win. hillary clinton has proposed to carry that tax loophole and to carry that rate as ordinary income. do you agree with her? mr. trump: yes, the carried interest is a tremendous burden on the country -- john: you want to tax carried interest the same way? mr. trump: i would take carried interest out and i would have let people who are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year pay some tax. right now, they are paying little tax and that's outrageous. john: you are proposing that you would like to raise taxes on yourself? mr. trump: that's right. i'm ok. you see my statements. i do very well. i do not mind paying taxes. the middle class is getting clobbered in this country. the middle class built this country, not the hedge fund

guys. mark: on the exim banking, where do you come down on it in the end? mr. trump: i don't like it. i do not think it is necessary. it is a one-way street for politicians and a few companies. these are companies that can do very well without it. john: if you think back to the fed shares of the past, who you think has been the best? mr. trump: right now you have janet, who is sort of more of the same and i have to tell you, i often talk with two hats. for the last couple of months i've been a politician in your , world. previous to that, i have been a business person. i have always loved low interest rates as a developer. and i have always done very well with low interest rates. i think frankly, you look at what is going on now, the problem is you are creating a bubble and the bubble could explode. i liked paul volcker a lot. i thought he was a terrific guy in so many ways. he had a good pulse, he had a good -- you know, the bead he to me, he was doing what had to

be done. john: for campaign finance reform, that's an important part of your platform. what is the cornerstone of your idea about campaign finance reform? mr. trump: it could be. number one would be trade, obamacare, repealing and replacing, strengthening of our military, taking care of the vets. we can talk all day long about things with the do. campaign-finance reform certainly would be something we could talk about. i think more than anything else, transparency. you know, there should be total transparency so if someone is going to do something and i think one of the reasons i am so high in the polls is everyone knows all of the lobbyists -- many of whom i used to employ and i know many of them -- they have tremendous power. with the koch brothers, i called it puppets. they have tremendous power over these candidates. >> in the past you have expressed that the way to deal with the war on drugs is to legalize drugs. are you still in favor of

legalizing drugs ?mr. trump: the situation with marijuana in colorado is very interesting. bad things are happening with respect to people's health and the affect that it is having on people. i am not in favor of the legalization of drugs. mark: i'm wondering what one or two of your favorite bible verses are. mr. trump: i don't want to get into it. to me it's very personal. ,when i talk about the bible, it is very personal. mark: [indiscernible] mr. trump: probably equal. mark: some people say you are hopelessly insecure and that's the way he you act the way you do. mr. trump: everyone's and insecure. mark: what are you insecure about? your looks? mr. trump: probably we are all insecure. maybe insecurity is what makes you successful. mark: be introspective. what are you insecure about? mr. trump: well, it is my hair. mark: we love your hair. what else are you insecure about? mr. trump: my chipping.

mark: in golf. mr. trump: my chipping. john: up next, candidates who are not billionaires with less interesting hair. we will be right back after these words. ♪

john: if you happen to be one of the other 21 candidates, republican or democrat, in this presidential race, worry not. we did not forget about you or the time you spent with us. take a look. mark: joining us, carly fiorina. former new york governor george tackett did that georgia attack he former wisconsin governor scott walker. martin o'malley. former ohio governor john kasich. senator ted cruz. john: governor chris christie. and moonlighting comedian lindsey graham. mr. carson: the wonderful thing is that people come up and say i do not know who you were.

the wonderful thing is, i was in the airport, a lady comes up to me and says, i am a staunch democrat, but i love you. mark: that's pretty good. "ben carson -- democrats love me." >> have you ever had to -- live on your paycheck as a temp? ms. fiorina: i would have maybe five cents left in the checking account and i remember needing to rent an apartment and my landlord asking me how much is , in your checking account? i wrote down $50 because that was true. i have lived paycheck to paycheck. john: what's different this time? >> the country has been in stagnation for four more years. i recognize the core of that problem and we have an economic platform that will unite america and win this election. using an arbitrary number to divide candidates in any way is not in the best interest of

getting the right candidate to run. it's not a matter about me or anybody else. it's about the people of america, the people in the early primary states paying the most attention. they will have this chance and opportunity to see everybody. john: so, again, senator bernie sanders! senator sanders: you are never going to forgive me for that, are you? john: i'm not. neither is my cardiologist. >> we have to lift the restriction. people could guide laser airstrikes that could be doing the job to help where we happen to. we are not lifting those restrictions. i think that's important. i like marco rubio. i'm deferential to governors. i think there's a lot they bring to the table as far as proven executive experience. i do like marco rubio. i think he and i have similar thoughts about national policy. i like the fact that you saw he made a comment on this. i sent a nice little tweet saying, marco, happy birthday from 140 something to another.

mark: this talk about your mother who died of hutchins disease, what was that like? >> she fought. senator graham: i tell you, she wanted to live so bad. she got sick in the fall of '75, and going through chemotherapy. when you have a family member who is in a bad way, you want to will them well. god knows, you do not want to give up. easter of '76, she had her best easter. she was feeling good and she cooked dinner for the first time in a long time. mark: just the four of you? >> there was some family at first. in the evening, we sat on the couch. she said, i guess you had a good dinner? i said, yes, ma'am, we did. i thought maybe we would be the 1%, but by june she was gone. >> i have called people who were close friends and i said, i made was thinking this morning about something and i made a decision

and they said, what? i said, i've decided i'm going to run for president of the united states. i think people just don't understand me. some people have known me from 20 years ago and are commenting on who i am today. i'm not who i was 20 years ago. i like who i was 20 years ago, but i like who i am now. everything is fine. no big gyrations. this was good. i enjoyed it. you know what, it was really fun to deliver the talk and have so many people there. that is kind of a little overwhelming. mark: where do you think we are, not necessarily where you think we are as a country on whether what is worth something americans overseas to fight our wars? >> the failure of the nationstate of syria and isis and the mega-drought that created the symptoms, or rather the conditions of extreme poverty that has led now to the rise of isis.

so, the pandemic in west africa. there are many places where we are behind the turning radius of the crisis. we are left with only military responses. >> i'm not asking you to repudiate donald trump as a person. i do not think you are as good friends with him as other people. i'm trying to understand what separates you from the others who feel this is beyond the pale? senator cruz: i'm not going to engage in the media's game of bashing another republican candidate. i'm just not going to do it. mark: some people say you want to make sure he does get into the race so you can win the support he has. is this a political population? senator cruz: i'm not going to go into the gutter with personal attacks. let me be clear -- i think policy distinctions are fair game. i will talk about differences

when it comes to amnesty or common core or marriage. that is what is supposed to be the bread and butter of politics, but i'm not going to engage in personal attacks. mark: would hillary clinton be worse on the economy than barack obama or do you think about the same? >> if we take some anecdotal snapshots, if doubling the capital gains tax is worse than barack obama? in that case, i would say worse. john: jennifer epstein asked clinton for her position on the keystone pipeline. mrs. clinton: thank you for that. no other presidential candidate with secretary of state on this process started. i put together a very thorough, deliberative, evidence-based process to evaluate the environmental impact and other considerations of keystone.

i will refrain from commenting because i had a leading role in getting that process started, and i think that we have to let it run its course. mark: do you have a goal tonight? senator sanders: to get 1200 people, including clinton supporters, to come out and wear my pin. that is my goal. it's a moderate goal. mark: to go back to the nervous thing that's when you get nervous, what happens? senator sanders: i get louder. mark: so you might do the mantra? senator sanders: i might do the mantra. john: i was shocked choosing between bruce springsteen and jon bon jovi -- you decided to side with jon bon jovi. not just the music, but to choose between them. governor christie: jon has become a friend over the last few years, and bruce i have a cordial relationship with. we know each other. we have worked on some things. but john and dorsey have become one of i and mary pat.

124 though i have been to bruce springsteen shows, i have been to 40 john bovee shows -- jon bon jovi shows it john: i will ask the question though. desert island discs. if you could only take the catalog of one or the other -- governor christie: springsteen. john: the question is whether he rick santorum can do better than romney did in iowa. this is the national sport of iowa, which is back. we will give you a shot at this. let's see how you do here. >> whoa! >> a hole in one! >> thank you all very much. john: good luck. mark: the press availability while eating pork. i wonder if you will commit to having all of your press conferences while eating iowa pork. mr. bush: that would be fine. [indiscernible]

mark: do you ever get close? mark: getting elected one vote at a time, is that a challenge? mr. bush: 330 million people, it's a challenge for sure, but that's how you win in iowa. you do not want to law it in and you've got to be here. you can't helicopter in and leave. you've got to be all in. senator graham: he gave out my cell phone number on national television, so i have fun with it. at the end of the day, we'll get serious. this is the silly season. [laughter] john: and we will be right back. ♪

john: thanks for joining us for the "with all due respect" reflects on summer edition. as you know by now, we are like 24/7 on bloomberg will.com -- bloomberg politics.com.

we are on twice a day at 5:00 and that 8:00. our mark halperin and i will be right back here after labor day, but for now --

>> the contemporary art world -- vibrant and booming as never before. it is a 21st century phenomenon, a global industry in its own right. brilliant ideas looks at the artist at the heart of this with unique power to astonish, challenge, and surprise, . in this program, new york painter francisco clemente. ♪