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. jump, trump, and a whole bunch of candidates not named trump. there is no question that 2015 was the summer of the donald. but it was just a short time ago people will stare -- were still saying rings like this. >> 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. >> 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. mark: you yourself have a show. 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. 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. 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: donald trump at 11%, more than double his preannouncement total. mark: he predicted once he was taken seriously, he would rise. john: every leaderboard insight. mark: crazy high best in show marks on everything from handling the economy to immigration. >> the donald absorbs anything you fire at it and uses it as fuel. >> donald trump, donald trump, and donald trump.

mark: in our ongoing attempt to understand the trump phenomena, we did a focus group last night with 12 donald backers in new hampshire. >> when you hear him call mexicans rapists, does that bother people? what do you think? >> 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 anxiety. there's a healthy dose of racism and what he is doing. john: in ames, iowa, mark asked trump about his suggestion mccain is no war hero.

will trump survive this? will he take a dive? mark: someone who likes trouble for 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 to 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 worth? >> we came to $2.9 billion. mark: billion? >> billion with a b. john: he rode in on immigration. is it time to diversify his portfolio when it comes to issues? al: $6 billion to deport 11

million people. that's how many people live in ohio. mr. trump: rnc -- john: whoa, whoa, whoa. mark: the easiest question anyone asked -- no, they cannot. john: 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? >> 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 him saying he's not a real conservative? >> i think that's the way to

take him on. he's a unicorn. he something we've never seen. 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. mark and i found ourselves fortunate enough to be bequeathed an audience with trumpus maximus himself. 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 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 about your opponents? mr. trump: i might. i don't know. mark: finances, policy, personal? mr. trump: i would not do personal. mr. bush: he should be held to account. 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 better. john: and then the anchor babies. mr. trump: terrible. now the asian community is

furious with him. john: that's not a phrase you are hesitant about using. mr. trump: no, i'm using it. and no one is mad at me for using it. 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 read i'm certainly not to put. 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 instantly a good business person, i'm not want 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 him not going to win. john: and tax security interest at the same 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 the ones making hundreds of millions of dollars a year pay some tax. that's outrageous. john: so 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. the middle class will 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. it is a one-way street for politicians and a few companies. they 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 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. 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 and so many different ways. he had a good pulse, he had a good -- you know, the bead he had, 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 campaign about can paint finance reform? mr. trump: it could be. number one would be trade, obamacare, repealing and replacing, taking care of our vets, strengthening the military. we did 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. 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. mr. trump: the situation with

marijuana in colorado is very interesting. bad things are happening with respect to people's health and the affected is having a 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. it's very personal. mark: [indiscernible] mr. trump: probably equal. mark: some people say you are insecure and that's the way he you act the way you do. mr. trump: everyone's and secure. mark: what are you insecure about? your looks? mr. trump: probably we are all insecure. 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. ♪

the other 21 candidates, republican or democrat, in this presidential race, worry not. we did not forget about you or the time you spend with us. take a look. mark: joining us, carly fiorina. 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, 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 -- ms. fiorina: i would have maybe five cents left in the checking account and my landlord would ask me, how much is in your checking account? 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, 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. 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. >> is he doing the job? 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 think he and i have similar thoughts about national policy. 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? 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 that's sick, 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? senator graham: 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 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. there are people thinking about what was 20 years ago. 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 to send americans overseas to fight our wars? >> [indiscernible] 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 have the turning radius of the crisis. >> 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 have gone beyond the pale? senator cruz: i'm not going to engage in the media's game of bashing another republican candidate. 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. i think policy distinctions are important. i will talk about differences when it comes to amnesty or common core or marriage. that 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: asked clinton for her position on the keystone pipeline. mrs. clinton: thank you for that. i put together a very thorough, deliberative, evidence-based process to evaluate the environmental impact and other considerations of keystone. i will refrain on 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. it's a moderate goal. mark: 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 -- 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 mary pat and i have become friends with jon. i have been to 124 bruce springsteen shows. john: i will rescue 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 can do better than romney did in iowa. we will give you a shot at this. let's see how you do here. >> whoa! >> a hole in one! 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: 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'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 phone number 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. 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 --

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