♪ i like people that weren't captured. you could see there was a blood coming out of her wherever. i don't know what i said. i don't remember. this judge is of mexican heritage. i am building a wall. maybe she was not allowed to say anything, you tell me. ♪

mark: holy moly. less than two weeks since the national convtion, but instead of harmony, donald j. trump doing just the opposite these days. is calling his convention the first in history that made voters less likely to vote for the nominee. on a day when donald trump was trying to turn the page, targeting hillary clinton and talking about the economy, as republicans won him to do, the fallout from his comments about the gold star family continues. today, governor chris christie became the latest republican unwilling to defend his party's nominee over the matter. idea of me losing any one of our four children is unthinkable, and so you will not

find me being critical of them no matter what they do, even though i may disagree with any statement they might make. it is just inappropriate for us in this context to be criticizing them, and i will not participate in that. mark: this morning, the press speculating, finally happened. new york congressman richard an opinionnced in piece that he will vote for hillary clinton, not donald trump. that makes him the first gop member of congress to say he would vote for clinton. the president with the prime minister of singapore called donald trump woefully unprepared to the president and tried to drive a wedge between the candidate and gop officials who endorsed him. question that they have

to ask themselves is, if you are say in veryaving to strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him? weekly, whereand they are distancing themselves from statements he is making. there has to be a point at which you say this is not somebody i can support for president of the united states. the fact that that has not happened makes some of these the non-ch and ring hollow. wait, there's more. if tensions were not bad enough, in an interview published by the washington post, donald trump said he is not willing to endorse house speaker paul ryan or john mccain ahead of their respective primary contests later this month. donald trump also had harsh another beloved figure

in the gop. where do today's events lead donald trump's relationship with his own party. john: in a shambles. the point that barack obama is trying to drive a wedge between donald trump and his party. he was doing that. unnecessary at this point. donald trump does not care about party unity. the way he behaves, everything else that he has been doing, that is what he really believes. he believes he does not need the republican party. the republican party thinks he as a threat to their political futures. conservatives think he is unstable. obama and thet clinton campaign are trying to break their back. they are trying to drive a wedge so strong that republicans will

believe it is better to break. he loses chris christie today partially. chris christie's communications director announcing that she is voting for hillary clinton. to say he's not necessarily supporting john mccain and paul ryan, trump has proved time and time again he does not like to make nice. any other republican nominee we have ever seen, any nominee of every party, would be desperate to save that senate seat. john: he does not give a damn about the party or these people. a lot of people don't think he is a republican. they don't. they prayed he would behave more like a republican. none of it has happened. he is endangering their

political futures and acting like a lunatic most of the time. guy whoe lied about the gave him a copy of his purple heart. in the wake of stories in the new york times today that have raised questions open by the kahn controversy over whether he is a draft dodger. he wishes he has a purple heart, takes a guys purple heart, but it is a copy. it is just another -- mark: what is that camera number right there? just you wait until they read the story in the washington post. ryan.g to endorse paul donald trump use the same language that ryan used.

john: the nominee is trying to blow the party up there is no other way to explain it. another controversy coming out of donald trump's mouth that the campaign is trying to deal with today. what histhe u.s. today reaction would be if his daughter was sexually harassed in the workplace and if she were treated in the way that rogers the former head of fox is accused of treating women. at best, it was trivializing. another one of his children tried to walk back or clarify his father's comment during an interview on cbs this morning. she is a strong, powerful

woman. she would not allow herself to be subjected to it. she would take it up with human resources as a strong person. at the same time, she would not allow herself to be subjected to that. that was the point he was making. john: in the context of all else that is happening, is this a smallar problem problem, medium-sized problem, or another gargantuan problem for donald trump? mark: medium today, but it can grow. one of the things little discussed as you see these broad messages in campaign ads and surrogate activity, but and probably already underway, the clinton camp will micro target. you can bet women will be getting those comments and will sayi think it is fair to donald trump's ability to win

female votes will not be enhanced by this interview. white menege educated and women have dominated for 50 years. ourary clinton according to polling is ahead with that demographic. suburban, college-educated, white women hearing that message micro-targeted, that is a problem he has to solve if he is going to win. mark: eric trump talked about it. it would be fascinating to see what ivanka thinks about what her father said. john: amanda carpenter tweeted "strong women may flee sexual harassment, may also fight, and/or to regain power, and then weeted thatp ret tweet. things going well for the trump campaign. mark: eric trump is not the only

person trying to reframe controversial statements made by donald trump. the family and surrogates have become increasingly important players in the election, requiring a lot of translating of what the candidate "meant" to say. tv show time i go on a it is to correct the record or explain something a journalist or the democrats have taken out of context. >> i was at the dnc. w the speech. we have utmost respect for captain kahn, his parents, for that loss. would it have been better if he had emphasized that in his initial comments? >> he was attacked. which her father be willing

to apologize and move on? >> that is a great question for him. in terms of the one question, whether he has made a sacrifice, i think my father has. that is not the ultimate sacrifice, a soldier dying to protect this nation. >> he did not start the fight. whenis typical media donald trump responses somebody, they say he is attacking. he is not. >> donald trump and i have both said that captain kahn is an american hero, and we honor his service and sacrifice and honor his family. how effective is that surrogate operation in helping donald trump to stay within that color within the lines? you can'te's a phrase put lipstick on the pig. hard to spend the unspent the un-spn

inable. , it'sf his surrogates hard for them, even if they have material that you can spend, it would be hard to correct for donald trump because heelys such a large impression because of who he is. mark: on the ground locally, more success from mike pence and others than the national framing would suggest. and pence had some momentum the donald trump children had momentum coming out of the convention, and one of the cost of creating these controversies as they can't do anything but play defense. the brand of the trump children and mike pence is dissipated because all they're doing is trying to clean up. john: a surrogate operation in an ideal world exists to try to

amplify and push forward the messages you want to push forward. it should not be a defensive brigade at all times, and that is the position they have been put in. mark: they are all trying to go after hillary clinton. eric trump tried to turn it to go after hillary clinton. canproblem is the filter only handle a few stories at a time, and donald trump is creating the biggest stories through his errors. john: those are just attempts to change the subject. in the end, the subject is the subject. when we come back, donald trump digs into the rigged system. and later, the washington post about that incredible interview we just reference with donald trump. we will be right back with all that. ♪

john: both of the vice presidential candidates have hit the trail hard, holding high-profile events. ur,er tim kaine's bus to a rally and richmond yesterday before heading to florida today. campaigned in arizona this afternoon, but spent yesterday in nevada, where he got some decent local news coverage. here is a sampling of what that sounded like. >> handmade two stops in northern -- and made two stops in northern nevada yesterday and also a town hall event inside the carson nugget earlier in the day. he laid out his qualifications to be feist president. >> a question from a military

mom sparking boos from the audience. >> the indiana governor address the controversy surrounding captain kahn. supporters say they appreciated the governor's time and attention he gave to the u.s. military. >> many people at that speech told us they hope that mike pence is able to smooth donald trump's rough edges. john: how are they doing? under --y are laboring and mike pence is laboring under a lot of cleanup. they are proving to be what the people who picked them thought they would be, total pros who can handle themselves as professional, serviceable, and driving message in local markets. are both relatively bland. i agree. they are both doing well. iwatch mike pence going through iss and think, my god, what

that man thinking. he has kids in the military. he is saying the right things about the kahn controversy, but he can only do so much. mark: he is an arizona meeting with john mccain today. interesting an meeting. i suspect he supports john mccain. by now, you have probably heard that donald j. trump billionaire has started repurchasing his "rigged system" mantra. ohio,day afternoon in trump made the alarming statement that he was "afraid that the election will be rigged in november." donald trump talked about a rigged system during the nomination fight to good effect. will this be affectively politically for him now to help him win rather than a justification if he loses? john: in the realm of the

unprecedented, the idea that somehow the american election will be a fraudulent affair. mark: john kerry worried about that. it, youlking about worry about voting machines, voter suppression, but you don't say i think this system is rigged by some higher forces. mark: donald trump does not have a traditional turnout operation. i think it is a bad idea for the country, but if he can scare people at the polls and get them to say we cannot let them rig it. we have to win by so much that even clinton rigging will not keep us from winning, maybe he can scare some people to the polls. look, the honest to god truth is we both know what this is. if trump loses in november, there is no way he will be a

gracious loser and say the american people have spoken. he is going to want to have an excuse. i think he may say this all the way through to november, especially if it is a close election, so he could say if it was not for this rigged system, i would have one. i just don't imagine that donald trump will be like a normal loser if he loses. mark: you're right. john: up next, new polling figures and where it clinton's bounces coming from. also, the washington post tells us about an amazing interview with donald trump. first, these words from our sponsors. ♪

mark: the polls have been coming

in fast and furious, most telling the same story, hillary clinton is getting a solid bounce out of the philadelphia convention. today, a new survey shows clinton leading donald trump 50% to 42%. clintonll shows hillary beating donald trump 52% to 43%. thatems pretty clear clinton has gotten some edge out of her convention. ,et's talk about independents what has happened pre-and post-convention? conventions to solidify the base, but also bring in new people, to convince those who might be straddling the fence to join the party. we have two cnn polls.

one conducted before the democratic convention, and one conducted after. same methodology. confidence weod are looking at real change. the polls that cnn published in july showed donald trump leading by 15 points. the poll published after the democratic convention had hillary clinton up by seven points, so those independents either word loosely affiliated with donald trump or had not chosen a candidate yet. what they saw at the convention or now has convinced more of them to join the hillary clinton camp. john: what do you see when it comes down to the breakdown between men and women? a conventionthing needs to do is shore up your base. women tend to vote democratic. thatou have the women car

hillary clinton wanted to play at the convention. she is up 10 points with women, strong majority, 57 percent say they are joining hillary clinton. she is also up with men by six points. daddy --ump state's stayed steady in both those polls that 50%. suggests that people have decided that hillary clinton is their candidate. is her any change to account for her increase? it has changed in her favor. she is up 14 points with the nonwhite vote or, bringing her to 80%, a stratospheric number, which must mean the complementary role that donald trump's number is really lagging.

he now gets 12% of the nonwhite vote, down several percentage points for him. part of the electorate that is the fastest-growing. it is the one the republicans talked about after 2012 where they needed to focus. donald trump is moving in the wrong direction with that group. history of bounces, how often are they enduring and how often do they settle back down? >> it is so different from convention to convention, candidate to candidate, so i have been thinking about newton's laws of physics. action there is an equal and opposite reaction, so you would expect the elasticity will bring it back into some place where it is homeostasis point, but what you have to take a look at is what happens with the

campaigns next. it tendsaugust, where to not be an active campaign month and then things rev up after labor day. you have to think the clinton campaign with the resources that it has may think it can win this thing in august given that they have the resources, given that donald trump is having daily difficulties. what thecially curious campaign tees up and august. mark: thank you very much. coming up, more about donald trump's extraordinary interview with the washington post and his relationship with the rubber covering party right after this. -- with the republican party right after this. ♪ . .

now by thee joined reporter from the "washington

post" with the big trump interview today, phil rucker. tell us what happened when you got to see donald trump. you had been banned for a while for this interview. i was at his rally earlier today and he had me at the golf course in northern virginia. we talked for a while about a the newsyubject, but is to my he that he is not ready to endorse paul ryan. use the top-ranked republican in washington and is in a primary challenge in wisconsin. that election is on tuesday and trump said "i'm just not there yet" in terms of endorsing ryan and complemented his primary opponent and this is an extraordinary breach of decorum and shows just how divided the republican party is right now. into the he come interview fixing to say this stuff or did you press them? guest: i pressed him on it.

i asked him a -- asked him about a tweet where he complemented ryan's opponent. endorsingm are you the opponent or paul ryan, where do you stand? he said he was given -- giving the endorsement a serious consideration but was not there yet. he repeated that several times in the interview. in one or two words, what was his tone talking about ryan, mccain, and kelly ayotte estuary in chargefeels he's of the party and that these people are not in lockstep behind them. both of them came out with statements criticizing trump over his treatment of the con family -- the khan family. john: it would seem to me and to

anybody who has ever covered a presidential campaign that this would be a campaign in utter melt down. what does it feel like to you as you watch the move throughout the day? does not feel like utter meltdown. i just had a conversation with and therump's aids state of controversy has become the norm for this campaign. ands rolling with his wins rolling with what he says. was this a calculated move? i think phil pressing him means it was not but in the past two weeks, there have been five different donald trump controversies. there was the malaria controversy over her speech, the plagiarism, donald trump fighting with ted cruz again and donald trump in russia, fighting with the cons and those controversies, those last two were not going away.

what is going on now smart donald trump is talking about maybe not endorsing paul ryan. he extinguishes one controversy after the next. he does this because he doesn't want to talk about policy. is in his comfort zone, which is being himself, not necessarily talking about a fleshed out idea about how he would fix the economy or reform the tax plan or how he would beat isis. byk: did he seem distracted or concerns with the kahn controversy? he did not. he basically repeated what he has been saying the last you days, that he was viciously attacked on the stage of the democratic national convention and he has every right to respond in the way that he did. sort of watching himself

on fox news across the room on the tv and was really impressed with the state and he put out, responding to obama and how much attention that was getting on fox news. he's rolling with the punches, trying to take this campaign one hour at a time and i think he gave me a frank answer about paul ryan, which is he has not endorsed paul ryan and is not ready to do so and thinks the country needs strong leaders because we are in dangerous times. he is clearly not on board. this controversy is clearly not going away and president obama's statement, trying to drive a wedge between trump and the republican party, -- with all of these things, the defections and the stress, does he fear the possibility party may come apart at the seams? don't think he does.

i think donald trump sees this as his party. not paul ryan's party. saying he was not ready to endorse donald trump and donald trump shot back that he was not ready to endorse paul ryan possible agenda. i talked to the campaign manager and he told me this is not paul ryan's party. he's the leader of the republican party and that is how donald trump has been operating since day one. the fact he has won the primary he feels is a mandate in what is leading this party forward, not necessarily the leadership in washington. when you talk to the republican voters and they decided donald trump was going to be there flag carrier, they did not like what was going on in washington. he did not believe the people they voted into plow -- into power were doing a good job thomas o donald trump does have that on his side. he did get a morality of the republican party to get this

nomination, but he's going to have to find independent voters. do independent voters find it appealing if he's fighting with everybody? about trump plus comments on mccain and you said briefly and we will be refreshing "washington post.com" incessantly. guest: we will be publishing more of the interview late into the evening. we talked about the sexual harassment issue and he brought this up the other day. he wants to negotiate these debates and he laid out a little bit of what he hopes to happen there. mark: could you give us a preview? guest: i could tell you these says he thinks the debate should be head-to-head with hillary clinton only, that jill stein and the libertarian candidate should not qualify.

they regardless of whether get to 15% or not? guest: exactly. mark: that is big news. john: does he want three debates or does he want fewer? guest: he wants to negotiate the debate schedule on the best terms possible for himself. he feels he was influential negotiating during the primaries and plans to do that here. he doesn't feel like he should be up against the world series or any other nature televised event. he -- the baby was crying and he stopped midsentence and said he loved the baby and went on in the moment you are, he said get that baby out of here. it was clear he was joking. mark: did the baby leave? guest: i was there and it was definitely a joke. guest: sometimes his jokes don't

translate to television. only candidate who making fun ofk kicking a baby. next. and danjohn dickerson balls when we come back. ♪

mark: we have to clinical heavyweights joining us. on one screen, dan balls and here in our studio, the host of "face the nation", john dickerson. he has a new book out called

"whistle stop, my favorite stories from presidential campaign history. days newst with the -- it's common to say something happen with donald trump. with president obama going after him and his statements about paul ryan and john mccain, have you seen anything like this in the general election? the president has been trying to drive this wedge --ween obama -- i'm sorry drive these wedges in his convention speech. anald trump is fighting two-part war all related to this question of temperament. you could say it is a trap the democrats set for him, but when you talk to the trump campaign, they say the threshold is people will see has the temperament and judgment for the job. mark: you know paul ryan and

john mccain pretty well. how do you think they will endorse them during the campaigns? guest: privately, they have to be furious. they have managed over the course of several months to put some distance between themselves and things donald trump has said and done without actually repudiating him out right. i think he has put him in a terrible position and i'm curious to know how they are going to respond. they have repudiated him at various times, is in the obvious next step that they are going to have to? it feels like trump is going to have to. guest: in some way or another, he seems to do that, but i'm not sure that is what he's doing. i think he is baiting them and taunting them a little bit but i don't know if that's his ultimate goal.

i'm not sure that serves in many specific way to win the presidency, but he is a person that you are either with him or he is against you and we have seen another example of that today. controversy is different and has now opened the door to discussions of trump's military nonservice, the controversy about when he wore the guys purple heart. how do dangerous do you think this issue is? guest: i think it is dangerous in this sense -- republicans have been concerned about the unpredictability of donald trump in the political context. when he picked mike pence, republicans were saying, they kept using the word "stabilize." there is no stability and this controversy and then the controversies that attach to it and you are all over the map,

the number of days to the election are counting down, so you have to get rings in line for the presidential and their futures. now they are all having to respond. mark: you have had top aides of jeb bush and chris christie saying they are going to vote for hillary clinton and not donald trump. the floodgates or do you believe everyone is going to stand in place? guest: i floodgates.ens the i think it gives those republicans worried about donald trump -- regular voters, i don't inc. they are looking at what sally bradshaw does, but i think it is representative of a feeling we see with college educated white voters. would only do she it if the race was close but is

not voting for trump. guest: here's the way one could think about this -- these are people who are part of the political establishment. they have then in high campaign positions for republicans who tried to take donald trump down. put aside the electoral map to then, trump's path presidency is to rally and antiestablishment electorate in as biguntry to make it and boisterous as he possibly can, so every time he pokes the establishment in the eye as he helpeen doing, conceivably them try to do that. i'm not convinced that's the case, but i think he knows what he is trying to do and where his constituency is and his constituency is not that of the party elites or party regulars. guest: there is no doubt.

john: do they look at the military as part of the establishment? militarye been officers coming for it denouncing him for this controversy. we all know people who are in the military, out of the military who are never going to vote for trump. the question is how public they are going to be or are they going to vote for clinton? guest: i think it gets to this too dangerous to be president problem. that is something the clinton people are going to talk about regardless and he's doing evidence to that argument. when military officials being or former officials be, they's week with a weight outside of the system and that's a charismatic voice, not just left or right. mark: lots going wrong with the trump campaign right now. is there anything going on right now that's not getting sufficient attention that is going well? guest: not that is very visible

at this point. there's nothing we can see that would suggest things are going well. donald trump is still the captain of the ship and is steering it in the direction he wants to go. he had an opportunity given the lousy growth numbers that came out on ride a to trample on hillary clinton's convention and to suppress her bounce. he chose to do just the opposite, which is to help her and he continues to do that. in this interview that he did with phil rocker this afternoon, roiling up his own party to cause further controversy -- i would say at this point it's not clear there's anything essential going right in his campaign. as we say here on the set, tomorrow is another day. holding john dickerson behind for story time. ♪

john: we are back with our old friend, john dickerson, out with a new book out today called "whistle stop." there are an incredible array of good stories in this work. it is a rollicking read. what's the most relevant story in the book to understand what is happening in 2016? guest: you have to go to wallace in 68. regularnger with blue-collar workers and the elitesnd the fancy pants make these decisions that you pay for and we are not going to stand for it anymore and i feel like that is a very similar sentiment. there was this sense that

wallace said some things that other people weren't and that feels like the most at goes, but there are a lot of them in here for mark: you get into one of the most in during mysteries and presidential politics, ed and musky denouncing the union leader. guest: tears but not the burbling mess. he calls the reporters in and he has a oily of snow in his hair and starts talking about his wife. there's the accusation he used a slur at an event. what gets him undone is he's talking about his wife in an editorial that ran on the front page of the union leader. she sacrificed a lot for him to run but one of the accounts has him being like a face full of tears. watching the video, you know it's not a face full of tears but that account took off and that was it in terms of everyone

thinking he was in tears. write about goldwater and some people hope and some people fear that trump will be the goldwater this time around. tell us about what you write in the book. guest: goldwater was an ideological movement and there was a stop old water move and, he had nine teen governors trying to stop goldwater and they couldn't do it. they say if there is a stop ask movement that you want to be on the side with x because they have enough all that they are going to fail. but when you hear governor rockefeller speak and get booed, it feels very similar to what happened to ted cruz in this last republican convention. great story about jfk, and other gifted political athlete, trying to win over west virginia as a catholic. furious, saying his win was just a catholic win,

he's trying to hold up his credentials and suddenly it's written off as a religious thing because he goes to west virginia. that of course catholics should not be president. he runs against it and realizes that's not working and then runs television ads in talk about all the time and grab issue by the throat and take it had on and the winning in west virginia. it's a white he didn't want to have that he's allowed to say they didn't like me because i was a catholic. i won in the issue is dead. it wasn't quite dead but that helped him pretend it was for the convention. john: i will ask you about one of the great photo ops ever that went awry. michael dukakis in the tank. why was he in that tank mark guest: the bush campaign talked about a systematic effort to tear him down going point by

point, saying he was too weak, a card-carrying member of the eighth deal you in this was an attempt to build up his bona fides as a national security candidate. he gave a speech that was thoughtful and have lots of good ideas and the victor was supposed to match with that. they were going to take the photo with him standing there and the problem was when the tank was moving, he had to wear the helmet. given the photo op with the witht off, everyone went the helmet on and it made it look like someone who is not comfortable in his own skin. there was a big manhood fight in that campaign. the cover of newsweek, the wimp factor with george w bush. both candidates were trying to prove they were men who could handle the office. john dickerson, thank you so much. his new book is called "with. ." you can listen to his show on

bloomberg radio. you got to do that and while you are at it, you can to this program on the radio radio on 99 11 fm. be right back. ♪

john: we have some advice for donald trump -- for your next in-flight meal, lose the fork. you don't need it. mark: had to bloomberg politics.com right now and check out the latest on what donald trump has said about america's infrastructure. until tomorrow, sayonara. ♪

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mark: i'm mark crumpton. you are watching bloomberg west. let's check on first word news. a new poll has hillary clinton leading donald trump 50% to 42%.

speaking today in virginia, esther trump questions the results of some recent surveys. mr. trump: i think we are going to do so great and i see some great holes. i see one from the "los angeles times close to where we are ahead i four or five point. i see one from cnn where we are down. i think there's something about these polls, there's something phony. continuingsign of dissension within the gop, trump said he is not ready to endorse house speaker paul ryan or senators john mccain or kelly i ought. new york congressman richard hanna is the first house member to announce support for hillary clinton. retiringed, the congressman rights donald trump is unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country. reevaluateit will any use of the sicilian airbase to