john: i'm john heilemann. mark: and i'm mark halperin. all due respect to donald trump's statement today, he may have been above schedule, but you are a little lower count. mark: a schoolyard fistfight. dan hillary clinton message finale. less than two weeks away from the election, donald trump did what every underdog presidential candidate would do, attend a hotel ribbon-cutting with his family in washington dc. there has been some head scratching over this move, with critics accusing trump of foolishly taking time away from his campaign to promote his

business interests. a perfect example of his management and leadership ability. for his part, trump gave what some are calling the most focused speeches of his entire campaign, in which he touted his hotel. and said the project was finished under budget and ahead of schedule and promised to bring the kind of ethnic to washington. for an interview for "the circ us" produced in conjunction with bloombergpolitics, i asked donald trump about what was a personal speech today. mr. trump: i was just trying to say we built a great building. it is one of the great structures in the country. rebuilt it under budget and ahead of schedule. to me that was important mark, because our country -- we can't build a highway, we can fix a tunnel.

we are in such trouble. i am happy with the way that it all works out. this building turned out to be so amazing. mark: how does this relate to your presidential aspirations? mr. trump: one budget and ahead of schedule. we are $20 trillion in debt. would it really says is that you can convince under budget and great work. this will be one of the great hotels of the world. on budget and ahead of schedule. country has to do things under budgetthis building turned out e so amazing. mark: how does this and ahead o. mark: more of that interview later in the program. after our talk, trump talk went on the campaign trail to north carolina. was going to this hotel opening of destruction -- a distraction or a smart political move? john: i would say that if donald trump had spent this entire campaign talking about his

promise as a builder, and -- his then this a builder, event would have been on message and effective in making the argument. as it happens, it seems random, and was tailor-made to generate the news conference where people site this is job jump -- s where peopleay -- where people say this is donald trump spending time after the election. mark: they think the press is hostile to them. they did not do a good job in advance explaining it. i think it was but it the best his features he has given. he was common optimistic about the future -- calm and optimistic about the future. if he had given a version of this at the convention and had driven that message, i think he would be doing better in terms of message and style. it was one of the most natural

and heartfelt speeches i have heard him give. getting off the campaign journal, people are making too much of it. candidates give big focused speeches in places like new york and chicago. washington, with this hotel he is proud of -- it makes sense to me. john: maybe candidate get off the campaign trail and give focus speeches. they usually do it in may or july, not in the last two weeks, especially when they are behind. many trump speeches, we are saying essentially the same thing. he gave a speech the other night on ethics reform. he started giving that speech in may. not.e didn't, and so he is same with this speech. mark: too little and too late to begin changing speech. well-written and well delivered,

which isn't the case for donald trump. john: you can say that again. joe biden and donald trump have been in spirited mano a mano trash talk. when thed on friday vice president campaigned in pennsylvania. in the past few days, well, see for yourself. don't we wish we were debating him? no, i wish we were in high school and i would like to take him behind the gym. i want to make it clear, i understand what puzzled is. -- what assault is. i pleased to have a temper in high school. nothing ever bothers me. [laughter] no--folks, mr. trump: did you see where biden wants to take me? to the back of the barn. i would love that.

guy.ough vp biden: the point i am making is that he is insulting everybody in the neighborhoods i come from and the people that label. -- that play ball. this is unacceptable behavior, period. john: mark, joe biden started this fight, and keeps stoking it. finally getting trump to respond yesterday. what is his game here? mark: 50% elizabeth warren and hillary clinton some extent -- he likes getting under trumps' skin. i think it is 50%, joe biden doesn't back down. and making the first response off the top of his head, he is not inclined to back down, especially after donald trump came after him. john: there is no doubt 40 mechanics i'd had wanted to paint --doubt from a democratic side that wanted to provoke him

out in someto lash way that he should not be in the oval office. i agree with you, we talked to biden after he brought it up the second time in toledo on monday. i got some sense that part of the reason he keeps saying it is that he would really like to kick donald trump's butt. mark: and this is the most direct engagement. maybe one of the only a few times donald trump has responded to him directly. we all know joe biden would like to end the cycle is a big player. john: that is a huge thing. the reality is that biden is doing humans work on the campaign trail -- is doing y eoman's work on the campaign trail, but often in relatively small crowds. this put him squarely in the national news narrative this week. that is where joe biden loves to be, especially in the closing two weeks of the campaign. mark: it provides watchers a

lengthy appetite what would have been had biden been the nominee. it would have been quite something. john: a donnybrook. ark: pupils, -- new polls, national survey shows donald trump leading hillary clinton by nine points. that is the exact same argument that another poll has clinton up in new hampshire, while the two candidates are tied in nevada. the most important goal is a brand-new bloombergpolitics pope of likely voters in florida. despite trump's national dip, the race has been tightening in the sunshine state. our survey shows it is razor thin with clinton leading amongst 2.45% to 43%. -- two points, 45% to 40%. two candidates are deadlocked in our survey with independents.

that is a group that barack obama won in florida in 2012. clinton leads amongst early voters and hispanic voters. that is a smaller margin amongst hispanics than some other polls have elsewhere in the country. in part because hispanics in florida include cuban-americans. clinton is campaigning in the sunshine state, where there is evidence that her team has the edge in the ground game. at the moment given our poll and other factors, who would you give the upper hand to in florida? john: we have some breaking news on the pole front. an ap poll has hillary clinton 57%. 14 points, 31 to let's take that into account. but focusing on florida, i think the race will be close in florida. i think the democrats continue to have a small advantage there

because of the nature of demographic change and the superior ground game democrats have, because of the early vote. i think they have a small advantage still. the trend line would be worrying if i were hillary clinton. the race gets tighter and tighter in florida. if she does not turn that around, she might lose that weight. -- that state. mark: there are two things that cause me to think that trump could well win florida. first, rick scott is the governor. cap shows you a -- that shows you a conservative business outsider is someone who appears to florida voters. every time i have come to the state i sense intense enthusiasm for trump and less for hillary clinton. it is such a make a state, as strong as the clinton ground game is, it is hard to organize a state that big. john: we are tennessee the early votes, she will do well there.

-- we going to see the early votes, she will do well there. but this is close to a tossup state. that four point lead in the ap poll, another national league for hillary clinton. incredible. now a message from hillary clinton. mrs. clinton: far too many families don't earn what they need and don't have the opportunities they deserve. i believe families deserve quality education for their kids, childcare they can trust and afford, equal pay for women, and jobs they can really live on. people ask me, what will be different if i am president? kids and families have been the passion of my life, and they will be the heart of my presidency. john: that was one of two new ad s the clinton campaign put out, outlining her closing arguments. here is the other ad. >> our children. they look up to

us. what we value, how we treat others. and now they are looking to see what kinds of leaders we choose. who will interest our country with their future to. will it be the one respected around the world, or the one who frightens our allies and emboldens our enemies? the one with a deep understanding of the challenges we face, for the one who was unprepared for them? loosedy hand, or a cannon? john: we heard donald trump's closing argument in gettysburg last weekend, which was torshadowed by his threat sue all of the women who accused him of sexual assault. how do you think these clinton adswill translate -- clinton will translate into her and the message? mark: her messages against bernie sanders did not hit the mark. i think these close on a more

positive and more unifying message. i think these are pretty solid to turn up the kind of voters she will need to keep the lead she has. john: i agree 100%. try are closing on two acks. one ad that is about real people, and one at that is -- one ad that is negative about donald trump. it made it seem like he was making in unpleasant salute with his hand that could conjure negative images for people. i think those ads can make an effective 1-2 punch. they have a lot of money behind them. donald trump has shut down his fund-raising operations. if she takes those arguments from those ads and makes them effective on the stump, that is a good way to end the campaign. mark: we don't know what the spending mix will be. we don't know how much of these

ads will run. they may run them equally or change up. in terms of content, those are two strong spots. up next, more of my interview from washington dc with donald j trump right after this. ♪

it was mark: earlier today i covered donald trump's ribbon-cutting on pennsylvania avenue, the new donald trump international hotel. on an interview for "the circus" karen you showtime -- our new showtime documentary series with bloombergpolitics. i asked him what people have been saying about his new

building. mr. trump: i would not be surprised. a new hotel but undocumented immigrants. mr. trump: let me say that we have no undocumented immigrants. there was a false report that said that we had a couple out of the thousands that built it. we had no undocumented workers holding this hotel. we used e-verify for every single worker. every worker was e-verified. someone will say, oh i think a person is undocumented -- every single worker was documented. mark: are there foreign products in the building? mr. trump: i would like it -- -- i would like to make it so there weren't. but unfortunately this country doesn't make any things anymore. things you buy, whether it's a carrier air conditioner just moved to mexico. china, mexico, germany -- they

are making all of our products. this is one of the reasons i running because i know how to turn it around. when you build something like this, so much of the bidding has to go to other countries. i would love to buy television sets made in the united states, but they are all made in south korea or japan. mark: let me ask you about the speech. did it feel like people reacting in a different tone? mr. trump: it didn't really. it is different when i'm speaking in front of 5000 people like last night -- 25,000 people last night. we have amazing growth all over. people,ht we had 25,000 and we had 15,000 people that cannot get in. the reason they told me is stampede. mark: i think this is a great trump speech. mr. trump: i love that you say this. that speech would not be well received with the spirit to make

america great again. that speech would be opening a great hotel that employs a lot of people. i think that's because appropriate. mark: you have redefined how candidates talk about polls. we have a new poll are you are up in florida. what is your general sense of where you are in the battleground states? mr. trump: we are winning iowa, i think we are winning ohio. i think we are winning florida. i think we are winning much more in florida than your goals suggest. -- polls suggest. i think we're going to do fantastically in pennsylvania, i think we are winning north carolina. i think we are going to win in new hampshire. mark: we polled today, it showed uber close. mr. trump: looks, it is jobs. take care of our vets. don't let the world take advantage of us. i don't know if the message is the right message. mark: are you going to get the electoral votes? mr. trump: i think we are going

to win. mark: wikileaks has been covering the clinton campaign. the world toant know about the wikileaks releases? mr. trump: it shows how dishonest the whole thing is. i don't know john podesta, but he says teletech holdings about hillary clinton. -- he says terrible things about hillary clinton. i wouldn't want anybody talking about me the way he talks about her. it turns out strongly that she has bad and stinks and doesn't know what she is doing. -- bad instincts and doesn't know what she's doing. between bernie sanders with bad judgment -- when i look at an e-mail sent by john podesta, and hillary clinton, who he works for, has bad instincts, that is a terrible thing. i don't want my president to have bad instincts, that i can tell you. mark: dial-up room service or

something because we will have more conversation with donald trump after this. ♪

myk: here is part two of donald trump interview in the nation's capital. are you under the weather? no, you are feeling good. mr. trump: i am feeling strong. don't putven't -- it in my head. so far i have not. that is not me. we are going to win.

i will say that we will try to win. it is a big difference. we are going to win. when you look at state-by-state, you are the first one to comment today -- florida we are up. that is a low number, i believe it. mark: you are not worried about arizona? mr. trump: arizona will be great. obamacare is going up 100% in arizona. advice want strong borders, which they want. they are having tremendous crime problems. mark: the polls show it is closer. mr. trump: sure, and i have a third-party person running, which doesn't help me. but arizona, i have done great. we are going to have a great victory in arizona. we're going to have strong borders and terminate obamacare. it is a disaster. arizona is just about higher than anyone else. hillary clinton wants to keep it. she wants to make it even more expensive. we're going to win arizona. don't forget, we were going to

be to a massive tax cut. she is going to raise taxes. mark: you workers i cannot ask -- you were criticized for not explain how health care worked well enough. mr. trump: i said obamacare is a disaster. mark: you were talking about private coverage. mr. trump: no, i have so many companies. i have contractors with obamacare. those peoples are suffering. i wasn't referring to the people at the ralph. i did not bring them to talk about obamacare, just to show what a great place that his. obamacare -- people are suffering. number one, it doesn't work. virtue, it so expensive they can't afford it. number three, it is closing up businesses. are you going back to north carolina right now. mark: good to see you. john: mark, we watched both segments of the interview. well done. what is trump's body language like? a pot of people seen him in the

left few days and thinks that he understands he is losing, lashing out, slipping into defeat is an. she seems pretty calm -- he seemed pretty calm in that interview to me. mark: he seemed to have a quiet confidence. there is no doubt that his team knows he is behind nationally by more than they acknowledge. but has we discussed yesterday, hope springs eternal with every candidate we have covered if you can see your way to 270 electoral votes. right now he has a pull from measure showing it closer. -- poll from new hampshire showing it is closer. i don't think the data gives him as much confidence as he claims to have, but he did not seem to be anything but comfortable and eager to get back out. but we have seen it with plenty of candidates we have covered when the data was like this. john: if i were him, i would be taking a deep breath and looking that i need my running mate in utah this close to election day.

histheless, i am struck by calm. i have not seen him that calm in months. mark: he was both calm and fired up. every behind candidate does that. more of our interview with donald trump that will air this sunday night on "the service" on showtime -- "the circus" on showtime 8:00 p.m.. we're going to talk politics with some smart people after this. ♪

. . when you're on hold, your business is on hold. that's why comcast business doesn't leave you there. when you call, a small business expert will answer you in about 30 seconds. no annoying hold music. just a real person, real fast. whenever you need them. great, that's what i said. so your business can get back to business.

sounds like my ride's ready. don't get stuck on hold. reach an expert fast. comcast business. built for business. john: time now for a meeting of and with the mind. with us from houston is the big brain, a republican strategist

and campaign manager for ted cruz. and from chicago, also a genius. we found him weeping over his cubs loss last night. the former senior spokesman for president obama. , welcome. i'm going to ask you both the same question, something mark and i have been puzzling over for the past two days. this new ap poll, not inconsistent with a lot of other polls has hillary clinton up 14 points nationally. yet on the same day, bloomberg politics shows the florida race tightening and trump only backed by two. how do we reconcile the widely to national bulls with the tighter state of affairs in the battleground states? it's political malpractice to have a pull out two weeks before the election, but the disparity is they just

get the natural coverage that goes with the presidential campaign nationally. state-by-state, they don't get advertising, they don't get to have the vibe of the campaign going on in their communities. they don't have activities, volunteerism, any aspect of a real campaign, so disparity runs with what the national election looks like and that's astray much more this year than normal because there has been so much more negative information against trump. at the state-by-state polls are all close in margin of error in states that donald would need to win. guest: i think the polling is always going to be a greater level.ty on the national that is why they are swing states. what i'm looking for now is more hard data that's not as

volatile, and it's the early vote numbers. look at a state like florida. early vote numbers are very encouraging for hillary clinton. essentially, they are tied in the ballots that are coming in in terms of the partisan split whereas at this point in 2012, the republican number was plus five. seescore you are going to an polling is going to be volatile. it think urging for the clinton campaign. mark: we have heard talk of some senate candidate concern i know you are in touch with a lot of folks running down ballot. where does the level of concern on the house side and senate side given trump's circumstances? i think what everyone is bracing for is the national polls ever going to translate to ?hese senate races

it has had an inverse relationship as trump has fallen. the targeted of leads in last two weeks with the exception of florida and new hampshire, outside of those, they have almost all inversely been the beneficiary of the -- theall, but that has fraternity party and you are down in the basement and it's starting to sway a little bit and everybody is worried about a collapse. when you see the democrat money come to play, everybody is worried about that. that's what everybody is concerned about. we have not seen that yet. mark: some republicans have already started to say you need a check on hillary clinton, telling voters to vote for republicans for congress to stop hillary. what is the right democratic

counter message for that? guest: i don't even think you need one. it puts republicans in a difficult spot. you look at pat toomey in pennsylvania who can't answer whether he's going to vote for donald trump or not. we saw what happened to alison grimes in the last cycle. that puts them in a difficult spot. we see the time and out with kelly i ought in new hampshire to a great degree with joe heck in nevada. positiontion or that where they have to their presidential candidate under the bus is going to anger the republican base. position where they are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't. to the point raised earlier about the floor falling out, it has. the cook political report says they are behind five to seven

seat and the democrats are going to take the senate back. aere are definitely signs of shift and it is because these republicans are in a difficult addition. your i want to go to earlier answer that purported to an early vote in florida. is there any reason -- every campaign would like to bank the votes. my question for you is, at this moment, is there any concern on democrats part that there's a lot of early vote because of a catharsis? itching toave been vote against donald trump and they are rushing into the early vote but that may not be any different in terms of the raw totals in terms of election day? guest: i don't think we are catalyzing are election day vote at all. states seeing it in where you had necessarily expected it.

dallas and inin travis county, it's of 100% -- that is just raw enthusiasm. the result is a sophisticated data program where we targeted voters and engaging with them for a long time. getting them out for sophisticated plans for early vote and we will have that same kind of targeting for election day get out the vote as well. something the republican party has not had. there are four traditionally red states were hillary clinton looks like she is within the margin of error. which of those four states should donald trump be most worried about? would be the one. arizona has been soft all the way through the general election. that's a place where the early

vote can manifest itself in a real way. utah isr stop there, going to come around and they are going to be fine. dream.s a pipe they are cannibalizing the election day vote and democrats are voting earlier. republicans, nationally, there have been 8 million people vote and more republicans have voted than democrats. arizona is a place i would watch with the hispanic population growth there since 2012. i would keep an i on that state. thank you both. always a pleasure to have you. next, a campaign surrogate showdown here and everywhere else in just a moment. if you are watching us in washington, d c, you can listen , radio athe radio 99.1 fm.

we will be right back. ♪

mr. trump: today, i want to talk about how to grow the african-american middle-class and how to grow the new deal for black america. that deal is grounded in three promises -- safe communities, great education, and high paying jobs. that was donald trump this afternoon at a campaign event in charlotte, north carolina. we have switched out the strategists now for some surrogates. i'm joined by a surrogate from the trunk campaign who comes to us from imperial beach, california and in gotham city, congressman gregory meeks from new york. thank you both for joining us. congressman want to start with you. what did you think of that message?

it's laughable. look at it individual, look at his record. he doesn't change colors in a day or two, even in his campaign . everything he has indicated to me, he's never talked to the african-american community. the stereotypical ways he talks about african-americans, he's talking to the base he hopes to turn out. african-americans are not fooled by what he's doing. mark: with election day coming and voting already started, what percentage of the african american vote does donald trump aspire to at this point? guest: i think he plans to be the record of any candidate in recent history. about the things

people really care about. -- they arebeen forgotten about right after the election is over. that's the history and all you have to do to figure this out is look at any city that has been run by democrat rule. the plight of minorities is worse than any other cities, so mr. trump's free market approach, talking about jobs, talking about getting kids out of these schools they are imprisoned in, i think these kinds of things resonate. john: i want to read you something dr. louden wrote on her blog. agowrote about three days -- the democrat machine has used plantation politics on minorities for so long that most don't even know they are still on the station. they are used for their votes province -- with

lavish promise in's and are discarded. the hypocrisy of the left is as criminal as any slave owner and more dishonest. please come your thoughts. number one, it shows complete naivete to show what slavery is about and to be a doctor that has talked about that, you should go what -- go observe what slavery is about. haveecades, republicans represented appalachia with nothing but poor whites on a persistent basis -- for decades. slavery reallyt was and what that institution really represents? thisilize those words in context in fact when what america has done, america has moved forward. this is the greatest country on this planet. when you look at the progress we have made with all ethnicities, particularly african-americans.

mark: i would love to get your response to what congressman meeks just said. guest: i think the establishment has done an incredible snow job on many americans. i believe they are continually falling for these tactics and continually being used for their votes to give power to the establishment. i will side with him on one thing. there are dirty, corrupt establishment people on both sides of the aisle. mr. trump has been the outsider who has come in and spoken against not only the democrat establishment, that he has spoken against the gop establishment. he's stood up to the media usablishment that many of who are completely colorblind in this world want to see some of institutional forms of discrimination abolished and i think mr. trump has done that. he has also demonstrated in his

ability to use the most qualified person for the best job. personally that the person who talked to me originally when i was not supporting mr. trump, when i was supporting a different candidate and felt safer, the people who talked me into supporting mr. trump are all minorities. i myself am a minority. really about skin color. this race is about breaking up the cartels that are destroying disenfranchising people and giving power back to the people. john: you are a minority in what sense? guest: i'm actually jewish. i'm christian but my heritage is jewish. that's another group of people let have been used election after election with scare tactics and other things to get their vote and then they are completely shoved aside and

comes to actual policy. want to ask you both a version of the same question. you say you understand what has inspired and motivated support for donald trump. where do you think hillary clinton has common cause with people who supported donald trump in this race? guest: hillary clinton has already shown the ability to bring people together. i've seen her do it when she was a senator in new york. mark: i'm talking about issues. what are the issues that hillary clinton shares? talkinghen you are about jobs, transportation and infrastructure, there's a bill hillary clinton will put forward in the first 100 days that a lot of the donald trump supporters would love to make sure their infrastructure and their roads and prove and that infrastructure bill would put them on. what is something hillary

clinton talks about that you find appealing? she talks about a lot of things that i find appealing, but her actions speak louder than her words. when she talks about jobs, she's talking about government jobs. the regulator is essentially the boss. wants education on the local neighborhood is of federal bureaucrats who don't have to look in the eyes of those children or those people out of work. mark: thank you very much. it's going to be hard for the winner. when we come back, we will check in with then -- with a "washington post" reporter on the campaign trail. first, these words from our sponsor. ♪

john: we are 13 new cycles -- news cycles away from the day. jennifer johnson joins us from our washington d c euro. you are counting the days why? jennifer: because i'm exhausted. it has been a long, long campaign cycle. i think everyone is counting down the days at this point. john: we had a discussion earlier today. mark was talking to donald trump. there are a couple of different interpretations of what happened today. one is he was there to tout his business prowess and ability to get things done and another that he's there to tend to his corporate in -- corporate and anticipationds in

of losing. which one is more accurate? jennifer: who knows. my read on it is that donald trump, his whole pitch this campaign cycle has been that he's donald trump, that he's a businessman, that he's someone who has launched successful hotels and don't big buildings and things like that. so i think when we are in these final two crucial weeks, it seems like a weird jump off the campaign trail to go and do a ribbon cutting. it's a reminder to voters that he's an out fighter, a businessman and this is the experience he brings to the table. mark: you wrote about the mood at his end a night event. john and i thought he seemed relatively up. what is your sense of where his head is right now? jennifer: i think he has come through a bruising few weeks and

is headed into the last final weeks and has decided he's going to give this is all and he's going to do as many rallies as he can and perhaps is going to follow direction from his staff a little more. we have been seeing more script speeches.e scripted he had a rally where he was for urbann his plan communities and things like that . so we will see what happens. the: what do you know about kinds of events he will have the rest of the way. is it mostly going to be big rallies? jenna: it's a mix. rallies and smaller gatherings. roundtable discussions. he's kind of gotten away from doing those and was just doing one big rally a day. now he's doing two or three big rallies today and a few smaller events with smaller groups of people and he's sticking to the

core states where he really needs to compete. earlier this month, we saw him going to wisconsin and colorado and places where you wonder why is he spending time in these places? even with a john thain to washington, d c. they are planning on focusing on the places he really needs to be. him an even leaves more narrow path where they are trying to find the last five. if we call them the big five. the campaign, i don't like to talk about the press much but his relationship with the media has been a story throughout. there seems to be a lot of tension. there was an interview with cnn and reuters. realize they need to be more than the bill o'reilly

candidate? jenna: they realize they need to do more interviews. he hasn't done a press conference since late july. this is a guy who used to hit hillary clinton day after day for not doing press conferences. so there's someone listening to that criticism and putting it out there in these interviews to talk to people. i was out on the trail with them all last week and every time he got on the stage, he was yelling at the media, saying terrible things and the hatred that we got from the crowd has really increased. sunday night, saturday night, friday -- that was the worst i've ever seen it. the: jenna johnson from "washington post." we will be right back. ♪

mark: go to bloomberg pollock top -- bloomberg politics.com for more, including my interview with donald trump stop coming up, the chairman and ceo of ibm on "bloomberg technology." until tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel, sayonara. ♪

mark: i'm mark crumpton. you are watching "bloomberg technology." let's get a check on first word news. poll hasociated press hillary clinton leading donald trump nationally by a staggering percentage point.

poll has clinton at 51% and trump at 37%. the poll attributed to solid democratic turnout in early voting. an earthquake shook central india -- central italy on wednesday. a powerful aftershock closed a major highway. historic buildings were damaged. two months ago, an earthquake destroyed nearby villages, killing 300 people. for the first time in 25 years, the u.s. has abstained from a resolution criticizing the embargo against cuba. the u.s.than 50 years, had a policy of isolating cuba. resolutionng on this we do not support all the policies and practices of the cuban government. we are profoundly