he's tanking in the polls and republicans are in a panic. but donald trump says all is fine. >> i just want to tell you the campaign is doing really well. it's never been so well united. >> hillary clinton has clear momentum. >> america is better than donald trump. >> she can't shake a mess of her own making, answers about her e-mails that just don't match the facts. >> what i told the fbi, which he said was truthful, is consistent with what i have said publicly. >> plus, the obama factor. >> i think the republican nominee is unfit to serve as

president. >> the president's ratings are on the rise, and he is happy to join the 2016 debate. "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to "inside politics." i am john king. thanks for sharing sunday morning with us. we pick a new president in three months. three quick questions after a remarkable week. question one. is donald trump in a summer rut, or does the flood of bad polling suggest he's dug himself into a ditch too deep? >> wouldn't that be embarrassing, to lose to crooked hillary clinton? that would be terrible. >> question two. can anyone get hillary clinton to stop repeating this, because it isn't true. >> director comey said that my answers were truthful and what i have said is consistent with what i have told the american people. >> and question three. how much sway will the sitting president have on the race to succeed him? >> i obviously have a very

strong opinion about the two candidates who are running here. one is very positive, and one is not so much. >> you might notice he is enjoying this. with us to share the reporting and insights the tlamolly ball, manu raju and domenico montanaro. the candidate whose brand is winning faced a barrage of new polling both from national and key states that showed him losing and in most cases losing badly. on friday the candidate whose trademark is strength and who says apologizing is a sign of weakness blinked, not once but twice. first he acknowledged he was winging it when he said he saw a cash payment from the united states to iran on a plane. the other night, this. >> so, in our shared mission to make america great again, i

support and endorse our speaker of the house, paul ryan. paul ryan. good. he is a good man. >> you might call that an eat your peas moment. three days after the republican nominee for president went out of his way to tell the "washington post" not only was he not ready to endorse speaker ryan but also worked in several good words about his tea party challenger. in the same interview he trashed john mccain and added a rebuke of kelly ayotte. friday night in green bay, a full about-face. >> while i'm at it, i hold, in the highest esteem, senator john mccain. for his service to our country, in uniform and in public office,

and i fully support and endorse his reelection. i also fully support and endorse senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire. she is a rising star and will continue to represent the great people of new hampshire so very well for a long, long time. >> now you can tell as he looked down and read his notes that he meant every word of that. that he was really happy to do it. an interesting moment. trump had to come back to the establishment there because the establishment was telling him essentially, fine, feorget abou it, you're on your own. if you do this to us, we'll abandon you. so trump comes back. where are we? never have i in the past week heard republicans say the things they are saying about their candidate. forget about him. he is on his own. abandon ship. he is erratic. and worse. where are we? >> that's where we are. i think that endorsement of the

party leaders by donald trump was about as full-throated and ringing as their endorsements of him have been. perhaps that's fair. i think this was a milestone for trump. up until now his view of party unity has been they come to me, and he has not made any concessions or gone any way in walking toward the establishment positions. this is really the first time he has, himself, made a move to create the party unity instead of expecting everybody else to do it. i think it signals that he does realize that he has a little bit of work to do. is it too little, too late? as you say, these republicans, their hair is on fire. if they haven't just given up. a lot of them are in a place where they're ready to pretend the presidential race is not happening. >> that's a great point. >> ryan didn't show up. he got advance word trump was going to do that in wisconsin. that's his state. he didn't show up. scott walker didn't show up. ron johnson didn't show up.

he didn't repeat the kelly ayotte endorsement in her own state. trump has proven conventional wisdom wrong so many times. his own party. this was abandon ship or abandon trump week. >> the real question is what donald trump will we see later this week, what donald trump will we see next week, next month? he has a way of sort of having these terrible moments where everybody seems to coalesce against him, if you will, and then -- which he definitely did last week. and then you see this about-face. >> there is a tacit acknowledgement things aren't going wrong. trump doesn't like to admit when he does something wrong. by virtue of the endorsements. walking back the comment about the iran videotape. praising the crying baby that he kicked out of his rally. he is realizing that things aren't going well. he reads the polls, as we know,

as well as anybody else, and he needs to do something. people are saying to him, look, when people are talking openly or at least privately about will donald trump drop out, should we look for another candidate. that is not good heading to election day. so that's why he is having this big economic speech on monday in michigan to try to reset the narrative. >> the biggest issue for him this week was the criticism of the khan family. the family whose son was killed in iraq in 2004. muslim-american. that set a lot of republicans in motion to say this is too far. you saw polls come out this week saying 70%, 75% saying it was out of bounds or went too far. that's the biggest issue. his campaign or surrogates will say he got right on the issue by changing the way he talks about it. >> but he was tweeting last sunday. his staff over the weekend urged him not to and he kept doing it. he changed this week. he said this week if his daughter were sexually harassed

she should get a new job. he said you should pull your money out of the stock market. he said to the "washington post." go back and read this if you haven't. if he loses he thinks he'll form a super pac to go after his republican critics. you mentioned the polling. the problem for donald trump is not the horse race numbers. deep in the polls. people, does he have the character, the temperament and the judgment and experience to be president. donald trump last night in new hampshire realizing perhaps that the clinton campaign is trying to disqualify him by pushing him across that line, fires back. >> unstable hillary clinton. and you saw that. you saw that where she basically short-circuited? the people of this country don't want somebody that's going to short-circuit up here. okay. not as your president. remember, isis is looking, folks. this stuff is so amazing. it amazes me, actually. honestly, i don't think she is all there.

>> now, this is -- that's trademark trump. it is part of the reason he is the reaspublican nominee for president. up until this past week he was competitive in the election. we'll see if the polls swing back a bit. to your point about the economic speech, what the establishment is mad about is he keeps promising to be more disciplined to say, i'm going to change washington, i'll get you a job and then get to crooked hillary. what happened last week in the establishment, they said this is our fault. we keep believing he's going to be consistent. we need to stop believing he'll be consistent. >> the short-circuit comment, that is deliberate. for all the stuff that trump sort of wings, this is something that they feel like -- i was trying to get to the trump campaign to figure out what's the bigger issue here for why they talk about short circuit and what it means. it shows that hillary clinton is robotic and inauthentic. which is interesting because that's in a way the way

democrats went after mitt romney to say he is inauthentic. this is a narrative they'll try to push. now, after the week that he had, certainly it was a net negative by a huge stretch for donald trump. it's like we're in the first quarter and he's down by 20 points and maybe shooting 35% or something from the field. not a very good week for him. this is the one place they'll try to go back at hillary clinton. >> look at the polls too. drill down on some of the polls. the temperament numbers. how people view donald trump's temperament is staggering. in the "washington post" poll 71% of voters in that poll do not believe that he has a good and proper temperament to be president. whereas, hillary clinton is doing much better. similarly, just 30% believe he's qualified to be president in that poll. so clearly they're trying to change -- trying to make -- he is trying to make hillary clinton look like the person who is a loose cannon. >> mike hoffman, a congressman from colorado.

a tough district. you might see some of this against hillary clinton. i'll play you this ad. how many more of these will we see if the trump numbers don't get better. >> i am a marine. country comes first. my duty is always to you. if donald trump is the president, i'll stand up to him, plain and simple. if hillary wins, i'll hold her accountable every step of the way. >> he works in both candidates there. here is a republican congressman saying essentially if trump wins i'll stand up to him. a lot of people think trump is toxic in their district or under-performing them and they want distance. there is a lot of talk in the republican party that we're going to see a lot of that. >> his district is suburban denver voters. this is where hillary clinton is targeting. you have educated voters, somewhat diverse, mostly white upper-class voters. these are the kind of people, many conservative-leaning

independence who have qualms about trump and about any candidate who would stand on a stage with trump. i think you'll see those types of ads in those districts. >> the republican campaign is going after republicans in a way you don't typically see. you see a fight to consolidate your base and for independence. so overtly go after republicans. that's what she is doing. starting with the business leaders, national security types. and the idea is to sort of give voters in kaufman's district permission to vote for her. >> while this is a house member doing that. senators have to run statewide and worry about getting the trump supporters out. they're in a bind. they need to go after the voters trump has alienated while keeping the base to come out. that's why you hear a lot of people saying i'll support but not endorse him. >> even kaufman has not unendorsed. >> right. it's kind of the how do you stay close and ride the rodeo bull.

>> the question is will we see more of that. probably yes. >> hang tight. when we come back, a closer look at trump's battleground state troubles and what it will take to fix them. first, though, for this week's politicians say the darnedest things. manu mentioned this earlier. how to handle a crying baby. >> i move babies. i hear that baby crying, i like it. i like it! what a baby. >> actually i was only kidding. you can get the baby out of here. >> i think she really believed she that i love having a baby crying while i'm speaking. i want to find out who that baby is because i want to sponsor the baby. that baby will sing someday, in philharmonic hall. ♪

if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, isn't it time to let the real you shine through? introducing otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression.

tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. t-mobile's coverage is unstoppable. and with extended range lte it reaches farther than ever. from the powder to the pavement, skylines, coastlines, out in the country, deep in the city. we got you covered. 311 million americans and counting. and we won't stop. come see why t-mobile is the #1 recommended wireless company in america.

is it a force of nature? or a sales event? the summer of audi sales event is here. get up to a $5,000 bonus on select audi models.

welcome back. there are three months to election day. be skeptical. very, very, very skeptical. when you hear talk, oh, it's already over. but donald trump has some urgent work to do. look at the swing state pls this week. georgia. hillary clinton up three. new hampshire, a swing state. hillary clinton up 15. michigan, a state donald trump has targeted in the rust belt. clinton up nine. pennsylvania, many scenarios a must-win for trump. clinton plus 11. florida, the closest state in 2012. clinton up four. looking deeper, you get the sense of trump's problem. this is pennsylvania. clinton 78. getting nearly 80% of democrats. if you are a democrat in pennsylvania you are voting for hillary clinton. donald trump's number only 70% of republicans say they're with trump. and hillary clinton is winning independents. if she wins independents on election day, she is the next president of the united states. to new hampshire now. it's not a pennsylvania phenomenon. in new hampshire, 84% of democrats for clinton.

only 61% of republicans say they're voting for the republican candidate for president. again, hillary clinton with a huge lead among independents. we can go state by state through the polls but that's what you see. if you look at the character questions, the temperament, qualified questions, bad for trump. problem number one, he is not getting republicans. a lot of republicans are saying we can't vote for our guy. if you cannot consolidate the base after the convention that's a trouble sign. >> that's a big problem. he's been at war with the republican party since starting this campaign. it's just as significant and problematic that he is not getting any democrats. because the theory of the case for trump has been that he's going to win all these disaffected democrats in states like pennsylvania. >> great point. you can't win the rust belt without democrats. >> voters disenchanted with the democratic party that they're going to flock to trump. no evidence that he's getting the crossover vote from democrats at this point. >> the down-ticket impact of

this, so significant if the numbers stay. of course, they probably will tighten up, presumably, especially after the debates. that will be the next opportunity to reset the narrative. the down-ticket impact is what is scaring so many of the republicans. the real fear is if he's eight points, 10, 12 points behind hillary in a lot of these states, the close races are in deep trouble. look at kelly ayotte in new hampshire, down ten points in the most recent poll. donald trump also down by double digits there. >> listen to trump friday night in green bay where trump seems to acknowledge that he has a problem, that he is not building a big coalition. he goes back to a republican icon to say i want to do this too. >> i understand and embrace the wisdom of ronald reagan's big tent within the party. big, big tent. remember? ronald reagan. great man. great guy.

remember, he included reagan democrats and independents and republicans. a lot of people. we're going to have the same thing. >> we're going to have the same thing. he does not have at the moment. the stylistically watching trump reading so much, that's not the trump at the rallies who won the republican nomination. but it is the donald trump that his campaign says is necessary to keep him on a more disciplined message. >> that's the question is can he stay on message. >> long pause when you raise the question of discipline in donald trump. >> that's the question. he can be disciplined. he obviously can be when he wants to and focused to and maybe when told he has to. but people -- somebody in the clinton campaign told me months and months ago when we were talking about trump, you know, what is the -- what's the most damaging thing he has done. they said the most damaging thing he's done is the thing he hasn't done yet. because he doesn't have the discipline to stay on message and there always seems to be something else around the corner. who knows.

we are in august. we have a long way to go as you said. but i don't know that we can really count on the fact that he'll continue to read what's been written for him. >> real discipline is not reading once something that's in front of you. it's doing it when you're off script. how do you stick to the message when nobody is watching, when nobody is giving you something to read. that's a real issue. to a point molly made earlier about white college educated voters, when we think about women in suburban areas. one of the big switches from the cnn poll that had trump up after his convention to the one where he is down by a lot now was these white, college-educated voters. and that is something that's really interesting because people might dismiss that and say, well, sure, white, college-educated voters should go for clinton. but democrats haven't won them since the polls began. if that's something donald trump is having trouble with and those voters are moving towards

hillary clinton, that's a huge issue for him. >> the clinton campaign sees this environment, so they're trying to stress he is unfit, not a commander in chief and reach out to republicans and independents. look at this ad. try to find a democrat. >> if he governs consistent with some of the things he said as a candidate, i would be very frightened. >> this is not somebody who should be handed nuclear codes. >> ask yourself, do i want a person of that temperament controlling the nuclear codes? as of now i have to say no. [ sigh ] >> conservative voices, conservative faces. this is a calculated effort by the clinton campaign. i don't think they'll get a ton of republican votes in the end but to use those voices to say, it's not use to say trump is unfit to be commander in chief. these are his friends. >> by leaning heavily on conservative voices you alienate some of the bernie sanders supporters. already liberals who will say i

don't want a candidate quasi-endorsed by charles kraut haumer. she is going to the middle of the electorate to the suburban voters who are deeply put off by what they see as instability of trump in his campaign. >> one of of the things coming out that the poll last week showed was that democrats change their attitudes dramatically about how they feel about the political situation over all. on the classic question of whether you believe the kwucoun is going in the right direction or on the wrong track. they swung wildly from being pessimistic to afterwards 58% saying we're going in the right direction. democrats and hillary clinton looking for a third democratic term. always a challenge. she needs the democratic party to feel good about where they are. seems like she accomplished some of that. >> don't have time to talk about these numbers but donald trump

had a good month in fund raising. can he come back? the answer is yes if he has the resources to spend. he has yet to spend money on television ads. if you look at the numbers, trump has the money. see what happens. up next, give hillary clinton points for consistency. her answers about her e-mails, still don't quite match the facts. but first, take our "inside politics" quiz question. would you consider voting for a third-party candidate in this year's presidential election. vote at cnn.com/vote. moderate e plaque psoriasis. be the you who shows up in that dress. who hugs a friend. who is done with treatments that don't give you clearer skin. be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before starting stelara® tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough.

always tell your doctor if you have any signs of infection, have had cancer, if you develop any new skin growths or if anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. most people using stelara® saw 75% clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. be the you who talks to your dermatologist about stelara®. i'm hillary clinton, and i approve this message. michael hayden: if he governs consistent with some of the things he said as a candidate, i would be very frightened. gillian turner: he's been talking about the option of using a nuclear weapon against our western european allies. max boot: this is not somebody who should be handed the nuclear codes. charles krauthammer: you have to ask yourself, do i want a person of that temperament controlling the nuclear codes? and as of now, i'd have to say no. [bill o'reilly sighs]

and as of now, i'd have to say no. ...one of many pieces in my i havlife.hma... so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo could be a missing piece for you. see if you're eligible for 12 months free at mybreo.com.

welcome back. whatever you think of her politics there is no disputing hillary clinton's brain power. she is an accomplished attorney, former first lady. senator. secretary of state. her intellect is not in question. her candor, though, is. especially about her private e-mail server. last sunday fielding a question

from chris wallace. >> director comey said my answers were truthful and what i've said is consistent with what i have told the american people, that there were decisions discussed and made to classify retroactively certain of the e-mails. >> no. director comey said in his congressional testimony he believed clinton was truthful in her interview with the fbi. but he said some of her public explanations did not match the facts. her answer to wallace flunked the fact check. in an interview with kusa thursday she said, quote, as the fbi said, everything that i have said publicly has been consistent and truthful with what i have told them. not exactly. friday she was asked if she was mischaracterizing what the fbi director said. >> i have said, during the interview and in many other occasions over the past months, that what i told the fbi, which he said was truthful, is

consistent with what i have said publicly. so i may have short-circuited it. and for that i, you know, will try to clarify because i think chris wallace and i were probably talking past each other because, of course, he could only talk to what i had told the fbi, and i appreciated that. >> help me. help me. >> it's just baffling to me that she is still struggling her way through this. i mean, there are so many ways she could deal with this that are better than the way she has dealt with this. >> how about, i am sorry. when i said i thought nothing was classified that's what i believed at the time. the fbi director said otherwise. it was a bigger mistake than i thought. i'm sorry. won't happen again. how about that? >> here's the thing. i am not sure that -- i think in her heart she believes everything she did was blessed and okay and not really a very big deal. i think that's what she truly

believes. that's sort of the only way to understand what her statements have been for months and months is that she, for over a year now, we're on this story. and she doesn't seem to be able to just sort of lance the boil and come out and say, truly in a way -- i -- this was a mistake. i am sorry. you know, what if she just were to say what i -- my sort of alternative universe that she says, you know what, this was a lapse in judgment but i expect you to judgment my judgment over many decisions and overall i think i would be a good president and here is why. >> it's not a big deal that you sense when you hear her give these impatient answers. she really doesn't think she should have to deal with this. she doesn't understand why everybody else is so concerned with this which keeps her from taking it seriously. you hear clinton's defenders say, well, they went through all these phony scandals in the '90s and therefore this is another phony scandal.

it doesn't follow. >> if you don't want to deal with this, don't run for president. >> it has the battle scars from the past battles which have made her so defensive. >> what's baffling is they know her biggest vulnerability is untrustworthiness and honesty. one poll has her mid 30s in whether or not voters believe she is trustworthy and honest. i was at the hearing. director comey was not vindicating her. he was blasting her for her statements over and over again, saying that, if she were an employee of the fbi, potentially she could have been disciplined, could have been fired. may have actually put the nation's secrets at risk by potentially hostile actors gaining access to her e-mail server. so it was a really, really difficult testimony in the eyes of the clinton campaign. for her to say that it was all good for her is just shocking.

>> what's surprising here is that you have the trump campaign sort of realizing that this week was really bad for them, and it obviously demonstrably was. but the clinton campaign maybe taking too much comfort in the fact that she is doing so much better in the polls, that they still seem to say, look, this isn't that big of a deal, you guys are making too much of it. that's a potential real vulnerability for her that she has to get right on. >> when you're doing well is the best time to deal with a problem, when you have the space to deal with the problem. >> in the journal/nbc poll, as many people who thought the khan situation was bad and disturbing and a major concern for donald trump, said the e-mail situation was a major concern about hillary clinton. i mean, this is still out there among voters. this is not just people like this around this table. real voters have real concerns. >> part of the clinton campaign -- this is not new, but part of their strategy -- we'll show you a piece of it with the new ad, you may not like certain things about me, but to make him

totally unacceptable. she is saying across the rust belt, he is a performer and, if you watch this ad, a hypocrite. >> where are the shirts made? >> bangladesh. >> it's good. we emplo i people in bangladesh. >> ties. >> beautiful ties. >> they are great ties. the ties are made in china? >> ties are made in china. >> she has been carrying trump garb around on the campaign trail. you go across the rust belt states that are critical to donald trump where you have a lot of closed factories, trump thinks he'll get workers on trade. smart ad for the clinton campaign. they're trying to get to what they view as donald trump's vulnerabilities. number one this is tv, it's not real. but then that he's a hypocrite on the outsourcing issue. >> we hear about outsourcing from democrats every two years. it's something that tests well. what you have heard from democrats since the beginning of the campaign, that she has had trouble making a positive case

for her candidacy. in the convention it was the same thing. very effective negative case against donald trump. her speech on the last night felt relatively flat, didn't get the same ratings as the other nights in terms of compared to the republican convention and still struggling to articulate. even where she is leading donald trump by a wide margin, she is not over 50%. she is not consolidating the people who were voting for donald trump because there is a void in the reason affirmatively to vote for her. >> a lot of the feelings are baked in. she has been in the light for several decades. this strategy interesting too. clearly she recognizes where donald trump is trying to do well, in the rust belt states. that's where she has spent a lot of her time right after the convention. >> the real problem for trump is on honest and trustworthy he is doing as poorly as she is in the

polls. i am surprised the outsourcing hasn't resonated as much. when you look at trump trying to create jobs in the u.s. and yet his ties and other stuff are made overseas. that seems like something that in past elections would have stuck immediately and someone would be dismissed by. it's been different. >> it will be interesting. see if he addresses it tomorrow. clinton will follow up with an economic speech later in the week. economy week. voters will get some choices. up next, president obama and ronald reagan share a number. might history repeat itself? aysr ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i had it covered. then i realized managing was all i was doing. when i finally told my doctor, he said humira was for people like me who have tried other medications,... but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief... ...and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections... ...including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers,...

including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions,... ...and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb,... ...hepatitis b, are prone to infections, ...or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. if you're still just managing your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible.

be the you who doesn't cover your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. be the you who shows up in that dress. who hugs a friend. who is done with treatments that don't give you clearer skin. be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before starting stelara® tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. always tell your doctor if you have any signs of infection, have had cancer, if you develop any new skin growths or if anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. most people using stelara® saw 75% clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. be the you who talks to your dermatologist about stelara®.

just watch him. you don't need me to tell you. president obama clearly enjoys this. >> i think the republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. the notion that he would attack a gold star family, the fact that he doesn't appear to have basic knowledge around critical issues. >> now, that was tuesday at the white house. while at the pentagon on thursday the president was asked

about trump's complaint this past week that the election might be rigged. >> of course the elections will not be rigged. what does that mean? i have never heard about somebody complain about being cheated before the game was over. or before the score is even tallied. so -- my suggestion would be, you know, go out there and try to win the election. if mr. trump is up ten or 15 points on election day and ends up losing, then, you know, maybe he can raise some questions. >> oh, don't think for a minute it was a coincidence the president worked in the polling reference. it's clear he is looking forward to the campaign trail. clearly at the moment he is a big asset to hillary clinton. latest cnn/orc poll puts the president's approval rating at 54%. an exact match of where ronald

reagan stood in the 1988 campaign which happens to be the last time a party was able to hold the white house after a two-term presidency. we could have an al gore conversation but let's not. if you look at obama and getting out there, clinton campaign clearly wants him out there. you look at 54% and you think that's a great asset to have out there. it was. george h.w. bush kept the white house after ronald reagan. the only time in our history after a two-term election. >> the president is out there saying -- questioning why republican leaders are still supporting donald trump to say, you know, guys, come on over to this side of things if you don't like what you're seeing with donald trump. he has that ability to do that now from the bully pulpit. if he were at 30% you wouldn't see him out there as much. this election is almost more important for him than it is for hillary clinton in a way. you can't imagine president obama wanting to write some

letter to donald trump to, like the gracious letter that george w. bush wrote for him. i have said it before, he might leave his birth certificate in the drawer for donald trump. >> it's a risk for hillary clinton to be saying she is a third term for an obama presidency. even if his numbers are good, polls also show voters do not think the country is headed in the right direction. the majority of whom, 54% in the cnn/orc poll say the country is headed in the wrong direction. there is inconsistency there that she needs to be aware of. >> he is still a polarizing political figure. you hear anti-trump republicans grumbling that this makes it harder for hillary to get some republicans on her side when the president is basically calling on them to do so. they don't like to do things that president obama tells them to do. there is an interesting debate that played out during the convention about whether democrats should depict donald trump as an anomaly or a

republican. harry reed is saying he's just like them but he wants to win the senate. others saying if you are an honest republican, he isn't one of you, therefore come over to our side. >> intentions in the argument. your newspaper, laura mecckler, that ran a front-page story. a $4 hundred million payment to iran. the timing, call it stupid, coincidence, on the very day americans were being released from iran, the cash payment arrives. the president says, of course we don't pay ransom for hostages. >> some of you may recall we announced these payments in january. many months ago. there wasn't a secret. we announced them. to all of you. josh did a briefing on them. this wasn't some nefarious deal. we do not pay ransom.

we didn't here and we won't in the future. >> why wasn't somebody smart enough, then, to say don't do this on the very same day? it appears pretty clear that iran viewed this, if you don't want to use the word "ransom" as a transaction. >> right. that was the problem is how does this look. it does look like a quid pro quo. we're paying money for another reason but the same day that we get our people back. so it was the optics of it, how it was shipped over in cash on the very same day and it just essentially -- it's hard to read it any other way, though the president is talking about seems like sort of a plausible deniability type situation to say, you know, this isn't -- this wasn't in fact a ransom. of course, the danger of it being a ransom is that if other countries think they can get hundreds of millions of dollars from the united states by holding people illegally in prison or hostage or otherwise, there will just be more of it. >> we should say what the money was in the first place.

the money was $400 million that iran had paid for weapons in 1979 before the shah fell. the u.s. held the money until now. now, the timing -- >> their frozen assets. so part of a deal, that's clear, but the timing was beyond -- what's that word? i'll let you figure it out at home. coming up the reporters open the notebooks to repeal donald trump's problem with big-money donors. first, the quiz, would you consider voting for a third-party candidate in this year's election? 58% of you said no. that means a lot of you said yes. what's it like to put your home in good hands?

like having something fit you, just right, thank you randall. every stitch and seam of your home insurance, tailored to fit you and your budget. with unique features, like claim free rewards... ohh! customized home protection extra features all at an affordable price! i'm going to live in this. in means getting more from your home insurance

with an expert allstate agent. it's good to be in, good hands.

let's head around the inside politics table and ask our reporters to get you out ahead of the important news molly ball. >> the green party about their convention this weekend,

officially nominating jill stein to head the green party ticket. she went hard at hillary clinton in her speech in addition to donald trump and made appeal to the bernie sanders backers. there will be criticism on the left trying to convince all the bernie sanders supporters that there is an alternative. may or may not be a big factor. she'll have a hard time getting into the debates. there was a lawsuit this week trying to get the third-party candidates into the debates that was rejected. she has some less mainstream views, you might say, on some issues. the idea that hillary would get through this without that voice on her left continuing the critique is not that number. >> she starts to move up a little bit, you know where it's coming from in the case of the green party. >> the party establishment has had its hands full with the tea party and the conservative insurgents in congressional primaries. since 2014 they've struck back

effectively beating insurgents not because they don't believe they could win in a general but they don't play well with the party establishment. tuesday in kansas, the kansas conservative who tried to oust john boehner on multiple occasions. groups that are tied to the leadership and party establishment spent millions to defeat him in the primary. in indiana mitch mcconnell's allies defeated a republican conservative in that race because they wanted their candidate in the general election. john mccain is up for a primary later this month. he'll probably be safe. they're finally figuring out a way to deal with it. maybe not so much in conventional primaries. no secret that the koch brothers are not big fans of

donald trump. they're going to try to work on down-ballot tickets for republicans. there is one lesser-known koch brother bill who held a fund-raiser for him last night in cape cod. republican donors still are skittish about donald trump. they're not sure whether or not he can win. they have actually said they think he is not able to win. and you had one gop donor tell npr's peter overby that trump needs to start connecting his brain to his mouth before they are going to start to open up their wallets a bit more. >> i'll be quiet on that one. laura. >> molly talked about jill stein wanting to get into the debates. the question this fall is will thereby three debates. donald trump has suggested that maybe he won't go to all of the debates. he suggested the system is rigged in terms of when they were scheduled. the biggest event on the political calendar after the conventions is the debates. that's the thing that most

americans -- we're looking at this every day, but most people, that's when they tune in and really see it. hillary clinton did very well in the debates she had in 2008 in the primaries this year. so i think this is an important moment for her. obviously they're hoping there will be three debates. but it's hard to find somebody who is really connected with politics who truly believes that there will in fact be three debates this year. >> i would not be surprised if at least mr. trump tries to re negotiate the schedule. democrats giddy as the week drew to a close. one republican veteran called this past week, quote, the week from hell. the republican blamed donald trump but the conversations had nothing to do with the presidential race. trump's sagging numbers are hurting somie of the senate incumbents. most republicans consider illinois and wisconsin lost causes and trump's dive has weakened republicans in other states. some republicans are starting to get a little bit nervous about

their incumbent in north carolina. if the election were today the republicans most closely involved in tracking the senate think the end result would be 50-50 split or maybe 51-49. but it isn't today. one other impact from the, quote, week from hell, republican's urging their supporters forget trump and vote for them. we'll see you next week. up next, "state of the union," with jake tapper. time to let te real you shine through? introducing otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have

a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you.

cleanup duty? >> i support and endorse our speaker of the house, paul ryan. donald trump tries to make nice with his fellow republicans after a brutal week of intra-party battling. boosted by a $64 million infusion largely from small donors, can the trump train get back on track? plus, heartburn in the heartland. ohio's republican governor warns trump might mean that the state goes blue in november. >> it's difficult if y