good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. there they were in the hot sun before the u.s. capitol. a pageant of the trump-led tea party. one last stab at the iranian nuclear agreement. all this doom's day after yesterday' reunion in washington of the gung ho folks who brought us the 2003 iraq war that last more than 200,000 dead. do i have to tell you who was at the get-together of hawks, do i? >> he's been shot. >> round up the usual suspects. >> round up the usual suspects. and there they were yesterday, the names who brought us the worst foreign policy action thins lyndon johnson's vietnam war build-up. dick cheney, scooter libby, john bolton, another big war fest,

cheering american boys to the front from the safety of the op-ed pages. making the same claims that took us into baghdad, blew apart that country. have they no shame? i don't think so. the big show was in washington for a tea party rally opposing the nuclear deal with iran. ted cruz told the crowd the deal is catastrophic and the single greatest national security threat facing america. >> if this deal goes through, we know to an absolute certainty, people will die. americans will die, israelis will die, europeans will die. we're now talking about giving the ayatollah khomeini, a homicidal maniac, who hates america every bit as much as bin laden did, giving him, $100 billion, to carry out his murderous plans. >> the last time senator cruz was certain of anything, was when he supported the iraq war that cost the lives of 200,000,

including 4,000 americans and many more wounded. anyway, donald trump, well, here was donald trump today. >> they rip us off, they take our money, they make us look like fools, they don't want israel to survive. they will not let israel survive with incompetent leadership like we have right now. israel will not survive. we are led by very, very stupid people. we lose everywhere. we lose militarily. isis, give me a break. it will change. we will have so much winning if i get elected that you may get bored with winning. >> getting a little tired, isn't it? and then there was sarah palin, who ignoring the fine points, called the deal with iran, a betrayal of america. >> of course obama's deal is insane to anyone but iranian regime sympathizers. our sons and daughters

sacrificed in iraq, still in iraq, and they're there to disempower the extremists in their neighboring crazy land, iran, yet the white flag was waved at the table in these negotiations, because obama had a squishy objective to start with. only in an orwellian-obama world, full of sprinkly fairy dust, blown from atop his unicorn, as he's peeking through a really pretty pink kaleidoscope would he ever see victory or safety for mork or israel in this treaty. this treaty will not bring peace. you don't reward terrorism, you kill it! >> nominated by john mccain and the republican party for vice president of the united states so recently. joined now by dana milbank, david corn, and joy reid up in new york. a great new book, it was my honor to blurb it.

we'll have a whole big discussion about this book in a couple days. because it's a very important book. you amazed me with jour discussion of race in america and how it seems to always be right there at the center. >> thank you. >> the obamas, the clintons and the racial divide. we'll get to it later. but today in washington, it was all over the place. dana, you did an amazing description last night of the usual suspects. there was claud reigns in class ka blanca. cheney wants to go to war again. he does. >> the amazing thing is the timing. they have enough votes to protect the deal. so what do you want to do? you want to bring in dick cheney to raise questions about the intelligence. >> and scooter libby. >> right. he's questioning president obama's veracity and his use of the intelligence. >> bring in a guy who was prosecuted and convicted of perjury to make your case, why not?

>> and being applauded by the architect of the war, paul wolf wits. >> where is the shame? >> that's just it. you would feel even if they thought they were right, they would do what george w. bush does, paint some paintings and tend to your gardens. if you were a surgeon and you lost a couple hundred thousand patients -- >> after you said they were going to be fine. >> at some point, you say, we're not going to let you near the operating table again. there's no reason anyone should listen to these guys. and there is always a policy debate to be had about anything. but if you look how the republicans and the right, either by bringing up dick cheney or focusing on sarah palin, they're just totally not in the real world when it comes to discussing serious matters. it drives people like colin powell and brent skull craft bananas. >> because they have brains and conscienc consciences. these people don't. the usual suspects were on hand. the oddly named american

enterprise, the list of the leader of the government in exile, dick cheney, that's how you pronounce it, ask him, trashed the nuclear deal. let's watch. these are the boys who brought us iraq. >> with the removal of restrictions on iran's ballistic missile program, this will give iran the means to launch a nuclear attack on the u.s. homeland that guarantees that in less time than has passed with 9/11, a regime with death to america as a pillar of its national policy have the ability and the material to produce an arsenal of nuclear weapons. charles krauthammer has written it took nazi germany seven years to kill six million jews. it would take a nuclear armed iran one day. >> the same confidence, the same terminology, terms like homeland, and wmd, and regime, regime change. cheney's fear marching and

warning of nuclear threats were a reminder of his performance before the iraq war in 2003, here he was as he is now. >> he has indeed stepped up his capacity to produce and deliver biological weapons, that he has reconstituted his nuclear program to develop a nuclear weapon. he know he's been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons and we believe he has reconstituted nuclear weapons. we spent time looking at the relationship between iraq and al qaeda and there has been reporting that suggests that there have been a number of contacts over the years. >> do you think the american people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant american casualties? >> i don't think it's likely to unfold that way, because i believe we'll be greeted as liberators. >> joy, he has a wonderful way there. i remember talking about how

people mug you with that mannerism. that bonding, as we know, that wonderful way of embracing you, including you in what he's lying to you about. i shouldn't say lying, but tricking you, and making you part of this little team. so we're all wrong together, but no, we weren't all wrong. we were right, who opposed the war. it wasn't an argument of fact. they were saying stuff they had no basis to say. there you heard him say it, not a program, they have the weapons. and there was nothing in the national intelligence to say that. he cooked that completely out of his right-wing head. >> and they said we didn't even have to wait for a smoking gun, because in their view, the smoking gun would be a mushroom cloud. they threatened the united states with an impocket. a -- impossibility. i'm with you on this. the word is shame, they don't have it. one of the key arguments against invading iraq, is that it would empower no one in the region

more than iran. by lopping off the sunni secular regime and handing the country over the shi'ites whose neighbor and bestest friend is iran. >> so we have a great country fighting our war for us between us and iran. it's called iraq. it's sunni-led, bathist, it's not religious, it's just a good secular dictatorship that is willing to fight iran for you. so let's get rid of that, so there's an open run, and they can come racing toward us -- >> and of course there was no connection between iran and al qaeda. >> of course not. >> it didn't happen, but yet these guys for some reason and paul wolf wits, who we saw in the clip, foremost among them, kept saying before 9/11, al qaeda's not the problem. it's really iraq, it's saddam hussein. and he's the one, if there is an al qaeda problem -- >> you know when he first said

that, sitting in the meeting room, camp david, right after the attack. he started pushing iraq right away. >> in the first weeks of the bush administration, they were saying al qaeda -- >> you pointed out to me just a minute ago that paul wolf wits is working for the mild-mannered jeb bush. more fear mongering today from ted cruz saying the deal could lead to tens of millions of americans dead. when did he just arrive? he was back in the last war that killed so many people. let's watch. >> if iran gets a nuclear weapon, the single greatest risk they would take that nuclear weapon, they would put it on a ship anywhere in the atlantic and they would fire it up straight into the air, into the atmosphere. they would set off what's called an emp, an electromagnetic pulse, taking down the electrical grid on the entire eastern seaboard and kill tens of millions of americans. we can stop that.

>> who's writing this stuff? >> alex jones. [ all speak at once ] >> who writes this stuff? >> frank gaffney. >> the irish ne-yo con. >> yes who spoke for the last five, ten years. >> he thinks we're under shari'a law already. >> he thinks the muslim brotherhood has invaded the government. he thinks grover norquist is a muslim brotherhood agent. >> shouldn't there be a saliva test before you go on television? >> give cruz some credit for using a new tactic, as opposed to old one of saying, it's going to be a mushroom cloud, just as iran was incahoots with al qaeda before. >> let me ask you a question. joy, you first. you got me started on this with your column. yesterday, what is it called? the gang's all here. about the corrupt administration, they're all back. why did they choose to have this

meeting yesterday and today after the game is over? because the democrats have the 42 senators. they can actually filibuster this thing. >> dick cheney and his crowd are frequently in think wro, but never in doubt. >> why so late? >> i think they were scheduled by accident. it was supposed to be promoting dick cheney's book with his daughter. today's event was scheduled in july when they thought it would would be a big thing when congress came back. but it's all over but the shouting. one thing they do well is the shouting part. >> david, you know they're late. >> it's all over but the complaining. this will be the foreign policy equivalent of obamacare. it's over, done, they've lost. but they'll come back again and again to get the base riled up by saying, we got to do something about that. >> who was dumb enough to spend all the money on the full page ads of "the new york times"? >> it's late, but there's a

contingent in the republican party and establishment characters like jeb bush and marco rubio who are willing to run on a neo con line. the fact that they were wrong means nothing. we have to watch out, because there's all this adoration of marco rubio, but he's saying the same thing. this crowd is not going away. even though isis can be laid directly at their doorstep, something kind al qaeda in iraq did not exist until we invaded iraq. the grand ayatollah of iraq is iranian. they created all of the messes they're now moaning and complaining about and warning will be the new mushroom cloud. they have no shame. it's to the american people's fault if we let them back in and have control of our foreign policy again. >> marco rubio, sitting at the foot of the bed, entertaining him, really outrageous what he says. he says every single thing so sheldon will like it.

>> yep. >> thank you very much, dana and david and joy. heavyweight group. coming up, now that hillary clinton issued a formal apology for using a private e-mail server, i want to know, me, is there anything to it? is there even a possibility of a smoking gun? or is it just a cloud of smoke from her enemies? plus, with less than 500 days of his presidency, president obama is having one ever the strongest second terms in history. it's clear it will be a tough act to follow. and stephen colbert's late show, i stayed up for it, with a delightful takedown of the man leading the republican field, donald trump. . >> and the ringing endorsement democrats continue to give to president obama seven years in. this is "hardball," the place for politics. now that's a full weekend.

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from and the people whought you underwhelbrought youet speeds. temperamental satellite television. introducing... underwhelming internet speeds and temperamental television... in one. welcome to the moment no one's been waiting for. the fastest internet and the best tv experience is already here with x1. only from xfinity. in retrospect, certainly as i look back at it now, even though it was allowed, i should have used two accounts, one for personal, one for work related e-mails. that was a mistake, i'm sorry about that, i take responsibility. and i'm trying to be as transparent as i possibly can. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was hillary clinton apologizing last night formally

to abc news for using a private e-mail account when she was at the helm of the state department. the e-mail controversy has dogged senator clinton since "the new york times" broke the story, three months before she launched her bid for the white house. six months later, the story isn't going away. clinton says she can survive it. >> perhaps the more important question they're asking, can hillary clinton survive this? can you? >> yes, of course i can. i, as you might guess, have been around a while. and there have been lots of, you know, attacks, and counterattacks and questions raised. and i can survive it because i think i'm running to be president, to do what the country needs done. and i believe the american people will respond to that. >> howard fineman and kathleen parker join us. this is sort of my dart to the center of an issue, which i rarely do.

i usually go into details, but i just want to ask you, why are we talking about e-mail? why is the "new york times" abscea ab -- obsessed with it? if you had to say the significance of this topic, what would it be? could it bring down hillary clinton, or be something to debate in a presidential debate? >> we don't yet know conclusively what the thing is. >> why are we writing about it on the front pages? >> because they need to peel the onion. when the fbi becomes involved, to see whether there were some e-mails that might have done some damage, i don't think we know this yet. but i think that's the thing. but separate from that is the question of how the clintons, and they are dual actors, how they always, their default position is, don't say anything, don't tell anything, and when

they're forced to, they'll tell, okay, well, there was this, and yes, well, maybe there was this, and then finally comes the apology. >> that's not always the case. what was white water? what was it? >> but they don't say what is true. >> what was white water? what was travel gate? what are all these gates? >> i'm sure they're hoping that will be another e-mail gate, but i do i think there's a difference when the fbi steps in to do the work. i don't dislike hillary clinton and this may prove to be not that big a deal when it's over, but what is a big deal is the question of her character. it really comes down to character. >> i'll get back to you, but i want to know what this character issue is. is this a sign of something really significant about her ability to be fit for the presidency, or is it a fishing expedition, as you sort of mentioned? paula jones, and then monica and

impeachment. they went looking for white water and they got paula along the way. so is this a trolling expedition, trolling along the way, without having a target? >> couple of things. bill clinton managed to get the democratic nomination to be elected twice. that's number one. number two, without excusing anything hillary may or may not have done about the e-mails themselves, this whole story plays into what everybody finds somewhat objectionable about politics itself, the state of politics today, and what they know about hillary clinton. as hillary clinton said herself this that interview with david muir, she said, i've been around a long time, i've faced a lot of these controversy before, there's probably nobody under the age of 25 who doesn't have a firm opinion about hillary

clinton one way or another. one of the notions is they play by their own rules, that there's an inside game. what could be more inside than secret e-mails? the symbolism of it is, he's been around a long time. part of a dynasty that's sort of passed. this is "the new york times" going after her. >> what's the bottom line assumption from the critics? what is it that's wrong with her that we should know about, and all this inquiry, leading to inquiry, to inquiry. you say, you look for something that might be wrong. sure, but you don't put people on trial until the indictment. what's the indictment of hillary here? what has she done wrong? >> the question, was there classified information on the server.

>> that wasn't the original point. >> then the question was, why did you have a personal server? but the question, you have to get down to the fundamental thing, if you're not hiding kentucky, w anything, why are you hiding stuff? there's always this question, is there something? maybe it is their default position. you can understand how the clintons, having been under siege so much of their professional life -- >> people that don't like hillary see a bad ink blot, and people who do -- >> here's the thing. >> they want to know what happened. >> she said he only used a private server. previous secretaries of state had a private government server and their own. she only had her own. she did all her business out of the service that bill clinton set up. if you think hillary has been

persecuted all this time, held to an unfair standard in part because she's a woman and so forth, then you're going to say -- >> that's not it. >> i'm just saying, you're going to say hillary's entitled to play it that close to the vest. but if you're inclined not to like hillary clinton, to say the clintons are always cutting corners, ethically in some sense, then you look at the fact that she only had a private, personal server to conduct all of her public business, as somehow suspicious. he doesn't benefit from -- get the benefit of the doubt. she's been around too long and been through too many controversies to get the benefit. >> it's the template. it's pre-emptive fudging. just play by the rules. it's that simple. don't play by your own rules. >> i'm going to let it go except my theory, like this tennis, you walk the chalk line. it's in or it's out.

some say it's in, some say it's out. thank you both. up next, post francis calls on europe's catholics to take in middle east refugees fleeing war-torn countries. this is "hardball," the place for politics. has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®. at ally bank no branches equalsit's a fact.. kind of like mute buttons equal danger. ...that sound good? not being on this phone call sounds good. it's not muted. was that you jason? it was geoffrey! it was jason. it could've been brenda. you're down with crestor. yes! when diet and exercise aren't enough, adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol up to 55%. crestor is not for people with liver disease, or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. tell your doctor all medicines you take. call your doctor if you have muscle pain or weakness, feel unusually tired, have loss of appetite,

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welcome back to "hardball." for months pope francis has said he's fought with deep concern and pain in his heart the stories of refugees flowing from the middle east to europe. he wants action. on sunday he told the crowds, may every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of europe take in one family. the world has watched the immigrant crisis became a refugee crisis and a child crisis. it took a photo of a drowned syrian toddler to move the hearts of other world leaders. joining me now, the president of save the children.

schreiber's pushing for all presidential candidates to back pre-k education for every child. here's the argument being made in the early voting state of iowa. >> i'm a republican. >> i'm a democrat. >> and i'm an independent. we don't agree on much. >> but we do agree on this. >> every child deserves an equal opportunity to succeed. >> and high quality, early childhood education is an investment that benefits all of us. >> actually, mark's also writing a book about pope francis, coming out next spring. you are very concerned about kids of the age we saw that kid lying on the beach. i wonder, what is the situation, when you look at that situation, because you focus on the kids that age. >> yes. it's a tragedy. no question about it. save the children is working on the ground and has been for years. but when you see a natural disaster or a man-made disaster like the one in syria, what you're seeing so often are kids and mothers in particular, not getting the services and support they need. that's what we're doing for this disaster, providing safe places for kids and for families to be

safe. and you see it here in the u.s. too, chris. it's amazing. i was down in new orleans right after katrina hit. and the lack of response and focus on kids' issues is relevant in this country as it is around the world. it's outrageous, really. >> what about every day and how kids grow up? i read about it today, kids at that age, 3 to 5-year-old, like that kid who died as a refugee, their brains develop at a certain age. >> 90% of the brain growth happens in the first five years of life. what we invest is flat until a kid gets into kindergarten. you say you have a chance to impact 90% of your growth, but don't invest until they're feef years of age. it's a huge loss of opportunity. >> kids who grow up in an il t illiterate family -- >> your kid at 4 is 18 months

ahead of a kid living in poverty. >> what happens to the first grade teacher with that kid? >> talk to any teacher, they'll tell you, in kindergarten, they can tell you what kids will fail out at high school. >> you talk to all the presidential candidates, where are they at? >> there's a wide variety. governor bush has done a great job increasing the accessibility of early childhood education in florida. the quality needs to be improved. there's strong republican and democratic support. >> how about the conservatives who believe in less government and they don't like the federal government involved in education. they can't be for you, are they? >> you got to look at outside of washington, there's a lot of support for this issue. governor bentley in alabama, governor snyder in michigan. >> how about cruz and trump, are they for early childhood education? >> some of them aren't. some of them haven't focused on it. i'm not going to get into it with donald trump. >> you had a meeting with him?

>> he came to a show we sponsored in new hampshire. >> he got involved with your thinking on this? >> what we saw, what you see is support outside of washington. washington is behind the people on this. >> how about people like donald trump? >> i don't know about donald trump. >> good luck with that. good luck with your book on the pope. i'll be reading it. up next, president obama's having one of the strongest second terms, they're usually the second term curse, but he's making -- being becoming a tough act to follow for whatever comes next in 2016. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

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>> here's what's happening. the pilot at the controls of the british airways plane that

caught fire yesterday in las vegas is being hailed as a hero, but says he's getting everyone else off the plane safely was a team effort. >> papers are saying he's a hero. have to remember there are two other pilots and cabin crew, all behaved very well. it's a team work, not just one person. i think that should be emphasized. >> the 63-year-old also says he's finished flying. he was on his second to last flight before retiring. back to "hardball." >> my presidency is entering the fourth quarter. interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter. and i'm looking forward to it. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was president obama in his year-end press conference last december. and now with less than 500 days left of his presidency, barack obama's proving he's anything but a lame duck in what he called the fourth quarter of his

presidency. just in the last year, he's reached a climate deal with china, normalized relations with cuba, won fast-track authority to advance his trade agenda and received big victories on affordable care act and gay marriage. now looks like he'll have the deal with iran. much more productive than any president in recent memory. a rare accomplishment. as ronald reagan's former arms negotiator told politico, obama may be singular as a president not only because of his striking background, it may turn out that unlike virtually any other president, his second term is actually better than his first term. it appears obama's presidency will be a tough act to follow. i'm joined by the "hardball" roundtable. april ryan, gene robinson.

gene, i want you to start in the middle there. it's too early because anything could happen, but he has sort of an obama way, that no-drama obama, the way he won the presidency the first time, it's the tortoise in a way, but it's not really the tortoise. it's steady, not slow, but steady. >> he's always said and his people have always said they play a long game. just wait, just wait, we're going in this direction, and we're going to get there. we may not get there as fast as people like, the way people like, but you ticked off that list of accomplishments. and it's quite substantial. i mean, this is a very important second term. you can argue first term, second term, because i think the affordable care act because it establishes the principle of universal health care and the direction toward universal health care, it will be a

lasting and very significant accomplishment. >> insurmountable achievement, you think? >> i think we're on that road and if the republicans get power, they'll call it something else. as president obama says, they'll call it anything but obamacare. but i think we're heading in that direction. >> i was reading about the ememployment act. presidents can't just sit back, you have to be leader of a country that fights. but this is second term, let's get back to second term. most of those are second string at the white house, second string in the cabinet, right? and normally, this time around kerry's done a hell of a job. great cabinet. >> he's got a great cabinet. he's got a great agenda. this president came in talking about hope and change. he has created that whether you like it or not. you touched on the issue of employment, you know, when he

was president, at one point, it was a 10% unemployment rate, down to 5.1%, and many sources are saying that this term, the second termc is a continuation f what they were working on in the first term. so i believe both and first terms are history-making and i don't believe there's a lame-duck issue for this to be said. >> what do you make of the team, does the internal team, they working hard, in high gear, like a first term presidency, or is it slowing down? >> i think the pace is different, but one of the main things that the white house is always occupied with is dealing with a republican-led congress. so all of the accomplishments that you ticked off there, you know, yes, the president's notching things on the belt, but he has to do a great deal of that either by going around

congress or by confronting them directly. so that takes a lot of energy and yet there's been a great deal of turnover, but he's gotten people in there who generally are just -- >> let's look at this. his approval rating stands at 49% nationally. when you break it down by numbers by party, his approval is at 81% among democrats, 46% among democrats and 10% among republicans. the number that jumps off this list is the hatred of this president from the right and even center right. what is that about? >> it's extraordinary. >> he's not franklin roosevelt. is he that big that they hate him that big? >> it's extraordinary. i'm not sure i've seen anything quite like it. >> is it worst than clinton, worse than truman? >> yeah, i think it's worse than clinton, worse than truman. and i think there is something about the republican party, and there's something about the

president, okay, yes. he's different. >> how different is he, eugene? [ laughter ] >> you think it's an extra 20 pounds on there from race, just pounded on there? >> i wish i could quantify. some political science will try to quantify it someday, but -- >> you think so? >> you know i'm right about that one. that's the way you tell me stuff, you ask a question. anyway, the roundtable is staying with us. and up next, stephen colbert kicks off his first late show with a takedown of trump. this is "hardball," the place for politics. sfx: [screams] they have all those warnings on 'em. might as well say... 'you're gonna die, jeff.' you hired someone to clean the gutters. not just someone. angie's list helped me find a highly rated service provider to do the work at a fair price. ♪ everyone can shop, but members get more with reviews, live customer support, and better pricing.

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>> it's a history-making day for queen elizabeth ii, became the longest reigning monarch in history. she took over when she was 25 years old. she marked the day by dedicating a new rail line in scotland, still part of the uk. we'll be right back. ♪ i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business...

that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? who knows, one of these kids just might be the one. to clean the oceans, to start a movement, or lead a country. it may not be obvious yet, but one of these kids is going to change the world. we just need to make sure she has what she needs. welcome to windows 10. the future starts now for all of us. what did iran's supreme leader get in the nuclear deal? to start with, $100 billion. they keep their nuclear facilities and ballistic missiles. there won't be surprise anytime-anywhere inspections. and after ten years, restrictions are lifted and iran could build a nuclear weapon in two months. congress should reject a bad deal.

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welcome back. the late wars are back, stephen colbert versus donald trump. in his first appearance as host of the late show, stephen colbert sunk his teeth into trump. governor bush was the governor of florida for eight years, you would think that would have prepared him for donald trump. evidently not. >> i promise you, just like the rest of the media, i will be covering all of the presidential candidates, who are donald trump. >> everybody likes trump. even white supremacists, which

is amazing, because trump's not even white. he's more oompa loompa-american. donald trump -- >> donald trump, donald trump -- >> i've got to exercise some discipline. look, you don't own me. and i don't need to play tape of you to have a successful tv show. >> anyway, that was just the start of colbert's show. we're back with the roundtable, "hardball" roundtable. april, eugene and ann. i like the show because i like him. but trump, i am convinced, it's all about geography. real estate people say location, location, location. trump's new york, hillary's new york. jim jimmioy fallon's new york. it's relentless. >> it's not just the fact that he's new york. he's donald trump, a caricature of himself. how would you explain the

president of the united states talking about him at the correspondents dinner and after the president made fun of him and donald trump was very stern while the president was i think emperor with the new clothes. he has to get an alligator skin. >> do you think that hurts? >> he was basically comparing the metaphor, chug a lugging. the trump obsession with loving oreo cookies which i agree, are very difficult to stop eating once you start. >> it doesn't mean we have to keep talking about you. someone on television should have a modicum of dignity and it could be me. [ cheers and applause ] >> oh!

oh, donald, i love you too. but i think -- i think i'm going to hate myself in the morning. >> if i was eating that much shrug, a i would be over the top of this table. that was his metaphor. we got one donald trump. we didn't do much trump tonight but it is infectious. >> it was a sugar rush. that was his whole stick and it was very funny. >> he won't. and i'll tell you. >> what are you going to do? >> judging from last night, if the media will keep scarfing down the oreos, lump about buy them. he will supply them. he will back up the truck full of oreos. >> he said he will never buy more oreos. >> jeb bush was on the show last night and we're talking about donald trump.

>> here he is, trying to make things exciting last night. he was colbert's second guest. >> your campaign poster is just jeb with a j-e-b and exclamation mark. why the jeb? >> i've been using jeb since 1994. it connotes excitement -- >> jeb! >> that's the problem. you have to put an exclamation point. >> connotes excitement. >> i think if you have to say connotes, it is not excitement. >> let me try something that will get me in trouble with trump. i think he's crested. i watched it and i thought i was hearing a lot of old material. we'll have so many victories we'll be bored with them. when you start repeating yourself, you're repeating yourself and you lose the excitement.

>> we'll remind you of that that in two weeks. >> he's going on rouchbt material. >> i interviewed bernie sanders. he has new material. emthat he was fearful of donald trump because of the rhetoric. but drumpl -- >> what's the latest idea for bernie? >> criminal justice. he does not want to have privatized prisons where they put people in. and criminal justice -- >> a scandal like pennsylvania. >> pennsylvania was big a scandal. >> sending kids up the river and getting paid. >> getting back to trump. applying the standard rules of gravity to donald trump hasn't worked all summer. mabel it will work now. maybe it is the road runner who would run off the cliff and not realize for a while that it is falling. >> let's see if we can eat all the oreos, how much of a specter could he become?

>> married to anthony weiner. you know, the -- i love you very much. so think of it. >> like pumetts. the bing, bing bong, bong, bing, bing. you know what that is. >> i'm used to dealing with killers. >> my dad used to write down what happened in court. imagine writing the words, bing, bing, bing, how do you write that down in a transcript? >> i had to write a story about what he said about an deen and the whole thing and that i had problem. what do you put on paper? bing, bing, bongo over.

>> that makes my point. i think he is running out of material. we may disagree. eugene robinson, the authority figure here. when we return, let me have a strong endorsement. you're watching "hardball." the place for politics. before earning enough cash back from bank of america to buy a new gym bag. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time and 2% back at the grocery store. even before he got 3% back on gas. kenny used his bankamericard cash rewards credit card

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woman: when a student understands a concept for the first time. man: when the students get it. man: their eyes get big, the lightbulb pops on. woman: "i got it, i think i got it!" they light up. it's like magic. woman: this is not just a job. woman: the rewards i get are... priceless.

man: we help kids grow, and that's part of the rush of teaching. narrator: the california teachers association. educators who know quality public schools make a better california for all of us. let me close with this interesting fact. president obama's job approval among democrats. 81%, more than 4 in 5.

that's a strong endorsement seven years into a presidency. seven years is a lifetime in politics. for most politicians, it is up and down. the fact is this president, barack obama, has kept his head above water, especially with the party that elected him. the key is to stake out a direction, a national mission for himself and focus laser like on receiving it. we have the stimulus bill to get out of the recession, the health care plan out of divide congress and that was the first material. since then we've gotten the climate deal with china, recognition of same-sex marriage in the country as well as the courts and it looks like an agreement to keep iran from building nuclear arms. second terms are not supposed to be like this. truman in korea, bill clinton in monica land, w in katrina. well, we'll have to see. maybe just maybe, barack obama will stump the skeptics and

history and put tens of millions of us right to have given this patriotic man his chance for greatness. that's "hardball" for now. "all in" with chris hayes. tonight on "all in" -- >> this iranian nuclear deal is catastrophic. >> the iran deal they almost certainly can't stop. >> never, ever, ever in my life have i seen any transaction so inxenlly negotiated. >> one of the presidential candidates who spoke at today's event will join me live. >> the fact is we have 60,000 people working for you. there will be occasions where someone doesn't work out the standard. >> then twist you didn't see coming. plus, martin o'malley talks to me about his debate battle with the dnc. and the colbert bump.