objectively outlandish behavior. >> sam stein with the huffington post, appreciate it. >> that's going to do it for this hour. i'm steve kornacki. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts right now. if it's wednesday, republicans in crisis. is it time for the gop to break the emergency glass? it's "mtp daily," and it starts right now. good evening. i'm chuck todd in washington. welcome to "mtp daily." and welcome to 36 hours of total and complete chaos inside the republican party. whole hour we'll take you inside what appears to be a crisis that's facing trump or the party or both and what may be dire optsions facing many in the party. grin and bear it and hope he changes? unendorse him? or three, convince him to quit

and you'll be shocked by the number of republicans infiring already about the process of replacing trump on the ballot if somehow they convinced him to step aside. but all of those may be unicorn theories. it's an unprecedented cloud surrounding his campaign. trump wrapped up just moments ago and right out of the gate went after these reports about his campaign. >> the campaign is doing really well. it's never been so well united. it's the best in terms of being united that it's been since we began. >> we've never been this united. >> yes, trump has survived countless controversies before but even he hasn't seen a 36-hour stretch this intense. let's just put it up on the board. over the last 36 hours, the rnc and reince priebus of supposed

ly apoplectic. then we've learned some of trump's closest allies are trying to plot some sort of intervention with him in order to attempt to right the ship. people close to trump's campaign chief are describing the situation as, quote, suicidal. at least that's the mood inside the campaign. trump is refusing to support his party's top leader in congress, paul ryan in his primary. he doesn't want to support john mccains in primary either. mike pence has to break with trump saying i strongly endorse ryan's re-election. don't forget, trump's latest attack on the gold star family, the khans. somehow this election is already rigged. he's under fire for comments about accepting a purple heart. he's facing questions over comments including his definition of sexual harassment in the workplace. we've seen three republicans fairly prominent endors hillary clinton in the past 36 hours. trump's fitness for office has

been questioned including a purported curiosity with the u.s. nuclear arsenal. and last but not least, a sitting president of the united states called one of his potential successors unfit for that office. in totality, it is an unprecedented level of turmoil, and we didn't even get to every aspect of different parts of the story that rained down on him yesterday. let me bring katy tur in at trump tower. in trump world, there are different factions. there's the professional faction. there's the family faction. there's sort of the people closest to trump faction. there's the rnc. it seems as if everybody is panicking in some form or another. >> if they aren't outright panicking within the campaign, they are telling donald trump that he needs to start toning it down and that he really needs at this point to get it together

nrd get on message. the panic is on the party side, on the rnc side, the national level n state level. i just got off the phone with a swing state gop operative. i want to read you some of the things the person told me about donald trump. they called him diagnosably ill. a psychiatrist would diagnose a personality disorder. they're horrified at the nominee they have chosen and that there are, as you were just talking about, serious considerations behind the scenes about what it will take in order to necessitate them cutting the cord with donald trump. if that happens, what does it look like? is it the rnc not spending money on donald trump's campaign, on the presidentiamical pain, instead directing those funds to the senate races and directing their staff to the senate races and the message away from trump's message and to the republican message that the senators might be running on. the important thing and worry that's on all of the party

officials' minds is not so much donald trump. they realize they can't deal with donald trump but it's the senate races. they need to maintain a majority not just in the senate but the house. how are they going to be able to do that? i asked another party official about this today. i likened it to an abusive relationship, a girlfriend who keeps saying despite the abuse her boyfriend is giving her, the attacks, that he's going to change and that he really loves her and promises this time it's going to be different. the rnc sees that trump has promised he would change and they haven't done so before. they need to find a way to bolster him. if they don't, they lose the senate. >> when they got to what appeared to be a brink and point of no return, that's when the family stepped in and helped right the ship. my question is, ivanka, don jr., eric, i assume they are the ones

on speed dial with priebus, with the giuliani, newt or whatever that thinks they want to help. where are they right now, katy? >> i can tell you that don jr. and eric are not in new york right now. it is unclear where they are. we also spotted ivanka in washington, d.c. unclear what she's doing down there. but i can report there have been conversations between officials and the children to try and get donald trump on message. the children had a large hand in making sure paul manafort took over for lun doewandowskilewand. they were the ones that got lewandowski out and governor pence in as trump's running mate. a huge influence there. so they do hold some sway over donald trump but it took them months to get lewandowski out despite their disaccess with him. months before paul manafort took over. so far it hasn't changed all that much. >> katy tur in your spot in

front of trump tower. some day we'll mark that with a memorialized piece of brass. >> a star. >> n put it up there. katy, thanks. where does the republican party go from here? joining me, michael steele, former rnc chairman. he knows a thing or two about the rules of the rnc, and former virginia congressman tom davis who served as chairman of the national republican congressional committee. gentlemen, welcome to both of you. basically, it feels as if republican officials are sort of -- there's three outcomes they're looking for. either the european corn outcome, he's going to change. the every republican is for themselves and walk away. or they somehow convince him to quit the race. i'm going to start with you michael steele. i can't believe the number of people, fairly important people in this part of town in republican circles who think the withdrawal possibility is real.

that's not the trump i know, but why do they -- >> that's part of the unicorn thinking in some degree because they really want that to be the ultimate outcome. >> they're over the idea he can change? >> the change agent aspect in terms of his own personality that he'll pivot and all this stuff. >> it's not going to happen. >> let's look at the rules. the rules only allow for the party to act when there's a vacancy. that only comes if the nominee dies or resigns. there's no provision. >> they cannot force him off. >> rule nine -- >> couldn't do a new convention, snap -- >> that's sort of shaving the horn off the unicorn. the only way this happens is if donald trump decides i don't want to do this any longer. every indication is that he does want to continue on with the race, even today in florida making it very clear my campaign is focused. we're determined. a lot of that is bluster. we get it. here's the rub.

they've got to figure out in this intervention what the real conversation with donald trump is going to be. and that -- >> the intervention, trump campaign says no, no, no. nothing like this hand. what do you hear? >> no, this is real. this is substantive. and they are conversating right now about how and when to do this right in the next week. less than a week. >> tom davis -- i don't know if you are getting as involved in some of this as michael is. where do you come down, and what would your advice to be a reince priebus? >> if you took him off the ticket, the party implodes. most of the countries going through the same issues we're going through, the wealth disparity, global immigration, they are getting third and fourth parties. >> this is still resolved in a two-party system. >> it's showing a side of life we've never seen before. >> the tensions are there. if you kick it out, that's what you're going to get after campaign finance reform. >> does it become every

republican for themselves? there's now a former executive directors of the nrcc and nrt said essentially every republican for themselves. that's the advice they'd be giving. >> you already have some members that have already done that. if you look around the country, look into illinois and wealthy suburban districts you are already seeing that's in some of these places. it can become more piedsprea widespread. there are some districts where he's running well ahead. if it's every republican for themselves you'd doubt what you'd have to do. that's where we're going if he can't get a disciplined message pretty quick. >> tom thinks it's worse for the party if he somehow quit. >> yeah. >> and i'd agree with that. >> i can see that scenario. because you're alienating one chunk of the party while another chunk feels alienated right now. what do you do? >> well, what you do if you are the chairman is you get together

this group or this effort and get in front of the candidate and say, look. we don't mind trump being trump. we understand that. we know a 70-year-old man is not going to change his stripes at this stage. what you did in the general election against 15 other candidates is not -- the primary is not the same as what you have to do now. the focus now is really being handed to you. hillary clinton and her event this past -- >> i already this a million times. >> so have -- >> he said he'd change. >> but it's not -- >> this is what seems difference in the conversations i've had today. it's sort of like, they are no longer believing that unicorn exists. >> you are in two parts right now. you're either going to cede this election and say to hell with it. we're done. whatever happens in november happens and -- >> isn't that what meg whitman is signaling and some members are signaling? >> that's what some are signaling, but that's not where -- remember, chuck, those

are the people, the base supporting donald trump will get -- we don't care. >> i get that. >> the amazing thing, is it still a competitive race even with all of these mistakes? it's ripe for change. hillary clinton has a hard time putting that obama coalition together. he's helping her. if republicans can get together, they can still win this. >> to his point, that's the second piece. if this is a winnable race, you are in that other space where all the variables line up in favor of you if you just change a few things. >> this is coming at an interesting moment with the race. right now there's been a few polls. if there's a bounce, it's just starting. we don't really know where it is. next week, if this is 7 to 10 points and some swing states in double digits, is it a full-fledged panic? >> by playlabor day, every pers for themselves. >> if you are double digits in a pennsylvania or florida or colorado. >> the third week of august, a

week before labor day. for me, the labor day window is the kickoff. if you're going into labor day double-digit down, there's panic buttons all over this town. >> maybe the olympics -- >> may help things? >> keep our minds off of it. >> there's a lot of other things going on. >> that's what he's counted on every time. >> tom davis, michael steele. it's august and we had a serious discussion on withdrawal. that's the state of this discussion. we'll have more on the gop's current trump crisis throughout the hour. i'll talk to republican senators tim scott and james lankford. they're trying to do something a little different and more uplifting. i'll explain after the break. by the way, here's mike pence moments ago in denver. >> you have nom fainated a man president who never quits, who never backs down. media and the democrats, it seems like there's something new comes up every couple of days, doesn't it?

hourly. and they keep telling each other, they keep saying, now we got him. they think the usual methods are going to work against him. they keep thinking they've done him in, and then you get up the next morning and donald trump is still standing tall and fighting for the american people. americans are buying more and more of everything online. and so many businesses rely on the united states postal service to get it there. because when you ship with us, your business becomes our business. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you

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when it comes to their nominee, there's a republican chorus of "i told you sos" circulating. here's a look back at some of the most memorable trump doomsday predictions. >> donald trump would be an absolute utter disaster for the republican party, destroy conservatism as we know it. >> if they put donald trump in, try to put him in office, if that's what the people want, you're going to see an end to the republican party. it will just be over. there will just be nothing left. >> if trump becomes our nominee and ultimately becomes president, he could actually destroy the republican party.

i truly believe that. >> let me put it very plainly. if we republicans choose donald trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished. i'm not a customer, but i'm calling about that credit scorecard. (to dog)give it. sure! it's free for everyone. oh! well that's nice! and checking your score won't hurt your credit. oh! (to dog)i'm so proud of you. well thank you. get your free credit scorecard at discover.com. even if you're not a customer. at bp, we empower anyone to stop a job if something doesn't seem right, so everyone comes home safely.

because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. wouldn't that be embarrassing to lose to crooked hillary clinton? if we don't make it all the way, sort of been a waste of time, don't you think? >> we're taking much of this hour to look at what is going on inside the trump campaign. the republican party is as divided as ever these days on whether to support him and what to do if they don't. and beyond that, the whole political landscape is fractured. new study out from pew research finds 31% of trump backers have no close friends supporting an opposing candidate. it's true of nearly half of clinton's supporters. it's yet another reminder of polarization in this country and an issue that even elected officials are worried about. two republican senators are working to bridge one of the dividing lines in this country.

and it's on race. and they believe the best place to start is around the dining table. senator james langford of oklahoma and tim scott of south carolina are asking americans to have dinner in their home with a person of another race in a project they call solution sundays. i have to say, senators, of all days to happen to have you on, at a time when there is a lot of divisiveness and hand wringing, this did feel like a bit of a palate cleanser. tell me about where you came up with this idea and why? >> certainly james langford is a good friend of mine, and we were talking about the importance of bringing our country together and specifically different races together. he brought the idea to me of calling something solution sundays. what is it? it's a simple concept of praying and playing together. even if you don't go to church, the concept of prayer is having a cause bigger than yourself and working on that cause together. playing together is really

breaking bread and having a meal together. bringing people who have lived perhaps most of their lives without ever having a meal with someone who is not of their color, bringing those folks together, i've done that for the last several years having meals with friends of mine. i can understand their perspective walking in their moccasin so to speak. that i can have an appreciation for what their lives are like. how their perspective is different. sometimes, many times i've learned so much from my friends who don't look like me but share a love for this country that's such a good foundation for us to work from. >> senator langford, it struck me, is this just -- what is a bigger dwiding line right now? is it race, or is it views of race? and is it party sometimes and ideology that's as divisive as ever? >> yeah, i think party and ideology are divisive but the foundation of a lot of the issues we deal with are still

based around race. when senator scott and i were talking about these issues, the issue continues to come up. for two centuries we've worked on this and we often hear the statement, we need a national conversation on race. for some reason we believe a national conversation on race is political leaders getting together with cameras and talking around a table. that's not how he solve issues in america. if we're going to get all the issues on the table, we need to get all our feet under the table and sit down and have a meal together. most people i talk to when i ask the simple question, have you ever had a family of another race in your home for dinner, most people will answer, i have friends of another race or work with people of another race but they've never had them in their home to have that protracted conversation. that's where the national conversation will happen when you get to know each other. sit down in a meal together, and let's start the conversation. >> before i jump to the other issue that's topping the news these days, senator scott, when

i think about the problem of race and politics in this country, one of the bigger issues is redistricting. too many -- let's be frank. too many republican districts where lawmakers went out of their way to draw minorities out of the district. so they didn't even have minorities as constituents. if you can't have minorities as constituents, they're not neighbors anymore and let alone being able to bring them over for dinner. >> chuck, i can go a step further because i have heard those conversations in the past. and, frankly, those districts were drawn by black lawmakers and while the lawmakers working together for both their objectives of creating districts where you really do have a philosophical district that creates incumbency, frankly, the path to incumbency, which is not necessarily good for the country but that wasn't simply republican lawmakers. it took a coalition of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, both colors working together to

create some of these gerrymandering districts that are the reality. >> senator lankford and senator scott, you both say i'm going to support the nominee. but you're never very enthusiastic about trump. senator lankford, any change of heart? >> no, no change. the key issues that came up for me were trump's first hiring the vice president, mike pence. i'm a big mike pence fan. that speaks a lot of how he wants to do. the second is the supreme court. this came up in both conventions. the importance of the supreme court. that sets the direction for the country for a generation. those things are still very key to me. >> senator scott, any change on this in your head? >> not at all. when i look at the last eight years of the economics of our country, it has been really bad for folks working paycheck to paycheck and even worse for many in the minority communities. the reality is that we have 12 million more americans living in

poverty over the last eight years. a 40% increase in those eligible for food stamps. the rhetoric in the campaign and hyperbollic language on both sides. the dnc looked for ways to take bernie sanders and make him into an atheist for political gain. on both sides of the aisle we hear hyperbolic language. how do i improve the quality of lives for folks economically? i'm sticking with my candidate because i think the republican party is a better future for the average person working paycheck to paycheck. >> senator lankford, what do you tell a constituent who asks you whether donald trump is fit for office? what makes you convinced that he is? >> what makes me convinced is what the american people decide. i don't get to pick that's. this is the same conversation with people when they say how did the party allow this to happen? parties don't pick candidates. people do. more people voted for donald trump and month after month

everyone says he's never going to make it another week, another month and month after month through the primaries he continued to win. his campaign is unorthodox. i come from a christian world view. i don't speak the same way he does. i don't talk about people the same way that he does and i don't want my children to do that. this is not a personality contest. it's a set of policies. so i have to -- >> i have to stop you there. senator, you don't want your children to speak like him. that's -- it must be hard to support somebody you don't believe is a role model for your kids. >> i don't want my daughters to also grow up with the same habits and perspective of hillary clinton. i have two daughters. i have a responsibility as a dad to set a role model. i'd like to have national leaders. i don't have that good option this year. so i look at who is going to set the best policies in the best directions. and that's what's extremely important to me. the polls are going to be a bigger deal than the personalities are. i don't want my children to grow up like either one of them to be

able to speak in that way about people. you can speak and have a disagreement and not have to be cost iic in your disagreement. >> senator scott, what do you tell people? >> i do agree with james lankford over there. when you think about the fact that donald trump won more votes than any other republican candidate in a field of 17, we saw record-breaking turnouts throughout the country, the reality is the average person in america who voted in the republican primary concluded that donald trump is our way forward. and if you look at the economic underpinnings of our country, and i'd like to study those numbers, the reality is when you see real income down 6.5% or more over the last eight years, you start seeing the polarization that occurs in any country where you see the financial, the economic realities moving in the wrong direction. they are looking for someone who will voice those concerns taking a strong position against that type of a movement. donald trump is that candidate.

>> okay. senator scott, senator lankfofrd, good look with solution sunday. considering what's we're dealing with now, it's a nice palate cleanser for the day. thank you for joining me during this august recess. kelly o'connell, my colleague here at nbc, michael steel and jamal simmons. every once in a while we trot out the gore name. kelly, you covered both of those men there. both want to make it clear they're not comfortable with them but they're also go along, get along type of party guys, too. >> very much so and reflecting their states. oklahoma, south carolina. good save for senator lankford republicansing his daughters and hillary clinton after you picked up on his discomfort about trump as a role model. so he -- they are both good on message discipline and that's

what they showed us. relying on the voters. >> don't insult trump, not his supporters. >> don't alienate them because they made a decision. and both of these senators will find at times that they are going to disagree but they'll do it very politely. that's their nature, and i also think that reflects where they come from. >> you brought up the important part, where they come from. it's a difference story for some of these other senators. >> where you come from and how hillary clinton and donald trump are viewed in your state, your district is going to make a big difference. that's why a lot of the traditional metrics may look funny. if some senators who have large white working class populations may have less difficulty than senators who ordinarily would be safer but have large hispanic populations. it's just going to break down more -- it's going to break down differently because of donald trump. >> i do have to quarrel a little bit with the equivalence between hillary clinton and hillary clinton. and i'm a democrat. maybe i'm biased here. a woman who comes from a small

town who made it to yale and secretary of state, been a united states senator. there are things to admire about hillary clinton, even if you disagree with her as a public official. she just is not the same as donald trump who you can't even have him on television at night around little kids because you have no idea what he's going to say. >> that's been the struggle. you saw meg whitman say is that way. and it is interesting. the first breaks have been republican women first. and almost all of -- >> it's all about tone. >> working women, mothers. >> tone in particular. going after mrs. khan was sort of her -- was her final straw. >> and she attacked him. she didn't speak. so she -- >> we're in a reality free zone on a lot of this stuff. >> n that's the part of this michael that it seems as if the party feels paralyzed. i don't know how else to describe it. you have people -- how can we

all know what paul ryan wants to do but he doesn't feel like he can. >> a lot of republicans are trapped between respect for democracy, respect for the will of the voters, concern that he is not qualified to be commander in chief of the united states and a deep distrust of secretary clinton. and those competing factions, those competing factors, each person has to look to their soul and answer that question for themselves. >> and the dominos that would come from top republican officials backing away even more for all of those other races. we definitely see that. and this talk of an intervention. that strikes me as a friendly hostage taking of donald trump where some party leaders are going to try to change -- >> they've done it a couple of times. that's how they got mike pence on the ticket was basically everybody saying, you have to do this. they got paul manafort to come in. you have to do this. they're trying again. but trump is trump. this idea, i love people trying to say, oh, trump is not this

or -- trump has been laser focused. he knows exactly what he's doing. i think it's ridiculous when people say he's sociopathic or this. he knows exactly what he's doing. >> he's on his brand. >> one of the things you have to worry about is if he gets too bad, goes too far, the bottom drops out, what does that mean for down ballot races? can we keep the house if donald trump loses by ten percentage points. >> actually, the democrats who are not happy, i've talked to some democrats not happy with president obama. you know why? >> tell me why. >> because president obama gave a permission slip to other republicans saying donald trump is not a real republican or real conservative. when some candidate tries to paint senator x as just another trump republican, that person can roll out, nope, that's not what barack obama said. >> they'll look for some way, any way to find a way out of this to keep from having to side

up with donald trump. we all know this is a train wreck that's happening. people haven't decided to be on the train -- >> there is an honesty moment here in crow are f you are bara. >> people didn't like the ad from hillary clinton, our children are watching. it's the most inciteful. >> even today, just now, he talked about that ad again and said it's not true. i wasn't making fun of the reporter. it's not true. why are you talking about the ad? anyway, you guys are coming back. i'm in trouble for blowing through our break. an interview like no other. what did donald trump tell "the washington post," and what did he mean? e spent summer binge-wa. soon, she'll be binge-studying. now she writes mostly in emoji. soon, she'll type the best essays in the entire 8th grade. today, the only spanish words he knows are burrito and enchilada. soon, he'll take notes en espanol.

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hillary clinton just began a rally in commerce city, colorado, just outside of denver. let's take a quick listen. >> you can go on the website and you can see about 100 places around america where donald could have made ties, shirts, suits, furniture, bar ware, right here in america. and i hope that more people will start making things here in america again. so we are going to wrk to grow the economy, and i look often at denver and colorado as examples.

and it's another one of the reasons why i admire your governor. the transit system in denver, combined with the new airport connecting not only denver to the airport but other places in the region is growing this economy. and very importantly, it's attracting a lot of young people who want to be able to quickly move. >> we've been listening to a hillary clinton campaign rally. just before we dipped in, her one trump hit was on where trump has his clothes made. the different trump lines there. so that is the clinton campaign hit there. we'll bring you any news from it. if it pops. but up next on "mtp daily," the donald trump interview that had just about everybody shaking their head. it's an unbelievable 50-minute

transcript if you haven't read it. we'll tell you about it on the other side. here's hampton pearson with the cnbc market wrap. >> stocks ending moderately higher. the dow adding 41 points snapping a seven-day losing streak. the s&p up 6 and the nasdaq gained 22. tesla shares little changed after hours. the electric carmaker posted a wider than expected quarterly loss. private sector firms added 179,000 jobs to payrolls last month. that's according to adp. that was more than economists were expecting. the report comes two days before the government's closely watched employment data. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. but did you know that the lack of saliva can also lead to tooth decay and bad breath? well, there is biotene, specially formulated with moisturizers and lubricants... biotene can provide soothing relief

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if you ever wondered what it would be like to spend an hour one on one with trump in this intense controversial moment, no cameras, you can ask him anything, "the washington

post's" familiar rutger got to do just that. it's an in-depth and accidentally humorous window into the republican nominee's mind. trump told him this about his electoral strategy. >> i've got states we can win that other republican candidates wouldn't even stop over for dinner. when asked which ones, trump replied, i'd rather not say what they are. rucker's response, so you'll win with the secret state strategy, to which trump wrote, no, not the secret state, no. "the washington post" philip rucker joins me now. just so you know, donald trump just mentioned the secret state strategy at a rally today. here it is. >> most republicans would never even stop for dinner in some of these states. and you know what? sort of like i feel the same way about isis. i don't want to tell you what the states are. we're going to do well in certain states that nobody thinks of when they think of republicans.

>> i mean, it is sort of -- it's the way trump thinks. >> it's almost verbatim. >> that's the other thing. it's a reminder trump knows x exactly what he's doing and saying. people who don't spend time with trump don't understand about him. he has the most intense faith in his ability to make a win happen in these states where the numbers tell us something totally different. he's simply not competitive in a huge number of states based on polls and everything we know about demographics and politics. here he is thinking he can go into a place like california and win. >> what was interesting about your interview is on some things he's fully focused on. and there are some things that when you brought up, very early in the interview, you just said, you know, he says to you, loudoun county is a big deal. you say whoever wins loudoun wins the election. then trump asks you is that what you think? did you get the sense that's was genuine? that he didn't know loudoun is

the county to focus on when it's virginia or was that for show? >> we were sitting at his golf course in loudoun county. beautiful property. trump national. and i think he was just really stoked the place where he has hundreds of acres of property is a swing property in the election. he showed that off to his aides with him. >> the thing about it is this went all over the place. and yet -- >> yeah. >> -- he did want to come back to specific topics. probably the most fascinating is sort of we -- you meander into ryan and mccain. >> right. >> and then what? >> and then he said he's not ready yet to endorse paul ryan. and we kind of went back and forth on this several times. he was not clear at first and then -- >> then you went to another topic. >> another topic and then he said let me give you the real answer on paul ryan. that's when he came forward with the sound bite which echoed what paul ryan said.

>> the paul ryan subject was him wanting to do the quote that said it that way. >> paul ryan withheld an endorsement for him. >> he's trying to play a mind game with paul ryan, i think. >> the part where it looks like he gets distracted off of topics, explain those moments. what was it like when -- was it a full distraction? was it as distracting as it read in the transcript? >> yes. >> okay. >> we were having lunch at the golf course clubhouse restaurant and right over my shoulder was a tv. it was tuned to fox news, of course. every time he saw himself on television or one of his statements or an image of debbie wasserman schultz he'd interrupt to opine about what he was seeing. clear he was watching tv during the interview. i guess he can multitask. i've never been in an interview like that before. >> do you get the sense he understand yes so many republicans are nervous about his candidacy right now or no?

>> no. i think he has complete faith in the power of his message. and then the fact that this is a change environment and he's the change candidate. and i think he thinks he won these primaries so decisively that it's the same thing all over again. and he doesn't understand the concern and the anxiety that we're all hearing from leaders in the republican party. >> what i also found interesting about this transcript, i assume there was professional staff around? >> yes. >> how does he handle when a staffer tries to end an interview? >> in this interview, it only happened once and it was at the very end of the interview and his aides said, we've got to go catch our flight to new york. he head a fox news interview waiting for him in new york. we wrapped it up there. there were no staff interruptions. >> you are a "washington post" reporter. "washington post" has been credentialed at trump events. is that changing? >> it isn't changing. we're still banned from covering the events although we go in with the germ public and have access to the candidate and

staff. >> you may be banned but you get to have lunch. >> that's correct. >> phil rucker with an unusual interview with the republican nominee for president of the united states. amid all the bad news involving donald trump in the last 36 hours, something did just happen that should give some parts of the republican party some hope. that story after the break. nexium 24 hour introduces new, easy-to-swallow tablets. so now, there are more ways, for more people... to experience... complete protection from frequent heartburn.

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the republican party and the direction of where it's going, guess what? the party at least those in the establishment got some good news. a maybe stream republican candidate just defeated an incumbent republican with anti-establishment backing. it was in kansas' first district. a big thorn, lost his fight to roger marshall. this could make them less fearful of the base. maybe it gives cover to distance themselves from trump or others. we'll see. let me bring the panel back in. it wasn't just huelskamp that lost. the establishment struck back up and down the ballot in kansas. is this a canary in the coal mine for the freedom caucus ring

of the party? >> i think it is a movement toward getting things done. we've had too many people who have made careers over the last several years, obstructing, shouting no and gumming up the works. this is what we're standing up for and he paid a price for it. he was representing the biggest agricultural district in the country. he was such a pain in the neck that he got himself kicked off of the agriculture committee. this was a fight over whether someone can be that obstructionist and get things done and he couldn't. >> here's my concern going into the general election with donald trump on election day. he is a disaffected white voter, what barack obama was for black voters. that leaves paul ryan with a

concentrated right wing set of people. >> our friends at fox news, serve coming out with their first national polls poll convention. ours is later in the week. they have hillary clinton plus 10 in the two-way. still waiting to hear what the four-way is. it is more evidence that she appears to have gotten a bigger bounce out of her convention than did he. >> and he missed on opportunities on issues that would appeal to his voters, not talking about her interview on fox news where it appeared she was still not clear about the e-mail situation. today at least he began but then he veered off again. hillary clinton's convention was successf successful. the messaging has been consistent and tim kaine has been helpful as well. >> she's up 9 in the three-way. >> if we start getting into next

week, you'll start seeing colorado and iowa. i've heard about a specific district in iowa, a swing that had her up double digits. it is the worst six days of her campaign with the best six days of hers. >> don't go too far. >> this was a real concern. the bottom could drop out. there are a lot of people in the republican party holding their noses and supporting trump at this point. how many of those people don't feel need to do that if it is bundantly clear if he is not going to win and he is a drag on the party. how many show up to vote for hillary clinton or not vote for president at all and pull the lever for a republican senator and a republican congressman? that's a real worry for a lot of people. >> and you've been on the other

side when republicans think it is pointless. >> it is, it can be a collapse. every 51/49 race you win means you lose them all. >> this really matters inside key districts. maybe you can come out awash but there will be some districts that really suffer. >> what a day. as you just said, don't assume. >> thank you. we'll be right back. united state to get it there. that's why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. the united states postal service. priority: you he wrecked the rec room this summer. his stellar notebooks will last through june. get back to great. this week, these items just one cent each. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great.

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that is it for tonight. every once in a while we have to let "with all due respect" start on time. >> with all due respect to donald trump's claim that everything in his campaign is hunky dory, there is someone he might want to call. >> reince priebus is not happy right now. >> incredibly upset. >> absolutely furious. >> apoplectic. >> a lot of things bother me. this day many president