this sunday is the bottom dropping out for donald trump? in just one week we fought with a gold star family. >> i was viciously attacked on the stage of the democratic national convention. >> seen a video that didn't exist. >> iran provided the footage of the money off the airplane. >> and said this about a purple heart. >> i always wanted to get the purple heart. this was much easier. >> i'll talk to two supporters how donald trump can recover plus renewed questions about hillary clinton's trustworthiness after she says this, twice. >> director comey said my

answers in my fbi interview was truthful. >> this morning my interview with clinton's running mate, senator tim kaine of virginia. how do you govern if the public doesn't trust you? >> pole vault, clinton surges into the lead but there are warning signs for her in the nbc news wall street journal poll, joining me for insight and analysis this sunday morning are hugh hewitt, host on the salem radio network and joy-ann reid and managing editor of bloomberg pal ticks and yamiche of the new york times. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press". >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with checked to. >> good sunday morning. does it feel different? we in the media thought we seen the end of the beginning but we were wrong. they would be bailed out with a

win in the primary or a boost. the primary is over and after a head shaking week for donald trump, it may be safe to pull out a political bro mine. you can't win in august but you can lose it. our nbc news wall street journal gives clinton the nine-point lead and clinton leads by three in the four-way matchup when you include gary johnson and jill stein. a new washington post abc poll puts clinic town ahead 50-42. these national polls are hardly alone, this is what the real clear politics graph of polls looks like. beginning in july, you can see trump did get a bump from his convention. that's the little red hump there but clinton now leads by an average of seven percentage points and you can see the graph open up. the news is bad for trump in state polls where clinton pulled ahead in battle ground states, double digits in a couple but the biggest news on friday, this georgia poll had clinton up four

points. democrats haven't won georgia since 1992 and clinton campaign is expanding staff in georgia and arizona likely means tv ads are coming there on another vulnerable red state. by the way, this is a week they pulled out of virginia. perhaps nobody is happier to see the olympics begin than donald trump. the olympics have a way of taking voters' minds off politics for awhile and maybe, just maybe trump uses that time as a chance to reset. >> if you don't like me, that's okay. vote for pence because it's the same think. >> for months, trump has been locked, now unraveling is an understatement. trump's campaign appears to be one gap away from a full implosion. trump began the week with an attack on gold star parents. >> i was viciously attacked on the stage of the democratic convention by mr. khan and i responded. >> refused to endorse the top

republican in washington, speaker paul ryan. >> does trump's non-endorsement jab signify lingering resentments between the two of you? >> heck if i know, jay, i won't try to psycho analyze this stuff. >> i'll be the last one to use nuclear. i'll be the last one. believe me. >> trump told "usa today" if daughter ivanka was sexually harassed, i would like to think she would find another career or company if that was the case. he claimed again and again to have seen a secret video of a u.s. cash shipment to iran that does not exist. >> i don't think you've heard this anywhere but here, iran provided all of that footage, the tape of taking that money off that airplane. >> finally backtracking on friday, it's all adding up to a talk of a political intervention, which the campaign has denied. >> it's a totally false report. we're doing well.

>> trump wasn't happy when his campaign manager pointed the finger at trump. >> my candidate is in control of his campaign. >> the worst news for trump, the polls. he's dipped below 40% nationally and losing ground in the swing states he needs to win. down nine points in michigan in a four-way ballot test. 13 points in pennsylvania, 15 points in new hampshire and even georgia suddenly looks competitive. some swing state republicans are defecting. running against him on the air. >> people ask me, what do you think about trump? honestly, i don't care for him much. >> others even saying they will vote for hillary clinton. at the highest levels of the party and even among trump's allies, there is a feeling of desperation. >> donald trump is the one person that can fix his campaign and if he's going to be the issue, we're going to lose. >> trump is trying to turn the page. >> paul ryan. >> reading an endorsement of ryan, john mccain and kelly

ayacht at a rally on friday planning a monday speech in detroit with the odds of replacing trump on the ballot very slim, some republican leaders are telling their house and senate candidates, it's every republican for themselves. >> if i were advising a candidate, the first thing i'd say is don't put yourself in the middle of other people's races. >> i spoke with senator tim kaine of virginia campaigning in milwaukee. let me start with our poll and a lot of other polls. essentially, if you look at our poll, this race would be over right now, but for one giant issue that the american public has, and that is a trustworthiness issue with secretary clinton. how do you -- how do you govern if the public doesn't trust you? and if they don't trust you, how do you restore the trust? >> chuck, i'm not assuming that will be the case. i think we came out of the

convention with a real positive momentum. it started with churn on the democratic side on monday but by thursday night we were together polling the same direction. hillary clinton did a great job telling her store ry and others talked about how it happened. the reason we're doing veteran polling is folks are getting reintroduced in a positive way. the other thing i have the ability to do as her running mate, i can brag about hillary in a way she's not going to brag about herself. we're both midwesterners, i love talking about other people. and i love talking about hillary clinton's life of service, especially her work to empower families and children which has been a consistent theme. >> she didn't help herself on another sunday show she was asked about the e-mail situation and what director come yes sa ed i want to get you to respond on the other side. it's secretary clinton and

director comey. >> i had not sent classified material nor received anything marked classified. >> fbi director james comey said none of those things you told the american public were true. >> chris, that's not what i heard director comey say. >> secretary clinton said i did not e-mail any classified material to anyone. there is no classified material. that was true. >> there was close fied assifie material. >> what i said is consistent with what i have told the american people. >> did hillary clinton lie to the fbi? >> we have no basis to conclude she lied to the fbi. >> did she lie to the public? >> i can't answer. >> let me ask you senator kain can you conclude here whether or not secretary clinton lied to

the american public? >> i'm going to jump to the punch line. i heard hillary clinton say over and over again when i sit next to her and watch her on tv that with respect to the e-mails, i made a mistake and i've learned something and i wouldn't do it again and i've heard her apologize. i did hear that back and forth and i think chris wallace and hillary were sort of talking past each other last week. she was saying what director comey acknowledged to be true, when she spoke to the fbi, the fbi thought her answers in that setting were truthful. chris might have been asking her a different question, but the bottom line is this, she made a mistake and she said over and over again i made a mistake and i've learned from it and i'm going to fix it and i apologize for it. >> in an interview, you said she told you she's going to do it differently. what does that mean? are you guys going to be -- >> i think the transparent -- >> what does that mean? the same thing she's said. look, knowing what i know now, i wouldn't have done the private

server in they what. she said it's a mistake. i'm not presumptuous enough to think about how i'm going to do things after november, but i know that this is something that she's learned from and we're going to be real transparent, absolutely. >> i'm going to move to national security issues. i'm going to ask you about this iran issue, obviously, there's been some concern that the payments that the american government owed the iranian government going back in the '70s were essentially made right at the same time as the hostages that they had were released, the president swears it's not ransom. but how can -- down why the american public looks like it was some sort of connection that iran wasn't going to budge until the u.s. started giving back money it thought it belonged to them? >> chuck, here is the only thing new about this. this arrangement, the settlement of a claim with iran, the payment of a portion of that settlement, hostages coming home, thank god.

this was brief to congress and the american public months ago. the only thing new this week, the only thing new is donald trump is claiming to have seen a non-exist tablentin video of cag given to the iranians. he finally got shamed into acknowledging -- >> senator. that's not -- that wasn't my question. my question is, i understand, fine, it was 6 months old news. it doesn't mean. do you understand why it looks like a ransom? >> i understand why donald trump is trying to make something out of it but look, you have two important issues. the first one is there was a legitimate claim against the united states. the united states bargained it down to a fraction. we're making claims in international tribunals and having claims made against us all the time. we paid a portion of the claim, and we got hostages home. both of those things are appropriate and i understand why trump is trying to make

something out of it, but there's just no there there. >> you don't believe it looks like a ransom? >> no, absolutely not. we don't pay for hostages. we don't negotiate for hostages, absolutely not. we're a nation of laws and if there is a claim we think we owe something on, we try to bargain the best way we can. >> this week by began, there was an announcement of air strikes. in 2011 you were critical of the administration saying they needed to get authorization for the initial intervention into libya. do you believe -- >> right. >> do you believe the president made a mistake going into libya against isis without congressional authorization? >> i do not think we should be in an offensive war without congressional authorization. that's my position. secretary clinton said congress should do its job instead of hiding under their desks and have a debate and have a vote on

military action against isil. if we do that, i'm confident congress would support military action, but what we see is a congress that doesn't want to vote yes or no. i really put the fault of this more on congress' shoulders, chuck, but i don't think the current legal authorities are sufficient to wage this war against isil and even though there is legal dispute about that, i also believe the head of the joint chief of staff said, he said our troops deserve to know that congress supports this mission because they are out risking their lives and some lost their lives already. >> it's fair to say you and s secretary clinton disagree because she says it does provide the legal justification to do this. you in 2014 disagreed with that conclusion. so you guys are on opposite sides of this issue. >> i have very grave doubts about whether the legal authorities currently in place allow us to wage an offensive war against isil but secretary

clinton and i get to exactly the same spot in that hillary has said, this probably goes back six or eight months now, that congress should finally own up to its responsibility that the most solum responsibility in article one of the contusion to authorize this military action. our troops deserve it. our allies need to know it and our adversary needs to know it. >> let me ask you about going one more when it comes to syria. >> absolutely. >> do you believe it was a mistake in hindsight not reenforcing the red line? >> i actually think when the president did was he brought a war authorization request to congress on the foreign relations committee. i voted for it and after the foreign relations committee voted yes, we were able to broker a deal to have syria get rid of one of the largest chemical weapon stockpiles in the country. if you go to israel, they say the destruction of the stockpile

was very, very good. where i do think there were challenges is there was a mixed message sent about whether or not assad must go. once the president said assad must go and we chose and i think wisely we chose not to make the deposing of the leader of another country the priority. that raises some expectations that was probably unfortunate. so yeah, whether you think back retrospect, we could do things differently but it was a very, very difficult situation and remains so. >> couple final questions. i know we're running out of time. if you win this election, or lose, you're going to be participate income a lame-duck session of congress. >> yeah. >> number one, are you now committed to fight tpp in that lame duck now that you've essentially switched your position with secretary clinton. is that going to be your position? >> it is. i was a strong supporter a year ago of giving president obama the ability to negotiate a trade

deal but i said at the time when that deal was done and on the table, i was going to look carefully and expressed a very serious concern i had with how it was developing, which is that companies were given rights to enforce provisions but the labor and environmental provisions could not be effectively enforced. that was never fixed. i'd asked again and again to understand this piece of the tpp and i've never gotten a good answer. we can't have a deal that cannot be enforced and so for that reason, i'm going to oppose it after election day. >> do you believe the nomination should be taken up during the lame duck regardless if you win or lose. >> absolutely. >> he should be taken up as t nominee. >> look, if it coa comes up for

vote, it's supposed to be the legit the question for nominees, of course i vote. >> it's not 100% his nomination stays if your ticket wins? >> you know, i think the dems may well take it. i think we're going to g ting . it will be the republic majority. i have id no ya. they pledged that they won't. if it does, i'm going to vote for him. >> all right. senator kaine. i'll leave it there. be safe on the campaign trail. thanks for coming on. >> you got it. >> panelists here, hello all. >> hello. >> i want to dig into a couple things in the kaine interview but before that, simple state of the race, mark you've seen campaigns lost in august. obviously we know they are not won in august. maybe in hindsight. is this that kind of week for donald trump? >> he had so many problems not just in the horse race but certain demographic groups.

it is challenging for any republican to build a demograph demographic. donald trump's performance over the last ten days made that harder. it's hard to see right now where he gets, again, the demographics to add up to 270. it is august. he does have debates, but on the trajectory, this would not be a close race. >> hue huet where is the point of no return? >> september. i don't applaud it or endorse it but the fact of the american electr electret, if donald trump walks out on september 6th and announces trump, the new season and says that was last season and i completely changed. a lot of americans in reality mind set, reality tv mind set will accept that and give him a second chance. they are cheered by the reuters' poll. a lot of people don't put credibility in it. they are not believers like the other poll. september will tell. >> the problem with that is if it was one thing, if it was just

that the candidates temperament is difficult to manage, if it was just they don't have a ground game in the swing states, don't have resources deployed in ski states and if it wasn't the bad week came immediately after the golden week for any campaign right after your convention, donald trump actually stepped into hillary clinton's convention time to make himself the issue. so the fact he emulated in that important ten days after the convention and now you have a long august where people are not necessarily top of mind thinking about the candidates and the image of him is engrained, he'll come into september with the image baked and he doesn't have a ground game to fix the campaign. >> there is always a but when we talk about, in fact, this week there has always been a but and the but is hillary clinton, truth worth n trustworthiness and i want to play hillary clinton's response. it would be the montage i used with senator kaine but it

happened after i was e-mailing senator kaine. >> i have said during the interview and in many other occasions over the past month that what i told the fbi, which he said is truthful is consistent with what i said publicly, i may have short circuited it and for that, i, you know, will try to clarify. >> she cannot seem to -- she's got to clarify. she herself said i got to clarify again. this is a year now. >> it's year hillary clinton the last words you want to say this summer are i have to clarify or i'm short circuited. the idea she's still talking about this and it's mushing and you haven't come to a clear answer goes to the fact she has real credibility issues. the issue here is donald trump, the demographics of donald trump need to win the election are the constituencies i think will have a real problem even if he comes out after labor day and says i'm a new donald trump. you had a track record of

ascending some of the main people you need to win the election and i was having a conversation with republican strategists last night because i want to the convince for the national association of black journalist and they said no, we were pushing him to talk in front of the nabj and pushing him to talk in front of a national urban league and he didn't want to do it. he felt it was a hostile group. i think that will go to the problems he's going to have. >> can i just say on e-mails, the blessing and the course for hillary clinton is the e-mail story is complicated. the course is trying to explain it, her answers are so detailed and complicated when you explain you're losing. >> she sounds like a lawyer. >> it's also so complicated when you talk to voters they don't get it. they have g mail so it doesn't sound criminal so when donald trump goes over the top and tries to say it's criminal, he e leads the audience. >> short circuit is portuguese

for i did not tell the truth. her problem is trustworthiness. >> short circuit was a bad '80s movie. >> she reinforced her worst thing. sula the roman dictator, no friend has done me an injury that i have not repaid in full and he relives that every day. her dishonesty and his enemy's list are the two competing narratives. >> mark, i get the sense we may be getting to the point where hillary clinton gets in the i'm done answering e-mails and i won't do it anymore and i'll be curious to see how that plays out. >> i believe that her campaign needed to clean up what happens last sunday but for now they don't think they will lose on trust worth kn n trustworthiness. >> trustworthy numbers, honesty -- >> they are about equal. >> she's narcotic rowed the gap. this will come down to the economy and who people think

will make their lives better and on that score, both have a lot of work to do. >> they do. i want to pause and talk more about the campaign but when we come back, we'll hear from two of donald trump's strongest supporters. lieutenant general mike flynn retired to be a candidate to be trump's running mate and florida governor rick scott who heads donald trump's super pack and out of the olympics, gold, si silver and bronze medals for gas of gas-filled week. here is one

as a supervisor at pg&e, it's my job to protect public safety, keeping the power lines clear, while also protecting the environment. the natural world is a beautiful thing, the work that we do helps us protect it. public education is definitely a big part of our job, to teach our customers about the best type of trees to plant around the power lines. we want to keep the power on for our customers. we want to keep our community safe. this is our community, this is where we live. we need to make sure that we have a beautiful place for our children to live. together, we're building a better california.

our next guest is a retired three-star general briefing trump since at least february. lieutenant general michael flynn spent 33 years in the military come nating with his position of the defense agaency from 2012 t 2014 and influence can be heard on global security and he was vetted to be trump's running mate. flynn who just this year released the field of fights. it's his book how to fight international terrorism. welcome to "meet the press." as you know this week there have been questions raised about donald trump's temperament and clinton campaign wants to make

it a big issue. i want to play a quick excerpt of a video hitting today. >> the prime objective of the foreign policy of putin has been to destroy nato. >> nato is obsolete and extremely expensive to the united states. >> this gets at this issue of putin, russia and nato. >> right. >> let me ask you une kwif quickly, where is he on nato? does he believe it in as a robust important institution? >> i mean, i'm going to state just like the current supreme ally commander just recently said. what nato needs to be done with is needs to be modernized. the organizations, the nations part of nato need to understand what their capabilities are and understand what their responsibilities are. and one of those responsibilities when you become a member of nato and sign up for that -- for the responsibilities that not only come with being -- with providing capability but also being able to have others respond for you in time of need is to pay your bills and i mean,

that's a big deal. if we -- it doesn't mean we're not going to, you know, support our responsibilities as america, but this means people have to realize -- >> he actually said he might with hold, that you have to think about those things. was that a responsible thing to say? >> i think what we have to do is make sure we understand what our responsibilities are in an al alliance like nato. i'll go back to the previous, particularly military commanders but part of the system, if you will, alliance that said they understand they need to do more. >> this issue of russia, though, does keep coming back with donald trump. mike moorrell, i'm guessing somebody you worked with and putin said he was a korean officer trained to identify vulnerabilities and exploit them. that's what he did early in the primaries. mr. putin played upon mr. trump's vulnerabilities and the

intelligence business we would say mr. putin recruited mr. trump as an agent of the federation. >> is putin treating the global clinton initiative as a participant? i mean, so i mean, you know, what you're asking is something that is hypothetical versus what we know is going on with the clintons and their relationships with russia and russian organizations, i mean, not just in russia. i think that's something that there has to be, you know, a give and take on this on all of these comments and things out in the media right now. >> okay. what is -- why is there -- there is a feeling of a close relationship with putin and let me go back to nato. do you believe nato, i mean, in its current capacity -- >> so -- >> does it still need to be a chuck on russia. >> the assumptions nato built on need to be revisited because there is a highly complex threat

environment we are facing and nato needs to come to grips with sort of the modernization, resources, types of capabilities we need. there has been recent changes and some recent things that have been taken by nato but this is really not so much about nato but it's about how we as americans and how we as america decide how we're going to operate in the 21st century. we're in the second decade, chuck and we're behind the power curve in so many ways. >> let me ask you this, when we were talking about he was asked about ukraine, he was asked about crimea and sort of implied that all right, that's over and done with, the russians can keep crimea. he didn't say it directly but implied that. >> be specific about how you, i think, for all the media, how they address the things he's saying and what it is we have to do -- >> do you believe russians are illegally taken away crimea.

>> if -- i appreciate you highlighting my book. i take russia on in my book. and do believe russia has an anti u.s. view of the world. you have to read russia's national security strategy and i'm not sure what ours is. i know what russia's is and they have a view of the united states that is not in our best interest. >> does donald trump understand that? >> donald trump clearly understands that. he gets it. >> let me ask you one final thing on this issue of nuclear weapons. does he believe that you can use nuclear weapons tactically? because that seems to be where this idea why can't you use nukes tactically and talking about isis, why would you take that off the table. does he believe in a tactical use of them? >> yeah, i mean, i would say that's really not the issue as much as understanding all of our capabilities and understanding what it is we bring to bear and also this notion about being

predictable or unpredictable. we have become the best enemies around the world by continuing to tell our enemies exactly what we're going to do and in your previous segment, you mentioned the red line. we just had the secretary of defense on the other day telling the world essentially which towns we were going to conduct an movement. we say how many troops we're sending in. our enemies love when we telegraph what we're doing. >> general flint, i'll leave it there. >> appreciate it. when keep come back, despite rising poll numbers, there are bright red flags and she gives us our second entry into the olympic style gold, silver and bronze competition for the worst or best gas of the week. you heard this one a little earlier but here it is again in case you missed it. >> what i told the fbi which he

said is truthful is consistent

g. welcome back. it that time again, the weekly data download. in a deep dive to the nbc news wall street journal poll. as we showed you clinton reads 47-38 but this poll is not all good news for clinton. there are some significant weaknesses and surprising areas of strength for donald trump. on personal characteristics, trump leads clinton by 13 points on the issue of being honest and straightforward. 35-22. more than half of voters, 56% give clinton a negative rating on this. in fact, it's where she's consistently struggled this

entire campaign and on the issues that concern voters the most, trump's attack on the khan family really is no bigger of a concern than clinton's e-mail controversy or her paid speeches. in fact, all three controversies rank higher for voters than concern for trump's failure to release tax returns and we should note, both of clinton's issues were bigger concerns to independent voters than either of trumps so why is clinton so far ahead? she dominates in two key characteristi characteristics, knowledgeable and leads 57-23 and having the right temperament to be president. she leads by more than 30 points over trump 48-16. a nine-point lead for clinton is significant but overall both candidates are heading into the fall with the same problems they each have beentruggling with throughout this entire campaign. and right now, the voters are saying they care more about temperament than honesty. can trump turn that around? when we come

welcome back. at times it's not easy to find republicans eager to support donald trump but one elected republican is rick scott now in the second term as governor of florida. governor scott is the national chairman of the super pac that is dedicated to electing donald trump and of course, in the middle of the dealing with the arrival of the zika virus in his state. welcome back to "meet the

press". >> good morning, chuck. we have a new ad coming out. >> i hear you and before i get to politics, i want to do a quick update from you on zika. the cdc issued a travel warning to this neighborhood that's basically right next door to downtown miami, the winwood neighborhood. is it safe now to go into the winwood neighborhood? >> absolutely. i was there on thursday. i talked to local businesses. i had breakfast. we are doing a very good job of working to get rid of the mosquitos, there are department of health at the state and local level are doing a very good job. we have 16 cases. we have been able to reduce the area that we had a concern about by ten blocks on friday. so we are working hard. we're making sure everybody pregnant has the opportunity to get an assessment and test if they want it. and we're keeping everybody informed. what we're doing is working. >> you said the federal

government failed the state when it came to zika but cut. in hindsight, do you regret making that cut. in august to get this funding passed. >> we allocated dollars better. we reduce funding but dramatically reduced the funding over the last five years or six. we have. the feds need to become a partner. i ask on friday or on thursday when i met with the cdc, i asked for 10,000 more zika repair kits. we need the federal government to show up and we have to work together and this is an international issue, not just a florida issue. >> governor, let's move to politics. you talked about, you're on here and got a new attack ad hitting secretary clinton.

i'll hit an excerpt and hit you on the other side. >> we came out of the white house not only dead broke but in debt. >> it didn't last long, a foundation created and money started to roll. speeches, regimes, wall street insiders, corrupt dictators had one thing in common, their check cleared. >> let me ask you this, it's only airing in three states and you guys only have a budget to compete in three states. are you -- can you compete state to state for the clinton campaign. >> the clinton campaign committed -- a little over $100 million in ads. this starts tomorrow in three states. ohio, north carolina and florida. we need to continue to raise money. you can go to rebuilding america.com to look at the ads that we've had up and this new ad and we have to -- we're out there working every day to raise money to set the record straight. we got donald trump business person versus hillary clinton a

careered politician. hillary clinton is never created private sector job. that's the election. it's all about jobs. >> it was interesting, your ad is hitting her on personal stuff when it comes to paid speeches and implies on some transparency issues and things like that. let me ask you, why did you release your tax returns when you ran for governor of florida the first time? >> i figured, you know, my view is give everybody all the information and let them make good decisions. as you know, every candidate does things differently. not everybody releases tax returns. i release tax returns and release my balance sheet. i've been blessed in public housing going to school and had the opportunity to build businesses. >> i understand you did that. was your advice to donald trump to be more transparent when you want to make attacks on hillary clinton's stick. don't you want the high ground here? >> well, every candidate is going to do something different. let's think about this. they walked out of the white house broke and started a foundation and worth over $100 million. there is something that doesn't

pass the smell test. that's our concern. publics, you shouldn't be getting rich because you're a public servanservant. >> i guess the question with the tax return issue is don't voters need to know you released it because your integrity is called into question and conflicts of interest. there were legitimate reasons attacks being made against you. you said i'm putting out my tax returns so everybody can see if there is a conflict of interest or not. you did a blind trust. that's what voters are wondering about donald trump. doesn't that eliminate those questions if he releases these returns? >> chuck, i can tell you my case, i released my tax returns and assets that i had. i want to make sure nobody knows i had a conflict. i don't take a salary. i pay my own way to fly around the state. that's what i do. every candidate is different. chuck, this election is about jobs. donald trump knows how to create jobs. hillary clinton a careered

politician never created jobs. she had a chance to destroy isis. she failed. donald trump has said he'll focus on destroying isis. that's why i support donald trump. i want jobs. i want somebody to defend this country. >> if you were running for president, you would be releasing more information, though? >> well, i mean, my track record is, you next i've always been as transparent as i can. everybody knows i'm not making money in the job but every candidate is different. this sbis about jobs. i need a partner in dc. >> governor rick scott from florida. thanks for your time. appreciate you coming on. >> come to florida, chuck. >> i do all the time. go the to see mom, that's for sure. thank you. we'll be back in a moment with republican worries about donald trump going to start running away from them in congressional races and later, we'll reveal our panel gold, we'll reveal our panel gold, silver and bronze gaffes of the♪

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now you can watch nbc's coverage of the rio olympic games live at home or on the go. we're back. the panel is here. there was something that happened this week among the different headlines that kind of got lost. paul ryan fund raising e-mail said this. if we fail to protect our majority in congress, we could be handing president hillary clinton a blank check. mark, president hillary clinton aid blank check. not too subtle of a signal that

says republicans you're on your own. >> the 1996 republican party abandoned the president. why does a congressional state wing loyal in tough times. if you have conflu wednesday of interest. the only personal loyalty. most members of congress don't know donald trump. the reason picking mike pence was a great idea, they know mike pence. mike pence will keep them loyal personally until and unless they decide you got to tell voters don't give hillary clinton the blank check. we seen the party do it before. >> you've been doing reporting. what are republicans telling you? >> they want to try to wait for donald trump to pivot. they have been waiting for the vis pivot for a long time. even though they have a big lead in the house, the senate is vulnerable and at some point you say how do we stick with the candidate and stick with this message? i think within the republican party, people are trying to pressure donald trump to say

different things and to do different things and try to be unifying but even just this week with the fact he was holding out endorsing paul ryan, that shows that he's not as interested in party in someways as people want him to be. >> keep in mind it's a high risk strategy when you wait. we live in a world where you have early voting. there is a possibility if donald trump is still being donald trump well after labor day and october people are voting. he could be day to day losing in realtime. >> hugh, the risk is both ways this is what glen boldger, do we run the risk of depressing the base or run the risk of being tarred and feathered by not repudiating. we're dammed if we do and dammed if we don't. >> he leads part of the party but leader ryan is the guy who leads. he's talented enough to walk between votes. he's able to thread this needle.

i think he does it by directing fire at president obama. his presidency is six words, leading from behind, red line, jv. 52% job rating. >> the red line, you brought up earlier with general flint empowers everyone from donald trump on the way down to do whatever they need to do to remind people that you can change your mind. >> here is the problem, if you try to run on national security issues, president obama is the most popular politician that we've discussed this morning and secondly, donald trump's main gaffes this week are on issues that touch on national security then why can't we use nuclear weapons. this affinity for vladimir putin. the mistakes go to the core of what republicans used to be strong on, issues of military and national security. you're not going to win over the suburban security mom with a candidate so unstable in the washington poll numbers, more than 70% say he actually, it

gives him anxiety. >> rick scott is right about the issues republicans want donald trump to talk about. jobs and strong on national security. the problem is trump cannot convince voters he was a serious person qualified to be commander in chief with the right temperament. if voters don't see him as someone qualified or having the right temperament, they won't take his ideas or jobs and isis seriously. >> how does he change the personality and temperament. this is who he is. he's not pretending this be this way. he is this way. you can't change the fundamentals. >> the frustration with the republicans i'm talking to is he really isn't capitalizing on the fact hillary clinton is also having issues and gaffes. she walks out of the interview with the fbi, footage and this moment and again have a gaffe. she has this issue with females and again, here you are with this whole week. i think republicans are also deeply frustrated because you look at the data download segment is key. it shows they have as much

issues with her issues as his issues. >> how does a 70-year-old woman prove she's telling the truth. >> she isn't 70. >> 69. how does she persuade people -- >> it goes back to if you have issues with hillary clinton, the republican nominee isn't bringing those up. he's triggered instantly by mr. khan or a personal sauce. list narcissim outweighs his ability to do the baseline of politics so what you do is have donald trump continue webally m the argument of donald trump. >> i'll pause because we have medals to handout. it's ocho li olympic scoring. i don't know the p?p?h

kept in a mayo jar since midnight. here are the results beginning with the bronze medal. >> a man came up to me and he

handed me his purple heart. i use waalways wanted to get th purple heart. this was much easier. >> hugh hewitt, that was cringe worthy because you get a purple heart when you get injured. >> there is a lack of understanding how to receive the highest honor. you don't want to be kerry walsh jennings. we'll see who wins next. >> let's go to the silver medal. >> what i told the fbi, which he said was truthful is consistent with what i said publicly, so i may have short circuited it and for that, i, you know, will try to clarify. >> short circuit, bad '80s movie. >> again, it's the over complicated explanation she's an attorney and in the answers you don't want to come across as an attorney. >> that's for sure and now gold. >> i was viciously attacked on the stage of the democratic national convention by mr. khan, and i responded. >> i have to say, that i think

ended up with a gold, actually you read the profile of the khans today in your publication. >> i think this goes back against his idea of national security and alienating a family and showing to be presidential if you disagree with this family, how do you go after them? i think voters are having a hard time and over 70% of people feel like he handled this poorly even if they don't agree with the khans, they feel like he handled it poorly. >> he wants to convince voters he cares about people like them and his failure to express empathy for the khans. >> empathy is a huge issue overall in general. thank you-all. before we say good-bye, quick programming note as you get ready to watch the olympics here on nbc, there will be coverage on ms srkmsnbc and catch mtd d. that's all for today.

remember, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. it's a housing unit with a reputation. >> it's a party. it's a party. >> it can get pretty wild here in "g" dorm. >> it's like a big sorority house, but with a bunch of friggin' gay people in jail. >> and "g" dorm is about to turn one new inmate's life upside down. >> i'm just scared. i'm scared to death. i just want my mom.