and elsewhere that we have mutual defense trueaties, and w will honor them. it is essential that america's word be good. and so i know that this campaign has caused some questioning and some worries on the part of many leaders across the globe. i've talked with a number of them. but i want to, on behalf of myself and, i think on behalf of a majority of the american people say that, you know, our word is good. it's also important that we look at the entire globe situation. there's no doubt that we have other problemsith iran, but personallyd rather deal with the other problems having put that lid on their nuclear program than still to be facing that. and donald never tells you what he would do. would he have started a war? would he have bombed iran? if he's going to criticize a deal that has been very

successful in giving us access to iranian facilities that we never had before, then he should tell us what his alternative would be. but it's like his plan to defeat isis. he says it's a secret plan, but the only secret is that he has no plan. so we need to be more precise in how we talk about these issues. people around the world follow our presidential campaigns so closely, trying to get hints about what we will do. with they can they rely on us? are we going to lead the world with strength on our values. that's what i intend to do. i intend to be a leader of our country that people can count on both here at home and around the world to make decisions that will further peace and prosperity but also stand up to bullies, whether they're abroad or at home. we cannot let those who would try to destabilize the world, to

interfere with american interests and security -- >> two minutes is expired. >> one thing i'd like to say. >> very quickly. >> but i will tell you, hillary will hell ytell you to go to he website and read all about how to defeat isis. right now it's getting tougher and tougher to defeat them, because they're in more and more places and it's a big problem, and as far as japan is concerned, i want to help all of our allies. but we are losing billions and billions of dollars. we cannot be the policeman of the world. we cannot protect countries all over the world. >> we have just a -- >> where they're not paying us what we need. >> we have just a few final questions. >> she didn't say that, because she has no business ability. we need heart, we need a lot of things, but you have to have some basic ability. and sadly, she doesn't have

that. all of the things that she's talking about could have been taken care of during the last ten years, let's say, while she ha great power, but they weren't taken care. and if she ever wins this race, they won't be taken care of. >> this year, secretary clinton became the first woman nominated from a major party. earlier you said she doesn't have a presidential look, she's standing here what did you mean by that? >> she doesn't have the look. she doesn't have the stamina. i said shy doesn't have the stamina, and i don't believe she does have the stamina. to be president of this country, you need tremendous stamina. >> the quote was i just don't think she has a presidential look. >> did you ask me a question? you have to be able to negotiate our trade deals. you have to be able to negotiate. that's right. with japan, with saudi arabia. i mine, can you imagine, we're defending saudi arabia and with all of the money they have, we're defending them, and they're not paying, all you have to do is speak to them. wait, you have so many different

things, you have to be able to do, and i don't believe that hillary has the stamina. >> let's let her respond. >> well, as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina. >> the world. [cheers and applause] >> let me tell you. let me tell you. hillary has experience, but it's bad experience. we have made so many bad deals during the last -- [cheers and applause] so she has experience i agree. but it's bad experience, whether it's the iran deal you're so in love with where we gave them $150 billion back.

you almost can't name a good deal. she's got experience, but it's bad experience. and this country can't afford to have another four years of that kind of bad experience. [cheers and applause] >> we are at the final question. >> one thing, lester. he tried to switch from looks to stamina. but this is a man who has called women pigs, slobs, and dogs. and someone who has said pregnancy is an inconvenience to employers, who has said -- >> i never said that. >> women don't deserve equal pay unless they do as good a job as men. and one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. he loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them. and he called they woman ms. piggy. then he called her ms. housekeeping, because she was latina. dlashlgsd s

donald, she has a name. >> where did you find this? >> she has become a u.s. citizen, and you can bet, she's going to vote this november. >> let me just tell you. >> ten seconds. >> hillary is hitting me with tremendous commercials. some of it's in entertainment. s somebody who's been very tough to me, rosie o'donnell. but you want to know the truth? i was going to say something -- >> please, very quickly. >> extremely rough to hillary, to her family, and i said to myself, i can't do it. i just can't do it. it's inappropriate. it's not nice. but she's spent haufrpundreds o millions of dollars on negative ads even me, many of which are untrue, and they're misrepresentations, and i will tell you this, lester, it's not nice, and i don't deserve that, but it's certainly not a nice thing that she's done.

it's haufrundreds of millions o ads. the only gratifying thing is i saw the pools come lls, and wit million spent, and i'm either winning or tied. >> one of you will not win this election, are you willing to accept the outcome as the will of the voters? >> i support our democracy. and sometimes you win. sometimes you lose. but i certainly will support the outcome of this election. and i know dlaonald's trying ve hard to plant doubts about it. it's not about us so much as it is about you and your families and the kind of country and future you want. so i sure hope you will get out and vote as though your future de depended on it because it does. >> will you accept the outcome

as the will of the voterinvoter? >> i want to make america great again. the other day we were deporting 800 people. perhaps they pressed the wrong button, or perhaps worse than that, it was corruption. these people we were going to deport ended up becoming citizens. end the up becoming citizens, and it's 800, and now it turns out, it might be 1800, and they don't even know. >> will you accept the outcome of the election? >> i'm going to make america great again. i will be able to do it. if she wins, i will absolutely support her. >> that is going to do it for us. that concludes our debate for this evening, a spirited one. we covered a lot of ground. not everything as i suspected we would. the next presidential debates are scheduled for october 9th at washington university in st. louis and october 19th at the

university of las vegas. a vice presidential debate is october 4th in farmville, virginia. my thanks to donald trump and hillary clinton and hofstra university for leasting us tonight, good night, everyone. well, we haven't seen anything quite like that either. and you'd be forgiven for thinking you had just witnessed two separate conversations occurring side by side. >> that was, that was not -- well, let me just say this. there were very specific things about that, that were not as they were expected to go. for one, the audience was a little bit out of control. one of the things that we talked about in the lead up to this was the repeated admonitions to the audience that they should not be a factor. that they should remain silent. the first time we saw that broken tonight was in spoons to

donald trump saying he would release his tax returns if hillary clinton released e-mails from her time as secretary of state and there was a loud shouting, clapping outburst from apparently a pro-trump corner of the room, but that was not the first. there were a number of moments of not just uncontrollable response, gasping and laughter but applause and shouting from the room. that's very, very unusual for a presidential debate. there was a lot that was unusual. but the ambiance of the room. >> the washington post often gets to write the first draft of history, how will this be written? >> i'm scrambling, i have to write it tonight. it was, as you said, two separate conversations on two different planes. occasionally they met. when donald trump said i think my strongest asset maybe by far

is my temperament, they connected there in a funny way, as she just laughed and said woo, okay. and then went on. but, you know, i think, i think partisans of hillary clinton have much reason to be happy tonight. i thought she presented a, she presented her case for being president. there wasn't a whole lot about her e-mails. it didn't sort of get sidetracked on any issue, really. she got to state her case. and her case is that i am, i'm steady. i'm dependable. i will work hard. i will, i have plans. this is who i am. donald trump partisans heard his applause lines, heard him once again promise to make america great again. heard him talk about trade, heard him talk about bringing

the factories back. they didn't hear specifics, because he doesn't give specifics. he didn't say how he's going to do it. but they may have heard what they wanted to hear as well. >> i think the elephant in the room here is trump's non-verbal behavior and his verbal interruptions. there were many dozens of times in which he interjected and interrupted clinton, and he settled into a pattern where it was almost like he was heckling his own debate, where he would pop up in the middle of her answer and say wrong or no, literally as if he were a le heckler instead of participant. i don't think she interrupted him but for a handful of times, and he did so literally dozens of times, almost in a way in which i could not control home self. >> chris matthews, an in-person witness. >> i thought it was a shutout

for hillary. trump was the home run debater, the babe ruth of debaters. i counted home runs tonight, 5-0. hillary hit them on everything, his tax returns, failure too release them, hit him on stiffing his suppliers, the birther issue. her fifth people run was her brilliant clothes. she cleaned his clock tonight. it was a bit embarrassing for trump. i thought of it by watch p"a fe good men." it was over tonight, very clear result, hillary one big time. it was a shutout. >> steve schmid. a veteran of republican campaigns, i can't wait to get your verdict. >> look, i think the deeblt started out pretty good for donald trump, when he was talking about trade issues, he put hillary clinton in the position of having to defend nafta and trade deals that are

veryin ohio, pennsylvania, defending an economic status quo, but we've talked about hillary clinton's fitness, her health, donald trump saying he doesn't have the stamina, but hillary clinton looked terrific tonight, she looked strong, capable. but donald trump looked like a runner out of gas, as we hit the 45-50 minute mark in this debate. and as we got into the national security issues, there was a combination of his interrupting, a combination of his body language, the sighing that showed an exhaustion that then turned into absolute and complete incoherence over the back half of the deeblt. there's a saying used in the military, the seven ps, and it stands for prior proper planning prevents poor performance. his campaign talked about the

lack of preparation as a virtue. but you saw somebody on the stage tonight talking about critical national security issues that was somewhere between incoherence and babble. and never has there been a presidential candidate on the stage talking about national security issues in a presidential debate that's just fundamentally unprepared and incoherent as you saw on the back half of this debate. so this was a huge night for hillary clinton, certainly in a divided country, there will be elements of this debate that republicans will say that donald trump did well. he scored some points on her. i don't think it was a complete shutout. but i think in the middle of the electorate that's undecided, particularly with suburban women voters, as we look at a race where the real clear average has her up about two, three points, that the momentum that donald

trump has had where it has closed from ten points to where it is today. i suspect it's going to start moving in the other direction as we get to the other part of this week. >> part of what has made your intellect so interesting this campaign season is your resume, populated as it is with sir names like bush and mccain, and your background and knowing something about your politics. having said what you just said, do you think this will come down in those two bifurcated prisms, this will be viewed mooning communities who already believe a certain way, or do you think what you just expressed will be kind of the, if people admit it, mainstream view tomorrow morning of what we just witnessed tonight? >> i don't think that there's any way intellectually for you to say that that was a performance of somebody who was coe gent, clear, decisive, had a plan, offered a vision for the

future of the country on a range of national security issues. i do think it will have an impact not necessarily on the undecided voters, but it will have an impact onion deci undec voters. these are the two most unpopular candidates in the hayestistory polling running against each other. so you have significant numbers who don't like either choice who are parked in the gary johnson lane right now. but as we move through this debate, the one thing we can all agree on, gary johnson will not be the president the united states. stay parked there as a protest vote, or will they move over to the clinton campaign column, and i suspect that's what you're

going to begin seeing happening. a lot of those gary johnson voters are not comfortable with trump, and there's nothing he did tonight that will pull them into his column. >> the gary johnson vote is a small thing, but it is an important thing, and i think that point of analysis on national security incoherence from steve is important. if there are voters out there who are disturbed from what they saw from trump today about rambling about japan and not making any sense and the nuclear, which made it sound like he didn't understand the policies he was talking about, those voters are not going to be comfortable with gary "what is aleppo" johnson either. given on how blithely incoherent he's been on even basic stuff. >> nicole, your resume much like

steve's. >> you know, i think that we held hillary clinton to very high standards, and she exceeded them. i mean, it was a performance that was, to me, everything that think had to have hoped it would be, especially coming off what they thought was a rough run at the commander in chief forum. but i think would be incorrect to think that donald trump's numbers are going to collapse tomorrow. he's had other calamitious numbers. he did not win the nomination because of his fluency in foreign policy matters. he did not win the nomination because he knew anything about foreign policy or really any other policy matter, he is almost a protest vote in and of himself. and i thought his two best points of the whole night were pointing out that she's been in government for 30 years, where

still 55% of the electorate is looking for change. his other and maybe only other good argument was an economic one, which if you talk to the clinton folks is their greatest worry, that on economic questions, he does represent more opportunity for change. so, i agree with everything you said about national security and everything i heard steve say, but i think structurally, this thing is so locked and so tense that i'm just not sure we're going to see some dramatic swing. i think she helped herself, i'm not sure how badly he hurt himself. >> what do you make of him -- i mean, we saw the split screen the entire night. i thought it was bizarre, when you said there were two different conversations going on, she held still, watched him, took notes, very occasionally responded to what he did visually. he was like a jumping bean. he never stopped moving. the one-word interruptions. the drinking water, sniffing, moving around the grimacing, the

sighing, that, to me, we talked about the whole basic question being his plausbility as a president, that's a person that you would ask if they were on their medication if you saw them on a plane and they started misbehaving to the flight attendant. >> i had a hard time sitting still. but i have to say, on that point, i think lester let it go and let it stand, because it speaks for itself. and people are going to -- >> the interrupting? >> and it sort of goes to his demeanor and temperament. he's made stamina a point. he clearly lost his ability to focus halfway through. >> right. >> it's obvious. >> and then i think on the fidgeting, that, again, goes to, being president, spoofing bush, that hate the president hard. being president is a lot of standing around, doing things

tedious and long. he didn't stand up on that test. >> the first thing i thought of was that temperament line, because you saw the contrast in temperament there on the screen, on the split screen for the entire debate. and i just can't think, you know, i can't think that voters who are in the middle, undecided or who are in the gary johnson column found anything reassuring about donald trump's manner. they might have found much that was reassuring about hillary clinton's manner. and visual counts. >> i've got two people on deck. steve schmid first, then chris matthews down at the campus. steve? >> i'll just make this point. i think it's almost unfathomable. but as he ran out of gas, and he became more incoherent on the back half of this debate, and we look at the last couple of minutes, we went into a conversation with the republican nominee, talking gibberish about nuclear weapons --

>> that birther moment got a lot of attention, mr. trump. >> why don't you speak to wolf blitzer, because i got to see that. >> she was explaining what happened, because she was there. >> why don't you see. >> a volunteer for was in trafficking in saying that he was a muslim. >> so why don't you do this. why don't you see the reporter for mcklatchy and speak to sydney blumenthal, take a quick look at what she actually said to wolf blitzer. >> will you apologize for that birther past? >> hillary clinton failed because she can't bring it home. she can't bring it home, and she'll fail with jobs and all the way along the line. and i think we proved that. she failed at getting limb him it. >> will you accept the outcome of the election? >> oh, yes, absolutely, i will. >> all right, savannah, that was

a live look at donald trump walking through the spin room. >> donald trump doing the rope line of press. his comments self-explanatory. steve schmid, forgive me. we had to interrupt you in mid thought. >> sure, we have this juxtaposition about him talking about nuclear weapons, and its gibberish. and then he's talking about add whom nen, out of left field justification for why he attacked rosie o'donnell. there's never been anything like it in a presidential debate. he was very much on the side of change, that he painted her into the status quo corner. he was effective on his trade argumentation. but then like a runner, he just ran out of gas. and as he he fatigued and becam incouldi incoherent. i don't think you'll see his

numbers crash, but i think his momentum will stop. you will see the race spread a couple points in hillary clinton's direction. when those averages are at two points, three point, you pick up 1.3, 1.5 pointispoints, that be very significant in a close presidential contest. >> thank you. chris matthews standing by on the hofstra campus with a special guest. >> i sure do. i've got john podesta, chairman of the clinton campaign. it seemed to me there was a pretty clear strategy on part of your candidate, secretary clinton go after trump on the $14 million he inherited from his father which really gets to his ego, going to the budget plan which is going to blow the budget by $5 trillion, going after him stiffing suppliers, in each point sticking him on something economic, something he takes his ego >> and trying to get him to

explode, which he gradually, gradually worked up his temperament problem. >> the thing -- >> was it all planned like i mentioned? >> she came in prepared, and she noted, she was prepared. he was not. and i think that he had issues, particularly with the program that he put forward, massive tax cuts for the wealthy. tax cuts that would benefit himself. >> yeah. >> and he couldn't explain his economic program. >> you're making my point, that she knew he would have to react. point by point she knew that he would have to spend a lot of minutes defending himself and spend most of his time exhausting himself defending himself against her attacks. >> i think he came in unprepared and what we saw was a melt down. you noted that kellyanne conway said he was the babe ruth of debaters. he was mostly like casey at the

bat. if you switch to the sports meta for fo -- meta fore. there's a big question whether he will do the other two debates. i think it was a disaster. >> what about sidney blumenthal. >> incoherent. it's already been fact checked as another lie. he not only compounds the birther lie with another lie, he was, last year in 2015, liar of the year on politifact. and i think he didn't stop tonight. >> what did you think of lester holt al holt's refereeing tonight. trump said he had opposed the iraq war before the war in 2002.

>> the mainstream media being part of the clinton campaign. >> well, i think this has been fact checked to death. it's always been proofved to be falsehood. and he jumped into it again. he dug the hole deeper on his failure to release tax returns and the birther question. >> his temperament tonight. how would you rate it? his temperament? >> it was what we expected and more than we could have hope for. >> hillary was smiling. she was happy. >> one follow up. where is the talk of donald trump taking a pass on the next two debates coming from? i know it's been in the air, in the water, but are you hearing anything fresh?

we >> quewell, if he couldn't eena the questions on people's minds about the health care and the economy, maybe it will be smart if his campaign manager pulled him out of those debates because he was a disaster tonight. >> do you think it's likely? >> i think it's possible. >> john podesta obviously has an interest in the outcome of that question. so he's not exactly an objective observer. i said from the beginning, when it looked like trump would be the nominee it would be 50/50 as to whether he'd do the debates. i feel like we'll see the immediate response sometimes different than the way voters respond, but it's hard to believe that trump would want to leave this as his lasting

impression with the voters. i think he's got to make up some ground even if just on the temperament and out of control. >> people might realize there's nothing mandatory signed to by anyone that there will be three of these and one vp. hillary clinton's comments to america's anxious allies tonight had no force of law but delivered where it was, in the context of that conversation, it had weight. >> yes. well, she was basically -- she paused before she said it and then she turned to the camera and sort of made meaningful eye contact to say what you just heard, let me distinguish american values and american promises from that. >> all week during the unga, the world's leaders were all here all week last week. there was a lot -- we all got our ep