take minor, you're going to be clogged with crap for a very long time. >> i think everyone's glad larry david's back. the political parody helped "snl" score its biggest season premie premiere ratings since 2008 when tina fey debuted her sarah palin impression. that's all for tonight. "with all due respect" starts right now. he's a genius -- >> a genius. >> there's no one who's shown nor genius. >> a genius. >> an economic genius. >> he's a genius. >> i want a man who's a genius. >> absolute genius. this is october, and according to trump's first law of political physics, a controversy in motion, well, it tends to stay in motion. news cycles between now and

election day are a precious commodity for both presidential candidates, especially, though, for donald j. trump, billionaire, who remains behind in the race. republican nominee's spat with alicia machado helped make last week a truly horrible one for trump, one of his worst, and distractions for the donald keep coming. over the weekend, trump world was hit with a big "new york times" story, showing the nominee declared a nearly $1 billion loss on his 1995 income tax returns. a loss that would have allowed him to limit his federal income tax burden over many years, maybe down to zero. it was a headline clinton wasted no time bringing up today at a campaign rally in toledo, ohio. >> you all know that in the debate, he said it was smart to avoid paying taxes. yesterday, his campaign was bragging it makes him a genius. here's my question. what kind of genius loses $1 billion in a single year?!

this is trump to a "t." he's taken corporate excess and made a business model out of it. he abuses his power, games the system, puts his own interests ahead of the country's. it's trump first, and everyone else last. >> trump clearly recognizing that he's on the offensive, gave extended prepared remarks today on this matter at a rally in pueblo, colorado. >> the unfairness of the tax laws is unbelievable. it's something i've been talking about for a long time, despite, frankly, being a big beneficiary of the laws. but i'm working for you now. i'm not working for trump. as a businessman and real estate developer, i have legally used the tax laws to my benefit. and to the benefit of my company, my investors, and my employees. i mean, honestly, i have brilliantly -- i have brilliantly used those laws.

>> so that is not the only era, however, where donald trump is on defense. the ap has a new piece out, in which more than 20 cast and crew members of "the apprentice" were interviewed and some of them described crass and sexist behavior by trump. the senate of public integrity published a report that more than a decade ago, trump's real estate company rented real estate space to an iranian bank with reported ties to hezbollah and hamas. and today we also learned that on friday, new york attorney general eric schneiderman sent trump a letter that his charitable foundation is violating state law for soliciting donations without the proper certification and ordered its to cease its fund-raising immediately. so, mark, donald trump does not have all that many more news cycles left to burn, so the question -- the burning question, so to speak, can he get off of defense and on to offense before the debate on sunday? and if so, how? >> not entirely. the public polling that's out today, which we'll discuss later

in the program, is mostly bad for him. there's a few bright spots, but clearly, he's lost ground since the debate, all the totality of the national and battleground state polling suggests. he'ses he's on the defensive and the debate performance is what it set it all off. barring some huge disclosure about hillary clinton, i think trump's going to be on the defensive. he can claw his way back, but it really does weight for the debate. >> here's how this tax story is problematic for him. first of all, the reporters involved, they promise they're working on more stories to come. they want to get those stories out as soon as possible, ideally before this debate. they're pursuing that angle. trump's argument about the tax thing would be very powerful if he set his tax returns out and say, here's the way in which i have manipulated the system, i'll put all of that to an end when i'm president. but as it is, we're still left to ask, what's in the tax

returns? what other ways did he manipulate the tax system? what are the other stories here. and that's why those questions will persist over this week and keep him on defense until sunday. >> and another thing probably most voters aren't thinking about, most of the stories involving the foundation reflect very poorly on trump's attorneys. whoever was doing the legal work for the foundation, they made a lot of mistakes. i doubt trump was directly involved in a lot of those decisions. these same types of people, lawyers and accountants, would have been involved in handling his tax returns. so i think trump now, even more, needs to release his returns. because while "the new york times" doesn't allege he did anything illegal, or that they even necessarily pushed the envelope, he has shown clearly that he hires lawyers and accountants who are not very careful in what they do. >> and of course, when you hire bad people, ultimately you are responsible, just as the candidate is responsible for his campaign. >> as a filer of tax returns, you are. >> and as somebody who runs a charitable foundation, you can't just lay it off on the attorneys and the accountants.

again, if he keeps not releasing the tax returns, after this revelation, it just raises -- it makes people wonder, what else is a problem in the tax returns. >> yep. as i mentioned, there is this possibility, of course, of a revelation involving the clintons. at 3:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, wikileaks founder julian asausae is expecd to make what his group is billing as a major development via video. he has long promised to release additional documents relating to hillary clinton. and today trump's political adviser, roger stone, who has long talked up assange tweeted this message. i have total confidence that assange and wikileaks will t educate the american people soon. hashtag lock her up. so john, what are the kind of surprises that hillaryland are

most worried about in these final weeks of the campaign? >> certainly, they're obviously worried about the wikileaks thing. and i think, you know, i -- i should stipulate, unless you know something i don't, we have no idea what might be in these documents. unless it was something criminally scandalous, that would be hugely problematic. and they're still focused on her health. part of the reason she was so effective in that debate, she came out, looked strong, healthy, robust. >> she did a somersault, oh, wait, that was kate mckinnon. >> if she were to have another health thing between now and election day, that would be a big problem. >> they have a pattern and a practice of how to push back on them. one of the big questions involving any potential clinton controversy or scandal is, does the staff know everything? and it would be fascinating to know if her war room knows what's in her 30,000 deleted

e-mails, which for all we know, weeks has access to. are they ready for any possible disclosure, be it about yo ga, but it about a wedding or the fo foundation? >> what they like to do, they like to attack the credibility of the source. and julian assange is a rich topic in that area. the one thing we also know about the clintons, they always divide their legal and political into different houses. the lawyers know everything, and the political people often know very little. and i think that's a problem in terms of defense. >> if there's any clinton controversy, their first response would be, this is an old story brought up by political enemies, trying to distract from the real issues in this campaign. >> you scripted that very well. >> actually do it in my sleep just the way brian fallon can. >> up next, our brand-new bloomberg politics north carolina poll. plus, the overlooked policy issues of the 2016 presidential campaign, after these words from our sponsors.

welcome back. we have a brand-new bloomberg politics poll out looking at north carolina, which remains an essential part of donald trump's narrow path to victory in november. in a four-way race, our poll shows hillary clinton leading among likely voters by just 1 percentage point. she's up 44-43% over trump. clinton is up by the same margin in a two-way race there in north carolina, with according to our poll. that's slightly tighter than another new poll that shows the tar heel state. this is from a batch of quinnipiac university surveys released this afternoon. let's look at those, take a look at this map. here we have hillary clinton up by three points, 46-43% among likely voters in north carolina. the new q polls put clinton up five points in florida, 46-41%. and up four points in pennsylvania, 45-41%. all of those measured in four-way races. but in ohio, the outlier, trump

seems to be gaining ground. there quinnipiac has leading five points among likely buckeye voters. there is one more poll i wathat want to show you. in new mexico, a state that would ordinarily be considered safely stashed in clinton's column, an albuquerque journal survey released yesterday shows clinton beating trump by just four points, 35-31%. how is that possible? new mexico's been blue for quite a while. you have to think about libertarian governor gary johnson, he polls a hefty 24% of likely voters in that poll. so looking at all of that stuff, those q polls, our poll, "the albuquerque journal" poll, where does that lead the electoral map and the electoral math? >> trump has fallen further than he was. going into the first debate, he had the momentum and had pulled almost even with clinton where there was a plausible electoral path.

he has to win florida and north carolina to win, he's behind in those states. but look at where she is, look at where he is, he can come back. especially if gary johnson gets a decent chance of the vote. i think for trump to win, he has needs some combination besides the big three in ohio, ohio, north carolina, florida and iowa. he needs probably three small states, unless he can win pennsylvania, which looks less likely. the reality is, i think trump needs to win both debates. he needs probably clinton to have some big stumble or disclosure and he needs to perform day in and day out better. without those things, i think he will get tens of millions of votes. i think he'll get -- >> but lose. >> he'll get over 200 electoral votes, but he'll lose. >> the worrying thing for trump are a couple of things you said. one is, the gary johnson vote starting to collapse and you're starting to see it in some of those polls. and it seems to be accruing to hillary clinton's benefit. a lot of that vote is ending up in her column or staying home. you look at a lot of those small

states that you have to put together. you know, put aside this new mexico thing, it's a little bit of an anomaly. but in nevada, where he's been ahead, she suddenly looks like she's ahead. colorado, she's ahead by a lot. new hampshire, always been stronger than him there. it's just, you know, the dauntingness of it. this lost week for trump, when he was right on the brink of maybe, maybe being even with her, to suddenly see himself slipping on all these fronts right now, if i'm in the trump campaign, i am scared. >> i'll say it again, she's the favorite, he's been hurt badly, but we shouldn't overweek. a bad week for him, a good week for her. it's always a parody. >> getting away from the sniping are the normal policy issues that would normally get some attention in the coverage of any race for the white house. today, for instance, "the new york times" had a great story

about the future of the affordable care act on the election. and a great story by our colleague on a hillary clinton proposal to limit contracts that make it more difficult for workers and consumers to bring legal action against corporations. out on the campaign trail, candidates have dipped a pinkie toe into the policy war waters. trump talks at times about his tax plan, a potential for child care deductions, energy. today he announced a cyberreview team that he said will look at the issue of online security. clinton has unveiled plans for expanding issues for workers with disabilities, curbing prescription drug costs and others, but they don't get very much coverage. john, with 36 days to go, why has there been even less coverage policy than in the past, and is there anything that can be done before election day? >> because we are suckers for the shiny object. and when i say "we," i mean our colleagues and us to some extent. these two candidates provide

compelling, hilarious, appalling theater almost every day and it's hard to resist covering that stuff and focusing in a way we should more on the issues of substance? it's hard to cover policy when the campaigns won't give you policy experts. it's also hard when you've got this thing. i always say, you know, it's hard to cover policy the week before the new hampshire primary. the week before, you know, super tuesday. >> and this whole campaign has been like that. >> there's always a big thing. the candidate didn't take the summer off. and not excepting ourselves, i will look back and say one of the great failures of this cycle is we let the candidates and the circus carnival, freak show atmosphere that the trump and clinton campaigns have created, more trump than clinn, and never said, today we need to do 20 minutes on education. >> but you're right about the fact that the campaigns don't focus on policy enough. trump has almost no policies. clinton's are buried in a website. it's also the case that clinton is making this race about his

temperament. and they're not focused on his lack of policies, they're focused on his business records and temperament. it's still not too late, right? we could talk about health care? a good story in "the new york times" today about this. we could talk about criminal justice reform. there are issues about this going on all across the country. there are a lot of jobs, obviously. there are things that we could try to do and we should do, we all should do, to try to get a little bit of policy in before we get to election day. >> because the voters are going to be electing someone who has a huge influence on their lives. ding! >> all right, up next -- hand me that thing. this is mine. do you know who these two people are? these dudes. find out after. does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin.

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perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. liberty mutual insurance. everywhere you go in gotham city, people are talking about one thing and one thing only, the two men who are going to take the debate stage tomorrow night. kidding, they're also talking about the mets. but we sent our team to new york to see what new yorkers and tourists know about the two guys, these two guys, the two vice presidential running mates. >> do you know who these guys are? >> no, i do not. >> any ideas? >> no. >> no? nothing? nothing? >> no. >> do you? >> i do not. >> i have no idea. >> that's moirm mouitt romney, . >> not mitt romney. >> what job do you think he has?

>> probably ceo. >> newscasters. >> american football coach. >> a sportscasters or sympathetisomething. >> sports analyst. >> i think they look like they golf. >> i think they're in the golf world. >> you know who that is? >> the vice presidential candidates. >> you got it! do you know their names. mike pence and tim kaine. >> pence and i'm not sure about the democrat. >> that's pence and i forget his name. >> tim -- >> yeah! >> i can't think of his last name. >> i use a cane right now. >> tim kaine! >> you know their names? >> yeah, kaine and um -- oh, prince or something. >> you know what his name is? >> pence. >> whoa, big time! >> i don't want know who that one is. >> tim kaine. >> oh, yeah, i saw him. he did a pretty boring speech, at a convention. >> which one is pence?

>> this is trump's vp, this is hillary's vp. >> oh, i should know that. >> who do you think would win in a debate between the two of them. >> probably this guy. he looks a little more intellectual. >> what words come to mind when you look at him. >> i think he's a charmer. >> probably a lady's men. >> would you want him representing you, going to london, going to beijing? he looks like -- putin would run rings around him. >> i think pence is going to win. he just seems more presidential. vice presidential. >> he has that stare, i don't know. >> what do you mean that stare? >> he's looking right throughs. >> he looks winnable. >> he looks winnable? >> yeah. >> i'm sure he would love to hear that. >> looks can be deceiving, but they look like nice people. >> distinguished looking. >> the one thing wrong with both of them, they're politicians. >> boom! >> they are politicians. mike pns aence and tim kaine ar

experienced at their jobs. both were considered safe picks for their respective candidates. this debate is not going to get a lot of attention, nobody expects it to be highly rated, but it does matter. so what's the best-case scenario for the trump/pence campaign and for clinton and kaine out of this debate? >> it seems to me mike pence has a couple of jobs, one is the job joe biden had a few years ago to bring in a shaky republican electorate that's worried about how donald trump is, to get them calmed down and revved up simultaneously. he's got a partisan job. i think he's got to consolidate that republican voter that's worried about where trump is right now. if he does that, that will be a good debate for him. tim kaine has the opportunity, because of how well hillary clinton has done, not just in the debate, but for the past week, to start to reach out and try to exploit some of that same shakiness and reach out to republicans as they've been doing, trying to convince those suburban republican women who were shaky about trump and maybe more so after the last week to

come over to the democratic side. >> i think pence could do three things to help the ticket. one is to show donald trump how it's done. talk about changing washington, talk about the clintons being part of the old guard. two, he can reach out to the republican base. there are a lot of religious activist activists, social conservatives, economic conservatives who don't like pence, but the fact that pence can be part of the white house is a strong thing. and the story of the night, if he wins, it gives them back some momentum. kaine with talk about the clinton message in a way that's -- we're singing out of the exact same hymn book as hillary clinton. not much of a difference between the two of them. the other thing they can do is try to put pence on the defensive. pence has been pretty skillful in tv interviews and elsewhere, avoiding confronting some of trump's more out-there statements. i think if kaine is skillful, he can make pence own it in a way that could be the story of the

night. >> the thing always to remember here, although mike pence is a very conservative guy, many people will say, tim kaine should go after mike pence about how he approaches gays a and lesbians in indiana. tim kaine's job will be to pin mike pence on trump. they're both representatives of the guys at the top of the ti ticket. this isn't a debate about kaine versus pence. it's about them as stand-ins for their respective overlords on the ticket. >> the other thing is, you have to say that the clinton/pence team kcame out of the first debate with not just clinton having performed better, but most of the covers they wanted to get covered, got covered, either they were brought up by lester holt or clinton brought them up. pence has a chance to bring out some things and put them out there in as prominent a platform as you can get at this point and try to make them part of the

conversation between wednesday morning after the debate through this sunday pressure. >> i know a lot of people think this debate will be boring, and me myself at various times have said, vanilla ice cream versus vanilla pudding. but both of these men are men of substance, they've both been in government for a long time, and one thing that was disappointing about the first debate is it was so totally, utterly devoid of substance. this will not be fireworks and ice cream and sodas coming out of the debate center, but it could be something where they actually talk about stuff of real merit. >> there better be diet coke in the debate. i'll need that to stay awake. i think both these guys are liked and respected by the establishment. tim kaine is working with a lot of the same team that's prepared hillary clinton. he is a serious guy. and pence set an example. the trump campaign needs all the help he can get to show trump he

needs to prepare for the next debate. and if mike pence after all of this preparation does better by tim kaine by some measure, i think his trufolks can say to trump, pence prepared, this is the result, please, please prepare for the debate. >> they can say that, but if trump listens is at entirely different story. >> up next, a little strategizing with a couple of strategists, after this word from our sponsors. ] shh. i have a cold with this annoying runny nose. better take something. dayquil liquid gels doesn't treat a runny nose. it doesn't? alka-seltzer plus cold and cough liquid gels fight your worst cold symptoms including your runny nose. oh, what a relief it is! i'm going to the bank, to discuss a mortgage. ugh, see, you need a loan, you put on a suit, you go crawling to the bank. this is how i dress to get a mortgage. i just go to lendingtree. i calculate how much home i can afford. i get multiple offers to compare side by side. and the best part is... the banks come crawling to me.

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so this is the time when we talk a little strategiry with the strategists. we're joined by sarah flores, once the campaign manager for carly fiorina's presidential campaign, and we have barry bennett, a former trump adviser and current trump supporter. ladies and gentlemen, good to see you both. sarah, let me start you, how bad

has the last week been for donald trump? give a sense of how bad you think it's been, in terms of his electoral prospects? >> yeah, it's been bad. when the election has been about donald trump, he doesn't do well. i think the most telling number, though, are the economy numbers and the latest cnn poll. he was up 15 at the beginning of september. he's now in a virtual tie with hillary clinton, which is a huge swing in who voters trust to handle the economy. i don't necessarily think it was the debate that did it, but it's a sustained look at donald trump we've seen this week, and voters don't like him. when it's about hillary, they don't like her. >> barry, i'm looking at those same numbers sarah just cited. he's down 8 on strong and desize i have leader, he's down six on can better handle responsibilities of commander in chief. those are not pretty numbers. i can't believe you're going to say the last weak was great for donald trump, but give me a sense of -- evaluate how serious you

you think the threat is of what happened over the last seven to eight days? >> i think if you look at this, you have to be kind of amazed that the polling numbersaven't dropped more. you lose a debate two to one in all these public polls and you only lose a point or a point and a half? it's pretty stunning. so, you know, i think a lot of this is literal ly baked in. i know we use that phrase over and over again, but it seems like it's going to be hard to shock the voters at this point. >> what do you think donald trump's natural vote ceiling is as a percentage in a four-way vote. >> isn't that the question? >> i asked barry first. what do you think that is? >> i think the winner is probably at 44 or 45. >> that low. sarah, you agree? you think it's only going to take 45 to win? >> i think betting against donald trump on his ceiling has proven to be a poor bet time and time again, but i think barry might be a point low or two points low, but it seems to me that's about right. >> i think that's the critical question. i think trump can get to 45

nationally in the battleground state polls. i'm not sure he can get to 46 or 47, so -- >> you look at ohio, he's already at 47 in the latest polling i've seen. so, you can get there. turnout, you know, if turnout could add two or three points to this these polls. so he can get there. >> sarah, if you were in the holding room with mike pence tomorrow night and he said, sarah, what's the one thing i need to accomplish on the stage, what would you tell him? >> if i was actually advising mike pence, we thought dave kochl had the best piece come out tonight in the "wall street journal." mike pence should go rogue. if they ask him, do you think donald trump should turn over his tax returns, mike pence should say, yeah, i turned over my tax returns. if this is really baked in and if the election is going to be about donald trump, mike pence would go himself a lot of favors down the road if he breaks with his ticket a little bit and says, yeah, with i think he should turn over his tax returns, i turned over mine.

>> sarah, with all due respect, that's the silliest thing i've ever heard on this program. >> that's it. that's a silly thing. >> what should he actually do? >> i think he's the voice of reason on this ticket. >> let's say he wants to help trump do. what should he do? >> then he needs to make it all about hillary clinton, make the next week about hillary clinton. but that was something that the trump campaign has been unwilling to do, so i don't see how mike pence would be the one to do. >> barry, i don't want to ignore the question of the vice presidential debate, because i think it could be interesting. and it may have some small bit of political effect, but i want to look to the next presidential debate. if you were in the room, invited in to work on donald trump's debate prep, when would your advice be on how to remediate the problems he's caused himself. >> this next is the town hall format, vastly different experience, right? here you get a chance to actually connect with the questioner. you can score points on friendly

in the town hall format where you can't sitting behind a podium. it's important how he interacts with the questioner, answers their question quickly, and pivots to something else. it's an entirely different format that probably plays to his advantage a little bit. >> sarah, describe the complexity involved. one of the things about the format is the two of them can step out from behind the podium and get in each other's space. he's a big man, she's a woman, how volatile and dangerous is that territory when you get the two of them out there with the gender dynamics that are in play? >> you know, i'm actually not that worried about this. i agree with barry that this format widely favors donald trump over the last format, which did not. donald trump has bter television skills, better charisma on camera. so i think that that, barring some catastrophe, will lean his way, which, you know, if you want to do better, the second debate closer to the election might be the time to ship. yes, should we get into hillary clinton's face? probably not. but anything barring a -- you know, a poking her moment, i think he's fine.

>> sarah, if you look at the states trump needs to win to get to 270 or more, if you were the trump campaign, which one would be concerning you the most these days? >> north carolina. north carolina, where other senate -- republican senate candidates have been polling ahead of druonald trump. the senate race is now a heat, donald trump is behind in the latest polling. i would be very concerned you're not doing better in a state like north carolina. look at ohio where he's above where i think many people thought he would be, and portman's above that, which is kind of a nice safety net for him. he needs to look for that in these other states. >> barry, why would donald trump be behind in a state that mitt romney won against barack obama? >> i think the one thing that we know that north carolina, florida, and ohio, and pennsylvania all have in common is that today there are 200,000 fewer democrats in each of those states than there were four years ago.

so the underpinnings are pretty good. i think he'll close, i think he'll do fine. he's going to run some ads, for the first time, let's see what those ads do. but i feel pretty good about it. >> all right. sarah isker flores and barry bennett, thank you. you were great to come on. we'll talk next about donald trump's rough week with the reporters that cover him. if you watch us in washington, d.c., you can listen to us on the radio, bloomberg radio 99.1 f.m. we'll be right back. see me. see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop until i fi what works. discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75% skin clearance at 3 months. while the majority saw 90% clearance. do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx.

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for many of you, today is the first day back at work, but for some americans, like reporters covering donald trump and hillary clinton, they've been on the clock all weekend. joining us now to rehash the weekend, look ahead to today and beyond, bloomberg politics reporter, kevin who is in washington and katy tur, who's in colorado, both cover donald trump with alarming regularity. guys, we're going to start with some sound from the event that donald trump had this afternoon, where he talked about the unrest we've seen in some major american cities. >> we're a divided nation. and each week, it seems, we're getting more and more divided. with race riots on our streets, on a monthly basis. someone said, don't call them race riots, but that's what they are, race riots, and it's

happening more and more. >> kevin, some i days, it's not clear to me what message donald trump is trying to drive. he talked about a lot of different things a lot a couple of events already. what message do you think he's on today? >> well, i think earlier today, he was discussing, obviously, the turmoil and tun rest happening in our cities throughout the country, but mark, you know, i think you hit the nail on the head there. because for the past week, for donald trump's campaign, there has not been a cohesive message. we've seen a little bit of it, but when donald trump goes on twitter, the issue of follow the money and the issue of attacking hillary clinton for the clinton foundation or her wall street-paid speeches, all of that goes away and is overshadowed by, of course, something he says off-teleprompter. that's been a huge challenge for the senior aides that i speak with and i'm sure indicakaty sp with and it really, really sets them back. >> there's no way you can

describe this moment around him other than feeling embattled. >> i think the campaign realizes it is now or never, and that's why you heard donald trump very much on teleprompter here in pueblo, colorado. we were told he was going to get a little bit deeper into his own personal history, his business history, in direct response to what came out over the weekend, that nearly billion dollar declaration he made on his 1995 taxes. the campaign realizing a they need to find a way to spin that. they have been in full battle mode now for over seven days. it's been controversial after controversial, scandal after scandal. not just allegations of sexism, which bubbled up again today, but the taxes and also the attorney coming out and filing a cease and desist order on the trump foundation, for not filing the correct paperwork. so the trump campaign is trying to push back on all fronts. what you heard here today is

donald trump try to reframe the narrative, paints himself as somebody who was an underdog back in the 90s, who everybody was rooting against. someone they wanted to see fail when he was going through his difficulties in the 90s, losing $1 billion, nearly, in one year. he says that he was able to rebuild himself. he was able to bring himself back up, despite what everybody was saying about him. he won. i won, he said, over and over again. i he's trying to tell voters that he's going to do the same thing for them. but guys, we are 36 days until the election, and donald trump is having a very hard time, as kevin just mentioned, staying on message, let alone one cohesive message, one coherent message. we're going to see how long this sticks. and we'll see if it does anything for those undecided voters, or if those voters have already decided they're going to go towards hillary clinton. >> kevin, it sounds like he's trying to turn himself into the comeback kid. >> and who doesn't love a good

comeback story? but, i think in addition to all of that, we have to look behind the scenes where the rnc is saying that they have the appropriate ground game in place to turn out voters on election day. but i have to be honest. the sources that i'm speaking with in swing states such as florida, for example, would paint a different picture. and so in addition to trying to put out all these fires, i think there are some real operational questions about the political ground game with the trump campaign. now, that being said, you know, just anecdotally speaking, you talk to a lot of independent voters, and we'll have toait a couple days to see if the polls reflect this, but you tao voter and the trump me thissage on dee for his issue with tax returns is that he was able to be smart enough to beat the system and this is another example of why the system is so messed up. so to some small business owners, to some independent voters, again, this is simply a lesser of two evils decision, if you will, between hillary

clinton and donald trump and i'm not necessarily sure that the tax issue, right now, we'll have to see if more comes out, but i'm not sure right now that that issue will convince independent voters who are who are concerned about trump just yesterday. >> we'll take our trump reporter diad and turn it into a trump reporter triad by adding jenna roberts from "the washington post." so here's a little sound for you to react to. here's donald trump attacking hillary clinton on saturday night in manheim, pennsylvania. i know you have a lot to say about that. let's go. >> i hear too many stories about pennsylvania, certain areas. i hear too many bad story it is. and we can't lose an election because of you know what i'm talking about. so g and vote and then go check out areas. because a lot of bad things happen. and we don't want to lose for that reason. we don't want to lose, but we

especially don't want to lose for that reason. so go over and watch. and watch carefully. here's a woman. she's supposed to fight all of these different things. and he can't make it 15 feet to her car. give me a break. give me a break. i don't even think she's loyal to bill, you want to know the truth. >> uh, those are just some of the highlights from that event in pennsylvania on saturday. janet, you were there and wrote a detailed, brilliant, evocative piece about it. tell us what it was like to be there and watch that spectacle unfold. >> sure. so i've been to more than 100 donald trump rallies over the past year, and especially the last couple of weeks and months, he's gotten really good at staying on message, reading from a teleprompter, sticking to the

talking points his staff has given to him. and saturday night was an example of him just forgetting all of that and letting loose and saying exactly what he's thinking. and i'm seeing a lot of things that i don't think we've ever heard a presidential candidate say at a rally before. this rally, in particular, i had planned on writing an article about him seizing on comments that hillary clinton made months ago, but that just became public, about bernie sanders' millennial supporters. and, you know, why they're unemployed and why they like him. and in one comment, she made about them living in their parents' basements. and so his campaign had sent out this statement saying, he's going to give this statement tonight, he's going to seize on these comments. and so i kind of pre-wrote a story, thinking that was going to be news out of this event. and i had to delete that story and write a new story, because he just -- he couldn't stay on

message. you could just tell he was so angry and so frustrated about all these other things. >> katy, to what extent can we say that the trump senior staff is currently frustrated, as opposed to just accepting that trump will be trump? >> you know, i think if they're not frustrated, then that would be surprising at the moment. they wanted to get him more on message earlier. that's why we saw him get on teleprompter. that's why you see these indications from the campaign that he's going to say this, that, or the other or stick pretty closely to a message at a campaign rally. we haven't seen that before this current team came onboard. there was a desire to make sure that he is prepared for the debates, but, you know, these 3:00 a.m. tweeting, this mocking of hillary clinton being sick and doing an impression of her is not something that helps his image, as somebody who has the correct temperament to be president. so if the senior staff on donald trump's campaign is flot frustrated, i'm not so sure,

they must be seeing different polling that the rest of us are seeing, because that donald trump is not one that rates particularly well, even with his own supporters. they laugh at it, they think it's funny. but when you talk to them and ask them what they think this is what their presidential candidate should be doing? they say, no, it's a distraction. >> we might enjoy it, but we don't think it helps his message, we don't think it helps him convince voters that might be unsure about him. >> the trump coverage dynamic trio will take some yoga breaths and rest a moment. we'll take a break and come back and talk about how donald trump seems to be preparing for the upcoming town hall debate, right after this. ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the fruit... veggies... and herbs needed to create a pop-up pick-your-own juice bar in the middle of the city, so now everyone knows...

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[ clock titime. ] you only have so much. that's why we wanna make sure you won't have to wait on hold. and you won't have to guess when we'll turn up. because after all... we should fit into your life. [ laughing ] not the other way around. [ clock ticking ] well, general, thank you and thank you for your bravery. amazing. i've heard your name mentioned many times. thank you for being here and thank you for the question. first of all, i want to ask you one question. you have all of those aircraft

landings on the carriers, right? as i understand, it's a very, very special talent. >> it's a talent that you acquire if you start off with the basics. >> okay, very good. he puts it down a little bit, that's very good. oh, is he heare? oh, stand up. that is really -- for saying a prayer before -- so you're not allowed to pray before a football game? i thought it was horrible i thought it was horrible. what did they do to you? what happened? sorry to take away from your question, but it's sort of an extension of your question. what did they do? >> that was donald trump's sort of mellow yellow version this morning at a forum in virginia, where he seemed to be practicing some new, more personal town hall moves the ahead of the presidential debate. we have "the washington post," jenna johnson, katy tur, and

bloomberg's own kevin sorili. so jenna, at this moment, at this hour, what do you know about the ways that leaked to his ship, as he heads into the second debate this weekend in st. louis? >> well, the campaign is trying to get him to practice more and just to be better prepared at the debate. but it's up to him if he wants to listen to the advice they've been giving him for quite a while now and really study and get ready. we saw, last week i was out on the trail with him the whole week and in each of his speeches, he tackled country of the questions that came up in the first debate and he kind of fumbled. and so we gave him a very direct response to a comment that hillary clinton had made about implicit bias in police officers and how that's actually a problem for everyone.

and he gave a response at a debate or at the rally that he could the have given at the debate. this morning in virginia, at that town hall, he talked about cybersecurity. a question that he seemed to kind of fumble with at the debate. so you can kind of see how they're trying to get hip prepared while he's already out in public. get him used to talking about these things. and also at the town hall format, i hadn't seen him take questions from an audience like that in -- on his own termsn quite a while. >> it's been a while. listen, it's kevin, right, and katy, thank you both for coming. donald trump today talked about to the people there like he was practicing a town hall, to feel the pain of voters. do you think trump will excel at walking over to them and kind of repeating their names back and all that stuff? like this. like i'm doing now? >> i think the only time we've

seen donald trump really, in this time of format, is on "the apprentice," and he was in a situation now of having to fire people. but this is going to be a dynamic, mark, where he's going to be talking to people who are going to either hire or fire him. and so the times that i've seen him interact with people over the course of the past year, i have to be honest here, i think -- >> kevin, thank you so much for your answer and your service to america. katy, it's katy, right? you're a hard-working young lady. i know in this economy, that's difficult. tell us your thoughts. >> reporter: yeah, i got to agree with kevin. the times we've seen him interact one on one with voters have not been inspiring to put it -- to say the least. he's often very superficial with them, he'll walk up, he'll say hello, he'll have very small chitchat and then he'll walk away. i haven't seen a conversation last for more than a few minutes. usually, he just walks in and says, oh, this is wonderful, this is great, isn't this great, and then he moves in.

>> kc, kt, jj, you're great. thank you all. we'll be right back with you. of new customers. i know. can you believe we're getting orders from canada, ireland... this one's going to new zealand. new zealand? psst. ah, false alarm. hey! you guys are gonna scare away the deer! idiots... providing global access for small business. fedex. the search for relief often leads here.s, introducing drug-free aleve direct therapy. a high intensity tens device that uses technology once only in doctors' offices. for deep penetrating relief at the source. new aleve direct therapy.

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thanks for watching, sayonara. >> "hardball" with chris matthews is next. >> the tax man cometh. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. you know those old polaroid photographs, you would take the photo and as you shook the paper, you would see the picture slowly come into view before you. is that what we're seeing with donald trump? day after day, the real man reveals more and more of himself. we watch him on stage or read his tweets and see what he says on fox and gradually the picture comes into focus. itas