are. you can only keep one thing in your head at a time i guess. >> jeffrey dahmer's stay in akron may have been brief, but his effect on the city may last for some time to come. as one spectator put it, it may be gruesome, but it's history guess who's coming to dinner. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews back in washington from the al smith dinner last night. tonight, donald trump's race for president seems caught in a downward spiral and he can't seem to pull out of it. with 18 days to go until election, republicans are panicked. battleground state polls show hillary clinton rising. she's gaining in several states including georgia, utah, arizona, and even texas. a new online poll out just today shows more americans think

hillary clinton won wednesday's debate in las vegas. last night, donald trump got booed at the traditionally civil and friendly al smith dinner when he called clinton corrupt and anti-catholic, he threw in. i was at thed table and could feel the strong reaction all around the room. his allies, meerm, have spent the week defending his refusal to say he would not accept the results of the election and the slur that mrs. clinton is a nasty woman. a wave of apprehension and anguish swept the republican party on thursday with many gop leaders concluding that it's probably too late to salvage his flailing presidential campaign. republicans private lly acknowledge it could be a lapdslide victory for lik lik. look at the new york daily news today, the cover argued exactly that should happen. bury trump in a landslide, it roars. restore u.s. honor, with giant

defeat of the fearmongering demagog. that's pretty clear. also today, vice president joe biden with a strong reaction of his own in joe style to trump's comments in the "access hollywood" tape back in 2005. here's joe. jolting joe. here he comes. >> because i'm a billionaire i can do things other people can't. what a disgusting assertion for anyone to make. the press always asks me, don't i wish i were debating him. no, i wish i were in high school and i could take him behind the gym. that's what i wish. >> well, meanwhile at his rallies today, donald trump at times took a very different tone. interesting to watch how the tone changed reflecting on the last 16 months of the campaign. watch him. >> they all say it doesn't

matter if you win or lose. what we have done has never been done in this country before. crowds like this, this whole thing, us getting the nomination. really us, but us getting the nomnaze. >> we're going to do this for another 19 days. and then i don't know what kind of shape i'm in, but i'll be happy and at least i will have known win, lose, or draw, and i'm almost sure if the people come out we're going to win. but i will be -- i will be happy with myself. >> well, joining me right now is nbc political director chuck todd, also moderator of "meet the press." "washington post" national political reporter anne gearan, and eugene robinson who is stuck in vegas. you're allowed to leave now, gene. >> if the tables are rolling, why leave? never leave when he's got a hot hand. >> gene, let me ask you about this sort of nostalgic voice from trump after a fiery week, including last night's dinner. he sounds like a guy that's sort

of resolved himself, resigned himself to defeat. >> well, that's what we knew. i haven't heard anything like that from trump all year. and it almost sounds introspective and self-aware, which are words i would never use with donald trump or never would have used until we started hearing that. that's the way a candidate talks when they kind of see handwriting on the wall or think they do. and then they'll say, you know, but if everybody turns out, we'll win. the subtext is i kind of think we're not going to make it. >> let me get to another crazy thing, and then the moderator. let me ask this. it seems like he's doing things which are really strange, like first of all, flailing is a pretty good word. why is he going after michelle obama, who everybody likes and isn't in this fight really as a personality except as a surrogate? >> i mean, i have to assume it's because he feels that michelle obama and barack obama have slighted him personally, and it's a grudge.

it profits him nothing politically to go after them. she's popular among a lot of republicans. >> anyway, donald trump spent time at his rally today, it was in johnstown, in pennsylvania, talking about both clintons. both the president and first lady. always been told focus your attention on the person you're running against. here he's doing something else. here he is. >> we have a president, all he wants to do is campaign. his wife, all she wants to do is campaign. and i see how much his wife likes hillary. but wasn't she the one that originally started the statement, if you can't take care of your home, right? you can't take care of the white house or the country. wheres's that. i don't hear that. i don't hear that. she's the one that started that. i said, we can't say that it's too vicious. we can't say -- they said, well, michelle obama said it. i said, she did?

>> trump was referring to comments michelle obama made in 2007 which were taken as a shot against the clintons in the primary fight. why is he doing this? >> he's not nimble, but i get what he's trying to do. he's trying to say, hey, i know the obamas are popular, and don't you remember when they didn't like the clintons? so, for him, that was a nimble thing to do because he didn't directly attack the two of them personally. he said -- >> well, he said he's not doing his job. >> but it was more about trying to see if he could -- he's been trying to re-create the wedge between the obamas and clintons for some time. it's just not there. for the obamas, it's personal. michelle obama, agreeing to travel all the way to arizona, telling you a lot. her motivation is that the clintons or donald trump? the problem for him is that the motivation is donald trump. but let me also, this was a good day for pat toomey. this was a good day for mitch mcconnell and paul ryan. here's why. if donald trump goes and spends

the next 18 days doing what he did today, which is showing a little introspection, but travel to the base parts of senate battleground states that happen to be in the presidential battleground, talk to his supporters without trashing other parts of the republican party, that's something pat toomey is live with. >> there's two republican votes this year, the trump vote, and the non-trump vote. >> toomey is campaign for the non-trump vote. >> pennsylvania has a deep history of tickett splitting at the top. the lost some of it, but they may regape it. >> you have clinton campaigning there tomorrow with tim kaine in pittsburgh and philadelphia. they feel very confident on the presidential -- in the presidential race. she's far ahead in pennsylvania. but they are trying to shore up the senate and in new hampshire as well. >> you know, when you see a big

football power, a big tn team or usual top 20 team take on a small school and the small school is able to hold them off for a couple quarters and it's 52-8 at the end of the game because there's depth. gene, i want you to watch this. hillary has dept. not the most exciting candidate we have seen, somewhat dull at times, but she's always got the troops ready, always prepared for the debates. always has people, handlers, corner people to help her get ready. she always has troops. last night, she had joke writers. this was a professional performance, and trump couldn't match her in the field of joke performance and production. here's donald trump and hillary clinton speaking at the al smith charity dinner in new york. some of their jokes landed. let's watch. >> the media is even more biased this year than ever before, ever. you want the proof? michelle obama gives a speech

and everyone loves it. it's fantastic. my wife melania gives the exact same speech, and people get on her case. and i don't get it. i don't know why. >> this is such a special event that i took a break from my rigorous nap schedule to be here. and as you have already heard, it's a treat for all of you, too, because usually, i charge a lot for speeches like this. >> well, bobby kennedy famously said he was the new york senator as well, that you hang a lantern on your problem, and both of them were doing it. that's why both of those jokes worked. by the way, melania is a trooper, she took it on the chin. he didn't laugh, but she was

laughing at a good joke. anyway, the audience turned on trump. they really did, when he seemed to go into parts of his stump speech to attack clinton. you're not supposed to do that at a dinner to raise money for the poor kids of new york, a church group as well. let's watch him. >> hillary is so corrupt, she got kicked off the watergate commission. how corrupt do you have to be? to get kicked off the watergate commission. pretty corrupt. here she is tonight in public pretending not to hate catholics. >> gene, hillary had professional material, whatever she got, i said to her afterwards, keep that team together. those were great writers. keep doing it again. whereas, there i was with her, but trump ran out of good

material and went to the trash talk. it just did not work. i don't think it got him a single vote anywhere watching. your thoughts. >> you were in the hall, so you had the feeling. it came through watching it on television. you saw, number one, hillary clinton had better joke writers. she simply -- he should have hired somebody to write some jokes. >> yes. aren't there any conservatives in hollywood? maybe there aren't any. >> you played the bits that worked. hillary clinton did what you have to do, which is self-depreciation. donald trump did kind of a bleak self-depreciation, right? because the joke was about melania, not about him. you have to set it up that way, then you can attack a little moore. hillary clinton got that. >> well, this is the part of the thing that is much more important. both of you answer this. something big is going wrong. trump is not living in la-la land. he's looking at the polls we produce and put on every night. he knows what's going on. it's like a football game. at some point, they don't show the score, you know, nfl games,

they stop showing the score because it's not fun anymore. it's three our four touchdowns in the third quarter even. it's still just beginning the fourth quarter, but there's a game to be played here and he's acting like we're acting, it's pretty much over. >> it's been a slow reckoning but we're watching the reckoning happening. you can see it, it's a bit painful. he's trying to figure out what the heck happened. he's uncomfortable in this position. he doesn't know how he got here. he's lagging out and blaming other people, but he's also looking at his own campaign and looking at himself, trying to figure out what happened. >> thank you, chuck todd and anne gearan and gene robinson. >> the former aide to chris christie said she told the governor about the lane closures at the george washington bridge before they happened. why did he tell reporters he knew nothing about it? this is "hardball," the place for politics. one of millions of orders on this company's servers. accessible by thousands of suppliers and employees globally. but with cyber threats

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after nearly three years, new jersey governor chris christie's former chief of staff broke her silence under oath over the bridgegate scandal. she testified in her trial that she told christie about a traffic study on the george washington bridge before sending an e-mail that it was, quote, time for traffic problems. she cleared it with christie a month before the lanes were closed for the supposed traffic

study. prosecutors said it was political retribution for the mayor of new jersey who refused to support christie. according to kelly, port authority official david wildstein told her he wanted to use the study as a strategy to prop up christie for improving congestion on the george washington bridge. kelly and her co-defendant have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and fraud. governor christie has in the past denied he knew before or while the closures were taking place. asked if he had anything to do with the lane closures in december 2013 shortly after the story broke, christie joked about the incident, and we all remember this. let's watch. >> i work the cones, actually, on that, unbeknownsts to everybody, i was the guy out there. i was in overalls and a hat. i was working the cones. you really are not serious with that question. i don't get involved in traffic

studies, lane closures. i didn't work the cones, jus soy we're clear on that, that was sarcastic. >> a few weeks later, he fired bridget kelly for her roles in the lane closures. >> i am embarrassed humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team. there's no doubt in my mind that the conduct that they exhibited is completely unacceptable and showed a lack of respect for the appropriate role of government and for the people that were trusted to serve. this morning, i have terminated the employment of bridget kelly, effective immediately. i terminated her employment because she lied to me. i had no knowledge or involvement in this issue. in its planning or its execution. and i am stunned by the abject

stupidity that was shown here. >> well, adamresis, a producer for nbc news, has bn in the courtroom all through this, and howard is an editor at "huffington post." we have to give people the new facts today, what we learned today. all along, we heard that word, knowledge. the governor said he didn't know about it before the bridge closures, didn't know during it. his guy on theport authority said he did know about it during it. now we're hearing from bridget kelly he knew about it before. >> she said she had a conversation with him face-to-face, a bombshell in court, a smoking gun. she said she told him there were going to be lane closures in september. he didn't seem to be phased by it. she said, governor, there's going to be tremendous traffic at the george washington bridge. he didn't really respond. this was something that was going on in a very busy month of

august. she said they had a lot going n on. as you mention, this completely contradicts his testimony from the january press conference. he held a press conference for more than an hour denying one question after another that he had any knowledge. he said i called my staff together. i said does anyone have any knowledge of these lane closures? no one raised their hand. so he says that he had no knowledge. in fact, today, chris, just minutes ago, he again releases a press release saying he had no knowledge before and during the lane closures. >> well, let me go to howard on this, on a political thing. this is a guy who had a good shot at the presidency. moderate republican from the east, elected in a strongly democratic state. then when that didn't work out, he was going to be the number one surrogate for trump. now he's off the field all together. >> totally off the field, and a very inopportune time. if donald trump goes down, the contest for the 2020 republican nomination to pick up the pieces and reassemble the republican

party will begin and had he not gone with trump, and had he not apparently lied the way it looks like he has, at least according to bridget kelly, he would be the perfect guy to come in and try to take the republican party in another direction. he's disappeared from the trump campaign entourage. that happened right after he said it was unacceptable and unconscionable for trump to say what he said on those tapes, those audiotapes. so he's ruined himself with trump. he's out of the ball game with the party and on the defensive here legally. >> let me go back to adam, for people who are just getting this news that the testimony came through from bridget kelly, in the beginning he made light of the whole thing, i'm inguy putting the cones out. i am always suspicious of politicians when they get cute. that was a cute answer. in other words, bullying the reporter into thinking that was a stupid question. how dare you say i would do something? i'm like the handy man who puts

the cones out, but he didn't actually deny it, until he gets to the sentence where he said i had no knowledge of the planning and preparation of the design. that's another way of saying i didn't know the intricacies of the thing, but i knew it was happening. the art of telling the truth, did he tell the truth or did he lie? >> i can tell you that bridget kelly isn't the only person saying that she told the governor. in fact, in earlier testimony, both david wildstein, who is the government's key witness in the alleged mastermind of this plot and bill baroni, bridget kelly's co-defendant, shea they were at an event on september 11th, 2013, the week of the lane closures, right smack dab in the middle of the week of the lane closures, and there is a picture of the three of them together at the event, at ground zero, where allegedly, they are talking about the lane closures. in fact, the testimony was that the governor was actually laughing about the lane closures. >> thank you, adam, and howard

fineman. >> when we return, my election diary on where this race stands tonight. this is "hardball," the place for politics. (vo) when i brought jake home, i wanted him to eat healthy. so i feed jake purina cat chow naturals indoor, a nutritious formula with no artificial flavors. made specifically for indoor cats. purina cat chow. nutrition to build better lives.

election diary friday, october 21st, 2016. something has happened in this campaign. it was clear last night sitting at the al smith dinner in new york. there's still nastiness in the battle between the two, but not the two-fisted rivalry that was. trump is not just fading but falling right now, like an elevator with the skuft ratchets not holding. let's face it, the campaign is not like it was a week ago. trump didn't win the third debate and he had to. he needed to reverse the polls and he didn't. he needed to come up with a game changer, and he couldn't. why would trump, a major party candidate, declare without any reason to do so, he wouldn't ratify the verdict. would a candidate who expects to win do that? no, there's something new in the air, especially since wednesday night. hillary clinton has the sun

shining in her face right now. her opponent cannot fight off the aspect of a fighter hanging on in the late rounds determined to finish the bout with as much of his pride as he can rescue. that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. tell 'em cedric sent you. for over 100 years like kraft has,natural cheese you learn a lot about what people want. honey, do we have like a super creamy cheese with taco spice already in it? oh, thanks. bon appe-cheese! okay...

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good morning. comingp next on msnbc's "your business," how does a costume store know in january what it should be buying when customers look for halloween costumes nine months later? the ceo of columbia sportswear passes on the important business lessons he's learned from his mom. that, plus what you need to know to get the proper mindset to successfully run a company. all that coming up next on "your business."