hard ball, and then after that chris hays hosting a town hall event and digging into what you need to know about the trump presidency. 8:00 p.m. tonight eastern tonight. that does it for us, hardball is up next. ship wreck, let's play hardball. i'm chris matthews, what does donald trump fear more, the coming category 4 hurricane soon to hit the carolinas or the gail force political wave about to demolish his majorities in the congress? it's the emerging specter of the second jeopardy that has caused a top republican strategist to warn of a gop ship wreck this fall. meanwhile, the mean in the white house remains oblivious to this.

he rose at 6:50 this morning, bragging how he won a pluses for the handling of the hurricanes. and the great job he did on handling last year's hurricane in puerto rico. he tweeted we got a pluses for our recent hurricane work in texas and florida and did an unappreciated great job in puerto rico, even though an inaccessible island with very poor electricity and a totally incorp. tent mayor of san juan. we are ready for this one. it's in response to the mayor's response to his yesterday. here's what she said on "hardball" last night. >> i think the president's statement is despicable. it just goes to the lack of understanding of reality that he has. if he thinks that the death of

3,000 people is the best, he really doesn't know what this was all about. this was never about politics. he's talking about unsung praise. nobody is singing his praises. >> trump's self-congratulations come amid scathing report in bob woodward's book that his white house is on the precipice of a nervous break down. trump is, quote, detached from reality and incapable of speaking the truth. i'm joined by ya sinda, and tim o'bri o'bri o'brien. what woodward says in his book about the president is he's incapable of expressing the truth because he doesn't know how to word it. and more scary to me that he's

unattached to reality. now he's coming out and saying he deserves a pluses for his handling of hurricanes and basically is ignoring what looks to be the storm warnings of him losing both house of congress in november. >> he wants to look like he's winning at all times even if he lost. obviously some 3,000 people were killed in hurricane marie, people had no electricity in puerto rico, which is part of the united states, for more than a year. he doesn't want to deal with the reality that there were people suffering because of things his government failed to do. so in his response, instead of taking credit for that, he's saying it's the mayor of san juan, who's been open and critical of how much i should have done differently -- >> so he picked a fight with a minority woman. >> yes. >> that's not unusual, is it? >> no. >> let's go to robert, is he thinking about optics or performance? i get the sense that bill, the

optics guy is going to be in charge. >> hurricane is not a tv studio. look at 2012, talking to republicans all day, they say president obama handled sandy, went to new jersey, worked with the governor, this could be, not for the people on the ground but it could be like katrina was for the bush administration. they're facing two waves, you're right, the blue wave for the democrats. >> is he capable of seeing what's coming as reality? i hear he doesn't like to prepare. he likes to improvise. but part of improvising, it seems he has to recognize truth. does he realize he could lose both houses of congress this november? does he recognize a category 4 hurricane that needs skill to deal with it. >> i don't know if he recognizes

skill about it. one of the president's strengths is he's a survivor. one of the keys to him being a survivor is that he lives in his own reality distortion field. he's almost impervious to advice and a fact pattern. when it comes to november, i think he's going to be looking away from that and blame it on the gop, on paul ryan, on the party, on mitch mcconnell, he won't take any responsibility for whatever results in november. when it comes to hurricane relief, this is something that should reside right in his wheel house. he is a builder and developer. he sees himself as a can-do person. what happened in puerto rico a year ago, despite how he's tryinged to spin this is the hurricane made landfall in puerto rico on september 20th. he didn't convene a national security meeting on the situation in -- a situation room meeting on the situation in puerto rico until six days later.

and yes, they were confronted with an island that was distant from the states -- >> they can't vote. they can't vote. >> but you know, those puerto ricans can vote and a lot of them have gone to florida. so he's going to have a reality around that. but the other thing is the obama administration got relief to haiti in 2010, even though it was an island in the middle of the big ocean. i think the test on florence is, can he orchestrate a mature, sophisticated response to a natural disaster. i think that's a wait and see. >> as i mentioned before, bob woodward offered a stark warning this week that the white house isn't prepared for a christ cris -- crisis. here's bob. >> you look at the white house and you have to say, let's hope to god we don't have a crisis. people who work for him are worried that he will sign things or give orders that threaten the

national security or the financial security of the country or the world. >> according to the woodward's book the president does not like to prepare himself for the responsibles of the office he holds. as one aide concluded, trump acted like doing too much advance preparation would diminish his skills and improvising. >> he believes in his gut, this idea that he can captain his own ship and he knows what's best. the problem is empathy is a part of the presidential job, something she hasn't done job. think of charlottesville, to try to bring us together, he's failed at that. now you have this big hurricane coming and instead of saying we want to make sure we learn from our mistakes, he's saying skom of it on twitter but he can't help but say this is about me and i did such a great job.

he said in the white house today he should get accolades. >> do you have a sense this is true? do you buy the fact that woodward -- do you buy the fact that trump doesn't like to prepare? in other words he knows there's a hurricane coming to the carolinas, you get a bunch of people in the room with charts, what's the plan? when it hits, who's going to be in charge? fema? the governor is going to do this? where's the war room? and when am i going to get the call when i have to release federal money? wouldn't he do that minimal planning for a hurricane? >> woodward's depiction of the president's trait is accurate. look back to the campaign, he had a plan for transition, he ripped it up. >> that's right. >> superstitious. >> it will spook me. >> but the government is separate from the president. the buck stops with the president, every president you have to answer how your

government handles these situation. but the government when you talk to people, they say we're moving on with this hurricane preparation, regardless of what the president wants. he could face a political challenge, why didn't he do infrastructure first? why did he go after the tax cut. did he really prepare. >> when i talk to sources they say the president needs to care about the country, people need to understand that. but remember hurricane maria, it was the president throwing paper towels. so maybe he learned from that, and said i'll take their advice and not throw paper towels at people. >> that's idiocy, to throw paper towels at people who are getting killed by the thousands, you're throwing paper products. what does he want to look like, sea world? why does he want that picture out there? is that supposed to be

compassion? >> you're thinking about him thinking strategically, he doesn't think that way. yesterday at the 9/11 memorial. he walked in front of people pumping his fist and giving thumbs up. it was a completely inappropriate gesture. you can't under estimate the fact he lives in his own private idaho. when he says he doesn't want to prepare, he doesn't read, he has a short attention span, these are not strategic things, it's who he is. his aides learned they have to give him charts, serious issues around trade, immigration, because otherwise it's lost on him. even if they do that, they know he's going to forget these details in fairly short order. this is not new behavior. president trump who emerges in

bob's book is the same guy who campaigned. the same guy i wrote about a decade ago. the same guy new yorkers have known about for the last 50 years. this is who he is. it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. >> it's flimflam. >> this is not a surprise. it's not entirely flimflam, he was a very good messenger to the needs of his base, he was consistent on that message. and he walked into a vacuum -- >> let's talk about reality when we have all you guys. when there's a natural disaster, some people benefit from them. jeb bush was popular in florida because he handled the hurricane there. hailey barber was ap super star in mississippi. you can perform well as an executive, you can get the act together, rally the people, get them doing it and a couple months looks like they're rebuilding, they were led by a leader. doesn't trump know that's something that's real?

robert? doesn't he know you have to be a leader to look like one? >> i can't read his mind. that's one thing the white house continues to tell reporters, there's so much controversy around the president, action, activity, drama, negative, positive, whatever you want to call it, that one moment is not going to define this presidency. they know the midterm election is a referendum on trump going back to january 2017. >> but hurricanes make or break these guys. >> i think it all still goes back to optics is the nation going to see a president trump, that goes and understands people, talks to people and understands if their homes are broken or if there's large damage or are they going to see a president throwing paper towels again or saying i can't wait to get back on the campaign trail to help my republican friends, i don't want to go to these damaged places. >> we'll see. thank you all. trump facing a political capsizing in his party this

november. we have two top guests coming up joining us in a minute. plus paul manafort is reportedly in talks with prosecutors on a possible plea deal. before that happens, robert mueller wants him to agree to cooperate and provide information about trump. he wants him to talk about trump. the department of homeland security took $10 million from fema's budget and gave it to i.c.e. to pay for detentions right before hurricane season. the "hardball" round table is going to finish on that baby. this is "hardball." relieves your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it helps block six key inflammatory substances. most pills block one. flonase sensimist.

most pills block one. in them therr hills on your guarantevacation.find gold but we can guarantee the best price on this rental cabin. or any accomodation from hotels to yurts. booking.com, booking.yeah at fidelity, our online u.s. equity trades are just $4.95. so no matter what you trade, or where you trade, you'll only pay $4.95. fidelity. open an account today. the national weather service is calling hurricane florence the storm of a lifetime for portions of the carolina coast. let's go to nbc 6 bill kerns who has the latest. is this a three or four right now? >> it's a three. but we don't want to pay too much attention to that.

it only describes the winds. it doesn't have to do with rain or storm surge. so yes, it's down to a three, less wind damage, that's not the whole story. now only about 350 miles from the carolina close line. here's the important track from the center. it's heading right towards wilmington, and it's going to crawl down to myrtle beach, this is an onslaught of rain, and, of course, we're going to get the storm surge and the beach erosion too. power outage higher where we could see the landfall in wilmington. we caught a break when we did the shift last night a little further south but we're going to see the same areas. all the way back up here through atlantic beach, beautiful coastal areas, a lot of houses on the beaches, that's where we

could see the destruction. high tide, 11:36 tomorrow. we get numerous high tide cycles. the water is going to pile up with each and every cycle and more water is sent inland. it could be four cycles of high tides. i've been around for a lot of storms, i don't think i've seen a storm on the coast for 36 to 48 hours. >> people should leave, right? >> if you have the means. in wilmington they're not telling everyone to leave, but if you're in a low lying area and have the means, get out of there. otherwise you could be stuck in your house for 24 hours so if you're prepared to sit inside a bathroom for 24 hours, go ahead and do it. you only have about maybe 12 of the 24 hours to get out of town. that's about what you have left. >> thanks for that reporting warning. up next governor john kasich and

senator sharon brown join me next. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. that's because hep c can hide in your body silently for years, even decades, without symptoms and it's not tested for in routine blood work. if left untreated, hep c can cause liver damage, even liver cancer. but there's important information for us: the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested for hep c. all it takes is a simple one-time blood test. and if you have hep c, it can be cured. ask your healthcare provider for the simple blood test. for us it's time to get tested. it's the only way to know for sure.

welcome back to "hardball." republicans face daunting challenges this november, of course, majority leader mitch mcconnell is warning of big electoral losses even texas seems to be in trouble thanks to the democrat who has taken on cruz. the president's reputation under assault thanks to bob woodward's scathing assault on the white house. however the commander and chief still gives himself high marks, in fact, a pluses on twitter he wrote his administration's past performances to responding to hurricanes are, in fact, a pluses. joining me is republican governor john kasich. >> i think of you as the alternative to donald trump. sort of the classic republican executive. what did you think when you hear about trump described as someone

unattached to reality, incapable of expressing the truth? >> it's sad, chris. i sometimes feel as though i live in a parallel university, or this is some kind of a woody allen movie. it's truly very different. and, you know, look the republicans are having trouble because people don't want chaos, they don't want all this fighting, all this name calling. this has been something that's been going on for a long time. they don't want family separation at the border. let me give you another one. the thing that really troubles me is i cannot beam there are a group of people in my party who are saying people with preexisting conditions can be denied health care. i talk to republican friends of mine and say your kid has problems, right? yeah. if they have a preexisting condition they may not be able to get health insurance. this is odd. i think there are parts of our

party really saying enough of this. i'm starting to sense it, i'm starting to feel it. you remember that lesson chris you and i both learned on capitol hill, and that is you don't work for a president, you don't work for a party. when you're on the streets with the folks, they're judging you for who you are. so my advice to republicans is be your own person. be your own man or woman. talk to people about health care, about bringing the country together. >> the cast from the white house right now adds another problem for republicans this midterm election year. here's how mitch mcconnell described the situation. >> we know this is going to be a very challenging election on the senate side. i'll just list you a bunch of races that are dead even, arizona, nevada, tennessee, montana, north dakota, missouri,

indiana, west virginia and florida. all of them too close to call. and every one of them like a knife fight in an alley. just a brawl in every one of those places. >> a new poll out today explained why the republicans are worried and have reason to be concerned about what's coming up. this like losing the house almost for sure now. on the generic congressional ballot about house votes when voters were asked which party they preferto control the house this november, it gives democrats a 12 point lead. quinnipiac gives them a 14 point lead. what's when president trump who inherited majority control of the senate and the house of representatives, loses at least one of those controls, is he faced with reality in the republican party or is he going to bs his way through it again?

>> it's going to be interesting to see how the party reacts. to some degree there are people who say things are going great. that's not the case, we knew about the congressional race here in ohio where the republican should have won overwhelming and barely squeaked it out. there's a couple things we have to think about. when you're the president of the united states, people look to you as a father, they look at you as somebody who's the con solar, somebody who can bring harmony, somebody that can bring peace. and when a leader, we all have these images of a president in our mind, we learned about george washington or lincoln or reagan or we learn about roosevelt. and the sense is that our president is a special person who's not supposed to engage in name calling or fighting or chaos all the time. that president is supposed to be somebody that is a healer and

brings the country together. this is one of the reasons i never supported the guy. you know, one of the few in my party that didn't support him because i believe people need to be lifted. i don't believe that people need to be divided and all the name calling is just wrong and it continues. republicans are going to pay a price for it, if they want to do better, then these individual republicans need to start being their own man or woman, person, talking about the things they believe in and knock it off -- >> here's your chance what do you make of the guy sitting next to me, the democratic senator from ohio? what do you make of him? >> i've known him a long time. i'm not here to endorse brown, chris. that's not what my job is. >> i understand that. but the fact that you didn't -- >> i'm saying any republican -- >> the fact you haven't knocked

him tells me something. >> i don't like to knock a lot of people. i disagree with him on a lot of issues but it's not my job to go around knocking people. i'm not running against him. i'd have a lot of things i'd say if i was running but that's not my job. >> i'd say nice things about you, but that might hurt you, governor. >> he was pretty good on the congressional baseball team i'll say that about him. >> it counts for something. >> in all seriousness, we have a lot of differences but we never name call, we have never done that about each other, and we can respect each other, even though we have very significant differences. >> thank you, governor. you are up for reelection this year -- >> let me say something about john, he's fine, he stood up for what he believes, and our state will always owe him a debt of gratitude because he worked with

me and others on health care, expanded medicaid and 900,000 ohioans will have insurance and it's because of john kasich. >> trump one thing was infrastructure and yet he's taken $10 million out of fema and given it to border control. it's not like he's built up preparation for these natural disasters coming. >> more than that he took what we thought was going to be a trillion dollar infrastructure bill, water, suer, community colleges, and gave it away to the tax cut where the benefits went to the riches 1%. there are so many reasons the tax cut didn't make sense -- >> why are the working class people sticking with him? they would have benefitted from the jobs from the infrastructure, working people go a lot further to work than rich people do. they need good roads, mass

transit all that kind of stuff. the money went to the rich people and 43% of your state is still backing trump now. >> that's hard to unction. i think people in ohio, people don't think their kids are going to have a better material life than they do. i think a lot of people in ohio don't believe washington respects them and respects the work. respect the dignity of retirement, if you worked hard all of your life you should have social security and medicare for sure there. i think they're saying both sides weren't paying attention and trump was the alternative. we didn't stand up in the right way. >> i think there's going to be a big way coming, still facing a challenge in ohio, a state that voted for president obama in '08 and '12 and swung to trump in '16. here's a poll that said that you

hold a 16 point lead over your opponent. >> there was a poll a week ago that showed me up four. polls are all over the place. people don't know him particularly well yet. the race is going to be a contrast between -- between a guy that voted to repeal the affordable repeal act and i stood with governor kasich for it. i think in the end my concern about a race like this, every time i run, the gun lobby pours millions in at the end often times the drug companies do, and wall street does. it will be a close race. trump won by 8 points. there's not been a democrat elected in years, except my 2012 race. it leans that way. the difference in this race, i probably will be outspent, the difference is our grass roots effort. i appeal to people to come and

help us out. we win races in ohio by working harder than they do. >> i have a couple members of my family, three of them, that voted for trump. one just switched, so something is going on out there. what do you say about the people that voted for trump last time and you want them to vote this time, and think about the election that's coming up? >> in the end i always fight for whether you punch a clock, work in a diner, whether you're a salaried office worker, working in a hospital, you fight for people and have their backs and it is whose side you're on. and too many voters in ohio thought trump was on their side. they have seen them fight for them, whether it's trade agreements, tax policies, fighting for consumers, i'll be there always. >> thank you, senator. up next jury selection about to begin in the second trial for

paul manafort, and now the "the washington post" is out there reporting that manafort is talking to mueller's team about a plea deal. how is he going to get a plea deal and a pardon? we'll talk about that. that's going to be tricky for this guy. we'll be right back. hy esurance hired me, dennis quaid, as their spokesperson because apparently, i'm highly likable. see, they know it's confusing. i literally have no idea what i'm getting, dennis quaid. that's why they're making it simple, man in cafe. and more affordable. thank you, dennis quaid. you're welcome. that's a prop apple. i'd tell you more, but i only have 30 seconds. so here's a dramatic shot of their tagline so you'll remember it. esurance. it's surprisingly painless.

a hotel can make or break a trip. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. ♪ add-on advantage. discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. only when you book with expedia. jushis local miracle ear t at helped andrew hear more of the joy in her voice. just one hearing test is all it took for him to hear more of her laugh... and less of the background noise around him. for helen, just one visit to her local miracle-ear is all it took to learn how she can share more moments with her daughter. just one free hearing test could help you hear more...

laughter...music...life... call now for your free hearing test from an industry leader: miracle-ear. take us downtown, waze. waze integration- seamlessly connecting the world inside... with the world outside... making life a little... easier.

introducing the well-connected lincoln mkc. welcome back to "hardball." when paul manafort was convicted last month, president trump praised his former campaign chairman for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors against him, donald trump.

trump's lawyer, rudy giuliani even hinted at a potential pardon for manafort in june of this year. yet despite those public assurances, manafort is back at the bargaining table with the prosecutors. "the washington post" is reporting manafort is in talks with the special counsel's office about a possible plea deal according to two people with knowledge of discussions. however according to nbc news there's a sticking point, mueller is seeking cooperation from manafort for information related to president donald trump and the 2016 campaign. convicted on eight felony counts in virginia, manafort could be sentenced to ten years in prison on that and still facing another set of charges in washington d.c. coming up soon where he's scheduled to go on trial this month. this is his second round of negotiations with prosecutors. he weighed a potential deal last

month which fell through. joining me now is an expert, u.s. attorney joyce vance. thank you for this. i keep thinking this guy is going, she loves me, she loves me not. one of those things. am i going to go for a pardon or try to sell this guy out and get a lesser sentence? isn't that the choice immediately now facing mr mr. manafort? >> it is but he doesn't really hold all the cards, chris. so i'm wondering if what we're seeing here is manafort taking a page from the president's play book and running a strategy that's a public relations strategy, not a legal strategy. trying to put donald trump on the alert to say if you don't give me a pardon right now, there may be so much pressure on me to cooperate against you that i won't be able to with stand it. maybe that's what this is about. >> this is all about speck lace. my sense is trump has some cards

in his hand. next year he can decide when he runs for reelection, pardon my family members, people like paul manafort, who have been true to me. in other words once i've taken care of the family and friends then i'll decide whether to run for reelection or not. that seems to be the smart move for him because i don't think he's going to let his family swing. your thoughts? >> it's hard to know whether anyone would develop a spine and hold him accountable for using the pardon hourpower in that ma. obviously he has the ability to pardon himself with the exception of himself in impeachment proceedings perhaps. but whether he could survive this level of pardon is one issue but for the other it's a gamble for anyone counting on the president to give him a pardon. although he looks like he has

survivability right now, he may not be in a position to give pardons. >> manafort is facing a decade of prison time coming out of the trial held last month in virginia. he's going against a d.c. jury, which are known to be liberals, not big on d.c. big shots. not happy to see him coming. what does that tell you? >> i think this jury will do what we expect juries to do across the country and that's to leave their prejudices at the door and make a decision as the judge instructs him based on the evidence and the law. >> you're being clinical. >> mueller has great evidence. we saw how good that evidence was in virginia. manafort is looking at an almost certain second conviction. but mueller has what he needs here. he has a conviction in virginia. manafort is looking at about eight years under the guidelines

as the sentence he would serve. from mueller's point of view the only thing left that he really wants is manafort's cooperation. so i would expect him to drive a pretty tough bargain here. he doesn't have to agree to let manafort plead. manafort can plead blind to all counts in the indictment if he wants to, he cannot force mueller to give him any kind of terms for that agreement. >> we'll see what he has in his pockets. thanks, joyce vance. with hurricane florence barrelling down on the carolinas, president trump is saying his administration did a great job on the hurricane in puerto rico. an a plus job. but with 3,000 deaths, do you think there's room for improvement? you're watching "hardball."

and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro.

but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. that's it? everybody two seconds! "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job.

monitor their blood glucose every day. which means they have to stop. and stick their fingers. repeatedly. today, life-changing technology from abbott makes it possible to track glucose levels. without drawing a drop of blood, again and again. the most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. life. to the fullest. what grade do you give yourself so far?

>> so i give myself an a plus. i don't think any president has ever done what i've done in the short -- we haven't even been two years. i give myself an a plus effort. >> i would give myself an a plus, nobody has done what i've been able to do and i did it despite the fact i have a phony cloud over my head that doesn't exist. >> he didn't have any problem with fox on that. a plus went well with that panel. preside president trump has given himself a plus multiple times now in this presidency. and today he did it again tweeted we got a pluses for our recent hurricane work in texas and florida and did an unappreciated great job in puerto rico. this comes after the president calls his hurricane work an unsung success. a few days after that hurricane last year in puerto rico, he said he was proud of the responses he offered saying far

fewer people died in puerto rico than did in hurricane katrina. >> i hate to tell you, puerto rico, but you've thrown our budget out of whack because we spent a lot of money on puerto rico, that's fine. we saved a lot of lives. if you look at the -- every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like katrina and you look at the tremendous, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was just totally overpowering, nobody has ever seen anything like this. 16 versus literally thousands of people, you can be very proud. everyone around this table and everybody watching can be proud of what's taking place. >> remember the old flash gordon series, what kind of costume was the president wearing at that time? what do you make of his bragging? there was 3,000 people killed in that hurricane.

>> i think as someone from the gulf coast who calls new orleans home, nobody wants to be in a competition for how many people died in their hurricane. and no one wants to start bragging that new orleans' katrina response was the measure. i think president trump is always going to give himself a pluses and i think the risk that comes with talking about his maria response that was so heavily criticized, now we know thousands died there -- >> instead of 64. >> instead of 64. john? >> here's my question, first of all. how many of you thought when he got asked that question he was going to say b minus. everybody knew he was going to say a plus. >> was that a surprise? >> it's a dumb question, he shouldn't have answered it. number two, look, this president has a frustration. when you ask people in the last election what are the two big issues? it was the economy and fighting terrorism? and frankly he probably deserves

an a, a plus on those categories and he thinks nobody gives credit. where he takes the bait on this, he feels he has to be his own promotor because nobody else is there. but it's not what a president should be doing. and in the long term it hurts him. >> you have to be able to pat your head and rub your tummy. the job is you're doing more than you campaigned on. his inability to take any -- look, this is not the time to grade yourself, as the professor you never let your students grade themselves. rather than grade himself, the president has lacked empathy for people in tragedy. it's not a matter he was saying i did this fantastic job or making a comparison to katrina, it's the fact his administration lied and promoted a lie about the people who died. >> he is reminding people who were critical of his response to

maria, he could have just never mentioned it, not given himself any grade and now he's reminded of it -- >> he's going into voter territory now. puerto rico you can't vote -- >> except the people that came to florida. >> now he's going to the krar carolinas, the two states they need. >> no one is talking about what merkel did, hijack this issue -- >> merkley saying they took $10 million -- >> which turned out not to be true. the money that was shifted was nothing to do with disaster relief. so he gave false information to try to make this into an election issue. >> mitch mcconnell is voicing more concern about whether the republicans can hold the senate majority this fall. here he goes. >> i hope so. we have a storm headed toward the coast, and lawrence you've heard me say this before, we

know the wind is going to be in our face, we don't know if it's going to be category 3, 4 or 5. i hope when the smoke clears we have a majority in the senate. >> it looks like the republicans, two weeks ago i thought they were going to pick up a couple seats, i think now they have a fight for their lives. >> i think that's true. all these races, as mitch mcconnell said are tied. the bottom line is generally they're all going to go almost one way. you have surges at the end. it could come back it's a big republican year in the senate and they're safe, especially if they win florida and north dakota and montana which looks like today they might. >> republicans will be tester -- >> i think those are the four that have better chances than any other state. >> i don't see that. >> there's a difference between having a chance of being successful. what republicans have to worry about and what mitch mcconnell is talking about is, regardless of how weak in the bad territory some of these democrats are

running in, they're in places where lower races may help them. gillum may help pull nelson over the line. you have what's going on in tennessee right now. in a wave election you always have people losing who you don't anticipate. if you asked me a month ago does beto o'rourke on beating cruz, i would say no. >> a wave is a wave. >> mitch mcconnell knows if he sits back the wave is going to hit him. if that's a smoke signal to raise money, it's been a while now. it's not just tennessee, it's arizona and nevada. these are states they hold now and could lose. i think about a week ago, the public realized outside of the political offices there was

concerns to be had. >> i think it's moving for the democrats. you don't agree, john? >> surges happen more more in the house than the senate because they become almost like governor's races. they know the two candidates so well. house is likely to get pulled into some type of wave or another. >> i don't think anybody is in the mood to give trump a keep it up, you're doing great work there. i think in the end they're going to say let's check this guy's power a little bit. anyway, the round table is going to stay with us and they're going to tell me something i don't know. you're watching "hardball." capital one cafes. you can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. and one of america's best savings rates. to top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. this isn't a typical bank. this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet?

ythen you turn 40 ande everything goes. tell me about it. you know, it's made me think, i'm closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. hm. i'm thinking... will i have enough? should i change something? well, you're asking the right questions. i just want to know, am i gonna be okay? i know people who specialize in "am i going to be okay." i like that. you may need glasses though. yeah. schedule a complimentary goal planning session today with td ameritrade.

us. it's what this country is made of. but right now, our bond is fraying. how do we get back to "us"? the y fills the gaps. and bridges our divides. donate to your local y today. because where there's a y, there's an us. and an ice plant.rs with 70-megawatts, 35 mules, but we brought power to the people- redefining what that meant from one era to the next. over 90 years later we continue to build as one of the nation's largest investors in infrastructure. we don't just help power the american dream. we're part of it.

this is our era. this is america's energy era. nextera energy uhp. i didn't believe it. again. ♪ ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth? ♪ i want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ♪ ooh i'm not hearing the confidence. okay, hold the name your price tool. power of options based on your budget! and! ♪ we'll make heaven a place on earth ♪

yeah! oh, my angels! ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ [ sobs quietly ] back with the hardball tound rabl. >> a large group of business interests launched a multimillion campaign today to convince president trump to boon his tariffs on china. we're seeing a division in the business community. millions of dollars behind on a effort to convince the president that he's wrong, while some think they should be trying to convince him he's already won a victory. >> john. >> new fears in the republican party that some new research showed that among millennials and generation z, our voice of talking to them is minuscule compared to the left. >> what's generation z? >> the one behind -- >> behind millennials. >> there's a big shift, taking a

hard look at is spending more on tv or more on digital or should we be creating our own spaces of communications of how they do it socially and others? you're seeing big shifts in 2020 on that. >> where the money goes. jason. >> tight race for governor in arizona right now. here's the catch, one of the biggest attacks republicans have on democrats, they're trying to get rid of i.c.e. the problem with that argument is, governors can't do anything about i.c.e. if republicans want to abolish them, they should keep it congressional. >> the mayor of new york, saying for capital punishment, nothing to do with that. thank you, ginger gibson and john braybender, jason johnson. when we return, let me finish tonight with trump watch. you're not going to like this one. you're watching "hardball."

dear foremothers, your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands... commanded armies... yielded to no one. when i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. my name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. now with 2 times more geographic detail than other dna tests. order your kit at ancestrydna.com a few problems actually. we're overproducing, overcrowding, and overheating. we've got aging roadways,

aging power grids, ...aging everything. you're kinda bumming me out clive owen. no, wait... it gets worse. we also have the age-old problem of bias in the workplace. really... never heard of it. seriously? it's all over the news. i've heard of it. ahh. the question is... who's going to fix all of this? an actor? probably not. but you know who can solve it? business. that's right. the best-run businesses can make the world run better. because solving big problems is what business does best. and doing good is just good business. shhh! sorry. so let's grow more food, with less water. and make healthcare, more healthy. it's okay, i've played a doctor. what have we got here? let's take on the wage gap, the opportunity gap, the achievement gap. together, we can tackle every elephant in the room. and save the rhino while we're at it. because, whatever the problem, business can help. and i know who can help them do it... but let's be honest, nobody likes dealing with insurance. which is why esurance hired me, dennis quaid, as their spokesperson because apparently, i'm highly likable.

see, they know it's confusing. i literally have no idea what i'm getting, dennis quaid. that's why they're making it simple, man in cafe. and more affordable. thank you, dennis quaid. you're welcome. that's a prop apple. i'd tell you more, but i only have 30 seconds. so here's a dramatic shot of their tagline so you'll remember it. esurance. it's surprisingly painless.

trump watch wednesday, september 12th, 2018, just one day past the 17th anniversary of 9/11, the president of the united states seems unconnected to both political and atmospheric reality. he faces a category 3 hurricane headed for the east coast, and a political storm warning of the same level. but his reaction to both is vintage alfred e. newman, what, me worry? well, donald trump, who's stranger to shame seems equally

unbothered by storm clouds of the political ship wreck type. donald trump won the presidency, let's face it, in the electoral college to the public demand for change. he seems unable to recognize the growing anger out there today among the elect rat of 2018. others see suburban voters heading to the polls now with clear and passionate attempt to vote democratic this november. trump sees nothing of the kind. a great thing about americans, i think, is our ability to catch up with things. people who voted for trump in 2016 are ready to vote against him in 2018. i see that particularly in suburban congressional districts. states that voted for him in 2016 are now teetering between his preferred candidate, the republican and the democrat riding a wave of resistance. a candidate who's in tune to voters' urge for change in 2016,

trump, sits behind the oval office desk giving himself achlt pluses and refuses to recognize in democracy it's the voter who gives out the grades. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes is up next. he's got a special town hall right away tonight with guest michael moore. >> they're getting a little nervous in michigan. >> michigan is going to be the linchpin. >> key state, unexpectedly is michigan. >> on 11/9/2016 michigan went for donald trump. >> a 10,000 vote margin for donald trump in michigan. >> but the majority of people here didn't vote at all. >> do you regret not voting? >> tonight, michael moore is back, and he's got a brand new film. which takes on trump. >> stop resisting. >> the governor. >> governor schneider, i got some flint water for you. >> and talks to the voters, and new candidates in the states that elected trump. >> i don't [ bleep ] who you are, i'll fight you in the damn street right now.