david gregory, abby, jackie kucinich and ron brownstein. ron, what did you think of those moments? >> there is an answer to chris' question. by any conventional expectation or definition of what the electorate looks like, what donald trump has been doing the last few weeks doesn't make a lot of sense. because it certainly many of these kind of accusations it the election is rigged against me, i won't accept the results. only deepen the questions about his temperament among the voters to most political analysts look like the swing voters that will decide this thing. donald trump seems to be operating on a countertheory. what is calling the missing white voter theory in parts of the republican party after mitt romney won white voters in 1980. most republicans had to reach out. the counter theory was to increase turnout against blue collar white workers and any methituod to the madness. he's constantly feeding those voters more of kind of coal in the fire to kind of stir them up and there is a way forward, it is by radically transforming the electorate into something no one else expec

team coverage here joining cnn correspondent sunlen and jim acosta and cnn political analyst ron brownstein and cnn commentator matt lewis. good to see all of you. we begin with you, sunlen. donald trump began with unfinished business who accused him of sexual misconduct and spelled out his first day in office and the first 100 days if elected. what seemed to resinate with supporters there? >> reporter: it was, i think rather bizarre at the top of the speech. this was a major policy address by the trump campaign where he would be giving details on pollty specifics. we did get some new details on donald trump's immigration plan, most of this was just a repetition of many policy proposals he has proposed over the course of the campaign. for the first 16 minutes of his speech here, he had somewhat of an airing of grievances, going after hillary clinton saying she shouldn't be allowed to run, going after the establishment saying they are against his campaign, trying to stop him from going forward, bringing up cases of alleged voter fraud. so, certainly, trying to get out all of the things that,

with me is annby philip reporter for "the washington post" and ron brownstein senior political analyst. so, ron, let's start there. clinton's campaign chair john podesta said russia is to blame for hacking into his e-mail. he actually suggested that the trump campaign could have known what was coming from russia. seriously? >> well, there's one tweet, there's one kind of suspicious tweet in which they, they seem to be roger stone seemd to be talking about what was going to be coming and john podesta's turn next look all indications from the administration are, from the intelligence agencies, that russia is, in fact, systematically meddling in the election by hacking in to and releasing e-mail -- internal communications from one side in the campaign. right? i mean there is there's not been kind of a random assortment here. there have been democratic institutions, democratic leaders, that have been -- that have been targeted. and we don't know if their aim is to help donald trump, or if their aim is just to destabilize the election. but i would say that there's no what in these e-mails t

ron brownstein is a cnn senior political analyst and senior editor for "the atlantic."sweet is the washington bureau chief for the "chicago sun-times." welcome to both of you. >> hi, carol. >> you have to admit, president obama's fun yip theny these day >> yes, he is, he is -- he knows that the best kind of political statements are often made in humor. he can do self-deprecating humor and toss those barbs at trump and that just shows you what a skilled communicator he is. that's what donald trump is now capable of. that's what hillary clinton tries to do. just think, you know, carol and ron if you can wield humor like a weapon that always puts you ahead of the game when you appeal to voters. >> it's interesting, like, hillary clinton has elizabeth warren out there. it seems to me -- it might be just my imagination, that hillary clinton is sort of sitting back and smoking a cigarette letting her surrogates do the work. >> not sure if she's smoking the cigarette but the -- >> i was kidding about that part -- >> -- quite revealing. donald trump is in many ways a man withou

errol lewis is back, ron brownstein and mark preston, lynn skweet.o mark donald trump actually answered the question. i'm not so sure that hillary clinton did. >> well, it was predictable what she said. it was -- i mean literally when the question was asked, we were sitting around watching, said going right to the children. because the children have been praised throughout the whole campaign, and they do seem like they're very well put together -- >> she didn't say he was a great father and he raised his children to be the respectful adults they are now. >> she didn't. but she walked a fine line and that was the -- that was the good thing she could find in donald trump. now what his answer was caught us all off guard quite frankly, because it really did give us a window into his mind, and his thinking, which is exactly where he is in this campaign. fight, fight, fight. he looked at her and said god she's given me quite a run right now for this and i like the fact that she is a fighter. and that's the way he seems to have conducted himself his entire

it would be surprising if that happened in person. >> 55% ron brownstein.l that the president has right now. >> i think the single most important measure for the country. it is very high 70% but that includes a lot of democrats. the presidential approval rating has a huge shadow. >> -- not just for the president david axelrod but for hillary clinton as well. you agree that that 70% people who say the country is on the wrong track right now not as significant as the 55% who like what the president is doing. >> the right track/wrong track number has been bad for some time. the president got reelected with one. but she is so closely tied to him and the republicans put a lot of eggs in that basket and now they have a popular president and they are making him a symbol of her candidacy, it may not work. >> we'll see what happens sunday night. how this debate unfolds. anderson cooper is co-moderatoring. that is it for me. erin burnett oumpt starts right now. "outfront." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> good evening to all. i'm erin burnett. out front the break n

let's bring in ron brownstein and contributor for time magazine, jay newton small.irst. is that a pretty sizable signal, donald trump's camp would close up shop in virginia and say wee not going to win this one? >> very revealing not only about virginia, but the overall recon figure ing of the map we're seeing. the coalition that's consolidating against donald trump in record numbers is centered on minority voters and college educated white voter, particularly women. and in states where that's a dominant demographic combination, it's tough for trump. if you look across the sun belt, virginia and colorado with both states that were liablely republican in the '90s. out of reach for trump because of the large presence of college educated whites. north carolina and florida, the same problem to a lesser ek tent. conversely, he is the most competitive in the rust belt states, where the strongest supporters are a significant piece of the overall pie. that's ohio and iowa. the last state, the tipping point, is pennsylvania. it's hard for donald trump to get to 270 without p

with me ron brownstein, cnn political onlyive and editor for the atlantic. and asma khalid is a political reporter for npr. this alleged quid pro quo is sure to come up at wednesday's debate so how might clinton respond? >> as brianna laid out, it's a complicated story. with the state department, one e-mail suggesting the state department began one conversation, one e-mail suggesting the fbi began the conversation. you know, look, she's got -- in all likelihood, she's going to do what we saw john kirby do, deny the trade was ever offered. but it does kind of underscore what kind of a monumental mess she created for herself with this decision several years ago. it's astounding how much it has continued to shadow the presidential race all the way through. i think the biggest questions it raises is about kind of the insul larty of the circle around her, the inability to raise doubts and whether those can get to her. it is largely baked in the cake. we have an historic number of americans saying they don't believe she's honest. yet the concerns about donald trum

ron brownstein, thanks. so much. >> thank you. >>> so moments from now, new polls coming in from three of the most reuschcrucial of all battleground states. will it change everything? >> nevada, iowa and north carolina. poll watchers, stick around. ue of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. sharing a ten by ten room,ng threestruggling.nding, i rent this place and then i started home sharing. my roommates help out all the time. they are glad to meet the guests and that opportunity that airbnb has given me is such a priceless gift. i was able to take three months o

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so let's bring in cnn's senior political analyst and senior editor for the atlantic ron brownstein. political analyst david gregory. and cnn politics executive editor mark preston. great to have all of you here. ron, what does change this morning after last night's debate? >> you know, i thought the debate was actually the whole campaign in miniature. you know, after eight years, after one party's in the white house for eight years, there is always a case for change. and mike pence very effectively and energetically pressed the case for change. kept tim kaine on the defensive on the issue agenda, both the record of the obama administration and the clinton proposals for 2016. but pence and the other part of the miniaturization of the whole election struggled enormously to defend many of the things that donald trump has said and done. airbrushing them or simply ignoring them. and that really kind of gives you the whole campaign in a box. there is an audience for change, as there has been in every time we've had a two-term president since world war ii. but donald trump is having trouble

back with me, a cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein and senior contributor to the daily caller, matt lewis. first to you, matt. as you listened to a very lengthy list by donald trump of the things he would want to bring and things he wants to eliminate, what are the things that are more signature of the campaign of donald trump that we have seen? >> it reminded me a lot of lincoln's gettysburg address, i have to tell you. >> sarcasm. okay, go ahead. >> obviously, the last 20 minutes were very substantive in terms of laying out the laundry list of policy items. about half of them were populous ideas, things like getting rid of nafta and tpp. i think that would resinate and could resinate with a lot of working class americans. the other half was traditional, conservative things that conservatives want, get rid of obamacare, school of choice, things like that. but the problem, of course, is that donald trump spent the first 20 or 30 minutes talking about other stuff including saying he was going to sue these women, he called them liars and saying, you know, talking about suing the

but if you look at arizona and ohio, it's kind of like what our colleague ron brownstein wrote about,ust belt and sun belt are starting to shift. >> if you're rob portman and winning your race and perhaps donald trump will lose or contest or whatever in that state, how do you feel if donald trump is saying, well, this may not be legitimate? >> it's rigged. >> it's rigged. but you're winning. >> and what happens in arizona if it goes for hillary, what happens to john mccain who made a gamble early on in his re-election campaign by hitching his wagon to trump? >> he's unhitched it. >> correct. he kind of was on the wrong side of the fence at the wrong time, like each time, what happens to the senate veteran if arizona breaks for clinton? >> i want to play -- you're an expert on russia. i want to play this exchange. russia came up in the debate last night, the cyber attacks on u.s. institutions, democratic party institutions specifically. listen to this. >> from everything i see has no respect for this person. >> well, that's because he would rather have a puppet as president -- >> no pu

also joining us cnn political analyst ron brownstein. good to have both of you with us.t to start with the apology. not the is statement that came out earlier in the day. but the 90-second apology. mark, i want to start with you. the decision to include the clintons again after the backlash from that three-sentence apology that came out later in the day. whoever wrote this, decided to stick with that. is that a strategy that we heard throughout the day? >> a couple things, one is, once the story broke, it took them several hours, the trump campaign, to try to get their arms around it. now, that statement. that video statement that was put out wasn't put null until a little after midnight eastern time. so they were clearly trying to figure out how they were going to deal with it. a lot of people were saying leading up to that is that the only way donald trump is going to survive this is if he shows real remorse. we didn't see that. he upped the antsty. he pointed to bill clinton at the end. he had this are ominous tone and said i'll see you sunday night at the debate whic

here to break it down, ron brownstein, senior editor at the atlantic, and former public policy director, lonnie chen. thank you guys for being here. let's dig into the new york times article. here is more of what trump said. he said he was bringing up mr. clinton's infidelities because he thought they would repulse voters away from the clintons. they're struggling to get female voters. the thing is, hillary clinton's approval rating is the highest it has ever been when she was first lady in the white house going through the lewinsky scandal. i wonder what trump thinks will be different this time. will it work? >> yeah, well, you know, look, by conventional metrics, this is a strange line of argument for donald trump, because his principle problem in the race, it is not that people are wild about hillary clinton, there are plenty of doubts about hillary clinton. his principle problem is that 60% of america say he is not qualified and even more say does he have the temperament to exceed as president. he is struggling with minority and college educated white women. this would seem to be a

washington bureau chief jackie kosinich and david gregory and senior editor of "the atlantic" ron brownstein. okay. time for a commercial. the trump camp is saying they won. they won, they won, they won. what are you hearing? >> exactly that. they won, they won, they won. they put out an aggressive message through all of othethei allies saying this was their moment of victory and he set the tone and he is back in the race and he certainly stabilized himself for the night. you are potentially seeing the leader of the senate majority and the house speaker openly disassociating from him today. if he had a really bad performance. the fact that he apologized over that videotape, i think, basically staunched the bleeding. that just gets us to today. donald trump, number one, has had a real problem perforcming well over a series of days or a series of hours depending on how things are going and this just doesn't undo the last certainly last week, last several months and it's also really worth remembering there are a lot of people talking about the tactic he used of bringing in these women whahado h

we have cnn analyst ron brownstein. we have david gregory and political analyst jackie kucinich and abby phillips. great to have you here. david, was the defining moment for you the i'll keep voters in suspense? >> i thought after a strong hour after momentum for trump as more of a republican and sounding like a conservative, i think this was a death blow for him. not abiding by the traditions of the country to accept the election results. somebody wants to make america great again and wants to undermine our democracy. it goes to the core of that problem for trump which is most americans don't think he has the temperament to be president. i think that was just the best evidence you could find. >> why is the suggestion that it could be rigged so i have to wait and see. why isn't that compelling enough to offset what david is saying? >> this is not a stay tuned answer. this is not reality tv show. this is foundational for the united states democracy. and when he said that, you saw on twitter. republicans sort of the air w

ron brownstein, we're learning more about early voting, which is taking place across the nation in several states. compared to this time in 2012, democrats have improved their early voting metrics in several states, including north carolina, nevada, arizona, and utah where republicans have improved their position in some of the mid western battleground states of iowa and ohio, for example. is there a demographic trend behind these numbers? >> yeah, that's a great question. to some extent, what you see in early voting is a reflection of time and money. yes, this is reflective what could be one of the most important outcomes of the elections, which is that the sun belt and the rust belt are switching places. if you go back to 1992, the democratic share of the vote in all of the rust belt battle grounds, overall, over the six elections, is higher than their share of the vote in any of the sun belt battle ground states. but where trump is so strong on the blue collar whites, and is struggling among minority voters and white collar whites who are in many cases are the dominant electorate like i

joining us now senior editor it of "the atlantic" ron brownstein.here are e-mails that are recommended secondarily. not by wikileaks but put out there and said hillary clinton called them this. no, she didn't. it was a translation of a report from somebody else. now, there is a real e-mail from brian fallon talking about getting an update from the doj and put up the e-mail so that people can see it. he got information about a status conference that's coming quickly. this has been uses by conservative extreme types to say, ah-ha, collusion with the doj. donald trump used those words himself. fair point. >> i think the first point, i mean, the overriding point and i think you may have said this this morning, there is no what in here that is as important as the how and maybe the why. this is not a journalistic leak. this is a hack almost certainly engineered by russian intelligence to disrupt the american election. what the obama administration does to respond is, you know, a critical point in the days ahead. having said that, you know, this is kind of

with me now to talk about it mark preston, ron brownstein sunlen surfaty. >> one is, it took at least six hours last night for him to put out his apology by video and some would say it's not an apology. he used it as a wiay to attack hillary clinton. it's taken him this long to have melania trump to put out a statement. that might have stemmed it a little bit. listen, it's obviously, a big development in the campaign. but donald trump, i think, is harmed from what he said. we're seeing this statement after statement, minute after minute coming out from congressional republicans, republican leaders who are withdrawing their support. >> what does it say that melania trump is issuing what is a short two sentences on paper. they're not doing this live. they're not holding a press conference at this point in time. his statement was taped and it tooks hours and hours. >> you know, this is uncharted territory for a campaign. you know, this is breaking in realtime each minute. we have a drip drip from republican leaders who are backing away from his campaign. it's remarkable you have the wife

so if professor ron brownstein were here, he'd say this is such a huge deal, particularly because of the fact he's losing terribly among minorities, among women, and among the young. so you look at this talk about rallies versus get out the vote. if this is where the race is, what changes the dynamic? clinton's in a much stronger position to get out her vote. she's got the surrogates. she's got the assets. she's got all these get out the vote efforts, all the celebrities. that's a pretty strong way to finish. we're actually going to get into the infrastructure because we keep talking about voting machines and registration machines and getting out the vote. really, we don't know what that mechanism and what the advantage is. we're going to go through that today. now, one of the things that trump is doing, you got 14 days, right. the layer in this bs sandwich, the mayonnaise is true. there's always one part that's true, which is polls -- a lot of people, certainly 60% are eating it. he's saying the polls are bogus. but there is a big change. it's confusing to people. the margins of err

ron brownstein, great to have you with us. >> duffel but still time.uch as all. >>> much more on breaking news. donald trump lashing out. in the midst of a full-blown war within the republican party, which is his own party. this is fast-moving news today. stay with us. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. find out how american express cards and services you knmegared omega-3s... but did you know your eyes, your brain, and your joints really love them too? introducing megared advanced 4in1... just one softgel delivers mega support. farm fresh ingredients, step-by-step recipes, delivered to your door for less than $9 a meal. get $30 off your first delivery blueapron.com/cook. when they thought they should westart saving for retirement.le then we asked some older people when they actually did start saving. this

ron brownstein, rebecca burg and sunlan serfaty and brian stelter and tim nephtali.ks are fired up, excited about the debate, about to happen tomorrow. but now i mean, the stakes are even higher as a result of what's transpired just in the past couple of days. then within the past 24 hours, donald trump apologizing, many with the gop saying not contrite enough and the list goes on about those who within the gop who are criticizing him. so the stakes are very high. ron, let me begin with you first on this. donald trump we know he is in trump tower with his closest advisors. in this interview with the "the wall street journal" said he's not quitting and he has been enjoying the phone ringing off the hook. people are supporting him. he feels more confident than ever going into tomorrow's debate. >> there's no reason for him to feel more confident than ever. but there's also a limit to what the republican can do. i talked today to the premier election law strategist in the republican party. he was the field general for george w. bush in the 2000 recount. he said there is

. >>> so, let's discuss with cnn senior political analyst and senior editor of "the atlantic" ron brownstein, david gregory and jackie kucinich and "washington bu buffo chief. monitoring opportunities for donald trump to do what he has to do in your opinion, expand the base. with just this one statement did he pop that balloon? >> yeah. look, i think that the big moment in these debates was the first debate. that was his chance to reverse the perception that it built up 60% of the country saying he's not qualified. didn't have the judgment he didn't do in the first debate which daronald reagan did in th first debate. the first half of the debate, as we discussed, he was pretty effective in making the republican case for change and making the conservative argument on a whole series of issues from national security to abortion. but when you geet the poit to t that you're not willing to accept the results of the election. deepen the doubts among those voters who question whether you have the temperament and judgment to succeed as president. and those voters, at the moment, are about 60% of the

[laughter] >> you mentioned my colleague, ron brownstein, and one of the things he's talked about in looking at this cycle is that places in the upper midwest may in fact be more republican now than they were even as places in the sun belt and places like arizona, colorado, new mexico, the sun belt gets more democratic because of these demographics but also suggest the appeal does have an upside. you do gain something by those working-class voters and negative because of the population is trending. do you agree with that? this is translated in the house but says for republicans is he a liability or not, it depends what kind of district you have if you have an upscale suburban district than trump is definitely a problem but if you have a vote o thought of workins whites in your district, he could be an asset and you just have to look beneath the surface and say stay with us but with a lot of minorities that's where he will have bigger problems if it's rust belt but not belt buf african-americans or latinos. >> do you wonder where this goes and how much of it is about the broad and dee

. >> you mentioned my colleague ron brownstein and what of the things he's talked about in looking at the map the cycle is the places in the rust belt -- the rust belt and the upper midwest may, in fact, be more republican now than they were four years ago even if places in the sun belt, even states like arizona but also colorado, new mexico. the sun belt gets more democratic as the rust belt gets more republican because of these demographics. which also suggests that trump style of appeal that have a bit of an upside. you do gain something in states that have a lot of those white working-class voters but it ends up being a net negative because the way the population is trending. do you agree? >> yeah, i mean our colleague david wasserman said for republicans, is trump a liability or not, dependable current district you have. if you have an upscale suburban district, then trump is definitely a problem but if you got a lot of working-class whites in your district, he can be an asset. you had to look beneath the surface and say a state that is rust belt but with a lot of minorities, and

political analyst and reporter for "new york times" alex burns and senior editor for "atlantic" ron brownste brownstein. let's start with assessing our own premise. does any of this matter to you and, if so, which and why? >> yeah, it does matter. i mean, donald trump's principle obstacle are the doubts about his personal qualification. going back through the primaries very little debate about the issue agenda hillary clinton has made. put very little of her chips on disqualifying the trump agenda. going into that first debate, many people on his side and many people who sat in chairs like this on this show that he was not the caricature that they painted of him personally. that he could be reassuring and then make a lot of gains. in fact, what the past week has done, starting with the debate and then the aftermath is give ammunition to all the case, every aspect of the case against donald trump. if you think about it in particular the tweet storm with the former miss universe, it appeared vindictive and appeared volatile and offered ammunition to those who says he was racist and sexist. the entire per