nicolle wallace here in the studio. people are going to check the earth's rotation. here is donald trump keeping on message today, one, giving a tax policy speech tomorrow. what's happening? >> all i can think are those pa pears that come in the basket. i'm trying to get that out of my head and stick with trump saying a message. well, mark halpern reported on the today show that an edict went out, before the 9/11 ceremony even ended yesterday, which is what hillary clinton attended before she fell ill, not to raise questions about her health because they thought the better question for the campaign and all of her surrogates was her attack on his supporters as deplorable people. this is the first example that i have learned that the strategy being hatched and executed that lasted more than 45 minutes. they have now been at it for two days driving a single message, and they are because of a variety after events, missteps and unfortunate thingsing from mrs. clinton, they are on offense against her on this attack on deplorables. i have to say his comment, that, that hill

a longtime friend of nicole wallace even though you're on different teams. >> it's a bit like sport, ompete hard and i have friends with a lot of republicans like nicole, we have rational conversations. it's fun. >> well enough of that. i want to start with a grizzled cynical point, and that is, you guys were able to save a lot of money in august, you were able to do the rope a dope. but you weren't in the daily reaction business, because of the trump campaign, starting with what the israeli soldier scandal. what do you pick from today to go after him on, his hitting the pastor in michigan, weakening the fda, tonight where the president may or may not have been born? >> look, i think there's multiple directions to go in. i think the basic thing about donald trump that americans have come to accept in very large numbers is that he is tempmentally unfit to be president of the united states. he's not reckless economic policies that even reagan economic advisors say would create massive tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy and drive up our debt and put us into a recession. and he's

nicole wallace, former communications director for george bush. and co-author of game change. welcome to you both. nicole, what do you think has transpired. we're taking clinton land before trump land, what do you think has conspired? >> we talked tuesday how the long hot summer has changed the candidates. i was told they woke up with three communications goals, they wanted to get on this attack about the comments, the comments about putin and the generals reduced to rubble. they wanted advice that she really had to show more of her heart. i'm told it was her suggestion to get the podium in front of the plane and do the press conference before they even took off. this was a candidate that resisted this interaction with the press and seems to be more and more unwilling to engage. >> and i heard david gergen say he thought she went into last night. rusty, having sat on her lead, because august is different than a presidential lead. do you concur with that? >> if she performed last night, this would be a very close race and she would be in a lot of political pain. must do better t

nicolle wallace, what do you make of this night of the new round of stories. >> what i saw in watching the clips is one campaign very much on the offense. hillary clinton feels so buoyed by her performance monday night she has to be careful not to overplay that. and the trump campaign can't put a poker face on its performance. they're hemming and hawing and mashing out what we talked about which was the discussion the campaign that we had that roberts reported on for a couple days about when she makes these arguments about his comments about women that one of the arguments was to go after hillary clinton's treatment of the women bill had had relations with. but the problem is at the same time they're having this public debate he was calling a woman cut most women to the very core of their sort of self-esteem when their appearance or weight is questioned. >> and that has been said to be the damage he has inflicted upon the campaign. >> right. so even if he thinks he's going to gain some ground -- and i brought up tonight this piece that was written in december, trump has paid this card

robert costa washington post and political analyst nicole wallace and steve schmidt. robert, let's begin with you. this is always an uncomfortable nexus, kind of a new area for law and journalism of stolen material that slops over into the public realm in this case confirmed by a public official. >> we are in this new age of political journalism and politics where everything private will become public or has the threat of becoming public and this is something we're dealing with each and every day and especially in this campaign with wikileaks and different ties to russian intelligence with the democratic national committee, this is looming over this entire campaign. >> nicole, you know general powell, he was forthright when contacted by andrea mitchell, a wounded veteran of combat in vietnam, he doesn't scare easily but there's concern about what else. >> both campaigns responded as you might have expected them to respond. the trump campaign said he's voted democrat in the last two elections and we would expect him to be critical. the clinton campaign didn't want to e

secretary, nicole wallace has remained in the studio to join me in the questioning, so that will be the next voice you hear. >> thanks, mr. secretary, i want to ask you, we have a poll out this morning that among veterans, donald trump had almost a 20 point advantage over secretary clinton and probably even more troubling for your friends in brooklyn, is that among all voters, he actually has an advantage against her on

nicole wallace, a former communications director for president bush 43 and a member of our team is with us. rachel, true or false, this evening was apples and oranges in terms of tone, tenor and content, nicely matching the apples and oranges nature of our candidates. >> i made a list of the questions that were asked, not just the literal words that were asked, almost no overlap between the two candidates, they were not asked the same things, they did not comment on the same things, i don't think they defined these issues for the country in the same way. the very last clip that you played there, seeing it here, donald trump talked about creating a mental health division to serve veteran's mental health division. that already exists, you're not going to create another mental health division within the mental health division, are you? there are things that can't possibly come true in realty. when donald trump said there's going to be be all new generals when he's in commander in chief, not if we have the separate military that we have now. president clinton said there will not be ground t

let her try and lose weight. >> nicole wallace, this is the thanks he gets. have at it. >> well, so i went down to wake county, north carolina today to interview women, undecided women, moms. we're doing a series called the mom boat, it starts tomorrow. i would say there's two hurdles for undecided voters to get there with donald trump. one is this insult about a woman's weight, a beauty pageant contestant's weight. another is mocking and insulting a disabled person. they had all watched monday night's debate with their teenage children, all three of the moms, and they all said they were so troubled. now, interestingly, they all said if he apologized that they had the capacity to forgive him but that they just weren't sure he was someone who was capable of feeling any remorse. but these two things. and let me tell you something, other than you two, i don't know anyone who hasn't struggled with their weight. so insulting weight is universal. every person, man, woman, child, can relate to sort of the self-loathing of having extra weight. so this is not a right-

. >> i'm nicole wallace. >> and i'm john heilemann. and with all due respect to those peddling the latest scandal about hillary clinton not drinking water, if you want people to notice, now need a clever name. something like waterga, eh, we'll come back to it later. >>> we have got plenty to have wadr, or water, as we like to call it, on the show tonight, sports fans, as hillary clinton takes a second day off the campaign trail to recoup from her bout of pneumonia. she was able to call in pretty decent subs to fill her shoes. at an afternoon rally in philadelphia, president obama was on fire as he showed off his stump speech, showmanship, and issued a dire warning to middle class voters about the dangers that he said would come with a donald trump presidency. >> this is the guy you want to be championing working people? this guy who spent 70 years on this earth, showing no concern for working people. this guy suddenly is going to be your champion? i mean, he spent most of his life trying to stay as far away from working people, as he c

nicole: i am nicolle wallace. and i'm john heilemann. with all due respect to those peddling the latest scandal, if you want people to notice, you need a clever name. something like water-g -- we will come back to it later. ♪ of wadr've got plenty on the show tonight, sports fans . as hillary clinton takes a second day off the campaign trail to recoup from her bout of pneumonia, she was able to call in two decent subs to fill in her shoes. in philadelphia, president obama was on fire as he showed off his stump speech showmanship and issued a warning about the dangers he says would come with a donald trump presidency. pres. obama: this is the guy you want to be championing working people? this guy, who spent 70 years on this earth showing no concern for working people? this guy is suddenly going to be your champion? crowd: no! pres. obama: he spent most of his time trying to stay away from working people as he could. now he is going to be the champion of working people. huh? i mean, he wasn't going to let you on his golf course. john: out

nicole wallace was communications director for president george w. bush and in the white house on september 11th, 2001 and was a senior advisor to the mccain presidential campaign. thanks for coming. >> i usually watch the show in my pa july mas while paging pancakes for liam. >> we'll make that a tradition, you come in your pajamas. the basket of deplorables goes into romney and president tobam talking about clinging to guns. >> fight to get the cameras inside fundraisers because that's when you hear what the candidates really think of each other. listen, she said it before. this wasn't a slip of the tongue. she isn't really have a lot of those. she correctly diagnose nd the pr painted with to broad of a brush, but this is how she feels about elements of trump's base. she thinks he has given voice to the deplorable alt-right. she thinks he's legitimized better and cling to guns and religion and hillary clinton said i was taken aback by the demeaning remarks president obama made. it was out of touch and people are saying the same thing about her for

. >>> nicolle wallace was communications director for george w. bush. september 11, 2001, around she -- and she later served for the john mccain mccain. >> it's nice to be here. i'm usually watching wearing my pajamas. >> you can come in in your pajamas the next time. let's start with the campaign. the basket of deplorables. now goes into romney's 47% category in 2012 and in 2008, president obama talked about people clinging to their guns and religion fight to get those cameras inside the fund-raisers because that's when you hear what the candidates really think of each other. she said it before. this wasn't a slip of the tongue. she doesn't really have a lot of those. she correctly diagnosed the problem with her statement which was that she painted with too broad of a brush. but this is how she feels about some elements of trump's base. she feels he's given voice to the deplorable, alt-right. i didn't know what that was this -- she thinks he's legitimized white supremacy. this is how she feels about some of his base and her error in her view she painte

i want to bring in nicolle wallace, of course, our analyst and of course has been a veteran of the republican campaigns past. nicolle, as i go to you i guess the question this morning is if this debate were fought on demeanors, on the ground of who is more likable, who has addressed some of the character or temperament issues that have dogged both of them, frankly, in this campaign, do you think one side or the other comes out on top? >> well, listen, the expectations for hillary clinton couldn't have been higher and she met those expectations tonight. but i think that we would be incorrect to think that what we shaw is what everyone else saw. what the voters have told us time and time again is that with donald trump, they hold him to a different standard. i remember in the republican primary after the south carolina debate, lot of people watched that and thought that he would be out of the race within days. he blamed 9/11 on george w. bush. it was really a calamitous performance. not only did he win south carolina, but he won that state running away. it was the end of jeb bush's candidacy. s

and nicole wallace, and with us from annapolis tonight.art stevens, strategist for the 2012 romney campaign. stewart, welcome to you as well. joy, flint, michigan has been near and dear at this network, flint, michigan has been an ongoing crisis, talk about trump's decision to go there today. >> yeah, absolutely and the mayor of flint who was on with rachel maddow earlier today, she made a very pointed statement about his visit, saying she's heard nothing from him throughout the course of his campaign, both hillary clinton and bernie sanders both visited flint. but what happened as donald trump is trying to do, you do outreach without laying the ground work, he's trying to address an african-american audience that's not completely controlled. people want to know what he's going to do about his housing discrimination, he hasn't had to address that because he hasn't been put in front of the ncaa or the urban league, he's turned down those opportunities, as pastor timmons, i have a friend whose aunt lives around the corner from that church. a

. >> nicole wallace who has done this before, what's going on backstage right now? it's 8:47.e're within 15 minutes. >> i agree with james carville's assessment. it's pretty quiet. somebody is probably cracking a joke. their final moments are probably very different. donald trump is used to going on television and performing and is probably sort of keeping it loose and wanting to present himself as a loose performer. she is probably making her last mental notes about what the game plan was, about what they established in their sort of prep. i'm told that in the final session they were not at a podium and around the table and really thinking through -- not scripting lines for her but going over strategy and he's probably trying to get out of his head. >> and i think what they ought to be doing is exactly the opposite. >> i know. >> because maybe clinton ought to be trying to loosen it up and trump ought to be trying to -- >> get in his head. >> like reading a briefing book. >> yeah. >> steve schmidt has also done this before. he's also part of our discussion. steve, what would

nicole wallace is back with us, former communications director, of course, for president bush xliii andveteran of too many campaigns to mention. she's joined by yamiche alcindor, welcome very much, good to see you. i will begin here, nicole, with the compression of time and space, something we talk about a lot. donald trump landed in colorado, gets off the plane, calls it a bomb having exploded in new york. everyone lying in wait. is he going to be right, is he going to be wrong? everyone else trying to take a measured approach. what matters for anything anymore? >> i think this is one of those -- another example of his supporters feeling great about everything he did and said, when he did it and when he said it, and even some of his supporters who may be a little embarrassed or ashamed of some of the immigration policies that border on unconstitutional and un-american. they make more sense to their friends and neighbors in the wake of something like this. donald trump broke out of the back after san bernardino. hillary clinton, in democratic circles, you would know better than me, i th

nicole wallace with the bush xliii white house. and eugene robinson, pulitzer prize-winning journalist. nicole, what's happening in both camps. having been part of a political team on debate eve and debate night of. >> steve and i will save some stories, want what these days are like for staffers. you do different things with incoming press calls. but i spent most of the afternoon on the phone with both campaigns. and what's so interesting, is katy tur and kristen both reported, what clinton prepped for is a more elegant donald trump. they actually practiced a scenario where he congratulates her for being the first woman nominee of either political party. they're prepared for him to compliment her and her husband for raising such a lovely daughter in chelsea clinton. i presented this theory to a senior prep aide and he said, it's a jump ball. that might be -- >> it's a jump ball, meaning, we don't know or we're keeping it secret? >> yes. >> either one of those. >> wow. >> so i think that that's one thought heading into this. the ot

nicole wallace is back with us, former communications director, of course, for president bush xliii andeteran of too many campaigns to mention. she's joined by yamich yamiche alcindor, welcome very much, good to see you. i will begin here, nicole, with the compression of time and space, something we talk about a lot. donald trump landed in colorado, gets off the plane, calls it a bomb having exploded in new york. everyone lying in wait. is he going to be right, is he going to be wrong? everyone else trying to take a measured approach. what matters for anything anymore? >> i think this is one of those -- another example of his supporters feeling great about everything he did and said, when he did it and when he said it, and even some of his supporters who may be a little embarrassed or ashamed of some of the immigration policies that border on unconstitutional and un-american. they make more sense to their friends and neighbors in the wake of something like this. donald trump broke out of the back after san bernardino. hillary clinton, in democratic circles, you would know better than me

tonight with our live guests, new jersey governor chris christie, who's been joined by our own nicole wallaceications director in the white house. it's probably not often said in journalism, we all know each other, you and i know each other from our home state, as we saw each other, when you gave nicole her first springsteen experience a few weeks ago. governor, debate prep in the trump camp, the reports that have emerged they are not doing the traditional thing of having a stand in for the opponent, they're not doing a mock-up prep, that people like nicole are use to dealing with. >> debate prep for donald trump is for trump. and as much as i love your viewers tonight, it's not for me to come out here and be talking about what we do when we help to prepare. i will tell you this, when we are with him, there's no holds bars, and myself, who's been one of the folks who've been there on occasion, and rudy giuliani as well. and we ask whatever we want, that we hope will help get him as ready as possible for the debates. >> what role is ailes playing? >> again, i'm not going to get into all this s

bush, nicole wallace, former governor howard dean on set and professor at the university of michiganlic policy, former democratic congressman harold ford jr., veteran ad man danny deutch and political righter for "the new york times" and in washington, senior political editor and white house correspondent for the huffington post sam stein and former ted cruz campaign communications director, now an msnbc political analyst rick tyler. a quick note here. joe is at bellevue hospital. >> what's going

bush, nicolle wallace.et, msnbc political analyst and professor at the university of michigan school of public policy, former democratic congressman harold ford jr. veteran ad man donny deutsch, and political writer for the "new york times," nick confessore. and in washington, senior political editor and white house correspondent for the "huffington post," sam stein, and former ted cruz campaign communications director, now an msnbc political analyst, rick tyler. so just -- >> full house. >> really full house. joe's at bellevue hospital, which is amazing. >> what's going on? >> much of the team and i were there through the night. his son andrew had a horrible accident. head injury, fractured skull. >> what happened? >> they stabilized him. that trauma team is amazing. thank you. fell down a flight of stairs. so thanks to all the doctors and nurses there. it's touch and go, but we're stabilized, and -- >> oh, my goodness. >> a long night. and prayers for them. so we want to thank the folks at bellevue. what

nicole wallace joins us in a minute. she was in the white house when the attacks took place.

political analyst eugene robinson, who happens to be a journalist for "washington post," and nicole wallace, who served as communications director among other jobs for george w. bush. and our campaign veteran and strategist, steve schmidt, welcome to you all. >> it's great to be here brian. >> i like to start with nicole. the changes you have noticed in these two candidates, what they did on their summer vacation? >> i think this long, hot summer changed our candidates in fundamental ways we would be remisto gloss over. she has for the last few day has held press gaggles on the plane, and she has traveled with them. they knew that would go a long way toward maybe addressing some of these questions about her being forthcoming. he on the other hand reads off a coup card every day. he made a point, no, i will not, you will not seen anyone other than the unscripted straight talking rally speech giving guy and he's now reading off a teleprompter more often than not. they both want to win and they both have been convinced by some people around them, at least some parts of the day, that they have

sumac nicole wallace joins us with some insight this morning. the us. we have had two campaigns filled with surprises from the beginning. i would expect we're going to see more surprises tonight? >> i think you are absolutely right. this campaign season has been a roller coaster ride. no one expected donald trump to emerge as the republican nominee and hillary clinton had a tougher than expected fight selected by either party. and in the case of donald trump the most unpredictable as well. >> there are always the possibility of sideshows. note is gennifer flowers going to be in the front row? is she not? how hard is it going to be for lester holt to keep focus? and what can we expect for each candidate? >> to me this seems like a job for lester holt. talk about someone who no one has ever seen sweat out a high- lester holt will not be on the ballot in november. these two candidates need to seize the opportunity they have. it would be a fatal mistake for either one of them to think it would be sufficient or would be worthy of the moment they have. 100 pe

. ♪ nicole: i am nicolle wallace. and i'm john heilemann.all due respect to those peddling the latest scandal, if you want people to notice, you need a clever name. something like water-g -- we will come back to it later. ♪ of wadr've got plenty on the show tonight, sports fans . as hillary clinton takes a second day off the campaign trail to recoup from her bout of pneumonia, she was able to call in two decent subs to fill in her shoes. in philadelia

[applause] so nicole, my friend, the lovely nicole wallace here to guest host, after the big immigrationech last night, when it comes to that particular area, is trump better or worse he the lyrically today than was before? nicole: i think he is the exact same guy that he has been since she started this madcap adventure debt -- since he started this madcap adventure. on immigration, he has always been to the hard right of his party. i think it reflects how he sort of processes his choices. aviously, there was discussion in his campaign about whether it would benefit him to be seen within other countries leader. he said, yeah, i will do that. thelso doubled down in state of arizona on the toughest and harshest rhetoric on his immigration policy. he chose all of the above. i think worse than a muddled message, it was almost a taunt that will set him back on the party back even further than they were ahead of the primary. he is actually worse off today than before, in this sense. having raised all these expectations that he would in a more humane having raised those expectations, he then we

thank you and nicole wallace was in the white house on september 11th, 2001. i usually watch the show while in my pajama's making pancakes. it's nice to be here. >> you can wear the pajamas. we can make that a tradition. let's start with the campaign and the basket of deplorables and to the romneys 47 percent and then obama talking to people cling to go the guns and religion. >> well, message to get the cameras inside of the you hear what the candidates really think of each other. listen, she said it before. this was not a slip of the tongue. she does not really have a lot of those. she correctly diagnosed the problem with the statement in that she painted with too broad of a brush. this is how she feels. there's a voice as to describing they think that is she legit economized white supremacy. i think that the error and the view is that she painted with too broad of a brush. >> that was in the middle of the primary and they get bitter and clean the guns and then religion. clinton said that i was taken back by the remarks of the small town america. people are n

♪ nicolle: i am the nicolle wallace. john: i am john heilemann. th respect to mcdonald's and kfc, today we suspect more them of revisiting something more festive. nicolle: burger king's new whopperito. ♪ john: have you seen the whopperito in person? nicolle: no. john: you have to have one. tonight, we have donald trump's immigration speech, the whole enchilada. day when a new abc news poll shows that clinton posing and favorability rating is creeping up into donald trump territory. he put to mexico city with his first meeting with heads of state. he is addressing immigration tonight in phoenix, arizona. he set down with the mexican present for a private discussion about that issue, which in a statement afterwards, he called substantive, directory of before launching into a scripted comments, but a sharp warning open borders and open trade. mr. trump: in both mexico and the united states, this is a humanitarian disaster. having a secure border is a sovereign right and mutually beneficial. we recognize and respect the right of either country to build

political analyst eugene robinson, who happens to be a journalist for "washington post," and nicole wallacewho served as communications director among other jobs for george w. bush. and our campaign veteran and strategist, steve schmidt, welcome to you all. >> it's great to be here brian. >> i like to start with nicole. the changes you have noticed in these two candidates, what they did on their summer vacation? >> i think this long, hot summer changed our candidates in fundamental ways we would be remisto gloss over. she has for the last few day has held press gaggles on the plane, and she has traveled with them. they knew that would go a long way toward maybe addressing some of these questions about her being forthcoming. he on the other hand reads off a coup card every day. he made a point, no, i will not, you will not seen anyone other than the unscripted straight talking rally speech giving guy and he's now reading off a teleprompter more often than not. they both want to win and they both have been convinced by some people around them, at least some parts of the day, that they have vu

nicole wallace, you have lived this, followups and the like. >> do you know what's interesting to me,d to the clinton folks a few times today and a few different individuals remarked about all they learned about the commander in chief forum and they feel like all ofir

with us tonight as she often is, msnbc political analyst nicole wallace, coordinator in the bush white house. also the chair of the university of african-american studies. thank you for being here with us at our table tonight. nicole, first question to you. if you're a hillary clinton supporter, you hear she's down for the day, off the schedule, no events, apparently just debate prep. how does a campaign arrive at that decision? are you fighting the candidate? are you fighting the campaign team? how does that work? >> it might be both, but she woke to our poll this morning that had her up at 5:00. she's still in a very tight race in the battleground states. i don't think they would describe themselves with a comfortable lead by any means. but the stakes are high for her in this debate, and debate prep is not sething you can sneak in in 90 minutes. people play the opponent and it takes a few minutes for everybody to get in character and go over different topics. the audience who will watch next week's debate will probably be the largest single audience that either candidate will be in f

nicole wallace joins us in a minute. she was in the white house when the attacks took place.also check in on those people whose lives were changed

brian and his election team, including nicole wallace and steve schmidt will have more reaction and analysis of what was said here at the "intrepid" tonight. in addition, brian will talk with one man who ran both the cia and the defense department about his reactions of tonight's commander-in-chief forum. and before we go also, a thank you to the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america for hosting tonight's forum here at the "intrepid" and also a thank you to everyone here at the "intrepid" sea, air and space museum in new york city for hosting nbc news and msnbc today. i'm lawrence o'donnell. that's it from the "intrepid" tonight in navy museum. brian williams and "the 11th hour" is next. >>> tonight, hillary clinton. donald trump. >> i have great faith in the military, i have great faith in certain of the commanders, but i have no faith in hillary clinton or the leadership. >> making their case to be the next commander in chief. >> we're going to defeat isis without committing american ground troops. >> if we had a relationship with russia, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could work on it

[applause] john: so nicolle, my friend, the lovely nicolle wallace here to guest host with me today.er all of the throwing and his big immigration speech last night, when it comes to that particular area, immigration that is is trump better or worse , off politically today than he was before? nicolle: i think he is the exact same guy that he has been since he started this madcap adventure . on immigration, he has always been to the hard right of his party. and i think it reflects how he sort of processes his choices. obviously, there was a discussion in his campaign about whether he should go to mexico, whether that would benefit him to be seen with another country's leader. he said, yeah, i will do that. he also chose something else on the menu, to double down in the state of arizona on the toughest and harshest rhetoric on his immigration policy. so he chose all of the above. i think worse than a muddled message, it was almost a taunt a taunt that will set him back backd perhaps the party even further than they were , ahead of the primary. john: i think he is actually worse off tod

. >> nicole wallace just said "thank god." now the universe has marked together and the star at the center has exploded. what did you make of tonight? >> i think rachel made the selling point here. the whole time that the camera was on him, he came across as rude and petulant. you may talk for half of the time but the camera is on you the whole time. was hillary clinton very good, was she solid, was she good? we could argue that degrees but i think everybody pretty much degrees that trump was just awful. it's a variation of awful. and everything that i saw and everybody i've heard from my panel and the entire discussion, even chris christie, who i think had a really tough job who said, yeah, if you want somebody who can put together a coherent thought or sentence, of course it would be hillary clinton, if that's what you're really looking for. >> if you like that kind of thing. >> yeah, i kind like that kind of thing because i've been in tough spin thoughts myself so i kind of feel sorry for the governor there. but i can't ima