Show: POLITICS NATION Date: October 16, 2016 Guest: Lis Smith, Susan Del Percio, David Birdsell, Terry O`Neill, Aubrey Hendricks, Marcia Fudge
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Trump meltdown. Lashing out at his accusers.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They`re horrible, horrible liars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And facing questions of basic decency.
MICELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: The men in my life do not talk about women like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the final debate just three days away, how low will he go? How should Clinton respond?
HILLARY CLINTON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When they go low, we go high.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And why a republican leader is still standing by Trump, the election just 23 days away. From Rockefeller Center in New York, this is "PoliticsNation" with Al Sharpton.
AL SHARPTON, MSNBC ANCHOR: Good morning. I`m Al Sharpton. Three days before the final debate, Donald Trump`s campaign is imploding. He`s at war with Hillary Clinton. He`s at war with the GOP. And he`s at war with the women accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior. In the face of sexual allegations, he is defiant, denying any wrongdoing.
TRUMP: I am being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It is a phony deal. When you look at that horrible woman last night, you said, I don`t think so. Your stories are total fiction. They`re 100 percent made up. They never happened. They never would happen. She`s a liar. She is a liar. She`s writing a story, check out her Facebook page, you`ll understand. Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.
SHARPTON: Trump attacking the women`s claims and apparently attacking their looks. But the accusers haven`t been intimidated into silence.
JESSICA LEEDS, TRUMP ACCUSER: It was a real shock when all of a sudden his hands were all over me. He started encroaching on my space. And I hesitate to use this expression, but I`m going to, and that is he was like an octopus, it was like he had six arms.
KRISTIN ANDERSON, TRUMP ACCUSER: This is the vivid part for me. So the person on my right, who unbeknownst to me at that time was Donald Trump put their hand up my skirt.
SUMMER ZERVOS, TRUMP ACCUSER: I pushed his chest to put space between us and I said, "Come on, man, get real." He repeated my words back to me. Get real. As he began thrusting his genitals.
SHARPTON: The accusations coming days after that 2005 tape surfaced with Trump`s obscene comments. This past week, Michelle Obama said out loud what many Americans were thinking.
MICHELLE OBAMA: It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn`t have predicted. Strong men, men who are truly role models don`t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful. Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough.
SHARPTON: We`ve never seen a moment like this in a presidential campaign, and nobody knows what will happen in the third and final debate.
Joining me now is Terry O`Neill, President of the National Organization for Women. She has endorsed Hillary Clinton. Thanks for being here, Terry.
TERRY O`NEILL, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN: It`s great to talk with you, Reverend Al.
SHARPTON: What`s your response to Trump`s attacks on the integrity and the looks of his accusers?
O`NEILL: Well, you know, honestly, that`s not the way to get women votes. The -- what he has done is to further and further and further alienate women voters. It was bad enough that he`s been running a campaign that is promoting racist and xenophobic and misogynistic policies. Now we see him as a misogynistic individual, attacking individual women, bragging about his ability to sexually assault women and then telling Anderson Cooper at the second debate that he does not understand that what he was describing was sexual assault. When, of course it was sexual assault.
Now he stands accused by nearly a dozen women of exactly the same kind of assault that he bragged about to Billy Bush in the "Access Hollywood" video. So it`s no wonder that his campaign is imploding. And --
SHARPTON: But while it is imploding, I want to raise another factor in this to you, Terry, because the national organization of women has started a petition calling on House Speaker Paul Ryan and the senate majority leader McConnell to un-endorse him.
Are you surprised that such republican leadership seems to be sticking with him through all of this?
O`NEILL: See, I honestly, Reverend Al, I have been trying to understand why they don`t un-endorse him. If they have any integrity, they would. So you have to ask yourself, I`ve been asking myself, I`ve been asking my now leaders around the country, my staff, what is going on in the minds of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.
And quite frankly what I`m hearing back is, look, these are men that already have supported viciously anti-woman policies. So maybe it`s not that much of a stretch for these men to stand next to a man who engages in this misogynistic and assaultive behavior towards women since Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence have all promoted policies that absolutely harm women`s well-being and their health and very often their very lives.
SHARPTON: Well, let me bring this up. This data. Because an election forecast shows if only women voted, Hillary Clinton would sweep the Electoral College. And if only men voted, Trump would win. We`ve seen some on the right have jokingly called for the repealing of the 19th amendment which really gave women the right to vote. What do you think of all this?
O`NEILL: Well, I loved some of the people on the left mocking the right wing guys saying, oh, no, we have to repeal the 19th Amendment. Look, I hope in the next 21 days, the men of this country come to their senses and vote against Donald Trump as well. And it`s not just because he`s a misogynist personally and has attacked -- allegedly attacked women and his defenses against it have not been credible.
It`s not just because his policies are viciously as I said racist and xenophobic and misogynistic. They should vote for Hillary Clinton because her policies will provide debt free college for our kids and our neighbors` kids. She will provide an increase in the minimum wage. She`s going to shore up social security and make sure that it`s there for all of us as we retire.
So there`s a wonderful candidate to vote for, and that is what I hope obviously the women of this country have already begun to see that and are -- and are flocking to her quite frankly and flocking away from Donald Trump. I`m hoping the men will get there.
SHARPTON: All right. I`m going to have to leave it there. Terry O`Neill, thank you, always, for your time.
O`NEILL: Thank you.
SHARPTON: Joining me now are Lis Smith, former deputy campaign manager for the Martin O`Malley campaign. Obery Hendricks, a professor and senior fellow from the opportunity agenda of social justice organization. And republican strategist Susan Del Percio. Thank you all for being here.
SUSAN DEL PERCIO: Great to be here.
OBERY HENDRICKS, PROFESSOR: Good to be here.
SHARPTON: Susan, just as a question of political strategy, was this Trump`s best option, to attack his accusers` looks?
SUSAN DEL PERCIO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It absolutely was not. And going just against, sitting on the strategy for a minute, it makes absolutely no sense. He made his last few rallies all about him. That`s all he`s focusing on is trying to defend himself from this. If he actually wanted to make a difference, he would at least move to a couple of issues and I believe earlier this week Donald Trump even made a mention that my staff wants me to talk about jobs and trade.
But I`m here to talk about, you know, what -- that these are false claims, because it`s all about him and this is no doubt a strategy that will only cause more problems and it may even do something that Hillary Clinton cannot do, motivate voters, moderate republican voters to actually vote for her.
SHARPTON: Now, Professor Hendricks, there is questions of decency and morality beyond the politics. And I think that that is some of what Susan alludes to with moderate republicans. Do you think even at some point some of his supporters might abandon him for those factors?
HENDRICKS: You know, from what I`m hearing and reading and what I`m seeing in the interviews of the supporters, few of them are going to leave. They`re not really -- they might be put off by this, but my opinion, they stick with Trump because Trump hates who they hate. And Trump will put down those that they think should be put down. So they`re not staying with him for reasons. Many of them are not staying him for reasons of decency. Also, he`s gotten folks so afraid that -- with his messianic talk been afraid that if he doesn`t get in, that the sky is going to fall in. I mean, it`s -- I think it`s really that --
SHARPTON: The fear factor and who they hate and that has them really not looking at the other things that I would raise or others might raise?
HENDDRICKS: Exactly. Because he`s actually made people forget about what democracy is. It`s not about justice anymore. It`s just about just us and that`s his appeal, I think.
SHARPTON: You know, Lis, he`s even appeared to go after Hillary Clinton`s looks. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But I`m standing at my podium, and she walks in front of me. Right? She walks in front of me. You know. And when she walked in front of me, believe me, I wasn`t impressed. But she walks in front of me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHARPTON: I mean, do these kind of arguments do more harm than good?
LIS SMITH, DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST: Yes, yes. And, you know, Susan is a republican. I`m a democrat.
SHARPTON: I mean, how do you take that seriously?
SMITH: I know and --
SHARPTON: Aside from it being so denigrating.
SMITH: If he`s trying to attract any women voters he`s going about it all wrong. Attacking a woman`s looks, bringing up and blaming Hillary Clinton for the sins of her husband, you know, doing that and that spectacle he did before the last debate, I think makes her very sympathetic figure. And will help rally women of all political stripes around her.
And frankly, we did see this happen in the late `90s when these things came up. So it`s -- I don`t think that he`s very strategic in doing this. I think he`s just throwing out there, what he wants to throw out there. It`s very offensive and it`s not going to win over --
DEL PERCIO: That`s the interesting point. You know, we talk about when Trump started to close the gap a little bit, he`s always been behind. But he was up to getting 90 percent of republican voters. After this, we`re going to see him and we saw it in previous months, he will now go back down to getting about 75 percent of republican voters.
SHARPTON: Which is not enough.
DEL PERCIO: Which is not even close enough. And then we`re not even going to talk about Hillary Clinton`s gains with independents. So this strategy is about Donald Trump. He simply does not care about the party or the country or what`s going to happen afterwards. He will move on. And he`s trying to probably define himself for his next gig, whatever that may be, instead of focusing on --
SHARPTON: But it goes back to what you said, professor, because we`ve had some Trump supporters come on MSNBC. I want to play you some. And they back his accuser`s story and they`ve been backing him and they push him back against the accuser`s story. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC ANCHOR: Do you believe these women are lying or not? Nobody is trying to paint you as a bad guy. We just want an answer. Straight talk.
BEN CARSON, RETIRED NEUROSURGEON: It doesn`t matter whether they`re lying or not.
KATTY KAY, BBC PRESENTER: Of course, these are allegations that have been absolutely discredited. The woman, for example, misleads, who talked about being groped on a plane by some man that she sat next to in first class. I`m sure you probably know that armrests don`t go up in first class.
A.J. DELGADO, FORMER MEDIAITE COLUMNIST: These allegations are decades old. If somebody actually did that, Chris, any reasonable women would have come forward and said something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHARPTON: They`re pushing back on this. These are his supporters. These are Dr. Ben Carson. These are people that are in politics, and very prominent in some circles.
HENDRICKS: You know, they suspended reason. And one has to ask, why would so many people become so irrational? And it has to do with the rationality of his appeal. He is appealing to the very lowest denominator in terms of political acumen, but also in terms of decency in the American people and that`s very frightening that this man can get so many people to follow him that he could shoot down Fifth Avenue, and kill someone and they still follow him. That does not all go well for our democracy.
SHARPTON: But, you know, when you see this, Lis, and you see the pushback of some of the more well-known supporters, and you hear the supporters that I played, Trump seems to like -- he seems in many ways enjoy or feel that he has all of the support of his people that this doesn`t faze him.
SMITH: Right. And, well, this is the thing. This is who these appeals appeal to. It`s people who are motivated by bloodlust against the Clintons, people who are motivated by their own Clinton derangement syndrome and it`s been going on for 20 years. Remember this from the `90s. And -- but this is it. It`s just -- it`s a small group of people and it`s not going to help him expand his base.
SHARPTON: Susan, let me ask you, we have a debate in three days. Final debate. Is this going to get ugly in your opinion?
DEL PERCIO: I don`t even know if this country can handle a third debate. I really don`t. It will most likely be one of the -- ugliest to date. If it`s possible for things to go worse and be more aggressive on Donald Trump, it will. Unless Donald Trump does something and surprises us all. I mean, I don`t expect him to. I think it will be again very hard for Hillary Clinton to manage to come out of this a little more likable, which is always her goal, but if Donald Trump is left up to his own devices, I think, you know, she`ll win by default.
SHARPTON: Lis, Obery, Susan, stay with me. We`ve got a lot more to talk about.
Up next, republican leaders getting called out for letting Donald Trump happen.
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: They`ve been riding this tiger for a long time. They`ve been feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years.
SHARPTON: Also, Trump`s dangerous claim that the election is being stolen from him. And why the final debate in Las Vegas could be the most explosive yet.
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BARACK OBAMA: Donald Trump didn`t build all this crazy conspiracy stuff. And some republicans who knew better stood by silently and even during the course of this campaign didn`t say anything because it was a way to rile up their base.
SHARPTON: President Obama accusing republican leaders of standing by and letting Trump happen. This past week, he also had tough words for republicans who condemned trump`s language against women. But refused to un-endorse him.
BARACK OBAMA: The fact that now you`ve got people saying, well, we strongly disapprove, we really disagree, we find those comments disgusting, but we`re still endorsing him, we still think he should be president, that doesn`t make sense to me.
SHARPTON: He`s probably talking about people like Speaker Paul Ryan who slammed Trump`s comments but did not withdraw his endorsement. Trump wasn`t happy with Mr. Ryan.
TRUMP: I think we should get support and we don`t get the support from guys like Paul Ryan. Look, I don`t want his support. I don`t care about his support. I wouldn`t want to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people, including Ryan, especially Ryan.
BILL O`REILLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I got that.
SHARPTON: Again, Trump`s attacks are aimed at a man who is still endorsing him. And that`s the problem for republicans. Trump`s implosion is threatening to wipe out GOP majorities in both the house and senate. And GOP lawmakers don`t know what to do about it. Several have endorsed Trump, then unendorsed him, then re-endorsed him, despite the allegations and accusations swirling against him.
Joining me now is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, democrat from Ohio who was at that rally in Cleveland with President Obama. Thank you for being here, congresswoman.
MARCIA FUDGE, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FOR OHIO`S 11TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Thank you so much for having me. It`s my pleasure.
SHARPTON: President Obama accused republicans, congresswoman, of standing by while Trump gained influence. Let me ask you, when you talk to your GOP colleagues in congress, do they -- do you sense that they`re finally aware of their own role in this?
FUDGE: Reverend, I will tell you, they`ve been aware of it for some time. If you look at the numbers of my colleagues who refuse to even come to Cleveland for the republican convention, you can tell very, very clearly they wanted to have nothing to do with the mess they had made. So they`ve known for some time. They`re just afraid of their right flank, or they`re afraid of being attacked by Donald Trump and so they say nothing and they do nothing.
SHARPTON: Well, let me be more direct. Let me ask you about people, republicans, like Speaker Ryan, who has said he condemns what Trump says, yet he`s still endorsing him and still saying he`s going to vote for him. I mean, how do you deal with that?
FUDGE: You know, it`s the same kind of hypocrisy we deal with every day in the House of Representatives. They will say one thing and do another. They`re hypocrites. All of them. They understand how devastating and detrimental it would be to have a Trump presidency. But because they have decided that they want to put party over patriotism and they have decided that under no circumstances will we continue the legacy of President Barack Obama, they`re willing to do everything, I say that they`re willing to sink the entire ship just to take down the captain.
SHARPTON: Now, we are -- have a lot of focus on presidential campaign, but the down ballot races will determine the senate and the congress. And you have any number of members of the house republicans where you serve as a democrat that have endorsed him, un-endorsing him, trying to make their distance from him, but at the same time try not to offend some of the Trump supporters. I mean, what do you make of this?
FUDGE: I tell you, reverend, the only way to make sense out of it is to know that the American people see what is going on. I think that they have miscalculated that we will stay at home, or that we will be so turned off that we`ll just do anything that they want us to do. I think what is going to happen, reverend, is that we are going to take back the senate. I believe that we have strong candidates and we have candidates of conviction and honesty and courage, unlike their candidates.
SHARPTON: Let me press you right there, congresswoman. Because some democratic candidates have kind of tried to do exactly what you`re saying in the ads. Let me show you this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this our next president?
TRUMP: I just start kissing them. It`s like a magnet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lloyd Smucker thinks so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the day we saw the real Donald Trump, Darrell Issa decided to join Trump`s campaign.
TRUMP: When you`re a star, they let you do it, do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you point to him as a role model?
KELLY AYOTTE, AMERICAN POLITICIAN: Absolutely, I would do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congressman Hurd waited until it was too late to speak out about Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mike Gallagher still says we have to support Donald Trump. No, we don`t. We don`t have to support Mike Gallagher either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHARPTON: So we`re seeing some democrats in ads saying, wait a minute, and tying the candidates on the down ballot kind of races, senate and congress, right back to Donald Trump.
FUDGE: Absolutely right. And I think that they should well tie him to his -- to their candidate. When you have a standard bearer like Donald Trump, again, where are the standards? He has no standard. He has no standard of decency. He has no standard of respect. He has no standard of even understanding how this country runs or even wanting to understand. And so I think they should be tied to the candidate they`re supporting. Just as we, for many years, the last eight at least, been tied to our president, who, by the way, has one of the highest approval ratings of any president in history.
So, yes, they should tie him to it, but I do want to say to people, do not be discouraged. I understand that it looks dark now, but things are going to get better if we get out and do what we know we need to do to make this country the kind of country we all want to wake up and say we live in on November 9th.
SHARPTON: Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, thank you for your time this morning.
FUDGE: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
SHARPTON: Still ahead, is Trump trying to convince people not to accept a Clinton victory?
TRUMP: We have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us.
SHARPTON: Also, the first two debates have been shocking. And historic. So, what should we expect from this week`s final debate?
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TRUMP: I just hear such reports about Philadelphia. And we have to make sure we`re protected. We have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us and is not taken away from us.
And everybody knows what I`m talking about.
AL SHARPTON, MSNBC ANCHOR: Donald Trump trying to incite fears that the election will be stolen from him. In recent weeks he`s repeatedly called on supporters to become poll watchers. It`s interesting what he says, but also where he says it.
TRUMP: Go pick some other place and go sit there with your friends and make sure it`s on the up and up. Go and watch these polling places, make sure it`s on the up and up.
SHARPTON: That was in Michigan, it`s 73 percent white. It`s just a half hour drive from Detroit, which is 90 percent black or Latino. It would sure be easy for someone to go with their friends to be a trump poll watcher in Detroit. Here`s another one.
TRUMP: You got to watch your polling booths, because I hear too many stories about Pennsylvania. Certain areas. I hear too many bad stories, and we can`t lose an election because of you know what I`m talking about. So go over and watch. And watch carefully.
SHARPTON: That was in Manheim, Pennsylvania. It`s 88 percent white. One of those certain areas that Trump is talking about is Philadelphia, it`s less than an hour and a half away, and 55 percent black or Latino. Trump knows what he`s doing. He knows how his comments will be interpreted. In fact, he wants people to sign up to be, quote, "election monitors" right there on his website.
Coming up, we`ll talk about how Trump is trying to undermine the legitimacy of this election. But, first, I want Trump to know that I know what he`s doing. So nice try. But we got you.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, personally, if Hillary Clinton gets in, I myself, I`m ready for a revolution because we can`t have her in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, don`t say that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If she gets elected, there could be -- it could be a corrupt issue that causes the election that causes her to win.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think people are going to rise up because we`re tired of taking it. We`re all second amendment pros.
SHARPTON: Donald Trump has galvanized some of his supporters into believing that the left is plotting to steal the election from him. In many cases, supporters are just repeating what they`ve heard trump say himself.
HILLARY CLINTON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It`s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.
TRUMP: Because you`d be in jail.
SHARPTON: A lot of Trump voters are now leaving in a right wing bubble, filled with anger, conspiracy theories, and the belief that Trump is winning the election. Let`s bring back the panel, Lis Smith, Obery Hendricks and Susan Del Percio.
Susan, what do you make of all this talk of rising up with the revolution if Clinton wins?
SUSAN DEL PERCIO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It`s absurd. It`s not going to happen. And, you know, one thing in this country we do transition power very well, every four years or sometimes eight years. What you`re hearing in those clips are people who probably also believe Barack Obama wasn`t born in this country.
So there is a small minority of Trump supporters who are very vocal who say these things. It`s really important to recognize that a large majority of not just voters, but republicans, do not believe this election is being rigged by Hillary Clinton. They don`t buy into all of these conspiracy theories. Is it a horrible narrative for the republicans to have out there? Absolutely. But it`s just not going to be the case.
SHARPTON: Professor, though, Bill O`Reilly`s website, let me go to that. He asked his fans who he thought -- who they thought would win the election in a nonscientific survey. Trump got 86 percent. They said would win. Clinton 14 percent. So the right wing bubble has led Trump supporters to think he will win. What happens if he doesn`t win?
OBERY HENDRICKS, PROFESSOR: That`s the point. I think the difference between Obama`s election, even though he`s a black man, there was some pushback, but there was not anyone whipping up the kind of anger and vitriol and total delegitimation of the government.
SHARPTON: McCain had a much different tone.
DEL PERCIO: But there were people out there who`s certainly --
HENDRICKS: But we`re talking about the candidate. We have a candidate who`s been on T.V. for years, and he`s flamboyant, he`s known as a billionaire, I don`t know if he is or not, and he has so much credibility and visibility with these people, and he`s whipping them up. They`re stealing from us, taking over the country, there is an international conspiracy to take it from us and they`re whipping these people up and listen to them. They`re talking about taking the country over. One guy said when they -- one of the protesters, we might have to kill him next time.
SHARPTON: But, Lis, that -- my point is, he`s not going anywhere if he loses. And neither are some of the right wing radio and T.V. Are they going to keep whipping this up and then does this put some of the right wing and tea party congressmen to where they will obstruct Mrs. Clinton if she`s a winner, has, like, they`ve Obama because they can`t go against the noise machine of the right wing? I mean, are we looking for a very volatile time, no matter what happens in this election?
LIS SMITH, DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST: Look, I don`t -- I don`t think people are going to take up arms, but we do -- we have seen historical precedent for this. And it was what the right wing did after President Obama was elected where they went, you know, tried every day to delegitimize him. Look, she`s not black. They can`t go out there and say that, you know, she was born in Kenya, so what they`re trying to do is delegitimize her as president by saying that the election was rigged, before it even started.
The irony, of course, is that if you want to talk about election rigging, it`s republican governors who are going out there and trying to suppress the vote, make sure that, you know, people of color, women, low-income people, disabled people can`t turn out to vote because they can`t get --
SHARPTON: Well, following that up, professor, Trump himself is kind of defended himself from his accusers by talking of global conspiracy. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I knew these false attacks would come. I knew this day would arrive. It`s only a question of when. This is a conspiracy against you, the American people and we cannot let this happen or continue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHARPTON: So now the accusers that have come out on these accusations against his inappropriate behavior is part of some conspiracy. The election is rigged. I mean, we`re dealing with a very toxic kind of environment here politically.
HENDRICKS: Despicable demagogic liar. Let`s put it out there. He`s not just telling falsehoods. He is the worst kind of liar and he`s even talking about -- he`s going so far, he`s talking about a world conspiracy, a new world order, but the difference is he has so empowered the white supremacists and the nuts and saying that it`s okay to be what you are and they are -- they`ve never been this thrilled ever before. And I say maybe the emancipation proclamation. And now all of a sudden, they`re all speaking out and they`re coalescing and I think it`s going to be much more dangerous after the election, no matter who wins.
SHARPTON: That`s my fear. That`s what I`m raising. Susan, in that atmosphere, what responsibility does Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and the leadership of the Republican Party even in the congress do, do they have any responsibility to deal with this kind of fervor that`s being whipped up.
DEL PERCIO: Well, they do to an extent as leaders in the house and in senate, they`re also worried about keeping their majorities in the house and the senate. And then going forward, they will have to learn how to govern responsibly. Right now, it is very likely Hillary Clinton will be the next president.
And, yes, there will be problems on the right with the freedom caucus and Paul Ryan. However, there will also be a lot of problems on the left with Bernie Sanders, our revolution group. They are looking to be an aggressive left pitch, the equivalent of the right on the left to really stop her and other --
SHARPTON: So what can Hillary Clinton do, Lis, to fight this battle of those that are way out there on the right, and maybe even some that Susan says will be on the left, I don`t hear the same vitriol and the same we`re going to rise up from them. But what can she do to fight this whole atmosphere on the right that all of us are concerned.
I`m alarmed for the record, because I don`t know if we can ban any more obstruction as well as groups, you know, that are talking the way they`re talking. But what can Hillary Clinton do?
SMITH: Well, I think the right bears a lot more responsibility for how they conduct themselves after the election. I think what she can do is make a clear play and reach out across the aisle to Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and say, you know, realistically, politically, you guys created this monster, this monster turned on you, I want to work with you, and get things done. And work with you guys in good faith. I think that`s really the only thing that she can do. but --
SHARPTON: Sunday morning, you keeping faith and keeping hope alive. Lis, Obery, Susan, thank you. I`m going to have to leave it there.
Up next, what Donald Trump has been saying about the moderator of the final debate, it might surprise you.
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CLINTON: This is not an ordinary time and this is not an ordinary election. We are going to be choosing a president who will set policy for not just for eight years, but because of some of the important decisions we have to make at home and around the world and the supreme court and energy and so much else.
SHARPTON: A clip from Ellen that shows how folks probably wish the last debate had gone. Wednesday night, millions of people will watch Trump and Clinton square off for the third and final debate. It may be Trump`s last chance to save his sinking campaign. An NBC poll shows Clinton won the first debate by 31 points. She won the second debate by ten points, which explains why Trump has been going after the debate commission itself.
TRUMP: You know that so-called commission on presidential debates, the head guy used to work for Bill Clinton. Did you know that? I just found that out. The head guy worked for Bill Clinton. What a rigged deal this is. But here`s the story. I have no respect for that group, by the way. I have none.
SHARPTON: It`s true one co-chair used to be Bill Clinton`s press secretary. But the other co-chair was the head of the republican national committee. There`s always one republican and one democrat. The truth is, on Wednesday, trump will have no one to blame for his performance but himself.
Now, let`s bring in our debate expert David Birdsell, Dean of the Austin Marxe School of Public Affairs at Baruch College. Thank you for being here again.
DAVID BIRDSELL, DEAN OF THE AUSTIN MARXE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT BARUCH COLLEGE: Great pleasure.
SHARPTON: How do you expect Trump to talk about all the sexual allegations in the debate?
BIRDSELL: Well, I think he`s going to say that he`s being set up. He`s going to continue the conspiracy theory line. Trump is clearly doubling down on this notion that he`s a victim and that that victim edge is identical to the experience of the people who are supporting him who may have lost jobs and maybe suffering another ways.
So as long as he can put himself out there that seems to be the strategy that he`s latching onto and I think we`ll hear it on Wednesday again.
SHARPTON: Let me show this to you. He not only has bashed the commission, he`s actually bashed, well, let me show you what he said about the moderator for this last debate, Chris Wallace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last one is Chris Wallace, he`s fair, right?
TRUMP: He`s fair. He`s tough. He`s fair. And I don`t mind, as long as he`s fair and I`ve done a lot of work with Chris, and I`ve never had a problem with him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
SHARPTON: Now, he`s bashed the other moderators. But he hasn`t bashed this -- the Fox guy. That`s interesting because when I said listen to how he bashes moderators, I`m talking about the past. He did not do that when he was questioned about this one and he`s from Fox, Chris Wallace.
BIRDSELL: Well, and we`ll see if that holds up in the debate because he tends to be angrier with the moderators after the debate if he perceives there was any unfairness and right now he`s building up a whole narrative that this entire campaign, the commission itself, debate formats and the audiences are unfair.
SHARPTON: And the moderators.
BIRDSELL: And the moderators.
SHARPTON: Well, what is Hillary Clinton`s best strategy for this last debate?
BIRDSELL: To try to stay above it all. She quoted Michelle Obama, when they go low, we go high. She needs to be back in that mode, but also explaining coherently what will surely be tough questions from Chris Wallace about the e-mail servers, about her positions on immigration, that might be problematic with some of the republican audiences who don`t like Donald Trump whom she would like to have vote for her or stay home. She doesn`t need to give them more red meat and perhaps push them back into his arms.
SHARPTON: Now, one thing I noted is that the debate audience dropped from the first to the second. First debate had 84 million viewers, the second 67 million. Does that mean some voter are getting turned off by the ugly tone this race has taken and especially when you hear the president saying that maybe that`s Trump`s goal to make people just so disgusted they won`t vote?
BIRDSELL: Well, that could be true. Historically we see the largest viewership typically in that first debate or a couple of exceptions. So this trends with those averages. It`s also the case that a lot of people who saw that first debate began to make up their minds. And so the second debate became for those who had made up their minds less important, they know which lever they`re going to pull.
SHARPTON: Each debate seems to get weirder and weirder. Should we be ready for the unexpected Wednesday night?
BIRDSELL: I think we should be looking for the WWE SmackDown. I think Trump is going to come out with both guns blazing and it is going to be an ugly debate. The question is, can he contain himself and continue to make policy points? Can she stay above the fray?
SHARPTON: David Birdsell, thanks. And remember, watch the debate Wednesday night at 9:00 P.M. eastern right here on MSNBC.
Up next, are you waiting for Election Day? Well, in a lot of states it`s already here. We`ll talk about that next.
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SHARPTON: A high school marching band in Cleveland, Ohio, out before dawn to celebrate the start of early voting. I`ve had teenagers. I know how hard it is to wake them up early. So if the kids in that marching band could drag themselves out of bed to participate in our democracy, why can`t you?
Voting has already started in 16 states. A total of 35 states will have the option of early voting before Election Day. So there`s no excuse. You need to vote if you want your leaders to focus on the issues that matter to you. Issues like Haiti. Over a thousand people were killed by hurricane Matthew. But no one here is talking about it. It didn`t even come up during last -- the last presidential debate. You want to deal with issues at home, issues like policing which didn`t come up, issues like mass incarceration, the future of affordable housing. Don`t complain about it. It`s time to vote about it.
That does it for me. Thanks for watching. I`ll see you back here next Sunday.
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THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END