Show: ALL IN with CHRIS HAYES Date: August 19, 2016 Guest: Rick Wilson, Jack Kingston, Susan Del Percio, Joan Walsh, Howard Dean Philip Levine
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOY REID, MSNBC GUEST HOST (voice-over): Tonight on ALL IN --
PAUL MANAFORT, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I`m always careful with the clients I take.
REID: Donald Trump`s campaign chairman quits.
ERIC TRUMP, SON OF DONALD TRUMP: My father didn`t want the distraction.
REID: Tonight, all the intrigue on the third reboot in five months.
Plus, the new softer Trump returns to divide and conquer.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What do you have to lose?
REID: And just what does Donald Trump mean when he expresses regret?
TRUMP: I regret it.
REID: I`ll ask a Trump senior adviser tonight.
TRUMP: Particularly where it may have caused personal pain.
REID: Plus, disaster politics on the bayou. Breaking news on the president`s visit to the flood zone.
And frightening new Zika warnings in a major American city.
GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: We believe we have a new area where local transmissions are occurring.
REID: ALL IN starts now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID: Good evening from New York. I`m Joy Reid, in for Chris Hayes.
This week when Donald Trump brought in two new people to take over day-to- day leadership from campaign manager Paul Manafort, the campaign insisted it was not in crisis. This was just a normal part of staffing up for the general election.
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KATRINA PIERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: There is no shake-up, no one is out. Everyone retains their position. He`s just adding to the campaign, which is something we`ve been doing all along the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Well, today, the other shoe finally dropped. Less than two months after taking control, following the ouster of former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort abruptly handed in his resignation.
Initially brought in to oversee the convention and help repair relationships with the GOP establishment, Manafort spearheaded efforts to try and rein in Donald Trump`s more destructive instincts.
Those efforts reportedly led to Trump feeling boxed in and did nothing to stop his downward slide in the polls. One campaign source told NBC News the relationship between Trump and Manafort was tense, even adversarial with Trump reluctant to listen to and trust his campaign chair. The source said Trump didn`t like being told he was wrong. On top of that, Manafort has been under increasing scrutiny for his ties to former pro-Russian government in Ukraine, which was toppled in massive violent protests a few years ago.
A string of recent reports uncovered new details about Manafort`s lobbying on behalf of the pro-Russian party and the financial windfall he may have received. And now, according to another report, his firm is actually under federal investigation. In an interview, Donald Trump`s son Eric, acknowledged that Manafort`s Ukraine dealings had played a role in his departure.
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ERIC TRUMP: I think my father didn`t want to be distracted by whatever things Paul was dealing with. And Paul was amazing, and, you know, he helped us get through the primary, through the convention, did a great job with the delegates. But again, my father didn`t want the distraction looming over the campaign and quite frankly looming over all the issues that Hillary is facing right now.
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REID: The Manafort news have overshadowed what the Trump campaign`s new management surely hoped would be a day of positive news coverage for Trump, something he hasn`t experienced in quite a while.
All week, Trump has been attempting his umpteenth general election pivot, giving scripted speeches in an effort to stay on message. Last night, he tried something totally new -- an apology of sorts.
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TRUMP: Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don`t choose the right words. Or you say the wrong thing. I have that done that. And believe it or not, I regret it.
(CROWD CHANTING)
Thank you.
And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Now, Trump didn`t actually specify what he was apologizing for, and he appeared to back away from it somewhat later in his speech. More on that coming up in a bit.
But according to his new campaign manager, veteran pollster Kellyanne Conway, it`s all part of a strategy to change how Trump is perceived.
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KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Of all the people, David, who have been saying, hey, let`s get Trump to pivot and be more presidential. That is presidential. And it`s also presidential today to have him and Governor Pence going to Louisiana in a decidedly non-political event, no press allowed, going to help people on the ground who are in need.
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REID: Conway was referring to Trump`s visit today in Baton Rouge, where record-breaking floods have left thousands homeless in the worst U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy. The Republican nominee toured the area this morning alongside his running mate.
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TRUMP: I`ve had a great history with Louisiana. They need a lot of help. What`s happened here is incredible. Nobody understands how bad it is. I`m just here to help.
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REID: But despite the campaign shake-up and the candidate somewhat reboot this week, there have been telling signs that Trump is still Trumping. Today the campaign released the very first general election ad, part of a $4 million ad buy in four battleground states. It echoes the underlying theme of Trump`s convention -- be afraid, be very afraid.
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AD NARRATOR: In Hillary Clinton`s America, the system stays rigged against Americans. Syrian refugees flood in, illegal legal immigrants convicted of crimes get to stay, collecting Social Security benefits, skipping the line. Our border open, it`s more of the same, but worse.
Donald Trump`s America is secure, terrorists and dangerous criminals kept out, the border secure, our families safe. Change that makes America safe again. Donald Trump for president.
TRUMP: I`m Donald Trump and I approve this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Trump`s campaign stop in North Carolina last night, the site of his big mea culpa, an 18-year-old college student was ejected from the rally and said he went from a Trump backer to disillusioned opponent after Trump`s security accused him of being a known protester. The student who is Asian-American and his father say they believe he was profiled because of his dark skin.
Joining me now, Republican strategist Rick Wilson, who is working for independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin and MSNBC contributor Josh Barro at "Business Insider".
I want to start where we ended there. I`ll start with you, Rick, because it wouldn`t seem that you two are the obvious people to ask about this next question, but in a way you are. Donald Trump, both yesterday in Michigan - - yesterday in North Carolina and then today, is starting to make this pitch ostensibly to African Americans. I want to have you take a listen to it.
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TRUMP: No group in America has been more harmed by Hillary Clinton`s policies than African-Americans. No group. Tonight, I`m asking for the vote of every single African American citizen in this country who wants to see a better future.
Look how much African American communities have suffered under Democratic control. To those I say the following, what do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: I`m not sure who he was pointing to, because where he was pointing to, because Dimondale, where Trump was speaking has a population that is 94 percent white, 1.1 percent African American, maybe he was pointing to the one person of color who didn`t get thrown out like that poor Asian-American teenager that was a Trump supporter.
Rick, why would a candidate go to 94 percent white Dimondale, Michigan, and try to make a ditch to African Americans?
RICK WILSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Because Donald Trump isn`t a guy with a political brain in his head. He doesn`t understand the high hurdle that he has to climb with African Americans, especially in a week after he`s just named as the replacement for Pavel Manafort, the former Russian tool that just left. He named his replacement, Steve Bannon, a guy who is a cancer on conservatism, and who has spent the last year and a half whipping up his Breitbart audience with racially inflammatory coverage over and over again.
This is a guy with a very difficult sell to make here. And because Trump doesn`t understand that African-Americans are innately skeptical of his message, because of his past, his father`s past, as a guy who was repeatedly dinged for being -- excluding African-Americans from his housing, and who was allegedly affiliated with the Klan.
This is a guy with a very difficult story with African-Americans. It`s very hard to make that sell. But also, if you just scratch all that and say, as just a purely amoral calculating political moment, and say, I`m going to try to get part of the Democratic base, you probably would have had to do more work on the front end, rather than the back end. And say, vote for me, what can go wrong? Well, with Trump, a lot can go wrong.
REID: A lot can go wrong. I mean, with all of that, you just heard Rick Wilson saying.
I feel like, Josh, that part of this is that the audience was not African- Americans at all. The audience is obviously white voters who may look at the Bannon hire and say, wait a minute, Breitbart, you mean the alt-right site that is a thinly veiled cover for the new neo-Nazi movement in the United States and feel really uncomfortable with that. But he`s saying, no, but I like African-Americans, you can vote for me.
JOSH BARRO, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I think there are two different messages here for white voters. I think this is not a message for black people, which is why he said it in front of an almost entirely white audience.
One is, you know, Democrats are the real racist. The problems black people have are Democrats` fault, people should stop harassing us Republicans about this, and that`s a message for his base.
And the other thing for white voters who ordinarily often vote Republican but are put off because they think Donald Trump is way too racist, is no, look, really, I care about black people, look at me focusing on black people. I am no in fact too racist for you to vote for.
Now, I don`t think he`s making that message work, in part because of the way that he went off script in these comments. One thing he said, nominally addressing black people was, you`re living in poverty, your schools are terrible, you don`t have jobs. So, obviously, not true of all or even most black people in the United States.
REID: Correct.
BARRO: And that wasn`t in the remarks. The remarks were somewhat -- or the scripted remarks. Supposed to be somewhat more careful, basically trying to lay out about why black people face a lot of problems in the U.S. and how he`d do better, but he couldn`t stay on the script.
One thing that I do think is interesting about this, is the way Trump often talks about is struggling white communities, actually quite sounds similar to the way he talks about black communities, in a way that I think seems very condescending, basically talking about how terrible their communities are, saying upstate New York looks like a war zone. This doesn`t seem to put off white people. It actually seems to appeal to those people in those communities.
So I think part of his psychology could be is -- well, I talked to white people about how terrible everything is for them, and how everything screwed up it is for them, so why not try it with black people.
REID: But I think because there`s a victimhood envy on the right, with Breitbart, a lot of the message in it is you`re being victimized by people of color, you`re being victimized by Muslims and immigrants, et cetera.
But I want to go back to the other end of it, because that ad that shows Trump`s America as essentially almost an armed camp where the military will invade and take care of everyone, that`s what it looked like in the ad. That on top of the other thing Trump is doing, is saying, America first, but having all of these Russophiles around him.
Let`s just go through it. Manafort may be out, but Rick Gates is still there. He`s a Manafort deputy, who is the communications director. You still have Carter Page who is the foreign policy adviser who thought to be the guy who changed the Republican platform, to be more pro-Putin and anti- NATO. Ivanka Trump, who he says is his adviser, vacationing with Wendy Deng, who used to be married to Rupert Murdoch, who is dating a Putin. Michael Flynn, probably the most pro-Putin general to serve in the United States military.
I`m going to go to you first on this, Josh, what is going on here?
BARRO: Well, so I think it`s a couple of things. I don`t think Donald Trump set out to be the pro-Russian candidate. I think this is sort of a crowd he felt in with. I don`t think he thinks deeply about U.S.-Russia relations.
I do think he has a gut attraction to authoritarian leaders, so I think he has this like vague liking for Vladimir Putin. But I think if he became president, it`s likely he would end up feeling double crossed by Putin and actually we may end up in more conflict with Russia than a sort of normal president.
But the other thing is, nobody in the respectable foreign policy establishment will deal with Donald Trump.
REID: Right.
BARRO: So he has to go out and find advisers, they end up being marginal weird cranks.
(CROSSTALK)
REID: Real quickly, Rick, I`m going to give you the last word on this. Why doesn`t the base of the Republican Party rebel against this pro- Putinism?
WILSON: They are rebelling in large measure. Republicans are slipping away from Donald Trump every day. He`s losing more Republicans. He`s not consolidating the Republican vote. They`re starting to worry about it.
The foreign policy-driven Republicans are already very much in the weeds because they recognize that dictators and authoritarians are not the role models for American presidents.
REID: Indeed. Yes, indeed.
Rick Wilson, Josh Barro, thank you both. Happy Friday. Have a great weekend.
BARRO: Thank you.
REID: All right. Thank you.
Still to come, Donald Trump`s campaign shake-up, will it help overturn his extreme deficit with one major demographic -- women voters. We`ll talk about that ahead.
Plus, after Trump admits he regrets some of the things he said, we want to know exactly what he might regret saying. So, I`ll ask a senior adviser just that, right after this two-minute break.
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TRUMP: Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don`t choose the right words, or you say the wrong thing. I have done that. And believe it or not, I regret it.
(CROWD CHANTING)
Thank you.
And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: In the face of withering criticism and sinking poll numbers, Donald Trump kicked off last night`s campaign speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, by expressing regret, for having caused personal pain. But it wasn`t clear whether Trump was actually apologizing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: So much talk about your speech yesterday, was that an apology? So much talk about your speech yesterday --
TRUMP: They have to take it like they see it. But I really enjoyed that speech, I think people enjoyed it very much. Thank you, Tom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: It also remains unclear what Trump feels so badly about, since his statement of regret was more of a blanket "my bad," than if it specified nothing.
Newly named campaign manager Kellyanne Conway tried to clarify things.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard last night that new tone. He actually said that sometimes along the way in the heat of the moment, you say the wrong thing. But he went further, Donald Trump saying, I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. What was he talking about?
CONWAY: He was talking about anyone who feels offended by anything he said. And that`s all him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mentioned anyone who has been personally offended by what he said. John McCain early on, when he said, you know, he`s a war hero because he was captured, I like people who weren`t captured. What he said about the Khans just weeks ago. Will he reach out to the Khan family personally?
CONWAY: He may, but I hope they heard him last night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Bear in mind what made this so remarkable, that it came from a man whose personal doctrine, as far back as anyone can remember, has been that telling like it is means never having to say you`re sorry. Like when radio host Don Imus asked Trump back in May if he regretted disparaging Senator McCain`s military service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON IMUS, RADIO HOST: Do you regret saying that?
TRUMP: I don`t -- you know, I like not to regret anything. I mean, you do things and you say things. And what I said, frankly, is what I said. You know, some people like what I said, if you want to know the truth. I mean, there are many people that like what I said.
You know, after I said that, my poll numbers went up seven points.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: In the latest NBC News/Survey Monkey poll, Donald Trump is down nine points to Hillary Clinton.
Joining me now is senior adviser to the Trump campaign, Jack Kingston, former Republican congressman from Georgia.
Congressman, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.
JACK KINGSTON (R), FORMER GEORGIA U.S. CONGRESSMAN: It`s great to be with you, Joy.
REID: So, let`s talk about that. Donald Trump said he regrets anything he may have said that has caused personal pain. And then Kellyanne Conway, the new campaign manager, said he may reach out to those that feel offended.
So, let`s go through some of the things he`s said that have caused not just personal pain but that have actually hurt him. Probably the thing that`s hurt Trump the most with African Americans who don`t know his personal history, things like housing discrimination, is the birtherism, saying Barack Obama is not an American citizen, which he started saying as far back as 2011. Why doesn`t he show his birth certificate? Demanding to see his papers.
Do you think that`s something that Donald Trump regrets?
KINGSTON: I don`t know. I`m wondering if Hillary and the Democrats regret calling on Mrs. Trump`s citizenship. Maybe that`s the same. Maybe --
REID: I don`t think the Democrats have questioned Mrs. Trump`s citizenship.
KINGSTON: Absolutely, they have.
(CROSSTALK)
REID: I have to tell you, I used to do campaign communications, so I know shifting the subject to something else is a great tactic. But you didn`t answer my question.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: But, Joy, my job is to present our side and now --
REID: But I`m asking you a question and you didn`t answer.
KINGSTON: I just -- well, okay, we`re going to reset. You go ahead.
REID: Do you think he regrets the birtherism, you can just say yes or no?
KINGSTON: I don`t think he did anything wrong. I think he raised a question.
REID: Do you still question whether the president of the United States is a citizen?
KINGSTON: Let me say this, I think you guys should accept an apology and just go with it.
I mean, this is what the left has been demanding. He made an apology. Now, I frankly would love to see Hillary Clinton apologize to the family of the dead soldiers in Benghazi, when she told them that it was caused by a video, which was an absolute, positive lie.
Wouldn`t it be nice if she said, you know what, I was secretary of state, I am responsible, your sons` death were not caused by video --
(CROSSTALK)
REID: Sir, are you going to filibuster, or are you going to answer any question that I ask you? Give me one second.
I`m going to ask you another question. You have given two things you`d like to see the Democrats apologize for. Let me give something Trump might want to apologize for, calling Mexican migrants rapists. Do you think that`s something that you would advise to apologize for?
KINGSTON: I think you got an apology last night. And I think in terms of --
(CROSSTALK)
REID: For what specifically? Did it include Mexican migrants.
KINGSTON: He said anything that caused pain.
REID: You have to answer one specific thing that you think he apologized for.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: Significant speech of the entire campaign season.
REID: Mr. Kingston, you still have not answered. Let`s try another one.
Do you think -- you`re a former colleague of Senator John McCain. John McCain serves in the United States Senate --
KINGSTON: Joy, I`m sure you have a list of Democrat talking points there.
(CROSSTALK)
REID: It`s not. These are questions as to whether or not he should apologize to John McCain, your colleague.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: Joy, you know what we`re going to do. Do you think Hillary should apologize --
REID: You`re not going to answer that question.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: But, Joy, you see what I`m saying.
REID: No, I don`t. You`re not answering any of my questions.
KINGSTON: You`re not answering me.
REID: You`re here to answer questions, not ask them.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: I`m here to have a discussion with you.
REID: It isn`t a discussion if I ask a question and you answer --
KINGSTON: I`m not on trial. I`m a guest on a show.
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: We`re having a political discourse.
REID: You are an adviser to the campaign. I`m going to try one more time.
KINGSTON: Listen, I think he did a great job last night and here`s what I would say --
REID: OK. You`re an adviser to the campaign, sir. Would you advise him to make specific apologies, rather than a blanket, vague one?
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: No. I think he --
REID: Specifically to the Khan family? You would not.
KING: I think the people who were dissatisfied have already made up their minds that they don`t like Donald Trump.
REID: It sounds like you don`t think he should be specific in his apologies. Really appreciate it.
KINGSTON: By going on to talk about the economy and the foreign policy and the issues that count, that`s where the speech really went and that`s what our campaign is about.
REID: Jack Kingston, you are an excellent politician, because the filibuster appears to be your specialty. You did a great job on that. Thank you very much.
KINGSTON: Joy, thanks a lot.
REID: Thank you.
And before we go to break, we want to remind you that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will appear back-to-back in a commander in chief forum which will be hosted by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America on September 7th. It`s an historic event, first of its kind. You can watch it right here in primetime on MSNBC and NBC.
And coming up, Donald Trump visited flooded baton rouge today, despite the governor warning him not to come for a photo op. How that went, just ahead.
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REID: Coming up, a wild scene in the bayou today when Donald Trump and his heavily armed Secret Service escort hastily landed in flood ravaged Louisiana. The presidential politics of disaster is next.
But first, in the late 1970s, the U.S. made a deal to sell arms to Iran when the country was still being run by this guy, U.S. ally Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose return to power had been orchestrated by the CIA. Then in 1979 came the Iranian revolution, the overthrow of the shah, the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini, and the hostage crisis. Suddenly, Iran was an enemy and the U.S. was not about to send arms its way.
But Iran had already paid $400 million for fighter jets and the Iranians sought restitution, ultimately taking their case to The Hague, where they wanted $10 billion in today`s money. The Obama administration negotiated to get the amount down to $1.7 billion and was set to pay the first installment of $400 million in January. Just the sanctions were being lifted on Iran, in conjunction with the separately negotiated Iran nuclear deal.
But there was a sticking point. Iran had detained a group of Americans, including a "Washington Post" reporter, and the U.S. wanted them freed before it handed over any cash. So, it used its leverage. The State Department acknowledging yesterday that it delayed the payment for several hours to ensure the prisoners were released before the money was handed over.
Now, this outraged many Republicans, including the party`s presidential candidate who used the news to attack both Hillary Clinton and the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He said we don`t pay ransom, but we did. He lied about the hostages openly and blatantly, just like he lied about Obamacare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Of course it wasn`t actually a ransom. The money was going to be paid anyway. The administration just wanted to make sure its people were safe first. It was akin to what Donald Trump might call the art of the deal, and in fact, it`s what Trump advocated last July when the Iran nuclear deal was first announced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have four prisoners over there. We should have said, let the prisoners out. They shouldn`t be over there. One is over there because he`s a Christian. A pastor. One`s in there, a writer. They shouldn`t be in prison.
So, he should have said, we`re not doing anything, let them out. They would have let them out in two minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s disgusting that the president is in Martha`s Vineyard playing golf while this is happening. People`s houses are under water, their lives are ruined. People are dead. You have caskets floating down the street and the president of the United States, who was elected by the people, can`t stop a round of golf to go check in on the victims of this awful tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Despite the governor of Louisiana making clear that political photo ops were not welcome in a time of crisis, Donald Trump and his runningmate, Mike Pence, today traveled to flood ravaged Baton Rouge for a trip his campaign manager claimed would be decidedly non-political with no press allowed. Of course press were allowed to follow Trump around on his visit, which TBM`s Josh Marshall suggested looked like someone told Richie Rich he needed more extracurriculars on his college app.
At one point, cameras captured the Republican presidential candidate unloading toys from a truck full of supplies that his campaign says Trump donated.
Now we`re going to let the tape of Trump unloading toys run for most of its entirety, because as Media Ike (ph) pointed out today, Trump unloaded the truck for all of 49 seconds total.
You`re looking at the only 49 seconds of footage from Trump`s trip today that shows candidate actually doing something that might plausibly be considered helping the people of Louisiana. That`s it.
Now, as for the notion that Trump`s visit was, quote, decidedly non- political, consider this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re glad you`re not playing golf in Martha`s Vineyard. That`s all we can say. Glad you`re not playing golf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It definitely means a lot you showing up here, buddy.
TRUMP: Somebody is that shouldn`t be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Now, it`s true that President Obama is on vacation in Martha`s Vineyard. He and his family go every summer. But he does plan to visit Louisiana on Tuesday.
Why not today? Because when a politician, especially one trailed by a veritable army of secret service agents, shows up to divert resources in the near immediate aftermath of a disaster, it doesn`t help anyone except maybe the politician, as Hillary Clinton pointedly noted in calling for donations today.
Right now, the relief effort can`t afford any distractions. The very best way this team can help is to make sure Louisianans have the resources they need, unquote.
And joining me now is MSNBC contributor Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, presidential candidate and former chair of the DNC.
All right, Governor Dean, thank you so much for being here. It`s great to talk to an actual former governor, because in a crisis situation like this, would you want the president of the United States and all that comes with him barreling down into your state?
HOWARD DEAN, FRM. DNC CHAIRMAN: Well, look, I think because the governor of Louisiana said that it would be better if the president did not come, that pretty much clinches it. And Trump went anyway, because Trump is all about Trump, and he doesn`t give a damn about anybody in Louisiana.
So, the answer to that is, if the governor asks you not to come, you probably shouldn`t go. And he`s going to go next week, which I think is good.
REID: And you know, the other issue, of course, is that when a presidential candidate travels, they don`t have as much secret service as the president, although when he was a candidate, Barack Obama had a lot, because of the threats against him.
You were a presidential candidate. Can you talk about what it entails when a presidential candidate travels, the security that`s required.
DEAN: Well, the problem is not so much the Secret Service that comes, the problem is what the Secret Service asks of the local law enforcement people. A lot of the actual sort of set-up work, the Secret Service sends in a team in advance, but what they do is they work with the local law enforcement people. They go through all the places that the presidential candidate`s going to be. They turn the place upside down. They make -- this is not the kind of thing you need in an emergency, and Trump did this just to score points.
REID: And you know, what Donald Trump actually did during that, we showed the 49 seconds stop. I mean, literally as you said, the whole the Secret Service set up, the security set up, usual they have to clear the area and that they can do a sweep and then let the people come back in. All of that to unload boxes of Play-Doh and toys for 49 seconds.
If you were a governor in a crisis situation, would that be worth it to you? Would that help you in some way?
DEAN No. And that`s exactly the wrong thing to do. The right thing to do is what Hillary did was ask for money. These folks don`t need Play-Doh, they need money. They`ve lost their houses, they`ve lost everything. They need help getting back on their feet.
And coming in with a truck load of Play-Doh so you can look like you`re doing something for these folks is a joke.
I mean, Donald Trump is a joke, so let`s just face it. But Hillary did the right thing. Hillary called for donations and that`s what`s really need. And Taylor Swift actually stepped up to the plate and gave a million dollars. That`s going to help a lot of people. What Trump did is not going to help anybody, except Trump, and I doubt it helps him very much.
And let`s quickly turn to the criticize of President Obama for not going down immediately in the aftermath of this storm. Of course, you know, then Senator Obama did go to Texas, so did Senator Clinton, in the wake of Katrina. Do you think that this is a case where he should have got and sort of showed himself in the aftermath of that storm, of those floods?
DEAN: This is a really hard one. The answer is -- the political answer is, maybe he should have. I mean, it`s always bad when you`re playing golf and something like this happens, because it looks like you don`t care. This is not the first time this has happened. But you know, the guy is entitled to a vacation. He`s got the hardest job in the world. And it`s very true that if he -- abandoning your golf game is one thing. If he goes down there, he`s in the way. Trump was in the way. Trump was a pain in the butt to a lot of these folks.
If Obama goes down there, when he goes down there, next week, he`s going to, a, have money in his hand for the emergency declarations. B, he`s going to have a much better handle on what`s going on. And C, the people on the ground will have more time to show him what`s really needed.
The people from Louisiana can`t tell what`s needed right now, because they have to do an assessment before Obama goes down there.
REID: Absolutely, yep. And we will definitely be covering when it he gets down there. Howard Dean, thank you so much for your time. Have a great weekend.
DEAN: Thank you.
REID: Thank you.
And still to come, a frightening new travel advisory from the CDC after confirmed cases of Zika in Miami Beach. We`ll have a quick update on that.
But first, Bill Clinton takes his first steps into the sometimes antiquated traditions of being potentially a first gentleman. And it`s not off to a great start. That story just after the break.
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HILLARY CLINTON: You know, I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life.
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REID: The uproar that followed that moment in 1992, when Hillary Clinton dared to appear to denigrate cookie baking, launched a presidential campaign tradition: the quadrennial Family Circle Magazine First Lady bake- off.
Thing One tonight, it`s that time again. This year`s entries include a star cookie from Melania Trump and a chocolate chip cookie from Bill Clinton. All seemed pretty benign until eagle-eyed observers of Family Circle`s cookie competition spotted something amiss. One of the recipes was lifted wholesale from another first lady. The shocking details in thing two in 60 seconds.
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REID: The Family Circle 2016 presidential cookie poll pits Melania Trump`s star cookie recipe, which are sugar cookies with a touch of sour cream, against Bill Clinton`s chocolate chip cookie recipe, which includes oatmeal and shortening, a recipe which should sound familiar to anyone who has followed this competition over the years, because that isn`t Bill Clinton`s cookie recipe, it`s Hillary Clinton`s cookie recipe, the same recipe that she submitted in the very first First Lady cookie bake-off in 1992, telling the press, I want people to vote for my cookies, it`s a matter of honor.
She got her wish. Hillary Clinton`s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies won against Barbara Bush`s chocolate chip cookies in 1992, and against Elizabeth Dole`s pecan cookies in 1996.
And now it seems like her husband is hoping to ride her cookie coat-tails to victory this year, too. Voting closes October 4.
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REID: There are now five confirmed cases of Zika in one of the world`s most popular tourist destinations, Miami Beach, Florida. Yesterday, The Miami Herald reported mosquitoes are spreading Zika virus in Miami Beach, according to sources familiar with discussions held by the Florida Department of Health on Thursday to alert local officials.
Again, yesterday, according to The Miami Herald, the Florida Department of Health did not respond to questions about Zika in Miami Beach. But in an email to Miami Beach commissioners, city manager Jimmy Morales noted that the two new Zika infections were found in the resort city.
But last night, the state health department said they had no confirmed cases of Zika on Miami Beach, a position echoed by the city`s mayor.
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PHILIP LEVINE, MIAMI BEACH MAYOR: There`s no epidemic. There`s no outbreak of Zika on Miami Beach. Nothing, and I repeat, nothing has been confirmed from the Florida Department of Health, by the CDC, or by the county.
I know there`s been talk about some kind of cluster. There`s no cluster.
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REID: This afternoon, the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, gave a press conference, officially confirming cases of Zika in Miami Beach. And joining me now is the mayor of Miami Beach, Philip Levine, great to see you, Mayor Levine.
Let`s first talk about that change in position. What changed between yesterday, when you were not confirming that there were cases of Zika in your press conference this afternoon.
LEVINE: Thank you, Joy. It`s unfortunate. You know what changed? The information from the governor. It was so sad that this governor actually is withholding life-saving information and playing politics with it.
It wasn`t just myself, it was the county mayor, none of us were able to get information from the governor or the Florida Department of Health, because for some reason they were not communicating with the public, with the media, or with elected officials. So when the governor went out today and had his press conference to score political points, it was the first time we got actual confirmation that there were five cases limited cases with Miami Beach. So, we hope the governor will change his posture, he`ll get the information out, because this is something we need to know, we need to know it timely, we need to beat this thing, but we need the information.
REID: Explain to the viewers, then, how would it be that the mayor of a city would not be able to find out before the governor of the state, who is all the way out in Tallahassee that there were local cases of Zika? Don`t the hospitals in your community, don`t they report those up? Isn`t that something that local city government is entitled to know directly and not have to wait for the governor?
LEVINE: Right. Joy, you would think so. But tell you how the way it works. First of all, when you get contracted with Zika, it`s not necessarily that you are hospitalized. You may not even know that you had Zika. You have had it and then you got through it.
What happens is, the Florida Department of Health is the one that actually handles this. They are the ones that do testing, they are the ones that work with the CDC to find out what specifically going on. And I agree with you, you would think that the governor and the Florida Department of Health would be in complete contact with local officials.
But I`m sorry to say governor is playing politics. Zika is not Republican, Zika is not Democrat. Zika affects all of us.
So I hope the governor`s watching tonight, because we want to make sure he understands the message loud and clear, let`s not play politics, with this very important issue. For us, we want to maintain and make sure the people of Miami Beach, the residents, the visitors, are safe and they`re healthy. That`s our number one goal and it`s going to continue to be.
REID: And of course, so just to reiterate one more time, because I think the concern a lot of people would have is that if a local official of a major tourist destination like Miami Beach would not want to admit, obviously, that there was a problem, that it might keep tourists away. Are you saying that that was not a consideration in your saying initially that those cases did not exist?
LEVINE: No, absolutely not. Last night when we did a press conference, the only information that we got, was that there are two unconfirmed cases that may have links to Miami Beach.
Now, what we can`t do, is we can`t say things that we don`t know are true. So, unless we get confirmation from the governor, from the Florida Department of Health, who reports to the governor in Tallahassee, we cannot come out and say things that we don`t know are true and I would never do that.
Today, we finally got confirmation, but we got it like everybody else did: during the governor`s press conference, which is a real shame. But I can tell you this, Joy, we`ve been working on this for a long time -- you know, January, June, everything. We`re making sure that our city is clean.
REID: Thank you very much. I`m sorry, we are out of time, but thank you for coming on and clarifying this. Mayor Levine, really appreciate it.
LEVINE: Anytime. Thank you.
REID: And coming up, can Trump`s campaign shake-up help him gain any ground with women voters? We`ll talk about that just after the break.
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MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: You`ve called women you don`t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?
TRUMP: I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I`ve been -- I`ve been challenged by so many people and I don`t frankly have time for total, political correctness.
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REID: Now, we don`t have time to list all the insults Donald Trump has hurled at women throughout the years when called out on it in that very first Republican debate last August, Trump decided that instead of expressing remorse over language used in the past, he`d just go after Megyn Kelly, suggesting, quote, she had blood coming out of her wherever.
Trump hasn`t done a lot to earn the support of women voters since then. He`s advocated for some sort of punishment for women who have abortions, he`s even mused that if his daughter, Ivanka, were sexually harassed at work, she should find another career or find another company.
Needless to say, the polling out on women voters has not been good. Trump is losing by 12 points nationally in the latest UCLA day break poll.
But now, after elevating Kellyanne Conway to the role of campaign manager, he seems to be softening his approach, even going as far as expressing regret over unspecified offensive comments.
Today, Conway said the candidate himself expressed -- advocated the expression of those regrets.
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KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER; That`s all him. He took extra time yesterday going over that speech with a pen. So, that was a decision he made. Those are his words, and I hope that everybody who has criticized him at some point, David, for being insensitive or for mocking someone, at least shows some recognition and some forgiveness.
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REID: And joining me now is MSNBC political analyst and national affairs correspondent for the nation Joan Walsh and Republican strategist Susan Del Percio. Welcome to both of you, thank you both for being here on a Friday.
So, Susan, I`m going to start with you, because the the strategy of Kellyanne Conway obviously is to try to do the softer Donald Trump, right. But doesn`t he have to then get specific? Once you say, I have regrets, the natural question, I`ve tried with Congressman Jack Kingston, didn`t get anywhere, is that you need to be specific.
As a strategist, do you think he should then be specific, specifically with the things he`s said about women?
SUSAN DEL PERCIO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I don`t think he has to do that right now. What he needs to focus on is getting back the women, the Republican women, that he had around the time of the convention when his numbers went up.
I think they`re facing a two-part strategy. The first is, what do we do before Labor Day? We get our Republican numbers from the 70s up into -- support among Republicans from the 70s up into the low 90s. That`s the first thing, that will help help close the gap.
Then they have to -- I hate to use this word -- pivot -- but then they have to move into how to attract more independent voters and more women voters, and that is going to be...
REID: How will they do that? Because what they`re doing, Joan, you`re now seeing the new phase of the Trump campaign, 3.0, or whatever it is, going after Hillary Clinton`s health, a woman who they are essentially taking ageist and I would say gendered attacks on where is Hillary sleeping, Trump is tweeting. There`s a priority -- you know, there`s the Priority USA ad that shows what he was doing before, but their current attack right now is that Hillary is this unhealthy woman who can`t even stay awake and needs pillows.
Does that help?
JOAN WALSH, THE NATION: No, it doesn`t help at all. And I mean, I think - - I don`t know what you`re seeing on social media, but one of the main memes or whatever is that she`s incontinent. I`m not kidding. I hate to say that...
REID: The Hillary stool hashtag.
WALSH: Yeah, and other things -- catheters, somebody showed me where her catheter is.
I mean, this is a really ugly, dark depth plunging that they`re going to.
But I do want to say, just for a moment, I do give Kellyanne Conway some respect. I think she`s done better than anybody else. She`s kept him on message for two days. She`s also got him doing a mediocre imitation of somebody who knows the feeling of compassion and has common sense. He`s trying to imitate something like that, because he`s not that.
But I do think she`s the Trump whisperer, at least for now. The question is, how long that lasts. And I don`t -- I do disagree with you. I don`t think he can get away with never -- with not apologizing in some fashion to the Khans.
Let`s just take the khans, let`s leave aside women, because I think women...
DEL PERCIO: I would argue that the comments with the Khans hurt him more among women than anything else that he said about women. I actually think that was worse for him with women.
REID: So then should he specifically apologize to the Khan family? Because it seems to me that when you put out a generic apology, what you do is invite people to then go and relitigate the things that you said that were offensive and then ask you if you should apologize to this. It`s not as if Democrats are going to pretend he never said certain things and be forgiving.
DEL PERCIO: Well, here`s the thing is that, again, it`s August 19. So, there`s a lot of time to be had. And he doesn`t necessarily have -- if he`s -- it`s not in his nature, he won`t go back and relitigate and say, I`m sorry for this and I`m sorry I said that.
What he`s going to have to do is look forward and say, how can he take some of the sharpness off the edges, when he talks about terrorism, when he talks about the economy.
During the primary, he was certainly very rough and tumble and was certainly offensive to a lot of women. He`s got to clean that part up in how he talks about the issues.
And the issue of Hillary Clinton`s health is absurd. And I was very pleased to see last night on Chris Matthews, that Kellyanne Conway basically said, we cannot -- that`s not an issue I want to have out there. I want to talk about...
REID: You think they`ll walk that back?
DEL PERCIO: Yes.
REID: Well, on the issue of softening the way that things are spoken about about the campaign. They finally released a campaign ad, Joan, and it was anything but soft. It looked like America would be an armed encampment under Donald Trump. Does that help him at all with women?
WALSH: I don`t think so. I mean, I think they think it does. I think they think if they scare women, that they`re going to scare women back into his camp. But I think it comes off as really harsh, immigrant baiting, lies about Hillary Clinton, She`s not for open borders. I don`t think it did anything positive.
DEL PERCIO: I think it did for Republican women. I think that was targeted, again, to getting some of the Republican women who have felt he`s been off of the rails for the last three weeks and need to get them back in his column. They need to get the numbers up. it`s the only chance that they have post Labor Day of having a tightened poll, so Hillary Clinton doesn`t run away with it. That`s what they`re looking to do.
And then get competitive...
REID: And I want to show you, because what`s going to happen is, you know, it`s not as if the other side will simply lay down, right.
Let me show you the Priorities USA ad. It was running a couple of months ago. I think this is something you will see come back again, no matter what Trump tries to do, people will remind him and his supporters of these things.
This is the Priorities USA ad about women and Donald Trump.
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TRUMP: You know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.
Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely.
Do you like girls that are 5`1? They come up to you know where.
If Ivanka weren`t my daughter, perhaps I`d be dating her.
I view a person who is flat-chested as very hard to be a ten.
And you can tell them to go (EXPELETIVE DELETED) themselves.
Does Donald Trump really speak for you?
Priorities USA Action is responsible for the content of this advising.
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REID: We are so out of time, but is there anything Donald Trump can do to counter that?
DEL PERCIO: To wipe away 14 months? You know, that`s the biggest thing he has going against him. When you can use someone`s own words against them, that`s it. That is really powerful.
REID: Yeah, it`s going to be difficult for him to get away from it, because he actually said those things, they actually said those things. They actually have his voice on the tape.
All right, Joan Walsh, Susan Del Percio, thanks to both of you.
And that is All In this evening. I`ll be back here tomorrow morning on my show, AM Joy at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Don`t miss that.
That Rachel Maddow Show starts right now.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END