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Trump & Pence Hit DNC For Not Mentioning ISIS; Trump Tries Out New Nickname For Clinton; Trump Trying To Convert Sanders Voters, Says It's Sad To Watch Sanders Abandon Revolution; Trump Skewered By Pols And Non-Pols Alike; "Mothers Of The Movement" To Address DNC Tonight. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 26, 2016 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:01] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESEDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, in this room know better than anybody else or any other audience, what I mean by weakness. But because of weakness, ISIS has been established.

MIKE PENCE, (R) VICE PRESEDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our V.A. is broken and this builder will fix it. And it is extraordinary to think that yesterday in Philadelphia, 61 speakers came to the podium and not one of them named ISIS by name. This man will name our enemies without apology, and he will defeat them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Now, Mike Pence may have a point, but yesterday was day one. Democrats say, we'll get the ISIS, we'll get the security, we'll make our case and Hillary Clinton did mention ISIS when she spoke to the VFW yesterday a day before Donald Trump. But do the Republicans have a point, or I guess to flip the question, should the Republicans, should the Democrats excuse me, after what happened in Cleveland, knowing Donald Trump made gains, was it a mistake?

JULIE PACE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I don't know if it was a mistake to not mention ISIS on the opening night of the convention. I do think that more broadly Democrats need to recognize that people have real concerns about security here and what we see are happening overseas spilling over here. But Democrats just have a very different picture for what this convention will look like ...

KING: Yes.

PACE: ... at the end of this week.

KING: Right.

PACE: They do not think that this is a country that is gripped with fear and they don't want to present the image of a party that is.

KING: And they don't want to overreact to Trump but by the end -- and so, this is not the day to judge them, but by the end of the convention they have to answer Cleveland.

JONATHAN MARTIN, THE NEW YORK TIMES: To quote the great philosopher John Edwards, there are two Americans, and there are two conventions.

JACKIE KUCINICH, THE DAILY BEAST: Yeah.

MARTIN: They reflect two very different Americans. My goodness, you just watched last night, you compare it, to what happened in Cleveland in the previous week. They're talking to two very different audiences. And they recognize that this is a campaign about mobilizing their bases and that's what they're trying to do and that's why you have Republicans talking about immigration and terrorism, that's just not what drives Democratic activists. It does not.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: And you saw that last night with the Latinos on stage, the illegal immigrant on stage talking about her experience, the daughter are talking about her experience. So yeah, I mean they are doubling down as Jaymer (ph) said on two very different strategies. You see that in the polling with Donald Trump obviously doing well with a certain segment, non white or white non college voters and then a broader party for the Democrats.

KING: And the most of this will fall on Hillary Clinton Thursday night. but this convention ending with the candidate, do have to answer this, Donald Trump's repeated criticism that look at her record of secretary of state, don't believe her when she's says she's ready to be commander in chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Why did Hillary get rid of her middle name? Huh? Hillary? No, but why did she get rid of it? Hillary Rotten Clinton, Rotten Clinton. Hillary Rotten Clinton, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That's not the sound I wanted at that moment. But let's move on to that ...

KUCINICH: Yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: That the VFW today, he raised Benghazi, he raised Libya and try to make things(ph) at her judgment as secretary of state or management of secretary of incumbent. Let's move on out of this part, she was "Crooked Hillary." Now she's Hillary "Rotten" Clinton.

PACE: Yeah.

KUCINICH: I mean it's more of this name calling, but they catch on but I don't think this is appealing to any new audiences. Because this gets Donald Trump voters back in the game and loving that he's making fun of her. But I don't know that this is the same Donald Trump that we've seen over and over again. And, you know, a little part of the establishment Republican Party just died again.

HENDERSON: Yeah, and it's a part of I think Donald Trump that turns significant voters off and these were the same voters that Michelle Obama was talking to yesterday saying when they go low, we go high.

I do think in terms of the Democrats and ISIS and the fear of crime, they do have to figure out a way to talk to that anxiety or talk to that feeling. I think we probably too often see Obama meet some of this criticism with data, right, he talks about ISIS losing territory or he talks about other crime rate being an a historically low. I don't think that's going to cut it. They've got to figure out a way to feel voter's pain and meet them where they live.

PACE: But who has historically being very good of that?

KUCINICH: Bill Clinton.

PACE: Bill Clinton. Yeah.

KING: I would say he does that, what do we make of, you know, did heard by at the top of the show, the vice president Joe Biden trying is saying, come on, none of these Bernie voters are going to go to Trump. But Trump kind at least he hopes so.

He's tweeting out last night, sad to watch Bernie Sanders abandon his revolution. We welcome all voters who want to fix our rigged system and bring back our jobs. On those two points, I get there's a lot of skepticism among Democrats but on those two points rigged system, I'm an outsider, job's the trade message. Trump at least consistently tries. He doesn't need -- what slice of Bernie voters I guess does he need for it to be helpful in a place like Michigan or right here in Pennsylvania?

MARTIN: If he gets, I think 8 to 10 percent in a place like Michigan that is certainly significant. It was funny, I talk to two long time political figures last week, Roger Stone a big Trump person and Robert Reich, a big liberal supportive ...

[12:35:04] KING: Wow is that a ...

MARTIN: ... who was in the Clinton's cabinet.

KING: How was your therapy after that?

MARTIN: It was engrossing conversation. They used the same language that they said this is not about conservative or liberal anymore, those are out dated terms, this is about a establishment and anti- establishment.

And I think that will translate to some support for Trump from Bernie's people. That said so much of what Trump stands for in the eyes of the left is racial resentment. And I think it's going to be hard for a lot of the Bernie folks to get past that.

KING: You make a key point the party lines that the old party orthodox is voters don't process that way anymore.

PACE: Right.

KING: That starts like Democratic strategist very close to Bill Clinton several years ago wrote an essay say which side of the barricades are you on? Sort of you're on the elite side or you're on the popular side of that, I think that's part of what we see going forward.

Everybody sit tight, we're going to turn back to the Democrats. Ahead, Donald Trump says his business track improves, he can make Washington work. But the message from speaker after speaker after speaker here, well, love your neighbor, they say Donald Trump doesn't, and they say watch your wallet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:15] KING: Welcome back. We are looking ahead to day two here at the Democratic National Convention. We do know at opening day, well, Donald Trump got the pinata treatments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Trump's entire campaign is just one more late night Trump infomercial. Hand over your money, your jobs, your children's future and the great Trump hot air machine will reveal all the answers.

And for one low, low price he'll even throw in a goofy hat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Senator Elizabeth Warren there. But some of the more powerful thumps on Trump were personal and not from the professional politicians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANASTASIA SOMOZA, DISABILITY RIGHTS ADVOCATE: Donald Trump has shown us who he really is. And I honestly feel mad with anyone with that much hate in their hearts.

JASON COLLINS, ASST. COACH, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: So when it comes to Donald Trump, how do you tell your kids not to be a bully if their president is one.

CHERYL LANKFORD, FORMER TRUMP UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Trump University cheated me out of the money I received after my husband's death. Here's a guy who would born rich and who has all the money in the world and there's nothing wrong with that. But then he decided to make himself even richer by cheating working people who had nothing to spare. What kind of man does that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: These personal stories, critical in the Democrats plan. We'll see if it works, critical to the Democrats but taking away that balance. So if you look at Cleveland last week you said, ah Trump, I think I like this guy. They're bringing out this person who say, don't you dare. KUCINICH: Well, they're going right out of his business record, which is what he is running on thing. Look at a good business man I am. I will run the country just as effectively and they're saying, wait a second. No, look at these people, these people actually dealt with him and have come up in the end empty-handed. And you're going to hear that a lot because she's not the only one.

PACE: And I think it was really effective to put that last woman you showed, Cheryl Lankford in the middle of the high profile speakers, basically forcing people who were watching this convention to see that speech ...

MARTIN: Right.

PACE: ... hammering that message home. Democrats are very good at this piece of politics, of taking real people, showing how the rival has been effective by them. They did it so well and 2012 against Mitt Romney and they basically say this is like Romney plus what they're going to do to Trump.

MARTIN: Romney plus, plus, plus. Yeah, I think we'll see that last clip on T.V. ad coming shortly. That was very effective. I just loved that turn of phrase, it was very powerful. And I think this is key for her, how do you puncture Trump's populism? And how do you raise questions about his commitment to helping been a little guy? That was the catch line from his speech. I'm your voice, well, how do you raise doubts about that assertion?

PACE: Yeah.

KING: And 16 Republicans tried it and didn't do such a good job.

HENDERSON: Yes, they didn't. But I did think this was much more effective because it was it was everyday people. And some of those folks had a relationship with Hillary Clinton. The disabled woman for instance that talks about meeting Hillary Clinton in the White House and how she inspired -- how she was inspired by Hillary Clinton. I mean, I think all echoed the other speakers.

Jason Collins, he echoed some things that Michelle Obama said in her speech. The disabled woman echoed the ads that are running in some of the swing states that apparently really effective among those swing voters that either of these candidates is going to need to win.

KUCINICH: And talking about the children. I mean, that effective ad with the little kids are watching Donald Trump speak ...

HENDERSON: Yeah.

KUCINICH: ... I think that's going to be a common theme that we see over and over again. Think, look, how this affects your children.

KING: Well that's the play for the women's vote and mothers especially at the suburbs. The key moment for the Democrats tonight, they'll have the "Mothers of the Movement", these ladies call themselves, and their stories are tragic. African-American women whose sons have been killed by gun violence, some killed in shootings, some killed by police in incidents that the families say were irresponsible reckless police behavior. They will speak tonight and one of the question is Trump was law and order, law and order, law and order.

The Democrats want to talk about criminal justice reform. They want to talk about getting police at the table in these communities where African-Americans say, hey wait a minute, we are persecuted by our own police department. The question is, how does it play politically? How do you strike the right balance?

So watch and listen here, the mothers will be here tonight. Last night, Elijah Cummings, prominent African-American congressman from Baltimore, who's the chair of the Platform Committee, he tried, I think to strike what he believes is the right tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D) MARYLAND: Our party just got just believe but understands that Black Lives Matter. We also recognize that our communities and our law enforcement work best when they work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:45:05] KING: He is mad at Trump. He thinks who is Donald Trump to talk about what happens in inner city Baltimore.

PACE: And I think that that is a problem that Trump is going to have. He has these lines that sound OK in front of the Republican convention audience. But I think actually taking that message, if you were to actually follow through and go into an inner city, might be problematic. Because I think that when you talk to voters there, they think that this is more of a systematic problem, this is an actually just a law and order problem.

KING: But let me give you the flip side, let me give you the flip side in it. I don't know that we live in a traditional American anymore. Do you -- they think they can turn out the Obama coalition. Republicans think they can turn their voters. But is there a risk for the Democrats , you know, that if you say no Trump, you're wrong, this is about compassion, this is about criminal justice reform, this is about sitting the police down with people in the community and figuring out how to make this work. Can Trump come back and say you're not tough enough?

HENDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. And that is what he is doing. And that's why you see those numbers moving in his favor. I think to a lot of people the phrase "law and order" has sort of a racist undertone. Even Richard Nixon when he mentioned it in his 1968 speech, he said, you know, a lot -- I know a lot of people think that it's a -- it's sort of a racist term.

And also in some way like in terms of libertarian, it's kind of a specter of a police state. But listen, this is a tricky thing any time you're dealing with race and this I think contest, he's all about race in a lot of ways. At least a lot of people think that a lot of the fear that some people have is fear of Trump. I mean, I've talked to a lot of African-Americans who say they fear what kind of country we would have if Donald Trump were the nominee. But on the other hand, I think Donald Trump is playing into a different kind of fear. So it's a tricky line to got a balance.

MARTIN: And it was striking watch the Cummings speech, I was in the hall last night for it and it's all about "Black Lives Matter" was -- with booming applause. But so much of that speech though was obscured and at times you close they even drowned out by the Bernie people. And here is this respected African-American member of Congress, and it was a great illustration to me for how disconnected the Bernie people are from traditional Democratic politics. They don't really know who Cummings, that they don't really care who he is. They just want to get their message out, anti-TPP, pro-Bernie, you know.

KING: But just like a lot of those Trump people were not connected to Republican politics. We got those sort of weird moments at the Republican convention. The challenge for Trump is to marry the two and get them to vote for him. The challenge here was to get those Bernie people to not be just back in the test. We'll see if it works out here a big night ahead here.

When we come back, our reporters share from their notebooks including an inside look at Bernie Sanders' summer plan vacation? Let's find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:56] KING: A nice moment here in Philadelphia. You probably can't see them. It's just over my shoulder, Jake Tapper, pride of Philadelphia, having lunch with his parents. That's a good thing.

Let's close as we always do here inside politics hit down the line. Let's ask our great reporters to share something from their notebooks. Julie Pace?

PACE: The Democratic pollster that I've been talking to you here in Philadelphia said that they're starting to see signs of something really interesting in states like Ohio, Florida and New Hampshire. And that's ticket splitters. This obviously would be when voters would cast a presidential ballot for Hillary Clinton and their Senate ballot for Republican or vice versa.

Political operatives often dismiss the idea that voters are strategic, but what's really interesting is these pollsters say in focus groups, voters actually are talking about making this kind of strategic decisions in large part. Because it makes them feel more comfortable voting for a presidential candidate. They might not like so much. This would be a way to put a check on them.

So in this unusual election, this could be one of the outcomes of having two candidates at the top of the ticket who are actually quite unpopular.

KING: Voters playing chess with themselves. OK, Jackie?

KUCINICH: So we've talked a lot about how Bernie Sanders is trying to unring the bell of his supporters. Well, that doesn't stop here. He's just taking the show on the road this summer and he's going to be actually campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

And it's not -- it's about not having these voters vote for Trump but it's also not having them stay home and have them get out for Hillary Clinton. So, he's going to be making a big effort this summer on that front.

KING: There goes that summer vacation.

MARTIN: The split here is not between the Clinton and Sanders backers but it's also even within the families. I saw the congressman from Chicago last night Luis Gutierrez., a big Clinton supporter.

He told me my daughter is on the floor right now from Illinois, a Sanders delegate. And he said that he's having a hard time getting her to come around. And she'll be there eventually, but to me it was a fascinating reflection of the generational challenge that Clinton folks are facing. Even the children of some of their most prominent supporters are still feeling the burn.

KING: That's fascinating, Nia?

HENDERSON: Once this convention wraps up, Clinton and Kaine will go on a bus tour. It'll start in Philadelphia or hit Harrisburg of Pennsylvania as well as Pittsburgh.

To Democrats in many ways, Pennsylvania is sort of the firewall with in the Midwest. We all know that Donald Trump's chances of winning the White House go through the Midwest, this Roosevelt area. They want to keep this winning streak going.

It was 300,000 voters that separated Romney from Obama in 2012, won by about five points.

I talked to a Democratic strategist and a GOP strategist. They both said they give the edge to Democrats but only by about two points and a difference maker could be President Obama.

KING: If that -- John Kasich the governor of Ohio, saying they can't win his state, the Republican governor being anti-Trump maybe the Democrats can scoop him up on their bus tour. I got it. But we'll see how that will plays out.

I'll close with this, a tip for those of you at home trying to score which party and which candidate has the most successful convention this year. Watch the right track, wrong track numbers in the polling and whether there's a noticeable improvement after this week in Philadelphia.

That's what happened in 2012, a nearly ten-point boost in the percentage of Americans who answered right track after the Democratic convention.

Romney campaign insiders believe that boost sealed their fate. And they think it was Bill Clinton's 2012 speech that was a big part of that optimistic mood swing. The right track number is especially bleak, profoundly bleak right now.

[12:55:06] Only two in ten Americans answered right track, an NBC Walls Street journal polling just before Trump's convention.

Now, check that number in a week or two. If it's up noticeably, good news for Hillary Clinton, if it's static, the Vegas odds on Donald Trump will go up.

That's it for "Inside Politics." Thanks for sharing some of your day today. Hope to see you from the hall tonight. We'll be back here at the same time tomorrow. Hope you can join us more on this very big day in Philadelphia ahead next with Wolf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORY BOOKER, NEW JERSEY SENATOR: We are the United States of America. Our best days are ahead of us. And together with Hillary Clinton as our president, America, we will rise.

[13:00:01] SARAH SILVERMAN, COMEDIAN: To the Bernie or bust people, you're being ridiculous.

BERNIE SANDERS, (D) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton must become the next President of the United States.