On Wednesday’s NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer once again whined over Donald Trump threatening to bring up Bill Clinton’s sex scandals during a debate with Hillary Clinton: “There’s this other thing that he continues to talk about yesterday, this idea that he did not go there, that he showed restraint against Hillary Clinton when it comes to issues in her marriage. It’s this thing where you get to go there by saying you’re not going there....So is this working?”
He directed that question to Bloomberg Politics editor Mark Halperin, who assured Lauer: “I don't think it is and I think it’s a distraction from, again, the winning message.” He defined that “winning message” as Trump being the change candidate and warned: “Things like Bill Clinton's personal life, Benghazi, even her e-mails....you can talk about this other stuff, but it’s got to be about issues. And creating this expectation, ‘Will he or won't he?,’ is, for a lot of people, a distraction.”
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At the top of the segment, Lauer wondered: “So based on what we saw on the campaign trail yesterday, what does each campaign think worked for them Monday night?” Halperin proclaimed: “Hillary Clinton's campaign thinks almost everything works. They like her performance, they though Donald Trump gave them plenty to work with....their confidence is sky high...she's as confident as I've seen her as a candidate.”
Here is a full transcript of the September 28 segment:
7:08 AM ET
MATT LAUER: Mark Halperin is here, he’s the managing editor of Bloomberg Politics. Mark, good to see you.
MARK HALPERIN: Good morning.
LAUER: One of the things about debates, the campaigns get to see what works, what gets traction, then they go out the next day – the candidates do – and they either refine those messages or double down on them. So based on what we saw on the campaign trail yesterday, what does each campaign think worked for them Monday night?
HALPERIN: Hillary Clinton's campaign thinks almost everything works. They like her performance, they though Donald Trump gave them plenty to work with. I initially thought there wasn't an oops moment for him, but there was, I think, in his attack on the former Miss Universe. So they think – their confidence is sky high and you saw in the clip in Peter’s piece she's as confident as I've seen her as a candidate.Look, Donald Trump is out there doing what a lot of candidates do, not just Donald Trump, they lose a debate and they pretend they didn't lose and they try to sort of bully their way through it. But there are people around him who know that the message of Washington change is a good one. The message of attacking a woman for being overweight or eating too much is not. And he’s got to change that.
GUTHRIE: Well, let's talk about that because you say that's an oops moment. In the moment, he was not as strident as he was the next day on a call-in show, where he brought it up by himself. He wasn’t asked about Alicia Machado. Did he kind of transform this into a second-day story by saying, “Well, she gained so much weight,” etcetera, etcetera?
HALPERIN: He’s transformed it not just into just a second-day story, but a third-day story, and I think, a fourth-day story. This is going to be a real test to see – if he thinks this is gonna go away, I think he’s wrong. And the Clinton people have no intention of letting it go away. It affects peoples perceptions of him about women, about Hispanics, but also about whether he’s a gracious person.
LAUER: There’s this other thing that he continues to talk about yesterday, this idea that he did not go there, that he showed restraint against Hillary Clinton when it comes to issues in her marriage. It’s this thing where you get to go there by saying you’re not going there. It’s like if I said, “I'm not even going to talk about that suit you're wearing.” And I just did. So is this working?
HALPERIN: I don't think it is and I think it’s a distraction from, again, the winning message. A lot of people around Donald Trump will say the winning message is, “She's been in politics for a long time, Washington isn't working, Washington needs to change.” Things like Bill Clinton's personal life, Benghazi, even her e-mails, while they’re concerns for voters, there are a lot of Republicans who say if you’re going to win this election, you can talk about this other stuff, but it’s got to be about issues. And creating this expectation, “Will he or won't he?,” is, for a lot of people, a distraction.
GUTHRIE: Very quickly, he has demonstrated in the recent past an ability to change. You know, when the polls were in free fall and Kellyanne Conway came on as campaign manager, he did seem to adjust. Do you think that’s something that might happen again?
HALPERIN: We’re all waiting for the post-debate polls, the real polls, to see in the battleground states and nationally, does he go down. Ironically, the best thing for Donald Trump and his supporters might be if he does go down. Because typically the only way he changes course is when the polls show him slipping a little bit.
LAUER: By the way, there's nothing wrong with your suit.
HALPERIN: It’s alright.
LAUER: Yeah, just want you to know. Mark, thank you.
HALPERIN: Thank you, guys.
