Soon: Trump Law & Order Speech; Trump To Begin General Election Ads In 5 States This Weekend
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. In this hour, we're told Donald Trump will again step up to a podium and read from a teleprompter. He's speaking just outside Milwaukee, talking, we are told tonight, about law and order. Again, like yesterday's address in fighting ISIS, this one is expected to be scripted on message. And another sign perhaps the candidate is acting less off the cuff and more presidential, you might say, a sign in campaign insider speak that the candidate is pivoting away from the primary and toward the general election. At the same time, though, Donald Trump is once again saying himself he doesn't want to pivot or to change. So what are we going to see tonight? What we see may not be such a pivot after tonight. CNN's Jason Carroll is at the event, he joins us again with the very latest. So what is the latest in terms of expectations there at the event tonight? What are you hearing from the campaign?</s>JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a couple of things. I mean, I know you mentioned the teleprompter, certainly a number of people who support Donald Trump are hoping that he has a clear message, a simple message, and that he sticks, if you will, to the script and to the message. The message being airs and that once again, we've heard him say this before that he is the law and order candidate. We expect him to review that theme again tonight. We expect him also to paint a very distinct difference between himself and Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton, who he will tell the crowd here, Hillary Clinton is weak on terrorism, weak on crime. You know, a little earlier today, he was asked in an interview. He was asked what he would do to solve some of the problems plaguing urban communities like what we saw in Milwaukee. And he mentioned two things. He said first, bringing economic development back to these areas. And two, he talked about this need for law and order. So again, these are themes we expect him to address tonight when he eventually ends up taking the stage. Anderson?</s>COOPER: We're also told that the campaign is going to begin to air their first T.V. ads of the general election. I think starting this weekend, correct?</s>CARROLL: Right. Those ads supposed to roll out this weekend in five key battleground states, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia. As you know, the Trump campaign has been waiting really to release these ads, to spend money. A lot of people have been impatiently waiting saying, "When are you going to do this, when are you going to do this." Hillary Clinton is spending some $105 million so far in terms of the ads that have been out there on T.V. and basically been put out there by super PACs and the NRA. So finally, Trump getting into this game. Certainly, a number of people in those states are going to be happy to see him going after Hillary Clinton on T.V. Trump was asked about this sometime ago. You know, why wait? Why wait so long to do something like this? And he said, "I don't want to go too fast. It's like an old horse race." He said, "Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. Time will tell." Anderson?</s>COOPER: And you can hear the chants of lock her up behind you. Jason Carroll, thanks very much. They're waiting for their candidate. As we wait for Donald Trump, let's bring in the panel. Joining this hour by conservative Trump critic also, Tara Setmayer. I appreciate you all being with us. Phil, it really is interesting to watch Donald Trump, I don't know if struggle is the right word, but trying to figure out or calibrate. Should he pivot ...</s>PHILIP BUMP, WASHINGTON POST POLITICAL REPORTER: Right.</s>COOPER: ... is what got him here? What's going to get him across the finish line to the presidency? Is it enough? Clearly, you know, he is more comfortable talking off the cuff. A lot of the -- his supporters like that about him and yet, there is also this need to reach new voters.</s>BUMP: Right. Yeah. I mean, that's exactly the distinction that his campaign has failed to see so far. He did a great job during the primaries. He's running it to a lot of people. He built up a core base of support that was not a majority. He only got a plurality of votes in the primary, but it was enough that he built up just being himself to get through that. And what he took in months to figure out is that wasn't a successful strategy to reach out to a general election audience. And I think the interesting thing about these T.V. ads too is, we're looking at someone who just now starting a general election campaign whereas Mitt Romney had already spent millions of dollars and had already field offices in a bunch of states in June of 2012. And so, it's fascinating that as we talk about what he's doing with this pivot, he's already months behind in terms of what his campaign should be doing anyway. And so, it's going to be fascinating to see if this actually makes a distinctive difference.</s>COOPER: How concerned are you guys who are supporters about the ground game, about his lack of offices, his lack of ...</s>JOHN JAY LAVALLE, TRUMP SURROGATE: It's -- he is working in partnership with the RNC and the ground game is going to be awesome. It already is. They're out there. They are moving. They have joined a fundraising ...</s>COOPER: What does that mean though? But just in terms of actual offices, in terms of people on the ground, Hillary Clinton certainly has a much more organized effort under way.</s>LAVALLE: There will be more people on the ground in 2016 than there were in 2012. Hillary Clinton has also spent, like we just said, $105 million where he's virtually spent nothing. Donald Trump is in very good shape. This concept that he's pivoting because he's speaking, you know, conducting a speech with a teleprompter is ridiculous. There are two kinds of speeches in our business. There's a rally speech where we have a lot of rhetoric involved then we go off the cuff, where he speak from the heart. And then there is a policy speech where we use a teleprompter because we're conveying our thoughts ...</s>COOPER: So in your idea, everything is going great?</s>LAVALLE: Everything is going according to plan. His plan, and you see ...</s>COOPER: But the poll numbers in battleground states ...</s>TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right, based on what metric?</s>LAVALLE: Who's spending money in battleground states? He is not spending money, she is.</s>SETMAYER: But he's losing. I don't understand this argument.</s>LAVELLE: And by the way, we spoke a little earlier in the program on the other side of the aisle, they said we're a little concerned. You know, we're not going to take this for granted because he hasn't even started yet.</s>COOPER: Well Tara, you're not a Trump supporter.</s>SETMAYER: No.</s>COOPER: He's saying, you know, Trump hasn't even started yet. There's little bit more than 80 days left to go.</s>SETMAYER: Well, he hasn't really started yet in a lot of areas. I mean, we've been hearing this. We haven't started yet since he basically clinched the nomination back in May. They're just now starting to hire a couple of campaign, like normal campaign positions that should have been filled a long time ago. They don't have state directors in a lot of crucial states. There's zero outreach, you know, for, especially for minority communities, there's zero outreach going on.</s>COOPER: Have you just seen Omarosa?</s>SETMAYER: Yes, but yeah, I'm actually. I would love to see what Omarosa has done. She claims that she has 76 page outreach effort a month ago that no one's ever seen. It's not posted on their website. He haven't even contacted some of the more prominent black Republicans like Joe Watkins of Philadelphia, which is a crucial area. Pennsylvania is a crucial state. They made no contact with him. He said it even today on air. Their state director in North Carolina pulled a gun on people and is being sued for it, for goodness sake. So, I mean, this is still being an amateur hour operation. They don't have people on the ground like they're supposed to be. The RNC can't see the campaign's arm.</s>COOPER: All right. Tara paints a pretty bleak picture and you don't seem that concern?</s>KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, the nice thing is we have a history of the same statements being said a few months ago, except with regards to the primary, he'll never win ...</s>COOPER: I want to talk about Ted Cruz's ground game, he's ...</s>MCENANY: For sure and it didn't matter. And here's where Donald Trump can change this election. This electorate is suffering economically. This electorate looks around the world and there's an ISIS terrorist attack every 84 hours. They look at home and cities are burning. This is an electorate that it's prime to hear Donald Trump's primary message. And I know my liberal friends will try to paint in as racist and divisive and xenophobic. But the idea of vetting the people who come in here, the idea of bringing peace back to the streets, the idea of bringing back economic prosperity, that is a winning message. It's been clouded over the last two week by some of the side stories. If he can deliver that on the debate stage, he will win this election and he will be the next president.</s>COOPER: So Paul, I mean, is or Christine, is there this much to do about nothing about this ground game, about the need for offices and ...</s>PAUL BEGALA, PRO-CLINTON SUPER PAC ADVISER: Well, John makes a good point.</s>COOPER: Paul, is that an old way of thinking?</s>BEGALA: No. It depends on which party you're in and which voters you're reaching. In my party, there's no chance to win without it. None, because the coalition President Obama put together that Hillary is trying to inherit is built on young people, people of color and unmarried women. There's more of them in secular voters frankly. There are more of them than there are of Trump voters, but we have to reach them. Something like 25 percent of voters under 30 moved every two to four years. OK. Now, his base, I criticize old folks in the last hour. Let me tell you, his base, they vote. Older, angry, high school educated, white men, that's all they do -- well, they complain about their prostate and they vote. That's the only thing they do. And so they're going to come out no matter what.</s>SETMAYER: I just want to disavow myself from Paul.</s>SETMAYER: I have no comment.</s>BEGALA: That's all they do. I'm defending them. They're great patriot.</s>COOPER: Paul, what's your Twitter ... (</s>OFF-MIC) BUMP: A very quick point on that.</s>SETMAYER: Yeah.</s>BUMP: Actually, one of the things we're seeing in polling is that Trump's core base, which is this non-college educated white men, they are actually less committed to voting than are college educated women.</s>CHRISTINE QUINN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: That's right.</s>BUMP: And that's a big problem for him because he actually does need to turn them out. And if they're relying on the RNC, the RNC, we know, is talking about pulling funding. And that's a big problem.</s>COOPER: But to Christine, what about to Kayleigh's point, which is they are motivated.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.</s>COOPER: They're showing up at the rallies, people are standing in line for hours and hours, have been for months. He made $80 million in donations in many small donations people made, to your point last night, people made a big deal, you know ...</s>QUINN: Right.</s>COOPER: ... when that was on the Democratic side, but, you know, for Trump, small donations, $80 million ...</s>QUINN: I have no doubt that the Trump supporters that Trump has, he has.</s>BUMP: Right.</s>QUINN: And I think there's going to be no effort on the Clinton campaign to try to get them. It would be a waste of money and waste of time. Whether they turn out to be less prime voters than others they'll see. But he has those voters. There's no question. The question now for him, as it would be for most campaigns in this moment, is how do you reach out, how do you get other voters? And, you know, Kayleigh talked before about a bridge. And look, honestly, even though I'm a Democrat, I'd love to see all candidates trying to build bridges. But the thing about bridges is they start on a foundation and they go to a foundation and they connect. And what's missing in whether it's a teleprompter or off the cuff, and I agree with John. You know, who cares what he talks from. But what's missing in both of those and the lack of the foundation is any real plans that will help Americans. If you look at his economic plan, he talked a lot about a childcare tax credit. There's great benefits in that for people making 30, 40 cents on the dollar to save on their nannies. There's nothing built in there to help people who don't have childcare, lower income New Yorkers -- Americans, pardon me, and middle income Americans get childcare that they don't have There's nothing really there to help people. There's trillions of dollars worth of tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, but there really isn't anything to create jobs. Nonetheless, to make up for the jobs that's gone overseas.</s>COOPER: John? John? John?</s>LAVALLE: That's not true.</s>COOPER: John?</s>LAVALLE: I mean, Donald Trump was very specific. He talked about tax reform, trade reform, regulatory reform. He talks about energy independence. He's talking about putting Americans back to work. That is what's going to change America. That is what's causing the social unrest in this country right now. People are not working. 14 million less Americans are working today than seven years ago. But Barrack Obama's failed domestic policy that Hillary Clinton has embraced is not going to be embraced by the American people. He is coming from a very different direction. He is talking about restoring pride in America, putting the focus on America, rebuilding America, economically, militarily, and our reputation around this world.</s>COOPER: Tara, I mean, for somebody who still could vote for Donald Trump, I mean, you are a conservative ...</s>SETMAYER: I'm not. But if you know right now, I will never vote for Donald Trump.</s>COOPER: But has he given enough specifics?</s>SETMAYER: No. I mean, look, that economic speech last Monday was a decent economic speech. I didn't agree with the protection side of some things, but some other things were really good in there and some of the things that John named. But how much did we hear about that after that? We didn't hear about it at all. He went to Twitter and he started bashing the media. And then he went off on the Second Amendment stuff. There were all those things. He keeps stepping on his own message. That should be the message he hammers home every single day if he really wants to win, but he has not been doing that consistently.</s>COOPER: Well which is why, again ...</s>SETMAYER: It's all over the place.</s>COOPER: ... tonight, it is so ...</s>SETMAYER: The question whether he really want to win.</s>COOPER: ... it is why tonight is interesting because it's two speeches back-to-back which have been very directed and we'll see. Tonight, we are waiting for Donald Trump's remarks tonight. A lot more ahead as we wait for what is billed as a law and order address just outside in Milwaukee. Coming up next, we'll explore Donald Trump's -- it means the other side cheated. He got a lot of attention. The question is, though, does it actually have basis in fact? We'll look at that.