MARK HALPERIN: To me, the weekend's encapsulated by the following: The Wall Street Journal editorial page says Trump could lose the entire election in the next month if he doesn't get his act together. And Mike and I have the same experience. We talked to a bunch of liberal Democrats over the weekend who say, Hillary can't win. The country is divided over this election and over what the possible outcomes are.
JOE SCARBOROUGH (CO-HOST): So why is Donald Trump attacking Paul Ryan when Paul Ryan said something last week that we all thought, at least I said, hey, Trump said the right thing, Ryan said the right thing. They come together, it's actually symbolic of something much bigger. And so then Trump this weekend goes out and hammers him even more.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI (CO-HOST): Because, Joe, he wants to go into the meeting the in a position of strength.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeah, he doesn't have that much strength, actually.
BREZINSKI: Okay, so Donald Trump
SCARBOROUGH: No, no, no, no -- I just --
HALPERIN: I don't think Trump can tolerate what Ryan said. Get in line, he's the nominee.
SCARBOROUGH: Well then he can't tolerate running for president.
MIKE BARNICLE: That's exactly right.
SCARBOROUGH: He should go back to reality TV if he can't handle that?
[…]
SCARBOROUGH: Donald Trump is also, though, Donald Trump also has offended more people in his party than any presumptive nominee. He has higher disapproval ratings than any candidate ever to run for president of the United States at this stage. Paul Ryan saying, hey, you know, I'm not ready right now, but I'm thinking about it. You know, it was a very clear sign, for anybody who's not stupid, for anybody that didn't just start practicing politics nine months ago, for anybody that has a brain --
BRZEZINSKI: Okay, be nice.
SCARBOROUGH: And knows how to read other politicians, it was a sign. I'm not here now, but I'm going to meet you and we're going to meet in the middle. But I've got to say this, Mike. If he can't handle Paul Ryan in negotiations like this, without blowing it up, and up and [inaudible] like this, what's he going to do when he starts negotiating with people across the world? If he can't handle this Paul Ryan negotiation any better than this.
