good morning. it's 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i am josé diaz-balart along with my dear colleague, ana, for a second hour of the election coverage. >> the next battle is new hampshire that has its primary one week from today. ron desantis, nikki haley heading there today, and things are about to heat up. first, donald trump is in

new york city in court for the first day of the damages trials in e. jean carroll's case against him. ♪ ♪ this morning all eyes are on new hampshire now after iowa casts the first ballots in the race for the 2024 republican presidential nomination. former president donald trump cruised to victory in the iowa caucuses winning by nearly 30%. >> and you can see ron desantis came in a distance second, narrowly edging out former u.n. ambassador, nikki haley. and then vivek ramaswamy came in fourth and dropped out of the race. >> and asa hutchison just announced he was dropping out of the race. 100,000 iowans turned out, much lower than in 2016.

>> so it's now off to new hampshire. great place. we won it last time, and we won it both times, and we love it. the people are great. >> we thank you for your effort and we thank you for your support. you helped us get a ticket punched out at the hawkeye state. >> our campaign is the last hope of stopping the biden/trump nightmare. >> and steve kornacki at the big board, and ali vitali in manchester, new hampshire, and darsha burns with the desantis campaign in greenville, south carolina. steve, what stuck out you last night? 98 out of 99 counties went for trump. >> yeah, trump nearly did the 99 for 99 sweep. one county where nikki haley finished above him, and it was by one single vote in johnson

county. this is where the university of iowa is, and iowa city. in the general election this would be the most democratic county in iowa by far. haley beats him by one vote and denies trump the 99 for 99 sweep. beyond that, obviously, the big story -- it's the size and the scale of trump's victory, getting 51% of the previous vote, and trump breaks that record by bush, and the margin is 30 points between trump and desantis, and the previousest biggest gap was in 2012. the biggest growth you saw for trump were in the most evangelical counties. sioux county, this was donald trump's worst county in iowa in 2016. you don't even see him listed in

the top three. he got 11% here in 2016. there was a lot of resistance to donald trump among evangelicals when he first became a candidate, and now a lot has changed in the last eight years, and he went from 11% and jumped to 34% and won the county against desantis. this is the exact kind of county desantis was going hard for in iowa. he got lots of evangelical endorsements, and again, he got 31% here. he wanted more out of counties like this, much more out of counties like this. he didn't want to do a second place, he wanted second place that was not 30 points behind trump. and nikki haley, the concentration of her support in areas like johnson county that have lots of college graduates, suburban areas and cities in iowa, independent voters, and

you saw for instance, polk county, she finished third here, and that was one of the better showings. and then here outside of des moines, and the problem for haley and going forward, this could be a big issue for her, rural areas, areas without many college graduates where independent voters were not a big part of the lower income area. she did terribly, single digits, and she would have to improve on that beyond new hampshire. >> she didn't even win with independents, and that was one of her big important groups in terms of her supporter. donald trump left new hampshire to go to the trial. >> reporter: donald trump does not want to play a passive defense, he wants to go and be part of these trials because they hit at the heart of who he

is. we saw this in the new york civil fraud trial where he voluntarily appeared multiple times throughout the course of the three-month trial, including closing arguments last week. and here in the e. jean carroll, damages over the defamation and sexual abuse that a jury found him liable for last year, a jury will be hearing this case this week will determine to what extent he owes damages to e. jean carroll, who has put in for up to $10 million in damages. for donald trump, somebody who has not met scrutiny from his republican rivals, when we are talking about e. jean carroll, specifically, you have not heard anything from ron desantis or nikki haley for him being found liable for sexual abuse, and his comments from the debate stage were notable, and the governor

that endorsed him was -- he smirked, and he said doug struggled to gain traction because he's not a controversial figure, and in order to be a popular figure, you have to have controversial. ron desantis suggested he would protect donald trump if he chose not to turn himself into new york authorities, saying he would not extradite trump from florida. take a listen to donald trump last night on that stage talk about his victory. >> this is the third time we have won. but this is the biggest win. this is the -- they said, well, if you win by 12%, that's a big

win. that's going to be hard to do. i think we more than doubled that, i guess, tripled it, maybe. >> reporter: one fact check on that from donald trump, he actually has not won the iowa caucus three times, he lost in 2016 but he claimed ted cruz stole the caucus from him, and eight years running despite a massive victory here in 2024, he's still propagating the idea of a stolen caucus of 2016, guys. >> nikki haley has been focusing her attention on new hampshire, making her way up to second in recent polls there. how is her team feeling going into new hampshire? >> this is where they feel the ground is most fertile, and that makes sense when you look at the fact that this is the only place that shows in some polls nikki haley within striking distance of donald trump. it's why, regardless of the fact that they came in third last night, they are pouncing on the idea that they were in a close third and they did not put a lot

of resources into iowa, and on the campaign side, that's true, and that koch backed group that endorsed nikki haley several weeks ago and has been providing extra ground cover for her in these early states, not just in iowa but on the ground in new hampshire, in south carolina, all that rolls into the general idea of what is working in favor of nikki haley. still we see her coming to the granite state, where i am now, with the wind at her back. we watched her mention that she has an upward trajectory, and the conventional wisdom has always been, there's three tickets out of iowa, and i don't know how that manifests when one of the tickets is so far out in front. you see nikki haley coming in here like a message from last night.

>> the pundits will analyze the results from every angle. we get that. but when you look at how we're doing, in new hampshire, in south carolina and beyond, i can safely say tonight iowa made this republican primary a two-person race. >> two points of analysis that i think are working out, and i guess the haley campaign gets that. here in new hampshire the stakes are different than in south carolina because of the way she is able to build a coalition of independents and democrats, and that will be critically important. and the second piece is the way haley will frame this as a two-person race, and it's something she has been saying since she was in iowa, and it's now underscored by the fact that

ron desantis is in south carolina, and nikki haley assured me that she doesn't want to be on the debate stage in new hampshire if donald trump is not on it. she debated five times, and in many cases pundits said she won the debates, and i can say she has been one of the stronger contenders on the debate stages consistently throughout, and that fueled her momentum and fundraising and all that is important, and now to change the framing of the race, she's saying it doesn't matter that ron desantis is still technically in it, and nikki haley is going to make this a one-on-one with trump. ron desantis will probably not make it easy, but it will be a battle here in the granite state. this is a state that has been good to trump, but for nikki haley, she's trying to build a coalition outside of maga, and

the less candidates in the race makes it easier to do that. >> yeah, i don't think desantis is going to let nikki haley slide, being that he's in her state. you just spoke with him, and what did he have to say? >> reporter: i am in south carolina, not new hampshire, and the guy that came in 30 points behind and just squeaked into second past nikki haley by two percentage points, is sounding like he is taking a victory lap here. here's on nikki haley's home turf, and he's talking to conservative voters, and they are responding well to his messaging here. that's a big reason i think why he came to south carolina first before new hampshire, because the coalition that he is trying to build is very different from that of nikki haley. he believes that south carolina is more fertile ground for that.

what i pressed him about, his chipper messaging today, and why he is so optimistic given the massive margin and given the historic victory the former president last night, here's what he had to say. >> so what i showed is, yes, we obviously came in second, but amongst the broader republican electorate, i did favorably. what we did in iowa, we did make an impression and a people were saying i will do trump this time and you next time, and that's not what i wanted to hear, but being there, we did make an impression. >> it's a curious message for somebody trying to take a victory lap, saying a voter came up and said i will vote for trump but will vote next time for you, and we are in interesting landscaping right now, where nikki haley is

betting on new hampshire, and desantis is betting the timeline between the new hampshire primary and the primary in south carolina, they are hoping that's enough to establish a strong ground game in the state to knock nikki haley out of the race in her home state. from there make it a one-on-one race with the former president. again, given the margins we saw in iowa, what that will do and what that path looks like going forward is a big question mark and not an answer. i have not gotten a clear-cut answer from the governor or his team what things look like going forward from there. >> the big question is, will nikki haley be debating ron desantis if those are the only two candidates willing to go on to the debate stage? >> we already saw that debate in iowa, and we will see if we have anythinging in new hampshire, because the news we are getting in the last few minutes from an abc spokesperson is now there's

a clock on the decision, and nikki haley has been leaving bread crumbs she will not be on the debate stage if donald trump is not on the debate stage, and they have given them a 5:00 p.m. deadline today, and they will update their plans accordingly as they come back with their answers, and i can't see donald trump would not get on the debate stage. if nikki haley has been laying the metric as she has with me over the weekend, she says she will not get on the stage if trump is on the stage. i have a hard time thinking trump will be on the stage, and at least there's a clock on this so we know what we are doing on thursday night. >> again, new hampshire, one week away until the next test in the 2024 election. steve kornacki, darsha burns,

ali vitali, thank you all. the u.s. military conducted another strike against the houthi rebels in yemen. we will have a live report on that, next. plus from the trail to the trial. former president trump is back in court in new york city for a trial that could end up costing him millions of dollars. we're back in 60 seconds. you're watching a special edition of msnbc reports. at cane when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks. treat and prevent, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. relief is possible. talk to a doctor about nurtec odt. >> woman: why did we choose safelite? we were loading our suv when... crack! safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when they'd arrive with a replacement we could trust. that's service the way we want it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

16 past the hour. we have breaking news out of the middle east. the u.s. just carried out a new strike against the houthis in yemen according to the defense officials. >> let's get to aaron. >> we are still gathering information on this, our white house team and pentagon team trying to collect more on what happened here. we have from two u.s. defense officials that the u.s. military conducted another strike against

the houthis in yemen. we know the houthi rebelled there have been backed by iran go into the red sea with missiles and with drones since mid november, at least, taking the opportunity to sort of focus on targets that are commercial and in some cases military targets. as we understand in this instance, the u.s. military targeted anti-ship missiles is what they are calling a dynamic strike. we have had our pentagon team explain that that means this was not a planned strike, it was a strike of opportunity. they saw a target of opportunity, the u.s. military did, and they took advantage of the opportunity and ordered the strike on these houthi targets. just last week the u.s. and british together took out several targets inside yemen, houthi-controlled areas of

yemen, targets that were command and control nodes, that were radar targeting systems. we know there were more than 60 strikes carried out in that particular instance last week, and there was a follow-on strike, if you will, where the u.s. defense department made sure a target was hit in the first instance and wanted to go back and hit it again to make sure it's fully out. this is something we are tracking, and we are going to continue to work to get more information and update you about today's strike by the u.s. military in the houthis in yemen. >> thank you for that latest information. up next, what is happening inside a new york courtroom as donald trump attends the damages portion of the e. jean carroll defamation trial. >> plus, how trump plans to go after nikki haley in new

hampshire. campaign sources tell us he's about to unleash on his republican rival.

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23 past the hour. we're back with breaking news. jury selection happening right now as former president donald trump is in a new york city courthouse fresh off his win in iowa last night. trump is here for the start of his second trial, the damages

trial for the defamation trial. >> it focuses on public comments about carroll while he made as president and after the guilty verdict. last year a jury awarded carroll $5 million in damages. joining us is jasmine. >> this is all about jury selection, and a lot of questions have been continuously asked about their connections with the former president, and the former president's family, and do they know e. jean carroll, and what are their political party affiliations? did they vote in 2016? did they vote in 2020? those types of questions have been going on. i want to reiterate, the jury

will remain anonymous, and judge kaplan has been stern about that. it's important the way he frames the trial, and as you mentioned, it's not a relitigation of what took place in 2023, this is about the damages in the defamation after the article was made by e. jean carroll. he writes mrs. carroll is suing mr. trump because of the comments he made. he denied her accusation, and denied he met her and said he dependant know her, and she made up her story to sell a book. this trial is limited to money damages. the court found mr. trump is liable for defamation. it has been determined that he did sexually assault her and new the statements were false and

did so with disregard. carroll seeks money damages. mr. trump contends she would receive nominal compensatory and no punitive damages. and e. jean carroll is seeking $10 million in damages. plus, we also have the witness list from the defense. they are hoping for testimony from former president trump. we are looking at a timeline of possibly monday. they laid out this timeline -- excuse me, it's so cold out here and a lot is happening behind me. they laid out a timeline of three to five days, and prosecution will take 2 1/2 days, and the witnesses for the defense so far, president biden along with carroll martin, who is a friend of e. jean carroll. whether or not the president is actually going to testify is in question. again, judge kaplan said you are not going to relitigate the

case, and this is not a situation where you will take the stand and defame further e. jean carroll here. that's one of the biggest questions we will be watching for in the coming days. >> what is trump's legal strategy behind his being in the courtroom today, and whether or not he testifies, what is the strategy here? >> i understand wanting to be present for the trial, but being present for the first day of jury selection is unusual to me, and i can't picture his attorneys saying, if you are going to be here on any day, be here for the first day of the jury selection. a lot of the faces he will see are not going to end up on the jury. now you asked about testifying. the judge has to consider whether or not what trump's proposed testimony is, is even probative of the issues. what we have here is a bifurcated trial. this happens all the time in new york and other jurisdictions. you will try the liability side, which already has been done

here, and then trial the damages side. you put up x-rays, therapy records and all kinds of different medical records to show or quantify somebody's damages. in a defamation case, damages are different. you are ordinarily putting on damages to reputation, and trump's attorneys say he should be able to testify on punitive damages, and that's ill will, and who better to testify about that than trump. the judge will land somewhere in the middle, maybe let trump testify and limit that in light of what happened last week, what i would consider a complete mess in the new york state court, and trump able to speak for only moments went off the rails, which everybody thought he would if allowed to give a closing.

for some reason, we seem to have special rules for donald trump. >> what do you make of the amount that e. jean carroll is asking for here, $10 million. that's more than double than what she was awarded in the last defamation trial. does that make sense here? >> yeah, defamation cases are difficult to bring because damages are hard, and experts have to put a dollar amount on the damage to the reputation, and damages are difficult to measure, quantify and prove. it's not like an actual physical injury where you can put up a picture of a broken bone and say this is typically what it costs to rehab the bone, and this is the cost and the pain typically assigned to the injury. with defamation and harm to your reputation and the additional complexity of the punitive

damages which is based on ill bill and hatred of the defendant, it's hard to ballpark where you will end. if you are the plaintiff, you ask high and it could go low. >> and then what is goinging on in the trump legal world? >> there are several different reasons why lawyers with draw from clients, and i have done it myself for different reasons. the most common is the client is not paying anymore, and in a criminal case it's harder to get out of reputation, and in a civil case it's easier and withdrawing would normally be allowed, or the client and the attorney have a fundamental disagreement on the case, and i would imagine that happens a lot. if you sign up in 2024 to be donald trump's attorney, there's probably a line in your retainer

agreement, if we disagree, then i have to have an out, and that's a possibility as well. it could be as innocuous as we disagree on the litigation direction of this case. >> thank you for joining us, all things trump in court this hour. next, we will bring in our own chuck todd to dig in what is behind trump's big win in iowa, and how that was not the biggest story of the night. we will go to new hampshire for reporting on how team trump is promising to launch a ground war against nikki haley, but she's already on the offense. you are watching special coverage of "msnbc reports." remember that colonial i called and i got information. they sent the simple form i need to apply. all i do is fill it out and send it back. well, that sounds too easy! (man) give a little information, check a few boxes,

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36 past the hour. donald trump record-breaking victory in iowa gives an idea of what the rest of the contest could look like. >> the 30-point win smashed bob dole's record of his margin. >> chuck todd is here. it's great seeing you. what is your take on what we saw last night in iowa? >> you have to step back and rel eyes donald trump changed the party. this is now a party in his image, and the party looks more -- you know, before last night, i think there was a -- the minority of republicans, you and i talked to a lot, particularly down in south florida, and even the ones

publicly with trump, they had in their head the party can be changed from the inside, and trump doesn't really dominate the party. that's not true. i will give you one little nugget here. we asked in the exit polls different questions, and one we ask is which candidate shares your values. in 2016, just 5% of iowa republicans said donald trump shared their values. >> 5%? >> 5%. this time it's 41%. >> he took the biggest share. >> and he took the biggest share of that question, too. so it is -- it is -- is it that their values are now trump's values, or have they morphed -- whatever it is, he changed the republican party. one of the legs was national security, and those voters still exist but there are few of them.

among voters, foreign policies as their biggest issue, she won that and it was only 12% of the party. donald trump was not considered what the definition of conservative -- he's the candidate of the very conservative? he has not become more conservative, he changed the definition. evangelicals, another group. he is seen as an ae van gel evangelical, again, he changed that. anybody that thought the republican party could be changed from the inside, last night, i thinks a sign, and if he goes 2 for 2 with new hampshire, that part of reform is done. that's not happening. >> let's look ahead, because you previously said for iowa second place only matters if trump gets

less than 50% of the vote, and in iowa he didn't, and the margin was huge, so what does that mean for the candidates moving forward? >> it's a simple -- it's like the nfl playoffs, if you looser -- if you lose, you are done, and if you win, you go on. there's no close second. a close second is a loss. if you are not going to beat him in new hampshire, where are you going to beat him? new hampshire is the single best electorate she will have to beat him. >> well, there's south carolina but -- >> yeah, but it's not the same republican party. what i just said, 2016, nikki haley could have won a south carolina primary with the perception of what kind of conservative donald trump is. not anymore. he changed the party. lindsay graham is begging trump

for air cover constantly in order to survive politically in south carolina. tells you everything you need to know. >> you are so right, just even about the redefining, right? >> yeah, the words have different meaning. my gen x brain sometimes breaks trying to be, like, that's not conservative. no, the definition changes. >> among the things changing, and the nbc news entrance poll found among iowa caucusgoers, immigration was a number one issue, and again, about definitions, what is that state's deaf mission of immigration and what crisis are they looking at? >> that's another thing. conservative media made this the issue, and it's the conversation that is being had. ironically there's a more nuance conversation they want to have about immigration, they need

immigrants for the meat packing industry and the jobs they can't find folks for, and nobody inside the republican party is comfortable talking about that issue right now, because in some ways it has been demagogued. >> i remember in the '80s when i was in the iowa caucuses, there was an influx of southeast asians, people from laos, and they were welcomed into that area of iowa. >> the best family-owned restaurants in iowa are on i-95, and what cuisine? mexican. >> really? >> you -- by the way, these voters -- >> guess what? trump won there. >> look, if you live in rural

america you are more likely to vote with rural america regardless of whether you are white, black or hispanic, and that means you are more likely to vote your culture, and yeah, there's more conservatives and religion. >> chuck todd, we can talk all day. it's fascinating to have this conversation. thank you, thank you for being here with us. >> thank you. up next, what happened during last night's iowa caucuses, could it shape what happens in new hampshire? >> you are watching special coverage on "msnbc reports." and prevent migraine attacks. treat and prevent, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. relief is possible. talk to a doctor about nurtec odt. ah, these bills are crazy. she

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46 past the hour. now all eyes are on new hampshire after yesterday's iowa caucuses where the republican primary is just one week away. governor nikki haley finished third in iowa but performed better with independents, getting 34% of the independents there. >> trump got the highest percentage of independents, and that matters because in new hampshire there are three times the number of independents. jonathan allen joining us now. >> bothea trump and team haley a now shifting to focus on going after each other as hea into new hampshire. trump's already painting haley as liberal, anti-maga, and his super pac has been calling her

too weak and liberal to fix the border. haley, for her part, i am wondering how does she turn her focus on trump? what can she do to go after him without alienating the trump base? >> that's the best question, ana, because she has been struggling that the last year and has not come up with anything, and she has a base of never trump independents and never trump republicans and never trump democrats. there are more people that fall into that category of never trumpers in new hampshire than in iowa. that's why you see her polling closer to donald trump, and that's why one of the reasons you see ron desantis falling away in third. we have not seen exactly what nikki haley is going to do to try and hammer donald trump, and what a lot of candidates have found and this is why she is hesitant is, because when you go after him, he goes after you harder.

>> is there a path going forward to each of the camps, desantis and haley, if they consistently are coming in second or third, and sometimes, 10, 20, 30, 40 points behind trump? is there any path forward for any candidate anywhere? >> josé, i lost the audio. what i will do is answer the question i want to answer instead of the one you threw to me. >> enlighten us. >> i was going to talk about the two candidates coming out, and trump had a big win in iowa and is still the frontrunner, and he will try as he can to put nikki haley away in new hampshire. if you look at the other candidates, the path for either one of th, not just in new hampshire and beyond is pretty much closed off, and we talked about nikki haley and the coalition of her, and 43% of them in iowa said they would vote for president joe biden over donald trump.

that's unsustainable to win a republican nomination. she will have to cut into the trump base to win. desantis has his own problems, obviously. he doesn't have a state on the map that he can name that he would win. he will try and live off the land here for a while and convince donors to stick with him and get to south carolina and fight with nikki haley and trump there, and that also seems like a bleak outlook for him this morning, and donald trump is still the favorite to win the republican nomination. >> thank you. up next, former president trump faces up to five trials while he campaigns for coverage of msnbc reports. msnbc. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up, i've got symptom relief. ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ feel significant symptom relief

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here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. welcome back. former president donald trump is at the federal courthouse in lower manhattan for the first day of a second defamation trial in a case brought by writer e. jean carroll. >> it's one of many legal troubles the former president is

facing as he mounts another bid to the white house. the legal troubles aren't resonating with voters, at least not in iowa. >> let's talk about this with a republican strategist and msnbc legal analyst. also with us, a democratic strategist. this entrance poll result was really interesting out of iowa. 65% of republican caucus goers said if trump were convicted in any of the cases against him -- he is facing four criminal cases -- he would still be fit to be president of the united states. susan, what do you make of that? >> they are trumpers. they are committed to donald trump full stop. >> he could be in jail. >> i can't explain it. i've been trying to understand it for six, seven years. i have actively spoken to republicans who back donald trump. i can't tell you why they do it. i think it has to do with basically getting very territorial. it's us versus them.

as long as donald trump is running against joe biden, that's it. those are the only two choices. they're going with donald trump. it's not going to change. >> how do you read that? >> it's interesting when you add to what susan said -- which she is right -- those entrance polls are saying that 65%, 68% of iowans don't believe joe biden is the properly elected president of the united states. when you add that to the fact that evangelicals went strongly for him, you could really -- to me, this sounds like religious fervor. this energy that he has the most energized voters, more so than the other candidates. that energy, that sort of symbol that he has created for himself, it's harder to take down a symbol than a man. he has presented himself as a symbol for all that's wrong with the system, all that's wrong with washington. his voters are going to be with

him no matter what. there's no intellectual argument that changes that. >> you could say iowa in the past hasn't picked the winner. there's still help for others. does the decisive victory really set the narrative going forward in this 2024 race? >> absolutely. it's time for desantis to get out. he is going to lose new hampshire. he is going to lose nevada. he is going to lose south carolina. how many states does he have to lose before he decides to drop out? he has never lost a race before. he ran for congress. he was going to run for u.s. senate but stepped away when marco rubio went back to it. he has run for governor twice. he is young. as an advisor, i would tell him, step away now. there's no reason to add the losses. nikki haley on the other hand, the momentum she had from new hampshire polling actually played in iowa. it wasn't enough to get her into second place. she has to win new hampshire.

then it's just a matter of if the money will help her go through south carolina, her home state. >> fascinated about your conversation and this whole issue of the energy and the passion and the enthusiasm that folks show towards trump. it's a percentage of the total population. i'm thinking, there have been in history people who have been leaders that have taken masses with them. sometimes down the wrong roads. do you see that anywhere else in our american political system, that kind of fervor? >> no, i don't, actually. even for the folks who are really into -- like me -- barack obama and celebrated his presidency, we were not -- we didn't do that blindly. we certainly didn't -- he didn't take us down a path of

illegality or insurrection, which donald trump has done with a good portion of the country. that said, we have never seen this before in modern american history. one of the big concerns, as you talk about nikki haley and ron desantis, remember that this is a delegate count. it's about delegates. what donald trump is doing and he has been doing is picking pieces of the electorate apart one by one to take the argument away from any of his opponents that they have a path to victory. he has done that with this energy, even an electability argument. some of the polling has brought that out. if you are a republican right now trying to find an alternative, what is intellectually persuasive is not emotionally -- for republicans if you are trying to challenge him, it's really difficult. >> put on republican strategist

hat. think about what is happening inside these contender campaigns. right? right now, we are seeing nikki haley say she's going to really just focus on trump. bye-bye, ron desantis. she wants to put him behind her and just go after trump. it seems like going after trump, being against him isn't necessarily working. being with him isn't working for them either. she's trying it tie trump and biden together now. saying they are both 80, they have contributed to the national debt in a big way. her campaign is saying, quote, the last best hope of stopping the trump/biden nightmare is to vote for nikki haley. is that effective? >> no. it won't be. it will work within portions of the republican party. in new hampshire, where 40% of the population is not -- voters are non-affiliated, so they can vote in the republican primary, and they may be independent or democratic leaning.

it has a nice ring to it for some folks. but it's not going to make a difference. she will be out by south carolina. >> gotta leave it there. get ready. it's going to be a wild ride. >> indeed. for everyone. that's it for us today. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more special election coverage right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," former president trump crushes his challengers in an iowa caucus landslide. two-thirds of the voters agreeing with his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and willing to make him president again, even if he is convicted. mr. trump today detouring to new york city to appear voluntarily in court for jury selection at his second civil defamation case from writer e. jean carroll. a strategy that only enhanced his political str