you have to look at stefanik, kari lake, perhaps, sarah huckabee sanders, but don't look at the -- someone like tucker carlson who shovels in xenophobic in a way that people lap up on the republican side. >> okay, tom nichols, you've got a shot of this question. who do you think? >> she is working hard for. it i'm probably less -- with donald, trump you can ever predict, a little less inclined than david to think of an outside shot, because there is a republican that will put some pressure not to pick tv stars. but anything can happen. >> okay, susan, give me your one name again, and i will get the dawn real quick. we are just out of time, guys. >> jt, brit senator from alabama. she brings a little bipartisanship, she's a woman, she is conservative. >> last one to you. who do you think?

who is the pick for trump? don. >> likely temp scott. >> okay, all right. he's your friend. all of you, my, friends thank you so much for joining me. that's going to do it on this -- breaking news coverage with jonathan from washington continues next on this big news day. we begin the 4:00 hour with breaking news from the presidential campaign trail. florida governor ron desantis has officially dropped out of the republican presidential race, following his disappointing and distant second place finish in the iowa caucuses. desantis said, quote, we don't have a clear path to victory. instead, desantis said he will endorse former president donald trump. moments ago, the florida governor released this statement on x. >> we have prayed and elaborated on the way forward. but if there was anything i could do to produce a favorable outcome, and more campaign stops, more interviews, i would do it.

but i can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources. we don't have a clear path to victory. accordingly, i am today suspending my campaign. >> and we now turn to new hampshire and more reaction to the latest presidential campaign trail revelation. joining me now, dasha burns in manchester, tracking the desantis campaign. dasha? >> reporter: hi. it has been a chaotic few hours. we woke up this morning planning for, first of all, meet the press appearance from the florida governor. second of all, an event in new hampshire tonight. clearly neither of those is happening. the governor is now in florida. he is in tallahassee. anything further we might hear from him will come from there. jonathan, the endorsement of former president trump is striking, given that over the course of this past year, and the two have been locked in a bitter battle, the amount of insults at basically every

campaign rally that have come towards the florida governor, the former president trump, i can't even tell you how many times i've heard over and over again, not just from the former president but from his team. and desantis himself really started to sharpen his own attacks on former president trump toward the end. so to see him now endorse and the man that had become a bitter rival during this battle is stunning and really an admission of where we are at in this race, which is what we saw coming out of iowa. the narrative set. they're 51% of republican primary voters, more than the majority, decided to go with former president trump. there was a search for a potential alternative in this race. from the beginning a lot of eyes were on desantis. he was going to be the guy that could potentially beat former president trump, that could be the new standard bearer for the

republican party, but his campaign had problems from the start from that glitchy launch on twitter spaces to financial problems early on, to really a candidate that struggled to find a message, that struggled to connect with voters, that connect -- struggle to humanize himself in the eyes of the people that he was trying to win over. and, so that launch, that take off, that rise we all sort of expected from the florida governor never manifested. instead, he has continued to sputter, resets, shakeups, bad headlines over and over from this campaign. and yet, he was really hoping to cling on to south carolina, as recently as yesterday his deputy campaign manager was telling me, we're going to south carolina. that's where we can beat nikki haley and turn this into a two-person race. well, there are limits to what you can do, mostly because of resources. i know this candidate has spent

so much time, i do believe his intention was to try to keep going as long as possible, but at a certain point if you can't put fuel in that plane, jonathan, you can get to the campaign stops and you can't have a campaign. they got to a place where they simply had to call it. he put the pin in it. this is former president trump's campaign to lose at this point. and now he has created an uphill climb for nikki haley, given what we know about the ballots share of florida governor ron desantis. new hampshire could be an anomaly, but overall, his vote chair will likely go to former president trump, will boost, and especially that he has given him that endorsement. he is dropping out, it could create another obstacle in the path of nikki haley, jonathan. >> josh, i let me ask you about something. you talked about the glitch the start of governor desantis's campaign there on twitter spaces.

but that sort of glitching's never really went away. from what i understand, as you've been covering the desantis campaign, you are hearing from a lot of his supporters about their concern about the campaign. >> >> reporter: that's absolutely right. there are concerns that there was always a lack of leadership, and that the governor and his wife, casey, really prioritized those who were loyal to them rather than anyone that really had experience running presidential campaigns. but they launched this, thing they were coming off a landslide victory in florida. they thought they could run that same playbook in the presidential. the reality, is running a gubernatorial race and a presidential race are two very different things. and on top of, that they built this very unusual setup where they had a campaign and a super pac. the super pac ended up running and never -- the majority of the campaign operations, which typically the

campaigns duties, they ran the, events in the advertising. they did a lot of the work on the ground, door knocking, get out the vote, and because of that that created all sorts of tensions that turned dysfunctional and often overshadowed any wins the desantis campaign had. and then there is just the candidate that really did struggle to connect with folks and chose to run for the vast majority of his campaign to the right of donald trump. that was something that a lot of supporters -- turned off a lot of voters that ended up flocking to nikki haley. because he was running to the right of trump trying to win over those trump voters. and in some ways, undermining one source told, me undermining his own electability argument for the general election, especially on the issue of abortion. when he signed that six-week bill in florida, a lot of

donors and supporters looked at this and said, wait a minute, how is donald trump suddenly the guy with the more electable position on abortion for the general election? and by undermining his own electability, he in some ways lifted up former president trump's. it was that lack of message, that lack of connection and a struggle to find his footing when it came to the former president. initially not really going after him at all, finally sharpening his attacks on him toward the end, but it all came to too little too late, jonathan. >> nbc's dasha burns coming to us live from -- thank you very much for that report. we go now to ali vitali, who is coming to us from seabrook, new hampshire, where she is covering the nikki haley campaign. ali, the mood in the haley campaign as a result of the suspension of ron desantis, governor desantis's campaign? >> anxiety, i think. because it's difficult to see

which way this ultimately ends up breaking down. this is the one to race that nikki haley has wanted from the time she left iowa last week. she has said this is a two-person race in the words she used here in front of the crowd. there is one fella and one lady left in this thing. nikki haley is promising to run and fight until, in her, words the very last second. she continuously has said she wants this to be a binary with her former boss. from the moment that haley left iowa, she was really leaving ron desantis behind with it. that's one of the things we really noticed and paid attention to as we have watched nikki haley traipse through the, snow traipse through the cold out here in new hampshire. and it's why i think she is going to really be pushing the pedal to the metal. at the same time, she's not putting any expectations she will win here in new hampshire. i do think it is hard to get the nomination if you will not be able to win a state outright, but the way that nikki haley is talking about this, she has always said she wanted to do

better than expectations in iowa. they think they did, that even though it was a third place finish. she wants to do better in new hampshire than she did in iowa, and then better yet going forward into her home state of south carolina. but of course, it remains to be seen what the coalition she builds here on the ground look like, and all the facts of these other folks in the field are coalescing around the former president actually has an impact. >> elie, how many events does nikki haley have on the calendar between now and -- >> i'm having some trouble hearing, you i'm so sorry, my friend. >> okay. how about -- can you hear me now, ali? >> if you give me one second, i will be right back with you. >> we are going to come back to ali vitali when we have a moment. but thankfully, joining us we have right now my friend michael steele, co-host of the new msnbc weekend morning show called the weekend and former chair of the republican national committee. all right, chairman steele, your reaction to run the

santas. >> i didn't see this one coming. >> he said with sarcasm. >> yeah. i think dasha and ali have sort of created the lane that has been the trump plane from the very beginning of this campaign. in these two candidates, you have desantis who's just dropped out and certainly governor haley who is holding on. a very stark truth. neither one of them challenged donald trump. neither one of them made the case for republicans to vote for them over donald trump. neither one of them created the lane or the space beyond the donor class for a coalition of supporters within the body politic of the gop, to coalesce around them and create the kind of momentum that could be sustained over the first four states of this primary. in other words, every state

taking a little bit more out of the -- more wind out of donald trump's sales. every state, that's not happened. donald trump is gaining momentum, has been gaining momentum. his numbers don't shrink, they widen. you know, nikki haley, who i really was hoping could pull things through, despite the fact that the reality of it spoke otherwise, and i'm still in the gop despite the fact that ali said you should get the hell out. the reality of it is, you try to make the best of a very difficult situation. her other reality is now on the clock. in less than 40 hours, voters in new hampshire will go to the polls. and that support from this race from desantis's race and supporters does not go to her. it will go to donald trump, that coalescing around him will

firm up even more. then you are off the south carolina and nevada. that becomes a much tougher climb and then the first two states. >> chairman steele, let's talk about some strategy here. talk about the strategy, governor desantis's strategy of dropping out now as opposed to right after iowa. >> this is called, hey, nikki, want a black? i want -- got one for you. >> there you go. >> that's exactly what that is. you could very easily dropped out after iowa, because he knew what his numbers were in in new hampshire. he knew where things stood forward -- his inability to find a race through new hampshire as dasha noted. and the reality for him was, when you do it? well, i do it when it's the

least advantageous to nikki. same with tim scott. tim scott could've endorsed donald trump when he dropped out, but no, what does he do? he waits into new hampshire to make that play for his bid to be the vice presidential choice of donald trump. and again, two black in the other eye of his home state governor. which to me is the most painful of the two punches, politically, that she has rishi -- received. that is your backyard, you know? that is someone who elevated you to the united states senate out of your congressional seat. and this is the response you give to that. it shows you just how much donald trump has warped the political thinking inside the party towards himself. every, when we talk about that

arm bed big tours justice -- it all bends towards him and these guys, you know, all the men, virtually all the man who run against nikki have now come out >> around i'm very donald trump, glad, chairman except for asa and chris christie. steele, you validated something that i said, you know, a show called last night after the saturday show, it was revealed that not only that ron desantis, governor of florida, canceled his appearances on meet the price and on another, cnn state of the union. i said, my theory, ron desantis is gonna drop out of the race tomorrow as a way of trying to bury governor haley, to make it impossible for to come out of new hampshire and stay in the race until south carolina.

there is a month between the primary and the south carolina primary. there is no way that she could use that month to climb out of a hole that she could potentially find yourself in after tuesday night's primary, is there? >> no, no, and the reason why that supports what you just said, that whole is already 25 to 35 points deep in her state. she's not winning her home state currently, donald trump is. if you have both tim scott and ron desantis digging that hole a bit more for her, it makes coming out regardless how she does it in new hampshire, it makes coming out of new hampshire that much harder, even if she has a tight second place finish. she's gotta make up those points. desantis's vote of supporters, you know, he's not out here saying, go stand with nikki, give her a fighting chance to make -- >> he's not.

>> he's basically saying, you're free agents but you know what you need to do. >> chairman steele, i want you to hang with us. we have ali vitali back with us, coming us coming to us from seabrook, new hampshire, covering nikki haley's campaign. what were you trying to tell us before? >> before i broke the cardinal rule -- charger devices. my airpods go outright as i'm talking to you, jonathan. my deepest apologies. the point i've been thinking about while i've been listening to all of you all, it reminds me heading into south carolina -- facing questions about not only to lose their but what it would mean to lose in her home state. it reminds me of covering senator elizabeth warren back in 2020, as we were heading into super tuesday in massachusetts. the poll showing that she was probably gonna lose her home state there. it's not just the sting of losing, you gotta remember, these candidates are

competitors, it's the very lifeblood that makes them able to do this work. it's stings to lose, but to losing your home state really does have a different air about it. you can sense it, the sensitivity when you talk to the candidates about it, and you -- and you hear it now, when i talk to haley sources and people on the ground in south carolina who are publicly or privately cheering for her. it's a tough landscape. the closest that they can get to maybe it sounds like she has a chance is saying that it's gonna be a battle. but really, anyone that faces off against trump is in for a bloodbath. because we know that he has no holds bar when he goes against his rivals, we've watched in the last few weeks how trump campaign has -- nikki haley in the same way they did with ron desantis. they absolutely defined him before he to find himself. nikki haley was able to escape that trap, there's no more powerful megaphone in the republican party than that of

the former president. he uses it at every single rally. what has upended the way we think about typical campaign strategy in states like iowa, which supposedly rewards people for spending time on the ground there, same thing here in new hampshire, south carolina. all of the events, the wrap up we've seen from every candidate, but specifically from nikki haley. this was a packed room behind me when she was here in the last hour or so. this is a tiny fraction of the number of people who show up to one trump of an. i think it's a good reminder when we think about what this crowd size mean, that's what the cat -- it's a visual reminder of the fact that trump's a person who draws the largest crowds, who has the most enthusiastic supporters. nikki haley is someone who is determined, she often says and i believe her when she says it, underestimate me at your own cost. because that's what her political career has taught or from the time the chief first challenged an incumbent way back when she was running for the state house in south

carolina. this is a completely different ball game, it's not your typical republican party anymore, the way that michael steele is talking about how trump has bent the party to his well. that's something that we talked about this morning on your shore, michael, it's true, we've watched it firsthand. myself on the campaign -- in washington, when you come out here on the road, we've seen what trump has done to this party. nikki haley is a reminder that if your republican voter who wanted to go a different way, you have the option. but if you look at the numbers, it's probably not the reality for this republican primary voting base. >> ali, chairman steele knows this as well, south carolina is notorious for rough and tumble primary, rough, with a capital rough. what is the impact on nikki haley's campaign of donald trump both using her given first name, mispronouncing it,

but also leveling charges against her. governor haley does a good job of saying, i don't care about that, that's not a big deal, but behind the scenes how much of an impact of those attacks had on her in that campaign? >> do you know what though, with trump it's never been the allegation of what he says, it's the power of suggestion, he plans a seat in people's mind and leaves it to grow. and in the mind of many of supporters, if they see someone of color, the hero making -- there is the question that goes on behind the scenes on that than. nikki haley was asked directly on the campaign trail in the last few days, what her reaction was and she think it was a racist for trump to be doing the things he just mentioned he's been doing, both on the birther claims and the way he's using her name. she brushed it off, there's a reason for that, you guys both know what it is to run a republican primary versus running in a --

republican primary voters really hate anything that smacks of gender or identity politics. if nikki haley were gonna come out and say, yeah, that's a racist thing to say, that to some voters is alienating and it's not what they want to hear. she does need to tone this delicate line when she's talking about and responding to donald trump's attacks in that way. what she has been doing a lot in the last few days, trump has been attacking her in the ways you mentioned, but he's also been attacking her on her conservative controls. trying to say she's a rhino, saying she's not really a republican, we've seen this a lot on social media, it's trickled out on the campaign trail. haley spent a lot of precious time on fox news, on the campaign trail, trying to remind people that she's a conservative. she started referring to herself as a deep party governor, even -- even on her birthday yesterday here, on the campaign trail in new hampshire. nikki haley's trying to remind people, i was a tea party

governor, i am conservative enough, but she's also trying to make sure that she can still appeal to those independent, more moderate voters that could build her very atypical and -- coalition here in the state of new hampshire. it says nothing of what happens to her in south carolina. but here, is the plan for right now. >> chairman steele -- that's a russia's birthday party. chairman steele, last question for you, i camber who set it whether was sasha or ali, whether the governor haley's putting foot to the floor of her campaign between now and when the last vote is cast in new hampshire. i believe it was on meet the press that showed a great clip of the former senator, john mccain, talking about new hampshire and how the nature of new hampshire, how people decide at the very last minute, that day, the moment that

they're in that voting booth, you need to campaign literally into the last minute. and as we both know, texas governor george w. bush -- won iowa got beat down by john mccain in new hampshire. can governor nikki haley, will she be able to say the same things come tuesday night, is there enough time? >> sure. no, there is not. but sure, she can say the same things that we've heard other candidates say. i need to go back because we can't lose sight of a very important point that ali just made in her reporting about the nature of this campaign, what it has done to the point that nikki haley is going around calling herself a tea party governor. -- i worked with the tea party governor, i got her elected in 2010. i know her very well from that standpoint, i know tim scott very well, got him elected in

2010. you could not see, you could not question their conservative bona fides. but here's the question, what will nikki haley say or do that liz cheney has not said and done? in terms of how the party has responded to being a tea party anything, being a conservative anything, it's not about being conservative, this doesn't need to be about conservatism in 2016, this is about trumpism, this is about maga-ism, it's not about republicanism, they may slapdash that label on themselves, they may run around and say something like calling nikki a rhino, calling me a rhino, we know who the real rhino is, it's the orange guy. it's the orange jesus, it's their moses, it's the guy that they fall over themselves to please for what purpose to an end.

there is no philosophical pouring, nothing. for nikki, trying to go down that lane, dance on one side and dance on the other, you wind up in the same spot. after new hampshire, counting the days to when you stand in front of the cameras and endorsed donald trump. >> you mentioned jesus, moses, both in relation to donald trump. and somewhere my bible just blew up. ali vitali, michael steele, thank you both very much. be sure to watch michael on the weekend, saturday and sunday's at eight 8 am on msnbc. coming up, the reaction from the trump campaign. voya provides tools that help you make the right investment and benefit choices. so you can reach today's financial goals. and look forward to a more confident future. voya, well planned, well invested, well protected. at st. jude, the mission is just something

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mitigate what the dems are doing, i'm not gonna go into election without that, we'll be ready to go and will get the job done. >> that was florida governor, ron desantis, days ago in south carolina. today, he dropped out and endorsed donald trump. joining me now, vaughn hillyard, -- ron chester, new hampshire, who's been covering the trump campaign, bond, thank you for being here. has the former president -- endorsing him? >> not on camera, jonathan, in fact, we pulled here in the parking lot outside of what will be donald trump's final rally here tonight in rochester, new hampshire, we passed several other folks waiting who will talk to. but in the last few minutes during the commercial break, we have a statement from the trump campaign, i want to read to you in part here, quote, with only a few days left until president donald j trump's victory in new hampshire were honored by the

endorsement by desantis -- it's now tom for all republicans to rally behind president trump, to defeat joe biden and his disastrous presidency. he goes on to attack nikki haley. this is notable because from rhonda santas, in the video endorsing donald trump, there's questions over whether trump would allow his former, we should be clear, fellow floridian, back in the fold here. and clearly, the answer is, yes, no questions about whether he will provide an offer -- to be part of this or he would seek to have this be the end of ronda santa's's career. from the statement, donald trump is eager to consolidate the support, it's not just run desantis that we saw, it's vivek ramaswamy, tim scott, all within the last week endorsing his candidacy. it runs counter to the idea that there would be a coalescing candidate, what we

have in realtime, jonathan, is the exact opposite. and the recognition among these candidates that the majority of the republican electorate still sides with donald trump and the maga wing of this party. for donald trump tonight on stage, we'll see what comet -- nikki haley last night, calling her bird brain, mispronouncing her name. we should expect nothing less out of the former president here has he looks to secure this nomination and all but and this republican primary before we even get to february. >> just to reiterate for everyone, vaughn just reported that the trump campaign has released a statement reacting to governor desantis's endorsement, saying they're honored by the endorsement, also saying that everyone else who still in the race should get out of the race. vaughn reported that he then went on to attack governor haley. the, on an wondering in the

trump campaign rally that you've been to, when he goes on the attack on governor haley, what's the reaction in the hall, in the room? >> it's a statement that receives the greatest response. folks come, donald trump isn't shy about the w w e, for donald trump over the last decade he's made politics w w e, clearly, it's met by frustration of republican arrivals in the past year. but it's what his supporters, they come to these rallies, they clamor for. i was in those rallies when he went on, even ben carson, there was a story in which ben carson stabbed himself as a young man and donald trump from that statement october 2015, he mimicked this incident onstage

to the laughter of everyone in the crowd. he talked and marked -- that is what folks by and large at these rallies. it's worth noting also, i was with ted cruz the day he dropped out of his presidential race against donald trump back and may 3rd of 2016, at that final event of the day, ted cruz went on a monologue calling donald trump a moral, a serial philanderer, he suggested that donald trump would oversee a 15th presidency. and eight years later, fast forward, ron desantis is dropping out in that video, in which he's endorsing donald trump could not have a clear contrast of what republican elected officials have learned since ted cruz and marco rubio dropped out eight years ago. donald trump will remain a dominant force in this republican party. and in the scenario that he does when the white house come

2025, folks like ron desantis, doug burgum, vivek ramaswamy, who are gonna need to be on the side of donald trunk if they want to have any political rival relevancy, or could they can turn up like liz cheney, without a job, without a role in the republican party in the united states today. >> to put a finer point on it, in his statement, governor desantis says, and i quote, i signed a pledge to support the republican nominee, i will honor that pledge. i suspect that the former president, donald trump, uses that fledged as a loyalty pledge. vaughn hillyard, coming to us from a car in rochester, new hampshire, thank you very much for that report. we want to show you some live pictures right now. this is the governor's mansion in tallahassee, florida. ron desantis is there and instead of a scheduled appearance following it's decision to drop out of the republican presidential primary race. joining me now is christina

greer, associate professor of political science at florida university. and james panel, political reporter from the boston globe, an msnbc political contributor. thank you both very much. msnbc politthis is big breakina sunday afternoon. a look at both of your reactions. christina, let's go to you first. >> is it breaking news though, jonathan. after desantis's abysmal showing in iowa, his poorly run campaign, a lot of us knew that new hampshire was only a matter of time where he dropped out -- the primary on tuesday, or just after. here we are, we're in the devolution of the republican party, his endorsement doesn't come as a surprise. and as previous guests have said, everyone wants to stay in his good graces. now we'll have to wait and see how much the former president degrades nikki haley, he has a disdain for women, women of color, women who challenged him

in any capacity. this news today, the only person that may be shocked as rhonda santas for how terrible his campaign went for him. >> james? >> yeah, i mean, i'm in manchester right now, the event where rhonda santos was supposed to have his -- it's about a mile down the road, i was there the moment that the bartender was told that it was canceled. he was like, well, it's sunday i can watch some football right now. -- a single staffer from ron desantis had even made it to that restaurant, not even a single sign. this is the race that nikki haley always said you wanted, a two-person race. but you asked earlier in the segment, whether she can recapture the magic of john mccain in 2000. it's important to look at poll numbers. number one, among independent voters that we talk so much about here in new hampshire, john mccain had a 61 to 19% lead over george w. bush among that group.

here in our latest tracking poll with seven universities, -- by 8%. meanwhile, as she tops talks about how she's a peep party candidate in 2010, watch these numbers with conservatives, we talk about john mccain winning with independents in new hampshire. the thing we don't talk about is that he actually won along with self identify conservatives in 2000. here, donald trump as a lead among conservatives, 72% to 17, it's a massive gap, a massive reason why he's winning by so much here. >> christina, there is our report in the new york times last week. i believe it was last sunday, about the fact that donald trump over these last few years has been winning back college educated republican voters. i'm wondering if, we've long known that non-college educated

voters, known college educated white voters are a firm part of donald trump's base and that college educated voters are more likely to be independent and lean democratic. particularly, folks who might not vote for donald trump again and yet he's winning them back. is that surprising or should we have seen that coming? >> yeah, that's not surprising, jonathan, we've been -- and when you put together college educated voters, oftentimes, when you disaggregate these voters by race, white college educated voters are always leaning towards the republican party. let's not forget, white women have been voting for republican party candidates, educated white women especially, every single -- since we started collecting data in the 1950s to present. the only time they voted for a democratic candidate is in 1964, and 1996 second term bill

clinton. these numbers to me aren't surprising, when we look at racial dynamic it's very important to always remember we can't lump all women together. we know white women have steadfastly supported republican candidates. when you add in black women, other women of color, it seems as though we have this gender gap with so many people consistently talking about. donald trump dangles this aspirational voting for a lot of voters, they think that they will be recipients of some of his large s, many of them won't ever be -- that he gives so many of his friends. it's that idea that they could be part of the winning team that he boasts about. but when you look at the data, it doesn't pan out. >> so people know, another group to put a finer point, folks need to remember, no democrat running for president has won the white vote since

1964, just to be clear. james, let me bring the last question to you, i want to read a question, a very smart question that my smart ep texted me. i want to get it right. e.if governor haley finishes better than expected in new hampshire, she could lose in south carolina, but 12 of the 16 super tuesday states allow independents to participate, much in the way that new hampshire will on tuesday night. do you think there's any chance that she might try and stay in if it looks like she gets the lion's share of the independent vote on tuesday night in new hampshire? >> what, number one, nikki haley needs to make a political calculation, and number, two i want to make this point first. when ron desantis was saying, and what nikki haley is saying -- hang out and see what happens with these criminal trials.

the folly of that is that these trials will be solved by super tuesday, or by mid march, or by april. that's the problem. going back to your earlier point, one thing that no one talks about when it comes to the south carolina primary, they don't just allow independents, democrats can vote, there's no party registration in south carolina, you're a registered voter you can pick either ballot you want. democrats could, gain independence, vote for her in south carolina. and obviously, the high water mark was 2000 with john mccain, 9% of democrats to pick up that ballot. you're right, it could make this argument for super tuesday, but here's the thing we're seeing this with ron desantis, no one gets out of the presidential race because they lose. they get out because there broke. and nikki haley raised a lot of money, $24 million in the last three months. but soon enough, this money is gonna dry out and with no real path to the nomination, it's hard to see how she replenishes it. >> i'm writing this down, james, you gave me something to

remember. people don't get out because they lose, they get out because there broke. christina greer, james spindle, thank you both very much for being here this afternoon. coming up, how is that ron desantis decision likely to impact voters in new hampshire. we'll look at that, next. t that, next honey... dayquil severe honey. powerful cold and flu symptom relief with a honey-licious taste. dayquil honey, the honey-licious, daytime, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, power through your day, medicine. - i got the cabin for three days. it's gonna be sweet! coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, what? i'm 12 hours short. - have a fun weekend. - ♪ unnecessary action hero! unnecessary. ♪ - was that necessary? - no. neither is a blown weekend. with paycom, employees do their own payroll so you can fix problems before they become problems. - hmm! get paycom and make the unnecessary, unnecessary.

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capehart, the breaking news of governor desantis of florida suspending his presidential campaign. that means the race is now down to two people, donald trump versus nikki haley. this comes ahead of tuesday's primary in new hampshire. let's go to manchester, new hampshire, what will find shag brewster. shag, you've been talking to boot -- how do you expect this news to impact the race? >> jonathan, i'm skeptical it's gonna fundamentally change the dynamics in the race. that's because i've been going all across the state, i've been in towns were -- in 2016 where he won overwhelmingly in an unexpected fashion. i'm in areas where he saw his rivals back in 2016 do well. and -- most of the time they've seen this as a two person race, they were trying to decide between nikki haley and donald trump. they didn't see desantis as a

factor here. new hampshire voters, or much different that we saw in iowa fewer conservatives, evangelicals, more suburban voters. there's voters from nikki haley that are expected to be able to do well, provide an opportunity for her. many people if they weren't with donald trump, they're looking in her direction in this race. i say that in many of those areas where you saw donald trump do well and back in 2016, especially the border towns along massachusetts. we saw it reach 50% in some, 60% in some. the people there have bought into a message that -- on his campaign stage. when he says ron desantis and goes after iran desantis for not being loyal, there's attack lines he's been using. you see his voters repeating that language and that's something that really has -- there wasn't much support that i've been hearing from the week or so, and i've been talking to

voters for ron desantis which makes me skeptical that with this news we've been seeing today, for those that are undecided, this will fundamentally shift the calculations, jonathan. >> shaq booster coming to us from new hampshire. thank you for that report. rick wilson joins me next with his reaction to today's news. like the new deli heroes. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. it's a pretty big deal. kinda like me. order in the subway app today. detect this: living with hiv, robert learned he can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why he switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: marnina learned that most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2.

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we have just received word that florida governor, ron desantis, has dropped out of the race and endorsed president trump. [applause] all i can say is, welcome home, ron, welcome back to the maga movement where you've always belonged, and where we will welcome you and be honored to count you among our legion as we go forward, unifying the

republican party -- for victory. >> that was florida congressman, matt gaetz, responding to the news that is home state governor, governor ron desantis, dropped out of the presidential race. congressman casey -- as a surrogate for donald trump. governor desantis ended the campaign to become the republican nominee for president in an announcement posted to the social media platform, ex. desantis used to quote that he attributed to winston churchill to sign off the campaign saying, quote, success is not final, failure is not fatal, it's the courage to continue that counts. according to the international churchill society website, churchill never uttered those words. joining me is wreck wilson, cofounder of the lincoln project and former republican strategist. rick, your reaction to governor desantis dropping out of the run for the presidential nomination?

>> i could tell you is he's the ted cruz of scott walker's, the least likable candidate in arrays who started out with this gigantic buzz, and -- this is a guy who was never good at this work, he was never good at human beings, never good with that -- connecting to people, and listening to them in appearing as if they're not in their head processing a piece of software that says, all display a motion 17 of interest. he couldn't connect with people and that's why the campaign impart was doing. but he was also diet trump, offering, i could be trump without the constant stream of embarrassment and humiliation. but maga voters don't want to diet trump, they want all that, all the caffeine, all the sugar, all the preservatives and alcohol. they want everything that trump gives them. and desantis wasn't at the end of the day -- unemotional barometer that was out of whack.

and he never could give them a case why you'd want to elect him beyond, i won in florida a red state. >> right, he didn't just win in florida, rick, he blew the doors off when he ran for reelection. in 2018, when he won the first time he only beat andrew gillet by less than 1%, when he ran for reelection he won by nearly 20 percentage points, the biggest win for republican gubernatorial candidate in the state history. he had every right to think that, hey, on the republican king right now. trump is off the stage, all run for president. and now he's out. i want to read back to you what james said, a great quote of this hour, he said, people don't drop out because they lost, they drop out because there broke. i mean he's, governor desantis has burned through millions of

dollars to come in for -- an iowa. >> he was sold a bill of goods by his consultant, jeff rowe, who told him give me this giant pile, will run a campaign in iowa that will start the war that will shock everyone. the same guy read -- in iowa in 2016, he got whipped like a mule. this was always a delusion on the part of desantis, a sales pitch on the part of jeff roe. they went through a total of 130, 100 and $40 million as far as we can estimate right now. to end up spending about $30,000 per voter they got in iowa. they ran out of money, ran out of time, have spent an incredible amount of their campaign resources, because casey kept fly commercial, she needs to be on private jets. they burned through tens of millions of dollars it looks

like on private jet travel. this is a campaign that was way over -- and a lot of the people that noted the arrogance of the staffing, from the very beginning, they were called haters and everything else. the fact of the matter is, they have it in the bag and they never really campaigned against trump. and trump came along like the apex predator that he is and ate them. >>, roquemore question before i let you go. this time, quickly, about governor haley, can she hang on after new hampshire to get to her home state, south carolina, if she comes in second no matter how close or far? >> do i think she's gonna come in, i think she'll come in new hampshire, a pretty distant second. there was a model before this dropped out. but nine out of ten to go back to trump.

i think she's done, she does enough cash on hand to load through -- but my last survey in south carolina she was behind by 38 points. i don't see how she makes it up. once super tuesday comes, it's the end of the game no matter what, she cannot -- she's out of money, out of ideas, out of time. -- they fallen in love with, they needed someone who could beat trump and make a case against him. and she didn't start making a case against him until three days ago. >> with that, we'll have to leave it there. rick wilson, thank you very much for this hour. -- i'll be back with you and our my regular time slot for the sunday show, six pm eastern, when our coverage continues with the reverend al sharpton and politicsnation right now. d al sharpto and politicsnation right now good evening, welcome to politicsnation. we start with the breaking news out of new hampshire tonight. or fda