today or call this number for your free brochure and ask about free activation. john: i'm john heilemann. mark: and i'm mark halperin. with all due respect to bernie sanders, you always have a home here. ♪ ["monster mash" plays] mark: on the show tonight, trump, but first the great debate. two weeks from tonight, the first republican presidential debate will take place in cleveland, along with the minor league debate for the candidates who don't make the top 10.

get out your watches and secret eyes -- synchronize the countdown to that debate. the second debate is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. in two weeks. the second will be at 9:00 eastern. some pundits who live in the land of conventional wisdom say that it would be a humiliating catastrophe not to make the cut for the primetime debate, but could you make the argument -- gasp -- that the conventional wisdom is wrong? john: you could, and i know you are going to, so i will pre-budge you -- yes. being on prime time, much bigger audience, you will be up there with donald, you will have a chance to take him out if you are really skillful. i think there are a lot of people who are not going to sit through four hours of republican debate. mark: almost no one will watch the whole debate, even fox loyalists. the first debate of this election cycle is going to be that earlier debate. the main reason is, think about

the people in that debate. george pataki, carly fiorina lindsey graham, john kasich, bobby jindal -- these are all people who will gauge a civil dignified, measured debate. it will not have donald trump and it. you know that the donald trump debate will be all about trump. there will be lots of coverage in the press will be there. i think it will be at least as good. there is no humiliation. john: i don't think there's humiliation, and you can make lemonade out of those lemons but i do think that everyone is focused on the fact that trump is going to be a problem. how do we deal with donald? to me this is the moment -- angie: this is the moment of strength where you can take out donald. mark: remember -- one debate has

five people, the other people has 10. you are barely going to get to talk in the 10 person debate. i guarantee you that people in the five person debate will feel like they got to say a lot and make their case. almost no one but trump -- and maybe jeb bush -- is going to come out of the 10 person debate and say they got to say what they wanted to. john: chris christie? mark: i don't think they're going to call on him very much, because the moderators control it. we don't know how the moderators are going to allocate the time but you will say your piece in the five person debate. john: no doubt, but audience size matters. today donald trump visited the mexican border in laredo, texas to talk about the issue he is most excited about -- immigration. on his way, he covered that interesting hair of his with a white hat bearing his campaign slogan. he performed his best trump, especially when he was asked if it was dangerous to travel so close to all those criminals and rapists crossing the border. mr. trump: i love the country. there is nothing more important than what i am doing. i am the one who brought up the problem of illegal immigration

and it is a big problem. it is a huge problem. you folks know it better than anybody. you look at the crowds outside. they want the problem fixed. we have to have legal immigration. john: immigration is the horse that donald trump rode in on. my question for you is it time for him to start to shift and diversify his portfolio when it comes to issues? mark: first, no. in two ways like this -- first, yes because he is writing -- riding this emotion and passion that has got him where he is to a large degree. i think his biggest opportunity is to diverse if i his message. as he told me, trump can be trop

on a range of issues. he's becoming a one horse pony. john: the problem is that on a wide variety of other issues this issue is very hot. there is a segment of the republican base that is very concerned about this and he is soaking those fears. if he starts to talk about other things, it is not as clear he is going to be as resonant with a lot of the republican party. mark: trade. jobs. go to his hotel in chicago and tell people how good it is that i can build things. bring in people that have worked with him. there are plenty of things that would inspire people. when he does this it brings back to an issue where it is mileage. john: his whole thing is emotion. trade is an intellectual argument. mark: people who say their jobs are going to mexico and china, it is emotional. john: i'm giving up on this because you one thing that point. -- won that mark: emotion around point. manufacturing, excellence in american business, he has lots of issues to talk about. john: i still think this is the issue for him.

as far as he is going to go, he is going to on this issue. maybe he could talk about abortion. we could find out whether he is pro-choice or pro-life. mark: he is smart to stay about this sometimes. he can give it a rest and do other things. he is dominating the news cycle with this. he is revving up people who are already read -- revved. the republican party is running out of oxygen because it is being sucked up by donald trump. >> cue the eye roll. donald trump. >> are you uncomfortable with this republican primary being about donald trump? >> what did you make of what he said to lindsey graham? >> what do you make of him in the republican party? as republican -- quite as republican candidates --

>> as republican candidates step out from his shadow -- >> it overshadows john kasich 's announcement. >> he is eating up the oxygen. >> sucking up the oxygen in the room. >> that is why he is sucking up this oxygen. why the heck, into bank weeks of -- in two weeks of nothing substantive, are we talking about donald trump? mark: what would it take for the press to recalibrate their coverage of trump based on obsession? john: an actual sharknado could be the only thing. the press is flying itself, it is true online and on television. but amy and, it is good for -- in the end, it is good for business. ratings are soaring.

he is a resistible to a lot of people. the angel is on his shoulder but the devil is still barking in the air. mark: i think it's simply a matter of easy. it's easy to cover trump. our show is as guilty as anyone, because it is hard to ignore how big he has become. every news organization should say, today can we do something else? can we talk about something else? can we write about something else? we are going to look back at period of the media coverage and say, it was a dereliction of our responsibility in a 16 candidate field with the democratic field to cover trump the way we have covered him. john: you are speaking about the world as it should be and not the world as it is. it is true that that is probably what journalists should do. i'm talking about what would actually be required for them to take a step back, and they are not going to. mark: when trump flirted with running, he did the same thing even as a non-candidate -- i urge everybody to take a deep breath and think about if he really deserves all this coverage.

john: build a better world again. mark: and now, again, he is the front runner, he can't be ignored, he is provocative, he is engaging with other candidates, but everybody has an obligation to think about every bit of their coverage. john: i agree, but they should also start asking questions like where you stand on abortion or drug legalization. they could get mileage out of changing the subject just a little bit. coming up, republican wise man dan senor cages -- gauges the degree of the republican establishment's freak out over the donald. when we come back. ♪

♪ john: our guest tonight is dan senor, former mitt romney campaign advisor, founder of the foreign-policy initiative, and knower of all things consequential to republicans. dan senor: i like that. john: valery: it's hard to get on

a business card. there is a lot of kissing up in that title. i am going to ask you some questions about donald trump. dan senor: can't you heed his wise advice? john: no, i cannot, but you can calm everyone down. first of all, how much is the party establishment freaking out over donald trump on a scale of 1-10? dan senor: i will tell you the feeling. the feeling is he is going to dominate the first debate. all the thought that the rnc put on how to fix the problems of 2012 to 2016 -- debates are the primary focus. there are a whole host of problems the least of which is , donald dominating. a. b, donald as a third-party candidate is a nightmare. i agree with you, mark, the issues are bigger than immigration. three, there is a recognition that while donald may sound clownish, the issues he is unearthing are not clownish --

they are real issues of economic insecurity, in some cases nativism, protectionism, it is real stuff. he has tapped into something real. the republican party will have to find a way to get around it because otherwise people like trump will feel the vacuum. john: who is he helping and hurting on the republican side? dan senor: he is hurting walker, cruz, rand, huckabee, and that crowd. just look at the ones who are most reluctant to take shots at him, and they know that is who he is hurting. they know he is probably probably going to disappear at some point, and when he does they will want those voters, so he is helping jeb and rubio. mark: everybody in the establishment, which you are a charter member of, is saying eventually he will disappear. tell me the most likely scenario where trump disappears.

dan senor: iowa. mark: he's the national leader until iowa? dan senor: i'm not saying he is a major player in the elections -- mark: what will happen for him to go from national poll leader to not? dan senor: republican primary voters wind up being discerning -- mark: forget in the end -- dan senor: in the end could be where the voting begins. there is a chance he will be a major player for the next 6-9 months. -- 6-8 months. mark: that's a long time for him to dominate. dan senor: correct. there is a scenario where he has to be rejected by voters. john: karl rove wrote a column stating there is a top tier of four candidates, including cruz walker, rubio, and bush. talk about whether you think those four will remain in the

top tier all the way through the end of the year, and who has the best chance to break into that? dan senor: those four candidates will all be really competitive on the fund-raising front. john: i'm talking about fund-raising exclusively. dan senor: what each of them has -- while jeb has raised i.e. money, and all the others have done a fraction of that, what they all have is major donors to their super pac's that could triple or quadruple their donations if they feel the ir candidate is in the game. those guys are going to have the capacity to compete on the fund-raising side. the question to me is whether kristi and kasich -- christie and kasich will do the same. christie has recruited important donors, kasich is still early -- i don't know yet if they are going to be able to assemble a team of super pacs like others

have, but those are most likely to break in. this is helpful breaking this up your -- having this up. -- up here. i don't think rand will break into that. i don't think kerry will break into it. i don't think carson will break into it. to me, carly is a bit of a wild card. people are going to argue, this one has $20 million more -- i don't think that will matter. mark: let's move over to iran. you are obviously happily involved -- heavily involved in talking about way for congress to stop the deal. a columnist for the new york post said before i don't think we can stop it, but now i think we can. are you with him? dan senor: i think it's tough, but i am with him. based on some of the polling he mentioned -- pew poll says that less than three of five democrats support the president. democrats i've spoken to our -- are frozen.

i am amazed. the president has come out with an intense lobbying campaign. with the exception of durbin and pelosi, few democrats are willing to commit. when you talk to a lot of these congressional democrats, they feel exposed. why? because for a long time the president and secretary of state told them we would never do a deal that didn't have these things, so many of these members , when they are back in their districts and states have been , saying it has to be this, it has to be this, it has to be this, but now these things are not in there, and they are boxed in. mark: i heard of someone the other day involved in fundraising efforts for paid television ads that there is a number of a hundred million dollars on your side. have you heard that? dan senor: i think it could. $60 plus is what i have been hearing. if it looks like it is winnable, i think money will start coming out of the woodwork. john: dan senor, knower of all

things. thank you. when we come back, new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. ♪

mark: as the 10 year anniversary of new orleans -- hurricane katrina approaches, new orleans mayor mitch landrieu came by to talk with us about what he has seen in new orleans since 2010. we talked about the storm. mitch landrieu: this was a man-made disaster. it is when the levees were broken that the city was compromised. post-katrina we have a $14.5 billion levy system. john: mark: mark: if katrina hit today what would happen?

mayor landrieu: we would be safe and fine. the levees are much stronger than they were before. it is not a guarantee -- bigger storms are coming our way. by the way, new orleans is really the nation's canary in the coal mine. we are an example from miami to new york, which suffered from sandy. amongst all these natural disasters and terrorist attacks, you have to build a more resilient city, so when you build back, you have to build back stronger. the magnificent thing that the people have done is they didn't build the city back the way it was -- they built it the way it should have always been. as you see us rebuilding our schools, health care delivery systems, economic development, and government, the city has successfully turned itself around and it is moving into the right direction. we are doing pretty well. although the challenge now is moving forward and becoming a part of the 21st-century knowledge-based economy. that is what we are working on. mark: tell us briefly the story of circle food and why it is such a great story.

mayor landrieu: circle food was a historic african-american business that providing groceries to people in the seventh ward. -- provided groceries to people in the seventh ward. beat up by the storm. the owner of that said, i'm not cashing out, i'm staying. i'm not going to borrow a bucket load of money, i am going to wait. we put together a team of people to work with him, and through federal, state, and local work through his work and works of other financial institutions, we were able to help him stand back up, and he has become an anchor of the community again, and it is a wonderful story of how he -- what he is doing and how well he is doing. he is also helping us in the ninth ward. mark: i want to talk politics big in your state. a lot of legacy talk in american politics today. you've got clinton and bush running. you are from a famous political family. how many elections did your dad lose? i don't know that he lost any. -- >> i don't know that he lost any. mark: how many did you lose? >> i lost two. mark: is having a famous name a

good thing or a bad thing? >> it runs both ways, because you take the good and bad. generally speaking, name recognition goes a long way, and the more people you know, the better. at the same time, you buy the liabilities of other people that you have worked with. in families, you love and adore the people who are part of your family. you work with them, but you are separate entities as well. it is a net positive, though because at the end of the day it is the experience that matters. the public gets tired sometimes, and they want something new, and at the end of the day, the only thing it does is get your foot in the door. mark: we've got to get our viewers who have never been to your city as jazzed up as i am. likes it is spectacular. -- >> it is spectacular. mark: first thing -- teach me how to pronounce the name of your city. >> naw'lins. not new or-leans, naw'lins. mark: teach me how to pronounce the name of your state. >> lose-iana.

it depends on what part of the state you are from. mark: i know you love all your children equally, but where did you have the last great restaurant meal in your city? >> it doesn't matter. every restaurant is spectacular. i can never answer that. mark: how can you have such good food in one city -- how does it happen? >> not only that but how can the city lose people and have 600 more restaurants after katrina than before? it's because we have a joy in life and a joy in food. we know how to enjoy things. mark: you are not explaining it to me. it is a tiny city, there are not that many people. but why? where does it come from? how do they have so many incredible restauranteurs across the board? you can get a great pizza there -- >> let's talk about this. how can the city of new orleans take the joy of life and turn it

into economic development and growth? in our city, the cultural economy -- art, music, food, fun -- it's a wide million-dollar -- $5 billion industry. it really is about the business of entertaining people. sports entertainment -- we have done more super balls than anywhere else, except for miami -- super bowl's then anyone else, except for miami. it really is important that when you think about the business side of culture, what new orleans really means to the rest of the world. that is why the rest of the world gasps at the possibility that they would lose what they call the soul of the nation. new orleans is an important part of this country. the k-10 anniversary -- the katrina 10 -- is to commemorate the lives lost and look forward to our 300 year anniversary. we want to really be a model for the rest of america and all of the things we are doing in terms of education and health care economic development, and

particularly resilience -- how cities learn how to live through difficult times and stand themselves back up. mark: i love what you are doing with the emphasis on education and health care. pre katrina, you are not a -- were not a leader in any of those areas. >> i think anybody that comes into our city, notwithstanding barnacles, new orleans is a city that was the worst and we are going to first. bloomberg forms, and the wall street journal have recognized us. more people are moving into the city then leaving. our jobs are growing fast. our education system has been recalibrated. it is a story of not only surviving, not only resurrection, but actually turning yourself around and becoming the city you should have been if you got it right the first time. mark: thanks to new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. we will be right back with donald trump's hat. reimagined. ♪

john: donald trump wore a hat

with his campaign slogan on it. there are better things that could go on there, so we made some new hats for you to buy soon at th ♪ ♪ ♪ get excited for the 1989 world tour with exclusive behind the scenes footage all of taylor swift's music videos interviews, and more. xfinity is the destination for all things taylor swift.

emily: amazon shares spiking after-hours. the secret behind jeff bezos' surprise -- profits up 17%. -- surprise profit -- shares up 17%. ♪ emily: i am emily chang. this is "bloomberg west." coming up, pandora shares also rallying after-hours. the company optimistic. at&t looking to drive growth. we will ask former fcc chairman bob mcdowell if they should be able to buy directv.