nicole: i'm nicole wallace. john: and with all due respect the peyton manning, we have nicole. in our lineup tonight, curses home visit. but first: the home stretch. donald trump has been the republican front-runner for so long that he is moving on to the general election. weekend, the bathroom moreng, going after bill,

recently he has tangled with bernie sanders. you may have missed this in your post eggnog his, so here's what sanders said about trump to start this. has done, what trump successfully i would say, is take that anger, take that anxiety about terrorism, and say to a lot of people in this country, the reason for our problems is because of mexicans. and he says, they are all criminals and rapists. what he says about the muslims, they are all terrorists. that is what we have to deal with to make america great. meanwhile, interestingly enough, this is a guy who doesn't want to raise the minimum wage. he has said that he things wages are too high, but he does want to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top 3/10 of 1%. i think for his working class we really class, if want to a the issues that people are concerned about, why the

middle class is disappearing, massive income and wealth inequality, then we need policies that bring us together, that take on the greed of wall street, the greed of corporate america, and create a middle class that works for all of us rather than an economy that works just for a few. firedoday, he back with his weapon of choice, see wacko bernie sanders allies coming to me because i lower taxes whhile he triples them." wacko indeed. donald trump spent the entirety of 2015 attacking any republican who went after him, now he is going after hillary clinton in bernie sanders. what is this about? nichole: one analysis was that he got bored with his republican

opponents, and that could be true. but i think there is a substantive reason for the trump supporters in sanders supporters drawn to this nexus of anger and inequality. f you got them all together and ask them what they were angry about, one would be washington but two is that nothing is getting there for the little guy. mark: i have been following him through his run, and there was an interesting weird cross in 80 -- aterest ndrogyneity. he was talking to blue-collar workers who are super frustrated and anxious about the economy and saying, look, i will have protectionism and immigration restriction that will help you. there is some of that in trump too. you can hear sanders making the appeal the other way.i am

curious about his attacks on clinton . he is not in a good place of women. do you think that playing the bill clinton card he can inoculate himself against gender attacks? nicolle: i think he has a problem with women. he has over 60% disapproval rating among all women, and i think the road to fixing that does not course through attacks on bill clinton. however i think hillary clinton will have to respond to voters, if they have an appetite for talking about or hearing about the things she said on monica lewinsky, when she came out and talked about being the first ever person bullied on the internet. if voters want to hear but that she will have to take questions. gowdy, who trey represents the fourth district of benghazi, is endorsing marco rubio and planes to join him for two days in iowa, tomorrow on and wednesday. endorsements are about as

exciting as a coldplay halftime show. why is herubio, making such a big deal of it? john: i find it totally strange and inexplicable, reflective of my general confusion about marco rubio. a weird creature, often associated with the tea party, but he disdains the label. he is also a congressman, in some ways a creature of washington. to me this is like a perfect reflection of the confusion over the campaign and the inability to pick alain. lane.pick a nicolle: the other thing it calls into question is that the benghazi hearing are considered a success? the consensus was that it didn't reach his potential. it opens questions about benghazi.

it is not like trey gowdy is a hero in either world. it's not like he's a national figure. it's not like he is with some big figure like john mccain. what mileage does rubio get in iowa? that must be some reason they really believe this will help. nicolle: we will get to the bottom of it. john: you have heard of three wise men, where here is a story that involves a zero. christmas, ted cruz called members of the media to carson's home outside of baltimore. after walking between the bedroom and living room, he settled on his man cave for the interviews, there amid tables of poland ping-pong, carson sent to these reporters that he intended to shake up his campaign. as soon as they reported what carson had said, he almost immediately walked it all back after a call with his campaign manager.

like all good holiday stories, this one ends with dominant. lemon. donn here's my leading question. will wearson is doomed, look back and say that it was foreign policy and experience and lack of command that killed him, or is it just a crappy campaign run by a lot of warring fiefdoms? they kind of have not serve their boss will. -- well. nicolle: it can't be that after paris and san bernardino we so long for foreign policy experience, than it would run render donald trump inexplicable. it has to be that the way he responded to both of those felt and i think the

larger problem for him is the incompetence of the people around him. john: this campaign, you think about -- what of those great stories, i think we will get more of it when this is over, is how much money carson raised and how much money he spent. that campaign has been extraordinary, which always spells of profiteering. there are people who are consultants, people who were contractors, who have been milking the campaign. this has been a campaign that has lacked strategic direction for a while, but there is no doubt that this is not one of the stronger campaign apparatus is out there in the field. nicolle: that's right, and an outside her has to adapt some of the traditional support networks for candidates unless you are donald trump and you are running your campaign on twitter. [laughter] today, rahm emanuel cut short his family vacation to cuba so he could address another shooting of two black residents by chicago police.

a grandmother and a 19-year-old college student will kill. that there is facing even more calls for his resignation, in t-shirts are making the rounds -- and the t-shirts are making the rounds. can he survive this? john: at the beginning of this, the real crystallizing moment a couple weeks back, mark and i that in these chairs and said he may be rendered ineffective, but it is unlikely he will have to leave office. he will cling to that office and will not go. to me, now he is in this vicious cycle. chicago is a really violent place, and as any of these new instances occur, the spotlight on him is so intense and the sense of reality slipping from his grasp is so topical, i am beginning to think that there is a chance that he will actually look up and say, i can't govern the city effectively, and he may feel as if he has no choice but to leave. toolle: he is nknown

republicans as a guy who did let anything get away from the white house. respond. to john: we were on "morning joe" with al sharpton, who is a voice for the african-american community, who basically came out and call for his resignation. when you get to the point where national african-american leaders are starting to openly say that he has to go, the political pressure on him is going to get very intense. i do think it has reached a new level and i think one of the big questions going or word is what is the next shoe to drop. a very precarious position. nicolle: that whole city, a tragedy. john: more to come. new hampshire in the great will leach. when we come back. ♪

john: we cannot tell you this often enough. if you live in washington, d.c., you cannot catch us on the radio radio. just go to 99.1 fm at 5:00 p.m. eastern standard time. it's pretty exciting. let's talk about new hampshire. it is shaping up as a homeric battleground. a lot of complicated words in that sentence. later outell lighte nicely and we will talk with him in a moment, but first let's go through four key candidates in establishment land who will face

a do or die moment in the granite state. let's take them in groups of two. aretwo that are stronger chris christie and marco rubio. talk for a little bit about what you think are the assets that they bring, why they might have a breakout moment, and what are the vulnerabilities? nicolle: i think christie's momentum, and that is how everyone describes it, tailor-made for that state, he's riding a wave of two months of positive press that started with the town hall in that state where he talked about the tragic loss of his friend to drug addiction. that moment when viral in a way that all campaigns wish they could manufacture. that happens because of his talent, the sheer force of his will to make a stand. two-month wave

of political success. he still trails marco rubio, whose strength is based nationally. they are hyperaware of the national dynamic, and they want to pick winners. john: there is no doubt that kristi has an extraordinary political gift. he is almost tailor-made for new hampshire. you worked for john mccain, tailor-made for the town hall setting. with hisfind strange, he musthment backing -- spend nearly as much time in the state and i can't help but think it will come back to hurt him. stie side, if christie becomes a genuine threat when other candidates go negative on him, there is a lot of stuff in his background -- uc

see trump starting to go after this now -- when he gets this kind of scrutiny and exposure, he has had a free ride, will he be able to stand up to it? nicolle: the thing about french game was that he was all -- with bridge gate, he has artie been shoved through the meat grinder. there is nothing like going .hrough the meat grinder i don't worry how he will react questions of his ethics. he has already been through that test and passed it. the greater threat is that's all he has going. in to have sure they are acutely aware that. -- aware of that. john: john kasich in jeb bush. much more of an all or nothing for john kasich, jeb bush could go on a little longer. two,o you think, of those

has a greater likelihood of a breakthrough? nicolle: jeb challenged trump to a debate today. think -- i don't think jeb bush could have imagined this is where he would find himself, four in the establishment line with the do or die day, but that is where he is. it's not an enviable position but he is making the most of it. he has shaken off all the kinks in his campaign he was suffering from a few weeks ago. he will see if you can write that to success. john: i have said for a while that jeff was done, but -- that jeb was done, but no doubt bush has shown greater improvement. kasich has been on a down slide, bush has been on the upside. not much in the numbers, but it feels as though jeb is freer now from so much of what was weighing him down, and that an ability tolock

perform and find a moment where he could break. nicolle: and that is what he is desperate for, the moment that reminds everybody of how he president. john: james pindell will be here and we will go through his granite state of mind. ♪

nicolle: iowa and new hampshire are so close, we can taste the pork tenderloins and maple fear of. -- and maple syrup. joining us to talk about when the 2016 candidates will face their moments of truth is james kandel. hello. >> i think i like maple on pork.

that sounds good. too.le: i think i do the we were mixing metaphors. >> go with classic iowa custard. nicolle: more fat than a stick of butter but it tastes good. the premise of the peas -- this is a poor way of looking at it, when each of these campaigns face their moments of truth. what does that mean? >> over the course of the last year we have had 23 serious presidential candidates. we have had 17 republicans, six democrats, and six of them have gone away. they have gone away for different reasons, but the newor means that hampshire has been lamenting the role these early states -- they have lost a lot of political clout to the national media, to major donors. talk about what happened on this year, at the end of the day, iowa and new hampshire don't pick presidents, they win over the field.

with all the losses of cloud during the year, the traditional role may still be there. campaign,there every you can make an argument that they will eliminate about half the field. 23 candidates could be eliminated as a result of poor performances in iowa and new hampshire. that still leaves eight candidates still running, but nonetheless, this year's contest has b -- john: before we get to your views about which candidates face their moments of truth in iowa and new hampshire, explain why you think there was a conventional wisdom earlier this that iowaier in 2015, and new hampshire were not going to be as potent this time around and they traditionally have been. >> it was both the front and problem in the back and problem. thate front end, it appear

there were these national media organizations writing these debates, the ones who decided, to figureal polls, out who was on the key debate and he was on the main debate. here are your actual choices. on the backend, even with poor performance, a poor performance in iowa or new hampshire, you have to drop out. no one drops out because you lose iowa or new hampshire, you drop out because you are broke, because you lost iowa and new hampshire. but if you are able to have a super pac that keeps a lot of money and keeps you going, as we saw from newt gingrich last time and rick santorum, then you can get sixth place and you're still in the contest. two things we have learned is

that while the debate has changed in certainly hurt people like rick perry and bobby jindal, the super pac's have not played the same role they played. they may play a huge role in we get to march or early february, but those candidates still have to survive to keep the coffers going, given an argument as to why they should be that choice. nicolle: you have six republican to face their moment of truth. let's talk about them. chris christie, carly fiorina, th jim gilmore -- >> yeah, that guy. [laughter] >> he is coming to new hampshire a lot more than any other place because it is cheaper. fiorina, with carly obviously she is playing strong in iowa. if she continues on through new hampshire, that will be at for her. she has this really big moment in september when she was in second place in new hampshire, and now she is not, but she has

a lot of on the ground. that you go down the line with rand paul. it was supposed to be new hampshire, nevada. father got second place in the 2012 new hampshire primary with 23% of the vote. is he going to convert every single person from his father's campaign to his? no, we saw a early signs that he wasn't. but even grabbing half of that would put him in second place. he's not doing that. he said flat out that he would win new hampshire, and if he doesn't, i don't know where this goes. jeb bush says he will win, but he will have to perform somewhat well in new hampshire even though i haven't going on all the way to florida. john kasich talking about this in his hometown newspaper, that he has to win new hampshire. a lot of candidates say they have to win new hampshire but they aren't sure where goes from there.

john: real quick, a shorter makeion and answer, you the point that in some ways iowa has already whittled the field. the other three you say could face moments of truth, two obvious ones in huckabee and santorum. clearly it is really important for him, but are you saying that if ben carson doesn't win iowa he will face his fate in dropout? >> ben person was a controversial pick. a month from now we could get to the point where he is continuing to take and take and take, and what happens if he gets fourth or fifth or sixth place? it may be game over, particularly given the fact that his fundraising has been drying up so badly. john: one last question. you have an asterisk next to donald trump. you gave no indication of when

he will meet his moment of fate. 20 seconds -- tell us why he gets an asterisk. >> because i am honest. i have no idea. here are so many scenarios, could win both states, lose one state and say i'm done, lose both and say i'm done, i don't know. if you have a better idea, i will take the asterisk off. ahn: james pindell, journalists claiming to be an honest man. thank you. our sit down with jeb bush and more great moments from 2015 when we come back. ♪

john: as we look back on the year, it was a pretty big year for a lot of people. the man that a lot of people thought would be the nominee for president they were not so sure. about the by talking dword. halperin i have to start with one of the most basic questions. doctrinehe jeb bush for when to put in american troops on the ground overseas. bush: this is a unique circumstance we have not seen before. a group that is been formed whose energy is

maintained and strengthened by its existence and its ability to provoke acts of terror around the world. this is a direct threat to our national security. halperin: you say you want to declare war against isis? forces, if there ata vital american interests stake, why are you not in favor of substantial ground troops? bush: the commander-in-chief would tell his advisers to give me a strategy to take out isis. i can't tell you the answer to that now. it could involve substantial ground troops but not necessarily. if we could mobilize the support of the whole neighborhood which has got to be central, we can do this alone, support from europe ,nd turkey and egypt and jordan

all of these countries are directly affected by this grave threat. we could destroy isis. that is the goal. it is not to contain. that is a joke. containing only gives them energy. john: some levers of your party want to invoke article five. are you in favor of that? bush: the net result is that we need to lead. we need to be the leader of this effort and there should be a clearly stated objective. , notould use awesome force incremental force, which is what we are doing today. john: i think there is a broad view that this a war weary country. bush: it is a war weary country.

but we must recognize that islamic terrorism and the terrorists that headed up have declared war on us. we should take it seriously. sometimes when people say things we should actually believe what they say. john: how do you muster the kind of book support that is needed? bush: yes give people a sense that there is a clear strategy and we are not doing this incrementally and we are not going to be stuck in a quagmire. with all theit resources that we can bring to bear in the international community with us. we are quick and decisive. the fear of weariness is legitimate. if we get stuck in extended high and the costs are there is better stability in

afghanistan today. but it is the longest war in american history. if we can in the case of afghanistan similar to korea and japan provide a force that allows for security to exist or similar to iraq with 35 hundred troops now, that is not necessarily prolonging the war. that is creating a secure country that will allow us to not have to come back in. it is a good question. the people are weary of war. the commander-in-chief has to strategy solear that they will know this will not go on forever. in the last year and a half has said twice and we don't have a strategy. it's pretty breathtaking if you think about it. we have war fighters that are risking their lives.

john: let me ask about refugees. obama said we should have no religious test. he said it was shameful and un-american to say there is a difference. you said we should focus on christian refugees. did you take obama's comments personally? bush: i have had this view for a long while that religious minorities are deserving of our support. i believe we should take a stand to help people. mosul mass is no longer celebrated. the brutality of islamic

terrorism is that should that we have to act. you disagree that the muslims are the vast majority of sufferers? so why discriminate? jeb bush: it is not discrimination to say that you want to protect religious minorities that are being exterminated. is to create a strategy to destroy isis. to bring about change as it relates to the regime. if we are just responding to a crisis by our interaction, that is not an action. that is just reacting to events that you did deter. john: our thanks to jeb bush. what it's like to hang out with bernie sanders. you can catch us on the radio in the washington dc area. we'll be right back.

♪

2015 began with everyone thinking that hillary clinton was a shoo-in. but then a lot of people caught bernie fever. our friends mark halperin hung out backstage at a fundraiser for bernie sanders. in the heart of manhattan. supporters were on a pretty pretty sharp adrenaline high.

♪ >> bernie is a champion for the poor and hillary is a professional politician. >> bernie is for the people and hillary is for the corporations. bernie is the best candidate for president and hillary is not. bernie is a compassionate man and hillary is ok >> bernie is real and hillary has turned out to be a big phony. bernie is very refreshing and i like a lot of his ideas and

hillary hasn't really done anything for me in the past year or so. is the type of elected official we need to run this hillary is a corporate democrat >> bernie is not funded by huge corporations and billionaires and hillary is. people ands for the hillary is more typical. and hillary genuine is cautious and measured. classy,e is sincere and educated has manners, he is the type of human being that i want to represent me in my country to the world.

>> now we are going to find a man who carries that change and has been doing it for decades. ladies and gentlemen, bernie sanders. ♪ in the free world plays) bernie sanders: thank you. economy,alk about the

let's talk about inequality. let's put it on the table. let's ask the people whether they think it is moral that the 1% owned almost as much wealth as the bottom 90% . by the way, when we talk about you caps on is that very well. welcome to the revolution. [applause] ♪ bernie is honest and he works

for the people. berti speaks about issues that are affecting a majority of the american people right now. >> the more i listened to i am not was saying going to vote gender, i am going to vote character. john: any piece that allows us to play neil young, you have got to love that. the year that we are almost finished with and how far we have come. ♪

movingolitics is a target. here to help us understand just how much went down in 2015, our own will leitch. nicolle: where was donald trump a year ago and what was he up to. ? will: trunk referred to football as a boring sport with too many flags. there actually is an alternate history. there was a fear that the buffalo bills were going to leave. he said that he if he had gotten the buffalo bills, he would not run for president. john: i want you to think of this in the context of sports

reporting. the nfl is filled with interesting owners. ofmp would've been as much an outlier as an nfl owner as he would've as a candidate. will: there is room for only one jerry jones. we saw the same thing with mark cuban. trump is very associated with the usfl and the failure of the usfl. the nfl is very much, the reason roger goodell has so much power and gets away with fumbling everything is that he makes them all a lot of money. trump was maybe too much of a wildcard. but for the presidential race is totally fine. [laughter] nicole: where was bernie sanders a year ago?

hillary clinton made $11 million in speeches. bernie sanders said he gave to speeches for 1800 bucks each. john: the bill marsh oh they pay you $850 but they give you a lot of free food in the green room. an incredible spread. when you think about sanders versus clinton, that illustration, what he was like as a senator and his capacity to cash in, his lack of celebrity, the contrast was even more striking than it is now. it's not like he's going to get $11 million in fees now.

he's still bernie sanders. because different value points in many ways. it is still as relatively close as it is considering how different they are. john: as surprising as trump is, i think bernie is equally surprising. nobody in february look at bernie sanders and said he will be at financial parity with hillary clinton. nicolle: he consolidated all the people who wanted biden to run and wanted elizabeth warren to run, he is the standardbearer for the progressive wing. the thing that we all missed is that he is utterly authentic. we talk of this all the time. .he ultimate ingredients the special sauce. it was obvious that he had it.

we knew that sanders was authentic. but none of us made the obvious logical leap that he would connect on the national stage. it is kind of an amazing year for him. will: that is the comparison with trump. it is the voter who wants authenticity. the politician who doesn't feel like a politician. nicolle: who did we think was going to be the republican nominee? the much-maligned political establishment. will: i hate to pick on the washington post because they had the gumption to put an actual list down. cruz. eight was ted right behind bobby jindal. scott walker was five. jeb bush was number three. number two.ie was

and he is making a run. he would be the tough talker in the race. number one was the impending president rand paul. read it now, if you squint you can almost see it. john: is easy to mock the washington post for that. but there are many people who said that rand paul is interesting and he can expand the electorate. you would've thought he would be a top-tier candidate. three comingo or to where we are right now. nicolle: i think it was a misread to say that the rejection of washington

that people would turn to the libertarian side. they were just fed up with the establishment. itn: presumably you think had something to do with foreign policy. it has diminished the market for a neo-isolationist. nicolle: his branded foreign policy was to do less. less spending on the military. i don't think that is the answer to what ails people. will: clearly donald trump was not in the top 10. nor ben carson. a couple more things to talk about before we close the show. we'll be right back. ♪

john: we didn't talk about the peyton manning story. .t's alleged use of hgh nicolle: love's peyton manning. tell us what you think about this? al jazeera has done a lot of great journalism. this was not one of their better programs. the whole thing was shoddy. it started out as an interesting documentary. he got a lot of doctors to speak openly. one of the suppliers said the name peyton manning and the needle went off the record for

the documentary and everything went off the rails. it is up for debate whether manning is guilty or not guilty. the documentary was so poorly put together that that is off the table. you already didn't like peyton manning, you will he did steroids. nicolle: the key witness to accused manning has since come out and recanted what he said. the substance of the documentary has now been totally undercut. will: he is recanted because he was caught on hidden camera. john: we have to go. if you are in d.c. you can catch us on the radio. sayonara. ♪

>> a grand jury has decided not to indict a police officer who shot cleveland boy. in chicago another police shooting has raised questions about the city's use of lethal force. a police officer shot and killed two people who were both black. says their troops have retaken ramadi. it is strategically important and lies in the province that links iraq and syria. thousands of air passengers are trying to get home after christmas