>> i'm mark halperin. >> and i'm john heilmann. with all due respect to bernie i'm a little disappointed you only did it twice, but at least you inhaled! ♪[music] >> hello. welcome to monday! and a brave and exciting new week in this thing of ours. is, the u.s. presidential race, especially the red-hot republican contest. a little bit of late-breaking news affecting the race overall. former new york city mayor, michael bloomberg, the man who owns this company, has decided an independent bid for the white house this year. more on that in just a moment. but tomorrow, voters in

michigan, idaho, mississippi and hawaii will all head to their polls. this week also begins the final countdown to the march 15 contests, where they kick off of winner take all portion the fight. if donald trump cleans up on thatday, the cw has it very little can be done to stop him from winning the nomination, is why his rivals maybe have opened the floodgates of t.v. attack ads. here's an example of some. >> former students say trump university was a scam. domainp supports eminent abuse. >> he uses sleevely bankruptcy laws to avoid playing workers. immigrants!gal >> trump refuses to denounce the kkk. >> he has a very record and it's very liberal. >> universal health care. >> i am going to take care of everybody!

>> erratic. unreliable. >> trafficking conviction. prior mafia ties. isn't a drug cartel. these were donald trump's business associates. of negativity.t on saturday, trump split four cruz, whichh ted weaker than expected showings pretty much everywhere. mean while, news agencies continued to up their scrutiny. mr. trump's campaign faced -- and from our colleague, jesse, who wrote a story about chinese investors courted to a company in new jersey. john, now, to ask the ultimate tostion about anyone trying become president, is donald trump losing control of his image? >> he is in danger of that, mark, i think, right now, in a at that has not been true any other time so far. and i'll tell you exactly why. lot not just that there's a

of negativity hitting him and because the press has amped up its scrutiny. it's because he's starting to winner.e he's not a winner is the key to donald trump's public image. on saturday made it clear he's vulnerable and vulnerability is not the look that donald trump wants to project. >> it's funny you bring that up. one of the other campaigns is thump, a loser, and you're going to see, over the next few days, the fruits of labor. you're having the virtuous from their point of view, and then the stories will show up in ads. has to performmp well. he's still in the driver's seat to be the nominee but he's going to perform well, particularly in the debate on thursday. , an now facing in florida onslaught of ads. he's facing a bigger onslaught oppositiononfident that he's faced to date in this race. >> and more than we maybe

enexpected 72 hours ago. the races on saturday, his decision to pull out of cpac, the continuing reverberations of his debate performance, none has him.good for he hasn't totally lost control of his public image is yet, but really the pressure is on him way he has never felt before since he entered the race last june. have settled on two things. one is that he's a conman. the other is he's crude. a certain power to both of those. 15,he final sprint to march a lot of the attention has to florida. there's a new monmouth university poll out today that the florida senator, marco rubio, trailing trump by just 28 points. in third place with 17%. instead of allowing a two-man little marco and big donald, cruz now seems to want a piece of the action himself. allies are ramping up their anti-rubio efforts in dorida, in an attempt to

something. john, what is ted cruz up to in take all sunshine state? >> i think ted cruz was under the impression that marco rubio be able to win that race and that cruz and his people have been quite straightforward. have said they're only going to play in states where they think they have a chance to win. if the imagine that polls are tightening in the way -- or if rubio is trailing, within the margin of error, i can't imagine why the cruz campaign would go into florida. if they think that rubio is doomed, it makes a lot of sense for them maybe to get into that contest. the question is, how week is rubio? i think that poll, if it's that rubiouggests still has a chance to win that state. >> we'll see where it is. cruz.ings in it for ted one is maybe he can somehow find a way to win a three-way contest isre, because john kasich not going to be a factor for the win. again, all that matters in the statewidening popular vote. but the other possibility is to rubio out.back

while there are those like mitt theey who think the more merrier, cruz is fooive focusedn justng the winner down to him or trump. while i think he should want florida, because he's got to keep trump from getting wins in florida and cruz and super pac's believe this is a more thing. you.agree with i think they are overestimating their ability to end up -- to win the overall delegates, a battle here down the line, given the weakness of cruz's position and a lot of the states where he'd be going one-on-one with trump down the line. florida and ohio, i'm not sure that there's a chance that cruz has. looking at the map and the calendar, for them to ultimately knock trump out, it could be a miscalculation. >> after trump lost some contests over the weekend, the big editorial read, the g.o.p. chase isn't over. kasich's name, though, was

not mentioned anywhere in that piece. of rubioall the talk potentially dropping out, we keep hearing our colleagues jump to a trump-cruz contest. john sort of did it just now. government did not do any well, and he still has zero wins, he did get a celebrity endorsement over the weekend. arnold schwarzenegger, his old and that's his support. and kasich seems to be playing he has achigan where chance to do well tomorrow. there's a new poll that shows upich in third place, moving to 21%, ahead of rubio and within the margin of error. he may be inggests second place now. john, why does the media or discountignore kasich's chances of making it to the final? >> a lot of it has to do with these poll numbers. let's not let the kasich have takenhich i seriously, all throughout, even though some of our colleagues not let them move

the goal posts. john weaver talked about coming here.higan and winning right now, john kasich is still way of being competitive, potentially winning the case.ine if kasich ends up in third place, the press is right to discount his possibilities, a prettyhis is important state for him where i'm sitting right now. >> it's important but i do think in michiganes well and wins ohio and rubio loses three-way race, california, kasich, cruz, trump. cruz, trump,asich, i think kasich has a chance to be in this. it's not just the press. talked about this before, i've been stunned at how little has thoughthment about kasich, particularly the governor class. have a chance, particularly if he surprises in michigan and wins in ohio. michael bloomberg has if decided not to run for president this year. he made the announcement just in a bloomberg view

column with hillary clinton, on democratice the nominee and the clock ticking for filing deadlines to get on the ballot. set aside his ambitions, writing, quote, when i look at the data, it's clear that if i entered the race, i could not win. i believe i could win a number enough to winnot the votes necessary to win the presidency. is that whythe end, the mayor decided to go with no-go? a i will say this, not in brown-nosing way. you and i have said all along, what we saw in 2008 and '12 that the only way this race isinto if he saw a path to victory. not any other reason. ase hillary clinton became is, i washe is shhh she certainly he would not run. now we are there. think he wanted donald trump to be the president of the united states, as many problems hillary have with

clinton. he has more with trump. him running now would likely presidency to donald nominee. he is the >> it's going to be either trump or cruz. the mayor could have gone into a three-way contest with clinton and either trump or cruz. while you could gain a possible to winning, more likely you'd give the white house over to either cruz or trump, which is not something he wants. he doesn't agree with hillary clinton on everything, but he in, he'd bef he got running a risk, have to spend a lot of money and he might probably, just an empirical fact, the most likely outcome helping the republicans win the white house and he didn't want that at least not two. when we come back, the fallout from last night's democratic wolverine state, after these words from our sponsors. ♪

>> hillary clinton's campaign has a new radio ad on the air in michigan. sound bite from last night's democratic debate in flint when she claims that voted against the money used to bail out detroit's industry. sanders pushed back, calling quote,'s words, disingenuous. >> to suggest that when you vote against a bailout of wall street, and against the crooks on wall street who destroyed this economy, to suggest that voting against the automobile industry is very disingenuous, and it is factually incorrect. it may be good politics but happens to be just incorrect. >> sanders has in fact been outspending clinton on the airwaves of let,

highlighting his message of income and equality, in a state hardest hit in the recession. still, he is behind in the latest michigan polls. did to sanderson last night was a classic political move, holding him on oneable for a vote element of a larger bill. but it's working. the media is buying it. john, even before this latest gambit, sanders was not as he needed to in michigan. why is bernie sanders not doing better in this state? look, i mean, i think he's maybe doing better than the and doing better than we think, in the sense that way --look at the with the way the clintons have been playing, hillary clinton, chelsea clinton, bill clinton, all in this state over the weekend, making late trips that no one expected them to make. that of democrats noted and said, they must be seeing something in the internal polling that sanders is doing public polling suggests. that said, he, as with everybody else in the countries, bernie sanders starts with a huge

deficit with hillary clinton in states where he has not spent a lot of time. this may be one of those races where, like in nevada, if the campaign was a week longer or two, sanders could be in a position to win it. but he's just going to run out guess. here, is my >> i think she still has the has not and he still cracked the code on winning non-white voters. state where the clintons are known, it's very difficult for him to win. he starts with too much of a deficit. also think he's just not been able to spend as much time there and get his message out. debate, iight in the think he kind of typified where he's got somes tactical points that are stronger than hers. with,t she comes in again -- i'm not saying she's the only one who does this -- but she comes in with a preplanned thing on this auto bailout. media.s, dominates the he's not scoring strategic wins over her, just tactical, and not must have -- not

enough. heading into tomorrow's primaries, clinton still has collected more than double the number of delegates that the so far.senator has that includes super delegates in winning. but she is democrats have two more states michigan andow, mississippi. and then five big states to vote next week. on track andays wins those states with decent margins, when can she end this contest, even if sanders continues to compete? >> like on the republican side, mark, a lot is riding on march 15. different kind of stakes. from hillary clinton's point of view, if she can win michigan tomorrow, which will be a big test, she'll then have a big wind at her back, going into florida and ohio. to's favored by everybody win this florida and not win it small, win it big. and ohio, iflorida think not only as a matter of delegates but also as a symbolic race will be not

du jour sense but over de facto sense. >> if she wins big in these states, florida and ohio next week, the math will be decisive. i don't like what happens to candidates. i don't like the fact that the dwindleverage starts to down when they lose. sanders thinks he's getting less coverage now. see what happens in a week if he's not won any of those three states or done change thelse to delegate math. as much as she's been dominant delegates, if she wins all three states, she will get even more super delegates and the math will be very for him, really mathematically impossible, barring some huge change in the race. >> they put out that memo over the weekend, that pointed out that going into saturday's had a bigger delegate lead in pledge delegates, not even super

delegates, than barack obama ever had over hillary clinton in 2008. a pretty excelling document -- compelling document to get worse going if sanders loses. >> coming up, take out your downllas, because we break a political ad, hitting the sunshine state, after this. ♪

>> florida primary for the republicans is a huge battleground. that is why there are a lot of new political ads surfacing on the florida airwaves which holds that winner take all primary a week from tomorrow. many of the spots are targeting donald trump. rubio.w targeting marco we are going to take a look at some, starting with one, from groups.he anti-trump it's called the america future fund.

it features military veterans concern about the possibility of donald j. trump being commander in chief. >> when i heard donald trump insult my fellow prisoners of from vietnam, by calling us losers, that was the most comment i think i heard from a politician in my entire life. aump would not have survived p.o.w. experience. he would have been probably the first one to fold. >> i'm michael waltz. i served multiple tours in afghanistan. trump hasn't served this country a day in his life, essentially dodged the draft in vietnam. he's been fed through a silver spoon, went to boarding schools, so tough, he felt like he was in the military. all donald trump has served is himself. >> john, this ad goes to the meme but alsohief is part of a larger thing, saying trump is just not a plausible president.

we shouldn't make trump our president. what do you think? think whenever you can put military veterans into service of an ad like this, making kind strong factually based kind of accusations, i think it's very powerful technique. the ad, i think, aesthetically strong and substantially is problematic for trump. >> trump still has not released his promised list of foreign policy, national security advisors. and i think that we'll see -- he's lucky, he's lucky there's in this race who is a commanding national security this meme would hit him, i think, even harder. all right. also on the wrong end of an onslaught of attack ads in his home state, including a series actually of ads, from ted cruz's super p.a.c., called keep the promise. hitting the florida as senator on his past support for sugar

subsidies. rubio hasrs, marco been making it snow for big sugar in washington. so-called conservative marco rubio has been taking your hard-earned tax dollars and giving them to pay his buddies who run big sure with government subsidies. did you know big sugar is run by billionaires who have funded marco rubio's political career? thisnow who else practices corporate cronyism? hillary clinton? ofco rubio, the king corporate welfare. >> that same super p.a.c. blastingg cruz is also rubio on immigration and his voting record in the senate. ago, in a debate, you were clear on this. you said an earned pathway with amnesty. yet you've changed your mind here. why? >> do you support a path to citizenship for immigrants in illegally?states but >> if you don't want to vote on thegs, don't run for senate. >> really? rubio talks up his national

security experience but did you he skipped 18 defense votes, including one to arm the kurds to fight isis? rubio, absent on national defense. >> so, john, florida is a date where negative ads do have a history of working. but i'm wondering what you think the means that cruz allies on in histting rubio home state? >> they seem strong to me, in the sense that they feel like ads that should have been run against rubio or could run two months ago, three months ago, and they seem strangely out of time and context, given the tenor of the conversation about marco rubio now and the ways in which he losing altitude because of the way that she's conducted himself -- he's conducted himself in the against donald trump over the course of the last week. again, they just seem strangely of time in some way, and so maybe not as -- kind of in keeping with where we are

as they might otherwise be. >> this florida primary is a closed primary, republicans only. and this is an electorate that's a lot of its news and information from fox. new donald at this trump campaign ad. it's a 60-second spot and we're going to begin airing shortly. and this 60-second spot, it floridato question the senator's ethics. >> corrupt marco rubio has spent defrauding the people of florida. as a legislator, he flipped on a after making a quick $200,000 from selling his house bill'smother of the lobbyist. party'sthe republican credit card to pave his driveway and live it up in las vegas. got caught, he said he had used the wrong credit card but he had used the same card for sixrty flights between miami and tallahassee. then, billed the state for the

same airline tickets and until, once cash, again, he got caught. on top of it all, rubio has been total no-show in the u.s. senate, with the worst voting record of all. marco rubio. all-talk,rrupt no-action politician. >> i'm donald trump and i this message. have much money that trump is putting behind that ad. now byio is being hit negative ads now, both by cruz allies and by the trump company. that's not great for him. >> no. i think the trump ad is stronger ads.the other the negative ads that go to character, i always think, if well, are more effective than ones that go to ideology. a new a anti-trump ad potentiallythink is effective, because it's trump's

own voice. i still think the debate on is a bigger deal than any of these ads. but if i'm rubio, i'm a little concerned, and rubio's allies, they're being hit now by two people. trump's being hit by lots of people. and cruz is not being hit by anybody. >> anyone. right. >> at least as far as we know. when we come back, the inside michigan democrats view the race in their primary tomorrow. to debbie dingell, a clinton supporter, after this. ♪ ♪

♪ john: our next guest is an amazingly popular figure in michigan.

that is debbie dingell. she has represented the 12th district. she succeeded her husband, john dingell. you have a long history in michigan politics. thank you for coming. tell me what you think about the morning after of the day of the democratic debate in flint, and last night and the democratic primary. you are a big hillary clinton supporter. understanding where you are coming from, what do you see? rep. dingell: i think the numbers in the polls are not reflective. i think bernie has worked the state intensely. that has gotten people excited. i'm not going to be surprised if the polls tighten. i think hillary clinton will win tomorrow when the voting occurs, but he has been working the state hard and is getting a lot of people excited. i think you will see that. donald trump is going to win the republican primary.

john: it seems to me that if there is any state that is tailor-made for the sanders message, this should be that state. the polls have shown him back by 25 points. there are a few showing him getting a little closer. i am a little surprised that he has not caught on more here given the travails of the economy, given the anti-trade message. he has done some big events here. are you at all surprised it has taken him so long to get traction? rep. dingell: no, because people have not focused on who he is or what he is talking about or his message has not gotten out until he went on air with his ads. this is analytical. in order for people to hear what you are talking about, you have to see it. it took paid media. he has more earned media than since he first did his zoom in at the dearborn uaw rally. i think that people's attention.

john: i get as a political observer you see chelsea clinton, bill clinton, hillary clinton all here over the weekend. to me, call me stupid, i look at that and say that is a family that might be concerned about what the state of play is in this race and the polls may be a little more generous to hillary clinton than the reality is. rep. dingell: you are anything but stupid. you and your partner are two of the finest political minds that i know. obviously, they would not the in -- to be in the state if they weren't concerned, but i think it is good because i think their presence starts to give it the emotion they need to have, to have that momentum. i think she did a very good job with the debate last night. this is a state that had hard times, has really been burned by idealism. governor snyder, popular governor who talked a good game,

but unfortunately, flint became a disaster because he was not , someone who had real world experience. he had to combine the business and the political world. i think you will see that translate into tomorrow's vote. both candidates have shown same values. a lot more substantive than the republican side, who talked more about the male anatomy more than the problems people have in michigan. up.word auto never came among the things that did come up, the auto industry was not one of them. rep. dingell: that was very good. having said that, i think there is pragmatism, this is a woman who knows how to deliver. john: if you boil down sanders message, the way he tries to contrast himself about -- against your candidate he goes , back to the 90's. he says the repeal of glass-steagall. so thoseelfare reform,

are things that a lot of democrats in this state, i imagine, are receptive to. what is the answer if you are hillary clinton? oil down to that. -- boiled down to that. how does she effectively answer those, which are cutting critiques? rep. dingell: she needs to be very strong, which he did. she talked about the economy and for actually fighting for men and women and that they take care of everybody, that you create jobs for everybody. a sort of message of the 60's. if you go way back, the henry ford message about people are building cars and making income , then they can afford to buy a car. that is what she was talking about last friday. she was strong in telling that she would oppose the tpp, which is the latest trade agreement. i worked for general motors when nafta went through. we all knew we were in a global marketplace. about, we have to compete in the global marketplace, therefore you need

agreements like this. but i think we did not see, and have seen, now, is the impact of currency manipulation. that is what donald trump is talking about. i am one of the strongest leaders in congress against tpp. john: how long did it decide -- did it take you to decide to go against tpp? rep. dingell: not long. john: it looks transparently political to some people. why did it take hillary clinton salon? -- so long? rep. dingell: it would appear that way, but i have had a discussion with her and she gets it. this is a woman who picked up the phone and said, what do i do? what do i need to know? i think she has been respectful, having been secretary of state. it is someone who brings is a very seasoned, someone who is drinking experience. i think she is someone who wanted to not undercut a person she worked for. this was last friday, she did oppose the tpp several months ago. john: she tried to hit bernie sanders against the export-import bank.

how many people know what that is? rep. dingell: it is probably not the most important. thes important to some of smaller businesses. i think it's more important to talk about what she did do. she really was one of the leaders in 2008 on the auto -- i don't want to use bailout. it was the backbone of the american economy. if the auto industry had gone down, the devastation in this country would have been great. she was there. john: bernie sanders has spent a lot of time in your district. to give you a chance to take a shot at him, did any of the things he did on the debate stage last night strike you as -- some women reacted badly to the tone he used. were you in that camp? rep. dingell: i think they have the same values, i respect them both. i did not like his attitude last night. he got very short and very disrespectful. what really did surprise me is i think he was surprised when she talked about his not supporting

the auto bailout and that is something that he should have been prepared for in debate prep. i think he was a bit taken aback. john: and tried to clean it up today. thanks to congresswoman debbie dingell. italy's great to see you. up next, we have donald trump and the trump tower. we have the chinese and their relationship to the building. and our bloomberg investigative reporter jesse drucker. , all of which comes after these messages. ♪

♪ mr. trump: the greatest abuse of a country abuse is china. what they have done to us is the greatest single theft in the

world. they have taken our jobs, they are taking our money. we are bringing our jobs back. mark: that was from last month night of the south carolina primary. with donald trump ripping on one of his favorite targets. awever, it turns out that building power in new jersey is being funded largely by a government program that allows foreign investors to skip ahead in the immigration line and get a visa in return for investments. totally legal, but if you spend your days a night's railing against china, it could be a political problem. joining us on the new york set with the details, bloomberg investigative reporter jesse drucker. explain this program called eb five. jesse: if you have half $1 million and you are seeking a green card, the u.s. has a program where, for qualifying to -- development projects, if you

are willing to put into the $500,000 project, you can get a two-year visa, that if everything works out with the project, you will end up getting what amounts to permanent residency for you and your family. the program has been around for around 25 years. it has really started to take off in the last five or six years. developers love it as it has turned into basically a cheap form of financing for high-end real estate developments because the applicants, the people putting up the visas worth $500,000, aren't really interested in getting a return, they just want to get the green card. what has happened the last few years is the government as given out tens of thousands of pieces -- visas through this program. in the last few years, it has been overwhelmingly from china. last year the government gave out 10,000 visas and 85% were from people to china. -- two people from china. mark: this program is being used

in connection with a donald trump project in new jersey. tell us about the project and the extent of which the program is being used for. jesse: five or six years ago, a developer licensed a trump name luxurylt a high-rise condominium development called plaza residents. it is on the water, has incredible views of manhattan. two years ago, jared kushner, who is married to trump's daughter, announced they would be building a sister i property. a nearly identical tower that will be luxury rentals. this is going to be called trump bay street. typically donald trump for the , last 25 years has developed and build few buildings. he has built some, but for the most part, his real estate business is at the -- business of licensing his name to other developers. of that.ome version we don't exactly know what the financial arrangement is between him and his son-in-law, but he is using the trump name on the

building that he is building. the financing for the project, one quarter of the financing, about $50 million, is coming from the eb5 program. in other words, the kushner team went out and found 100 people, almost entirely from china, who each put in $500,000, providing in loans to help build this $50 million building. said, it is about a quarter of the financing of the building. given the politics, why take the money from china? is this the only place this project can find enough investment to build? jesse: i think one of the reasons the program is very popular is because it is basically free money. the investors don't really want a return on their investment. they want the green card. you might have to borrow for a bank at 8% or 10%. with these investors, you can essentially give them know -- no return.

it's like getting 1/4 of your financing for no return. the reason it is of interest is that the department of homeland security and gao have raised questions and concerns about the inadequacy of the screening process of where the money comes from. they argue it could enable money laundering. it could jeopardy -- there are concerns a could jeopardize national security. two years ago, there was an internal department of homeland security memo that senator charles grassley read on the floor that raised these very questions. just a few months ago, the gao followed up with a similar question. mark: we have to go in a second. there is nothing illegal, obviously, about this program. although the optics might be bad trump could argue that this is , good business. he is getting investment for a project that does not require anything much from them and does not have to pay the same rate of return. jesse: that is true. but he is raising money through a government program that basically all government

overseers of u.s. troubled and , could be enabling dirty money to enter the country. mark: could be. more due diligence coming up. jesse, thanks very much. coming up, steak. you will see what i mean in a moment. if you are watching in washington dc, you can now listen to us on bloomberg radio, radio 99.1. we will be right back. ♪

♪ mark: the stakes in this election are really high, so last night on "the circus, we " the show we produce, we featured a dinner that mark mckinnon and i attended with

hardened veteran republicans at a steakhouse in the washington dc area. to get their sizzling takes and what is exactly happening with their party. >> everybody around this table that i know, we have been in every presidential campaign probably since 1980 in varying degrees. in trump's problem, you don't know what his compass is. >> how problematic is that for the future of the party? >> before it is over, it is usually problematic. -- usually problematic. ipad2 talk to people sometimes, some around the table, who say why don't you republicans do something about this guy? >> i am sorry. this is not the soviet union. you can't call a meeting and decide trump is out. >> and we hate that. [laughter] >> trump is doing well for one reason. he understands the climate and culture of america today better than any businessman.

mark: how do you feel about that? the republican nominee may be someone none of you know. >> shellshocked. below third. -- bewildered. republicans are hierarchical. >> we fall in line and trump has interrupted that cycle. >> donald trump, no one thought he was a political leader until six months ago. he's not articulate, he is not poised, he is not informed. all he has going for him is a lot of votes. why hasn't any of that hit home? here we are. here we are. >> i think everyone is buying into that he is inevitable, and can't be stopped. i think he can. mark: what are you planning on doing to stop them? [laughter] >> we are working on it. >> we were effective in iowa, and that was enough to knock him into second. katie packer. mark: what is your role in that pac?

>> tolling, which is now public record. mark: which concerns you more, that he would lose the general or how he would do as president? losing the election. what we are facing is a choice between hillary and trump. mark: what you saying? >> vote for the lease of two evils. >> you know for sure trump would be a better president than hillary clinton? >> no, but it is a risk i would be putting -- i'm willing to take. >> if we split our party, we can't put it back together. humpty dumpty will not come back together. >> that is the great dividing line. mark: you care more about him being president? >> i am scared if he is president. i think he is an authoritarian -- figure. >> deport 12 million people, build a wall border, it is so violent compared to what i believe about america and the republican party. >> i travel around the world a lot, and trump is a laughingstock. the world, whatever that is, is at peace with hillary clinton. >> the next president will

decide the direction of the supreme court for four years, minimum. you want to give that to her? it is going to be some lefty thinko. >> what is? >> you are right. >> i have never voted for democrat. i've never voted for anyone other than a republican in the united states. mark: that episode of "the circus" is online now. if you subscribe to showtime, you can watch it. john, what is your take on the establishment as we enter this new week, and how they view their chances they had to stop donald trump or make peace with him? john: i think on the basis of everything, they can tell that their intent -- their chances have increased a little bit and they must be feeling happy. the money is flowing. there will be of bunches of ads trying to take trump.

i think what comes through in that scene, is the big dividing line in the establishment between those who are more worried about what would trump would do as the nominee and what he would be like as president , and those who say we should try to stop trump at all cost , even if we disaffected a large number of voters because having him as a nominee with redefined the partyedefined that would be bad in the long term for the republican party. mark: there is a lot of regret about the way things have gone and why they did not move to stop trump sooner. that longtime pollster it has -- has just now for the last couple of weeks, gearing up to figure out if there's a way to stop in. there is an effort in new hampshire in particular, which might have allowed an establishment candidate to do better. john: there is no question that if trump becomes the nominee, there will be a lot of looking back. if that is the kind of the

-- if you think about what is happening right now, if that is the implication of your comment, if you think about that happening in september, october, november, it would have been a different race. mark: the other thing that comes through, there is no denying that is a group of very smart people, who all happen to be older white men, and that is representative of the establishment. they are aware. they are aware that the country is seeing this race different than they see it in front of the ways. but they still are creatures of their habitat. john: they have a long-term problem. no matter what happens to trump, the kind of people, the kind of voters who propelled donald trump are now the core of what the moderate republican base is. , ase people are people who ron kaufman suggested, the people in that room do not understand very well. we do on showtime is on sunday nights at 8:00. up next, what is the correct name for tomorrow's series of primaries?

the answer, when we return. ♪

♪ mark: who won the day? john: i will be accused of setting up for saying this, because i will mention the guy who writes our paychecks. mike bloomberg won the day because he realized rationally that he was not likely to win, and because of that, decided not to do this and kept himself from getting engulfed in the mayhem and chaos that is the presidential race. mark: hillary clinton wins the day. besides a bloomberg not running she comes out of the debate in a , strong position and bernie sanders totally amassed in the issue of voting against the auto bailout. -- and mashed in this issue voting in the auto bailout. tomorrow is a big name for the presidential primaries.

if you have trouble coming up with a name on it, here is some to help. >> the sprint is on for another super tuesday. >> think of it as super tuesday junior. >> super tuesday part two. >> super tuesday, take two. >> super-super tuesday. >> super tuesday, round two. >> super tuesday number two. >> super double tuesday. >> just hours before super tuesday, the sequel. >> i love sequels. >> this time it's personal. mark: you're welcome, america. coming up on "bloomberg west," emily chang sits down with jeff weiner. until super tuesday the sequel we will see tomorrow. , sayonara. ♪

♪ it is tuesday, the eighth of march. i'm rishaad salamat. this is trending -- "trending business." ♪ here is a look at what we are watching. asia-pacific markets, the economy shrinking again in the last quarter, after strengthening briefly. another trade slowdown, with exports and imports going again. hsbc winning approval for a solo credit card in china, joining

citigroup and bank of east asia, worth more than a trillion dollars. more about that story and more, follow me on twitter, use #trendingbusiness. across the board, looking out for trade numbers. we are on standby. let's look at what is going on with the markets. shery ahn: lots of markets right now turning negative. pulling down a just stocks today. japan falling for a second consecutive day, down 1.8%. stronger yen is hitting the outlook for exporters, not to mention we have final gdp data showing that the economy theracted one by 1% in fourth quarter. also a rally we saw in chinese stocks, not being sustained. shanghai composite down 2.5%.