you don't see that every day. introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. comcast business. built for business. john: i am john heilemann. mark: i am mark halperin. with all due respect to dreams of republicans ability, the race is dog eat dog. >> he could not run for dog catcher. >> i do not think he could be elected dogcatcher. >> i think we heard that, mr. trump. >> some suggesting this is dog whistle politics. >> lies like a dog. >> romney choked like a dog. >> choked like a dog. he knows i know that.

♪ mark: hello on this semi-super tuesday. republicans and democrats are holding primaries in michigan, mississippi with contests in idaho and hawaii. polling suggests donald trump and hillary clinton will have no trouble sleeping tonight. but that is only if there are no surprises tonight. we will talk about the democratic race in a bit. on the republican side, there are 150 delegates at stake. no winner take all. do not expect big changes to the standings at the end of the evening. more important is momentum. donald trump might recapture with big wins tonight.

if he wins mississippi, he completes domination of southern states and counters the narrative that support is fading. a close primary in idaho could expand his support into western territory, which would be crucial to ted cruz's efforts. bellwetheruld be a rust belt state. it has had a lot of recent economic trouble. won, it could foreshadow west virginia, illinois, and wisconsin. the only close contest is pennsylvania. they are a lot like michigan. john, what is the best case scenario for trump tonight, and what is the worst-case scenario? john: you look at public polling, some of which is not,ble, some of which is

it is not without possibility donald trump could win in mississippi, michigan, and idaho. he extends his delegate lead and ends up with recaptured momentum. the other possibility is true, that one or more of those states, he could lose or finish a hair ahead of a particular rival, whether it is kasich or cruz. suddenly, you have a continuation of the storyline that trump is faltering. people will watch the margins and what percentage of the vote to gains in those places. everyone is looking to see if trump slowingbout israel. mark: -- is real. mark: there is this weird thing where the first wave of exit polls come out.

is ahead, the race narrows. people see that psychologically in the media. he needs everything to go right tonight. he needs to finish with big leads. if he wins them all, i think he will be fine. best for him would be to have wins and match the margins in public polling. then he can go into super next week with a big head of steam. michigan, there is a lot of discussion about john kasich. it is reminiscent of the conversations we heard in new hampshire, when he made a late break in new hampshire. there is a lot of talk of kasich finishing second and rubio collapsing. and a slim possibility that kasich could conceivably finish first. that would be a big deal. mark: big for kasich, trump,

rubio, and cruz. in a new poll, donald trump is still leading the field with 34%. ted cruz is second at 25% nationally, followed by rubio at 18% and kasich at 13%. but the poll is not all good news for donald trump. cruz leads bylly, 41%. of the story gets more dire for the donald when republicans and democrats were asked to weigh in on traits of donald trump. honest and trustworthy? 69% in the survey said no. understand problems of people like you? 72% said no. temperament to be president?

72% said no. john, what stands out? john: what stands out is the way the numbers are reminiscent of the kind of numbers donald trump had when he entered the race in june of 2015. we looked at those and said, donald trump may be a celebrity, but these are not the numbers that will get him the nomination. he engineered an incredible turnaround between june and january. now, it looks like he is back to where he started in terms of traits. lots of delegates and millions of both, that he is back where he was in terms of traits. that is bad news if he is the nominee. you can win the nomination ugly or pretty. trump is on the path to be the nominee, but without having done the work he might be getting done now to expand his base

within the electorate. everyone assumes he will find ways to start trying to reach out, but he may be winning this toier than he has to or need to improve his standing before the general election. john: 2012, we all talked about the damage inflicted on mitt romney while he was fighting for the republican nomination. compare the things said about romney to the things that are being set about donald trump now and what he is taking, there is no comparison. stuff hobbled him in the general election. mark: people say, look how bad these numbers are. other people will say, we got to stop beating up on the guy who will be the nominee. insteadto support trump of attacking him with rhetoric. marco rubio's campaign has been

smack down a cnn report from last night that some of his advisers have doubts he can win his home state. here is rubio's communication director, disputing that report on msnbc and talking about his boss's chances in florida. >> we are confident we can win and it will be a new day. we will have more money and momentum. mark: the rubio campaign blasted for spreadingm the report on social media in hawaii. statementaid in a they did not tell volunteers to post the story. they asked them to take the post down immediately when they found out. the center of the controversy is whether rubio might drop out of

the presidential race before florida next week. wonder whateople effect that would have on the nomination fight. if rubio gets out, would that be a good thing for the stop trump movement? thing towould be a bad the extent the stop trump movement is trying to get to a contested convention movement. rubio is weaker in florida than the movement would like. i think him dropping out would be bad for the movement on the whole. the only person for whom it would be good is ted cruz. mark: regardless of what happens tonight, i think it is the case that trump losing florida would be a huge blow. the fact that he talked about it now as a second home state.

rubio has a tough climb to beat bemp, but the rewards would massive not just for him but the stop trump movement. trump would show tons a vulnerability. john: rubio is not that strong in florida. trump is strongly favored. isn't revealed the most likely to beat him in florida? he is more likely than ted cruz or kasich. it seems staying in is important. mark: it is not clear to me how strong ted cruz is in florida. lots of misdirection. trumpelieve the stop movement needs rubio to stop trump there above anything else going on, except for kasich in ohio. john: agree with that. mark: a little extra time. we will use it on this topic. bernie sanders in the wolverine

state tonight. our magic number after these words. ♪

♪ mark: new wall street journal poll in the democratic race shows hillary clinton's lead over bernie sanders has narrowed to nine points. national does not matter. all eyes on michigan today. suggest sanders faces a substantial gap going into today's primary. how close does he have to get to winning to exceed mystically set

expectations and change them from bernie fading to rising? john: if they got within single digits, that would be a victory, that is a lot of spin. if he came close, lost by five three, they could make a claim they are competitive in industrial states. orhe loses by double digits high single digits, whatever remaining wind there is in the sails will go out quick. mark: the correct answer is four or less. it only buys him time until next week. the question is, can he go to ohio, which is not winner take all for the democrats, can he beat her someplace? four would be considered a little come back. the republican

story is not so massive it shuts him out. say kasich winning michigan or coming close, bernie would be overshadowed. he needs four or less. john: i like your level of precision and definitive answer. mark: this is what i do. john: when you are that precise, i am in awe. when you think about this state, it is as prime a sanders territory as can be in terms of what has happened in the state, on globalization, wall street, oligarchy. looking at next tuesday, none of them are as favorable. florida, numeral going to win. illinois, hillary clinton was born there. he has to do really well here or he is going to get decimated. mark: bernie sanders leaves the

motor city in his rearview mirror. some of the michigan news coverage that went national may follow him to florida and other states next week and where there is a them a chronic debate tomorrow. it is more that he struggled to clarify his position on the auto industry bailout, which clinton mischaracterized. also saying not knowing what it was like to be living in a ghetto. there was the way sanders interrupted clinton several times during the debate after she interrupted him. successfully convinced the press that was disrespectful. you can tell by the way i'm setting this up i think bernie sanders got a bum rap. are these things actual

mistakes, or is the clinton campaign effectively spinning them that way because sanders is seen as weak and fading? john: i am largely with you. that are, inngs many cases, that sanders is being held to a high standards on. some of the things, if he was the winner and the scrutiny was intense, he would have gotten dinged on. but the clinton campaign is good at bringing the -- mark: faux outrage. john: they are great at faux outrage. they have done it well. no doubt this is the barbarism of good gets better and bad gets worse. mark: just wait until a general election if hillary clinton is the nominee and how much faux

outrage her campaign shows over who is the nominee. the outrage at bernie sanders has been outrageous. the media has been following it around, lemmings all. he is being asked about them. he is frustrated, and rightfully so. i am not siding with bernie sanders over hillary clinton, but what her campaign has done is not the issue. is the media, which has treated him horribly and made it tougher for him to compete in a fair way. john: he is also really tired. you can see how tired he is. he is not as precise as he would like to be in some of his language. mark: no question. coming up, a different kind of trump university. how donald trump has been molding his brand to the latest

news cycles. ♪

♪ yesterday, we discussed the question of whether donald trump was losing control of his public image, the worst thing that can happen to a presidential candidate. the last 24 hours, he has been trying to brandish and burnish the trump brand. he appeared on tv today and released a video on social media. we thought we would update you on how he was doing, starting with how he addressed recent controversies in television appearances, how secret service treat protesters at these events , and the arm raising pledge at

his rallies. a holocaust survivor says it reminds him of the nazi salute. i wonder how you feel about that comparison and whether it makes you want to not do it anymore? >> i think it is ridiculous. yesterday, i had 20,000 people in mississippi. tremendous crowds in michigan. sometimes we do it for fun. if there is anything wrong with it, i would not do it. when i say raise your hand, everybody raises their hand. i say jokingly, raise your hand if you swear to endorse me. the entire place practically is laughing and having a good time. they are raising their hand in a form of love. >> you get a lot of protesters. are you concerned about the level of violence in the audience? >> we do have, on occasion,

protesters. but there is no violence or anything. we have very few protests. mark: i think the pledge thing is ridiculous. i think they should be more proactive about the rules of engagement with protesters. trump handleay both was fine. john: i thought he was fine. i will say, we probably do not disagree -- i was in an african-american church in south carolina at a hillary event where they did the same thing. but context is everything. cases, it is out of control. i am not that worried about whether they put up their hand, but i'm worried about the tone, whether they are expressing and ugliness that could get dangerous. mark: i do not think either of these things could hurt trump now.

in the face of resistance from talisman, --n is beenlishment trump has pushing a message about what his success could mean. >> one of the biggest success stories in all of politics worldwide in the last decade is what happened with the republican party. people coming out to vote are up 70%. >> massive. >> i will take full credit for that, by the way. successful, these millions of people are not going to vote for rubio. the bottom line is they could not beat obama. romney was a disaster. could not beat obama twice. people are tired of it. mark: what do you think of how he is handling this issue? john: i think he is on strong ground. in angument he is making,

antiestablishment year, the way he is framing this issue is compelling. it does not solve a lot of other problems he has with public image, but on this front, he is doing well. mark: these are issues where people overstate the extent to forh trump will mean doom keeping the party unified. if he is able to do well in the next couple of weeks, he will reach out to the party and say, if you want to win, i am your only course. you have to maximize the chance of victory. john: i agree. mark: finally, reports on attack universityump seminars. donald trump released this video on facebook. ♪ much talk byo dishonest people about trump university.

marco rubiosenator is dying in the polls. he made a commercial with a few people. card on thereport school. quality about excellent of presentation, quality of everything. excellent, excellent. isk: trump university something the movement is pushing. how do you think the video addresses it? john: not very well. it looked amateurish. most university seems like -- to most people like a scam. failures, the thing he has done wrong, it is starting to stick. he is not doing a great job of rebutting it. mark: the thing we are heading

towards is the trump university and the military vets in the mp needs totru address them specifically. them.e story impact this video did not address that. john: he will also have to move to a better and more flattering format. mark: when we come back, florida man. you are watching in washington dc, you can listen to us in washington dc. fm. ♪

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chairman of the florida republican party, al. your candidate is out of the race. why are you not currently a big backer of marco rubio? the third or fourth stage of the grievance process, accepting what is going on. it seems to be a two-way race between ted cruz and donald trump. exit polls today seem to be reflected on what is going on in michigan and mississippi. i am not in the mood to be involved. i have not seen a persuasive case to get involved. two-person race. depending what happens on the 15th, i do not know if they can keep donald trump from getting to 1237.

ted cruz has a chance. i do not think anybody else has a chance. 0-50s no better than 5 anybody can stop donald trump. mark: has marco rubio asked for your support since jeb bush got out of the race? >> folks have been kind enough to reach out. i care for marco rubio. isthe candidates running, he my favorite, with kasich a close second. looking at the state of affairs today, i am ready to step back and not get involved. see if i can be one of those folks who puts in the effort to reunite the parties who we can avoid a disaster in november. mark: who is your preference between trump and cruz? >> i and certainly going to be supporting ted cruz if it is down to those two. mark: if you favor ted cruz and you are concerned trump will get

the nomination, why not do everything you can to have marco rubio beat him in florida? >> when you support somebody, it should not be for strategy. it should be what you think is best for you to do. right now, what is best for me is to do what i can to bring the parties together. you cannot ignore donald trump. or not,he gets to 1237 he will be a major force in the party. ted cruz and donald trump will find a way to coexist. donald trump will be so close to the finish line that he will on hissich or cruz ticket, or ted cruz can do the same. how itt bet is to see can be the best ticket to defeat hillary clinton, whether then take sides -- rather than take

sides in the primary. i need to figure out how i can and make two cents sure a ticket leaves out of cleveland that can compete. mark: marco rubio said he will win florida. is he? >> i hope he does for all the reasons we talked about. he seems to be in single digit in michigan and mississippi today. that is not a good momentum-builder. he needs to have a heck of a debate thursday. mark: i am so confused. i know you said you should not vote for strategic purposes, but marco rubio is not a stranger. you know him well. he needs help to keep the candidacy alive. why wouldn't you and jeb bush do everything you could to help him? well, for all the reasons i have told you. you get involved in supporting a second candidate if you think he

can ride the wave to cleveland. the case has not been made. mark: you think he has 0% chance of being the nominee? >> at this point, yes. i think he has a chance. has if he wins florida, he a chance to go to the open , butntion and be a player i do not see kasich or rubio being the nominee of the party. i think the nominee is going to be donald trump or ted cruz. mark: who would you favor in a general election in florida and nationally, trump versus clinton? >> i would say trump. two words for that -- supreme court. is theou think trump favorite for florida and the electoral college? >> if he has the right ticket and the right strategy. outlierntinues to be an

, he will put the race at risk. if he gets smart in a general election, he can beat hillary clinton. mark: what would it take for you to endorse donald trump? >> a lot. look, you have seen many candidates go from a primary to a general race and become a different candidate, become a more acceptable candidate to the mainstream. you do that by picking the right vice presidential nominee, picking the right team to help you to begin to transition. we will see what he has to say. if you moderates his point of view, i will support him. mark: who surprise do more in their reaction to donald trump in the last few weeks? chris christie or mitt romney? >> mitt romney. mark: when we have you back, you will explain that. appreciate the honesty, as always. al cardenas.

ruhle talkstephanie about wall street with mr. donald j trump, billionaire. ♪

♪ here now, our colleague and friend, stephanie ruhle, bloomberg politics in new york. thank you for coming on. the story of the last couple weeks has been the stop trump movement. you talked to people on wall street who are republican donors. what have you heard about what they think about that movement? >> the movement is definitely

there. people like joe singer and meg whitman on that conference call last week, pushing a campaign against trump. in florida alone, $10 million has been spent on anti-trump commercials. there are nonprofits where you do not know who is donating. wall street guys are savvy. given the power and momentum of trump, they do not want to publicly stop trump. holsinger has said he will spend and do whatever it takes -- paul singer has said he will spend and do whatever it takes. we have seen other candidates, mitt romney, get bullied by donald trump. wall street guys do not want that fame. john: why not? a lot of the people you talked

to sync donald trump would be a disaster for the american economy, their businesses. , as rich and powerful as they are, are they afraid to stand up against donald trump? >> less and less are saying he would be a disaster for the economy. they think more in terms of foreign policy. the wall street journal said he could rock the status quo. in terms of economics, they do not necessarily think that. they have been burned on the money front. think about the wall street money behind jeb bush that evaporated. chris christie, same story. you have seen guys backing john kasich in a big way. they are not giving up on him. they think there is a lot of potential. train, terms of the trump people have been saying, it is not going anywhere. but as it continues, people do

not want to go against him. .e is a classic bully nobody wants to get a beat down if they do not need to. they would rather sit on the sidelines and weight. this is a tough year on the market. the rich guys are flush with cash, but nobody is making a time of dough. john: what was the reaction on wall street on the kind of movers and shakers, millionaires and billionaires, what was the reaction to romney's's speech last week? did they applaud? did they think it was a waste of time? what was the reaction? >> they were happy to see him do it. they do not want to see him back down. many have been astonished, given mitt romney's massive private equity backing.

when he ran, he could not tell his own story. donald trumpted has been able to stand tall on the business front when that handicapped mitt romney. will hetion is, continue to stand up and fight or simply say, i do not need to do this? trump often pushes people out of the room. many wall street guys are saying, stay in the room and keep fighting, mitt. john: let me ask you this question. playing on what you said about foreign policy, further "the thats," one of the things came through was the foreign-policy question, the notion that trump is a laughingstock in the world community. they have made their peace with hillary clinton. do you hear that talk among wall street donors who are generally

republican? we do not like hillary clinton, but we know what to expect. donald trump is unpredictable, and we will take the devil we know? >> 100%. when i was in davos, every foreign leader you spoke to, more than the market sliding, they were concerned about trump the unknown. look at what is going on with regards to russia, oil prices, the slowdown in china. there is a global slowdown across the world. there are so many sensitive hotspots. wilddonald trump being as as he is, as unpredictable, people are concerned. many would say it is justified. when i interviewed donald and said, in your first 100 days, who are the foreign leaders you would call? he said, let's wait and see who calls me. that makes people unsettled.

they know what they will get with hillary clinton. with af we did end up contested convention in cleveland this summer, does wall that?t sheer that -- cheer >> wall street does not like uncertainty. they want to know what they are getting. give morehat will chaos and uncertainty in terms of the market, it will have more market participants on the sidelines and more wall street people that shifted hillary clinton. if you watch the debate sunday night, it was far more substantive, at least the wall street chatter, than you have seen out of republican debates. that is what wall street likes to know. the playing field, so they can

find their way around it. amazing, great, energetic stephanie ruhle. twong up, talk about the key states voting tonight, michigan and mississippi. ♪

♪ mark: we are joined by the chairman of the republican party in a state that is not michigan, but mississippi. , how would you

handicapped the race on the republican side? ground closer the than the poll last week that indicated trump had 41%. i think it is closer than that. i cannot gauge. it feels like the supporters of all four candidates are energized. mark: you are close to governor who had a last-minute endorsement about ted cruz. i wonder what you know about the governor's decision-making process of supporting someone who is not the favorite. corny, buthis sounds the governor does what he thinks is the right thing to do. he has been getting calls from everybody this whole time.

he just had not felt right about it. over the weekend, he thought about it. decided to do it. it was later than he would have preferred. but that is when he felt right about doing it. john: you are not just a great political scholar. you are a great cultural commentator. donald trump has been strong in your state for months. he spent a lot of time in mississippi, had a good reaction. what factors explain the strength of trump in mississippi? >> thank you for recognizing my cultural prowess. look, the people for donald trump and the people against him, in my opinion, are both very practical in nature, not ideological. , how aree for him say we going to do anything different if we have the same people going up there?

they believe it is a change from the status quo. that is why they are hard to move if they hear something that might be negative. some of the people opposed to him are opposed for the reason, maybe some of them for the substantive reasons mitt romney laid out. some of them for the practical reasons they are worried about him winning the general election. the reasons why mitt romney lost , donald trump may have those on steroids. however, he seems to be able to tervanize a blue-collar vo crowd that is the same constituency that governor bryant had. is an interesting thing to someone who brags about

how great his club is in a certain area, at the same time please a stadium full of blue-collar voters who would never think of going somewhere like that. i will ask you about the changes in the party. it was not that long ago that governor barbour was enormous lee popular in mississippi. he could not be any different than donald trump. donald trump is antiestablishment. has the mississippi republican party changed a lot in 10 years or so? >> i do not think so. let me push back a little on the notion that donald trump is antiestablishment. i think everybody in the race that is left is establishment. donald trump is probably more establishment in both parties

than i will be in the republican party in terms of influencing people. i am not saying it is a bad thing. it just seems like the truth. -- i do not think the party has changed. the same people that supported governor barbour are supporting the various candidates. to have linedem up exactly like people thought it would. not was the same a couple of years ago with the senate primary. governor bryant supported cochran at the time. a lot of elected officials supported the insurgent candidate. think we have changed any different than other parties in other states. some of the aspects are more

complicated because we had groups that did not exist when hayley came into office. mark: just wondering where you weigh in on this debate. if a candidate goes to a convention with a strong plur ality, is that person entitled to the nomination? >> here is what i have been sick state saying across the -- we are not like the democrats. we do not have superdelegates that can do whatever they want to. i do not know all the rules, but i am thankful we do not have those. the notion that the nomination will be taken away from whoever gets it will not happen. at the same time, if the rules provide a certain process happens if someone does not have the majority, we ought to follow the rules.

that is the only way to give voters confidence in the process. mark: do not show. in your haley barbour imitation, say whatever you want. >> that is probably the best i can do right now. nosef, keep the main thing the main thing. we will be right back with who won the day. ♪

mark:mark: on this a me super tuesday, who won the day? john: i can tell you who lost it. the republican senatorial committee. duckworthed, tammy

has a sad record of not standing up for veterans. in thet both of her legs iraq war. mark: double he problem attic. john kasich has the potential to win the day big. .com. out bloombergpolitics coming up next, emily chang speeds to jay kaplan. john and i will meet up in miami tomorrow for the debates. we will see you from the sunshine state. sayonara. ♪

>> you are watching "bloomberg west." and human nations rights groups are concerned about a multibillion-dollar plan

from the european union and turkey to handle the migrant crisis. migrants would arrive from greece and be sent back to turkey unless they apply for asylum. for each migrant sent back, a syrian already in turkey would be resettled in the eu. security officials in indonesia say the government will take all necessary steps to make sure president obama's plan to close the prison at guantanamo bay does not result in the return of an alleged terror chief who has been accused of heading an al qa group linkedlitant the bombings in indonesia. sexual transmission of the zika virus is more common than first thought. says there is evidence a spike in birth defects is caused by zika.