>> welcome to this edition of the best of "with all due respect." we had another super tuesday. after which, four republican candidates went down to three. president obama nominated judge merrick garland. we begin with the nation dealing with the fallout. we begin by looking out at the day when protests broke out for the show we produce in conjunction with bloomberg

politics. >> donald trump was interrupted at a rally in missouri. lee say there were 32 people arrested in st. louis. and another trump event is coming up shortly, folks are already in the room for that. >> there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of protesters on hand. the security does not have a handle on the situation here. >> tonight's rally will be postponed until another day. thank you very much. and please go in peace.

>> this is becoming violent, there is pushing and shoving going on inside this arena. this is total chaos. >> donald trump joins me live on the phone. you do not believe you have done anything to create a town where -- a tone where this would be encouraged? >> i don't take responsibility. nobody has been hurt at our rallies. >> do you regret saying any of those things about punching protesters? >> i do not regret it at all, we have had success with people. it is a love fest. >> you have no regrets about anything you have said? >> we have had great success and frankly i think we did a good

job tonight. i think a lot of people are giving us a lot of credit. hillary clinton: i want to say a few words about what happened in chicago last night. >> donald trump has created a toxic environment. >> the encouragement of violence and aggression is not only wrong, but dangerous. bernie sanders: donald trump has to be loud and clear and tell his supporters that violence at rallies is not what america is about and to end it. >> unlike donald trump, i do not ask people in the audience to an -- to punch them in the face.

donald trump: i have to do it myself -- to think i had such an easy life, what do i need this or? >> today in hickory, north carolina, trump appeared with chris christie and insisted that the coverage of the rallies was getting blown out of proportion. >> do you know how many people have gotten hurt? i think a sickly none, other than maybe somebody got hit wants. we go and these things are so incredible, it is a movement and a love fest and we love each other and we will do so well. i am a peaceloving person.

we love peace. >> at another event later in the day, sarah palin blamed the protesters and the mainstream media. sarah palin: what we do not have time for is all of the petty, stuff that is been going on with the "protesters." >> amazing how much this is dominating every piece of coverage for the year. is donald trump helped or hurt? >> i do not know whether any of this will hurt him in terms of his supporters. i know that to the extent there is an anti-trump movement, this is a galvanizing moment. there are many republicans who have thought donald trump would be -- would split the party in

various ways. i think a lot of establishment republicans watching on friday, seeing how he has reacted, not only not apologizing but in sometimes inciting things to a greater degree. they may not be able to stop him that if there is a way, there are a lot of republicans saying we do not want a nominee who will lose the general election and insight this kind of violence in the street. >> i think it will make him -- make it more likely that john kasich will when ohio. i think it will likely that the establishment will try to take the nomination away from him. john: i feel like for a lot of casual viewers, they already did not want trump but there is a sense of urgency now that was

not there before, having seen just the utter chaos and the way donald trump was not backing away or -- mark: i think people will still take ted cruz because donald trump behaved over the weekend and on the sunday shows, he been a -- he behaved with no finesse. he basically said i bear no responsibility. john: i know i just heard the bell but he has suggested his supporters should go to bernie sanders rallies and potentially cause trouble. he talked about how he might pay the legal bills for the guy who suck or punched the protester. just the wrong thing to do. we're just been talking about all of them. john kasich said donald trump is creating a toxic atmosphere. marco rubio says he is stoking anger for political gain.

he told me at the press that his party's front runner has created an environment that encourages nastiness. paul ryan said today that candidates must rest -- take responsibility for unrest. who is dealing with this in the right way, not just in terms of the ethical right thing but also in terms of ways that may give them political edge? mark: i do not think marco will find a way to win florida. he also has just been agonizing over how to react. john kasich has reacted consistently and i think it fits

with his brand. john: i think they have all handled it pretty well. i think ted cruz benefits more, i think he is more likely to be the nominee because he has more delegates. for establishment republicans who are trying to get comfortable with the idea of ted cruz, he did a lot this weekend to make them think he is rising to the situation -- to the occasion. mark: it all depends on how much this stuff goes on. i do not know why he would not call the young man who was punched in the face, and say i hope your ok. john: he does not seem to have a fingertip feel for the situation. he does for his supporters but not for other audiences. he is not doing anything to make them more comfortable. mark: there was a chance before that if he swept every state a

lot of establishment people would get in line. that will not happen now. now someone will benefit and i am not sure who. >> how one of the candidates could possibly steal the nomination away from john altra. -- donald trump. ♪

.> this is the 3000 block otherwise known as the bellagio, . this is the vault at the bellagio, beneath solid earth. we are going to rob it. >> hold the phone warner bros. lawyers. consider this, the american people may be witnessing the political heist of the century. if donald trump falls short of the nomination, he will still probably have more delegates

than anyone else. that means there is the opportunity for a long con. here to lay out the plan that would be a danny ocean style one, to walk us there how this -- walk us through how this could happen. it is all about the delegates, who they are, and their freedom to maybe switch vote. let's start with the month we are in now, even primaries and caucuses are still taking place, what has happened in this. you call the hunt. >> we would talk about who won how many delegates. the people who go to cleveland to fill the roles for their state have yet to be decided. there is a shadow campaign going on and a hunt to put your loyalists in slots.

last saturday, iowa was having their county conventions, they were selecting people who had been elected the night of the iowa caucus. those people will go to the convention. it is entirely possible, the goal for these other campaigns is, they want to find states where donald trump may be won the majority of delegates but did not get those. >> typically, delegates the vast majority bound on the first ballot, but it donald trump does not get a majority on the first alec, many of the delegates become free agents and their loyalty to trump become nonexistent. >> there are other things you vote on besides the nomination that will have a real impact. john: now we move onto the next phase, we move to the sell. who is getting sold?

>> there is a saying going around that you cannot have a brokered convention because there are no brokers. if there is a governor in the state, often that person basically runs the state party. you look at a state like south carolina. banca monte dei paschi di siena trump won all 50 delegates and yet, the people who are getting selected to be the drop -- the donald trump delegates at the convention, the people who will beep there are more likely to be live -- loyal to nikki haley or someone else. as long as candidates like --

can trump candidates take over those -- >> let's talk about may and the deal. >> what is remarkable is how acceptable practices that we would normally think of as improper are. it is not clear to me that you could actually be prevented from -- from offering someone cash for their boat. -- for their vote. john: then we get to june which is about the switch. talk about that. >> questions about who can be entered into nomination. which states are eligible to vote. we had a conversation about some of these irregularities that took place, that could be grounds to challenge the results in nevada, trumps state. if you want to knock nevada out, you will need to win a vote in the contest committee. that will end up going to the floor of the convention. >> would you need a majority of the total delegates?

>> in the past, there have been rule changes that make it impossible for the delegates from this state's who are being questioned to even vote. you just need a majority from people of non-trump states. >> after laying all this groundwork they would do what -- do what? >> you would start to see the nominations start to look like trojan horses. all of a sudden, the 50 delegates that donald trump was counting on end up going to ted cruz, or paul ryan or whoever it is. basically, the speaker and the parliamentarian can do whatever they want. in 2012, we saw the call to voice vote.

they said the i's have it. the sergeant at arms is going to be loyal to her effort is running the party. if they want to use the rules to a sure does not get the nomination, they can do it. what usually happens in -- is you have a presumptive nominee and they get control, if not, the rnc chairman gets to decide. >> what the program is like, everything. >> if you need to maintain order in the hall, those were not be so honorary. >> you just reported this piece, it is incredibly complicated. how many people actually understand the whole thing? who has all of this in their heads or will this just be piecemeal chaos? >> i think it will be piecemeal chaos. there are very few people, i -- half a dozen republican

lawyers who have been through this. the romney folks went through a dry run of this. there are folks, ben ginsberg, kenny barber who are incredible -- incredibly useful now. you need some form of coordination and the campaigns are just getting and now -- just getting around. >> this is an "ocean's 11" heist without danny ocean. >> up next, president obama's nomination for the supreme court. i have made my: decision. i have selected someone to is not only one of america's sharpest legal minds but someone who brings to his work a spirit of decency, modesty, integrity, evenhandedness, and excellence.

these qualities and his long commitment to public service have earned him the respect and admiration of leaders on both sides of the aisle. he will ultimately bring that same character to bear on the supreme court, an institution in which he is uniquely prepared to serve immediately. today, i am nominating chief judge, merrick brian garland to join the supreme court. [applause] ♪

>> joining me now to discuss the nomination to the supreme court is ron clane. ron i will start with you. you have known a merrick garland for a long time, and you are

making the claim i believe, that often thist hear , is a pick free of politics. seriously? ron: he has no big political following, he is not a historic first of this or that, he was the best nominee that president obama put forward. i think that makes the case particularly compelling because republicans cannot argue that the president did this for any political advantage. they cannot argue anything then this is a person who is a great jurist, a great lawyer, a great person. john: it seems to me a pick free of politics is still a pic of politics. part of what he was doing here

with making it difficult for republicans to not give him a hearing. to see that being the case? >> i do. you can see that those who wanted him to make the more liberal choice, somebody younger, someone who might be there longer. you can say, he did not do that, therefore, it is not political. he did not do that in part because he got a message from republicans, via back channels that they would probably move this nomination after the presidential election. once you get that concession, you can start to work on other concessions. they are going to work very hard to break down this idea that there should not be a hearing or a vote prior to the election and the president was made a nomination in march. >> you are a student of these tussles.

the big thing will be if he gets a hearing. i think a lot of strategists say he has a very good chance of being confirmed. what do you think flipped senator grassley? >> i think it is an instrumental process. some republicans are already saying they will meet with judge garland, and once they do others will. i think it will be hard to say no to a hearing. i understand we are a polarized country, and there are a lot of politics out there, but it is a fair country and someone who is as distinguished and qualified is not even get it herein, it will rub people as unfair and wrong. this whole thing is different once there is an actual nominee, once you see merrick, you see the tape the white house released of him telling his life story.

i think it will be hard to say he does not even get a hearing. >> it has to flip mcconnell and that is a harder proposition. unless there is a complete revolution, unless they think this becomes a major electoral issue, and i still have a hard time believing it is ever a major electoral issue. this is a process and the white house did not just release tape of merrick garland talking about being a judge, also tape of him at essentially ground zero at the oklahoma city bombing and the president talked about that at his remarks. you could see, when the president was talking, you could see that was the moment when judge garland actually almost lost his composure.

he feels passionately about being somebody to protect victims and convict the guilty and he is a judge but he was a prosecutor all of his life and they will ride that horse to town, you can be sure of that. john: there are a couple of republicans we have heard today that have broken with senator mcconnell, susan collins, and others. are those meaningful at all, that they do not fall behind mcconnell's posture right now? nina: kelly is in a very tough election race, susan collins was from the beginning, who thought you ought to meet with someone who was nominated. she did not make any pledges about a hearing or no hearing. mcconnell has been able to keep his troops and line almost unanimously.

on the question of the hearing. if you have a hearing and the nominee does well, then why not have a vote, and that is what they really do not want to have. speak about. if you have a hearing and the nominee does well, why not have a vote? that is what they have. great --s of it are are not great. i don't think there is any public opinion poll in which people think this is a great position. even a substantial number of republicans think this isn't a great position to be opposing a hearing. john: one comment quick. ron: i cannot think the three who said they are the last three, i think this is like water in a basin of wall. it will keep growing and growing. republicans will meet with judge garland. it will be a surprising bunch of good news. john: you made predictions last time, and we will see whether they come true or not.

thank you guys for being here. coming up, our interview with charlie black, a brave republican insider. ♪

♪ >> i am sure you know the press now labels you, even fox news labels you as the last establishment candidate. that infuriates me because i

know your record. how do you feel about that label? john kasich: if they are saying it because it is complimentary, then i like it. i don't care about shaking things up as long as i am on the right track. if i am on the wrong track, i got to have friends and smart people around me that say you are wrong. i'm willing to listen, too. but there is nothing orthodox -- i am an unorthodox political figure. john: that was john kasich outside of philadelphia. we have charlie black. great to see you. what is the plan for how you will are going to get john kasich to be the republican nominee? charlie: we are getting into an historic convention. nobody has seen anything like this since democrats in the 1920's. john kasich now has momentum out of ohio. he will win other primaries in

the midwest and the northeast and maybe even california. donald trump will have 40% of the delegates, ted cruz will have 25%. there may be some undecided. it will be a widely competitive convention. as you know after the first and second ballot, all of the delegates are free agents. john kasich has as good a chance as anybody. john: you are saying that john kasich will not be the nominee in a straightforward way. it is mathematically impossible. charlie: nobody is. john: do you think it is impossible for donald trump to get a majority of delegates? he has 60% of delegates remaining to get to 1237, and he hasn't gotten that so far. i think he will end up of 40%. ted cruz will have 25% in terms of sticking with him. trump's people would not be sticking with him on the third and fourth ballot, and that

gives anyone a chance. john kasich is the most qualified and when you get to the convention. most people care about electability. mark: i follow a lot of what you are saying, but the thing i'm having trouble following is the notion that it is a slam dunk that john kasich will win the states or even be competitive in states. given the lack of enthusiasm that i have been able to detect just by your move in the last 24 hours, how do you think he is going to win the states? charlie: i think what is going to happen, he is now in the spotlight for the first time. more they see of john, the more they like him. look at states in the midwest and the northeast and pennsylvania, maryland, delaware, indiana. those types of states, the mainstream conservative has the chance. john will equip himself well as he gets more of a chance in the campaign. i am confident he is going to win a few more states. if he doesn't, trump still won't go to the convention with a

majority. mark: we had the debate scheduled monday that was canceled because donald trump said he did not want to go. you have known him a long time. do you think he is going to basically say no more debate, and if so does that her john kasich chances of getting into the arena and competing with the other two? charlie: we would rather have debates certainly. that would give john a chance for exposure and show the contrast between his positive approach and the gutter attacks of donald trump. but donald trump have decided not to do debates, but when he figures that he is not winning, not getting the 1237, he may go back to it. we will see. john: you said you were going to advise john kasich. how long have you been a supporter? charlie: he has been a friend my whole life. in his race there were five or six candidates who were well qualified to be president, who i was personal friends with. i set it out until it narrowed it down to one.

and last night i told john a day or two before the primary if marco lost, i would go for him. john: so you won't take it as a criticism that you are a member of the republican establishment. if there is anything that is republican establishment. charlie: i spent the majority of my adult life in the trenches electing congressmen and senators. i qualify as grassroots too. john: why is it that that guy has seen so little support for members of your club, of until now, not very much? in the past few months, as trump gained in strength and casey did -- and kasich did not, where have you been? charlie: kasich started late and did not spend a lot of time in washington.

a lot of people signed up early, especially for marco rubio. he had inside the bills support more than anyone else. now it is open, you'll see a lot more donors and party leaders coming to support kasich. what really matters is the people out in the field in thept more than anyone else. now it is open, you'll see a lot more donors and party leaders coming to support kasich. what really matters is the people out in the field in the primaries, voting in the states, and the 2400 people who are going to be delegates, who at some point in the process will be free agents. mark: wisconsin is in a few weeks, and the kind of states where is your theory is correct, we will see progress. is that where you think john kasich and finish first or second or should finish first or second? charlie: i think he should. he is going to campaign there. he is in pennsylvania today, another opportunity. it is actually his native state. even in new york, donald trump is not very popular. once you get outside of manhattan or queens. there are a lot of states where john will pick up delegates and maybe win some of those states. mark: do you suspect in the next round of polling now it is down

to three, now that john kasich will get out of the teens and put 20's or 30's in places? charlie: i do, and the more coverage you get -- it is difficult for the president with the fake supreme court nominee rollout -- once he gets more coverage, his numbers will improve. the national numbers on the states as you know. john: if donald trump were to become the republican nominee, what are the various forms of damage that would inflict on the party? don't just say he will lose to hillary clinton. there is more than that. charlie: there is more than that. unless something happened to improve his numbers. he has always been 10 to 15 points behind hillary clinton. if he loses by 10 points, that means in the blue states maria trying to defend senate seats, we will lose. republican party dominates state

legislatures and governorships, we can lose there. a bunch of republicans stay home if they don't believe they can win. the party will be here and i don't think donald will be dominating the party after this year. win or lose. john: thank you for coming in. really great to see you. we will be right back with more of the best interviews from the week that was. ♪

♪ john: joining us once again is the number cruncher in chief, ken goldstein. tonight's topic is "march adness." that is very funny. i would like to talk first of all about a topic that you referred to in terms of bracket busting. talk to us a little bit about the expectations of money spent

on ads and what is actually happening with the reality. i have a feeling the expectations and reality are different. ken: some of the number of little higher, but a good consensus of political ad spending in 2016 was about $4.2 billion, about 75% on broadcast, 25% on cable. some people have that number even higher. today we have had a little under $370 million spent on political advertising in the presidential race. of that overall number, about 1/3 of that, maybe even more than 1/3 of that should be on the presidential race. what we have seen so far, that $369 million, more or less where we should be if we were on page to meet the numbers. on one hand it is a little bit more. if you look back to 2008 or 2012, that is way more money than was spent on tv in those

races. but there is a couple factors that show the pace flowing. first of all, the great majority of that spending was just in three states, new hampshire, iowa, and south carolina. and the pace has slowed after that. and the other point is, especially on the republican side, the majority spenders on the republican side who spent over $75 million with the right to ride and were $50 million with conservative solution products, or super pac's with jeb bush and marco rubio who are not in the race anymore. so it seems higher, but there is some danger signs, and then there is the trump effect. john: all right, let's talk about the trump effect and what we like to call the unsweet 16. trump has gotten good ratings from tv, but he has not spent a lot for a big republican front runner on tv ads. what do these people that tend

to make a lot of money from political ads, if trump continues to earn free media and not paid media? ken: as we said, tv executives love the high ratings that trump generates, but they are very concerned about what trump could do the ultimate ad spend. he has only spent about $17 million himself on advertising. the big danger for some of these have become, who very reliant on political ad spending in the years, is the groups we have talked about a bunch, three or four times as much as the candidate. and spend a ton of money on political advertising, whether they sit out the presidential race. that is a real, possible, to real possible factors. trump would not spend a lot, and there will be a lot the

-- there will not be a lot of republican groups coming to bat for donald trump. on the other hand, if trump changes how the 2016 election looks, that could increase spending in other places. maybe trump makes some states competitive that weren't competitive before. that could draw ad spending in those states. or what if trump on the ticket makes a senate races and house races more competitive than you would have thought, as although super pac's and groups that would have spent big money for republican presidential race now instead are spending that big money to defend the house and senate seats. john: i'm a big basketball fan, but you have to be a fan to know the worst thing you can do is the air ball. people say, "air ball, air ball" in the games. you have come to the conclusion that the anti-trump spending so far on the air is basically an air ball. please explain.

ken: you know, again, it is difficult to do this in real time, and it is always more fun to the couch coach than the real coach and to say have a shot should have gone instead of screaming air ball. i do think it was a bit of an air ball. about $80 million has been spent against donald trump. when you measure that against all the free media he has gotten, isn't a ton. what is more perplexing to me is that over half the anti-trump spending has happened after march 1, after super tuesday. they have done it when lots of the elections had already happened, when lots of the delegates had already been selected. even when you look at a place like florida, where he recently had a primary, and a lot was made. $8 million spent in the last week against donald trump. $8 million isn't really a lot of

money, and two, almost 50% of florida republican voters voted early. all of that money was spent when half of the florida electorate had already voted. and recently we have an ad that was out and had women reading, reading quotes, inflammatory quotes from donald trump. it is a 60-second ad, it seems powerful, but started airing after not only super tuesday, but after florida, north carolina, ohio, and missouri were done. which is a bit perplexing. john: it is not only an air ball, it came after the buzzer. thanks, goldstein, for that great segment. we'll be right back. ♪

♪ mark: had donald trump won the ohio primary last night, there would've been very few things blocking his path. but he did not win ohio. now one thing stands in his way, and that would be john kasich, the man of the moment for many, who was the only presidential candidate out on the trail while everybody else was resting. i covered his stay in philadelphia this morning. he did not talk at all by name in his remarks about trump or ted cruz, but he did talk a lot about other stuff. john kasich: maybe i should tell you a little story. march madness. this wall street. selma cupcake. i don't mean this as a cuban political gibberish. the mailman and the mailman's wife. we move from the smaller tyrannosaurus rex to the bigger one. did you read the story about

this? student debt. 15 college roommates. don't you like the protests? i love it. some big god darn revolution. ben & jerry's free for one whole year. sir, you have lived your your whole life. i said, not yet. beautiful chandeliers and everything. president nixon. can't you give us more snow days? i said, why are you asking me? john, dad. john kasich. mark: what a week. thank you for watching this edition of "the best of with all due respect." you can catch an all-new episode of our show "the circus" on "showtime" sunday night at 8:00 eastern. and remember, if you are in washington, d.c., catch us on the radio at 99.1 fm. see you back here on monday. until then, sayonara. ♪

emily: he has backed them of tvs biggest hits. elr, arrested development. then, he joined showtime and has led the resurgence in original showed programming. >> what we do has consequences. now, the executive has a chair at the top. joining me today on studio 1.0, showtime's new ceo, david