john: and i'm john heilemann. and with all due respect to house speaker paul ryan -- mr. ryan: i do not want nor will i accept the nomination for our party. count me out. let me say again, i am not going to be our party's nominee. i should not be considered, period, end of story. john: so you're saying there's a chance. ♪ mark: happy just say no day,

sports fan. on the show tonight, my conversation with ice cube. but first, the biggest conversation in the presidential race today came from someone who is not in the presidential race, and now, emphatically, he will not be. paul ryan held a surprise press conference among rampant speculation that he might potentially be a white knight running to the rescue should the republican convention in cleveland be terminally deadlocked. his resounding message today, not going to happen. mr. ryan: i want to put this to rest once and for all. i have remained neutral. my job is to ensure that there is integrity in the process, that the rules are followed by the rulebook. that means it is not my job to tell delegates what they should do. but i have a message to relay today.

we have too much work to do in the house to allow this speculation to swirl her to have my motivations questioned. so let me be clear -- to swirl, or to have my motivations questioned. so let me be clear, if no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, i believe you should only choose from a person who has actually participated in the primary. count me out. i believe if you want to be the nominee for our party, to be the president, you should actually run for it. i chose not to do this. therefore, i should not be considered. period. end of story. john: we start with the biggest question. does this truly close the door on sir paul ryan and his trusty

white steed? mark: it closes it a lot, but not completely. team paul ryan was very frustrated that people like us speculated he would be the white knight. i still believe that if the convention is deadlocked and none of the three running can get a majority any which way, that ryan still makes more sense. i happen to know he will be at the convention. but it makes things harder. he said as a principle it should be someone who has run in the race. i think it makes it much, much, much, much less likely that he would be turned to, but i don't think it ends it, because it still makes logical sense to unify the party. john: i still think it closes the door, not for any good reason. in the end, if he is nominated as a white knight, the task of the white knight is to get the trump voters to come back and

vote for him or her in the election. one, they will be mad to begin with. but now they will be angry and not only see this person as illegitimate, but would see him as being a total hypocrite who lied to the country and ultimately went around their back. he set himself up now so that it makes it almost impossible for him to do what he would need to do as the nominee. mark: and he's presiding over the convention and is the chairman of the party, so it would look even worse. so, probably it's over. this could be a sobering reality check for republicans who don't like any of the current options. many of them have probably already started strategizing about who else the white knight could be.

here is our our mosaic of potential republicans. it is mostly speculative. where does this leave republican dreamers in search of somebody to be there if the current candidates deadlock? john: i believe the phrase is grasping at straws. there are a lot of esteemed republicans on this wall. none of them are really plausible in any kind of serious way. you need, ideally, to have somebody who has run for office before. george herbert walker bush and dick cheney are not going to be the white nights. mark: you see them as the knights who say no. it's hard. somebody like mitch daniels, maybe. the problem is, again, trump will have minimum third ballot, minimum, even if he collapses,

500 delegates, and you are going to need those 500 delegates to be happy, and the people they represent, so it has to be somebody who is aligned with trump on a lot of issues. and they are not. many are for different policy on immigration. john: and on foreign policy and a whole variety of things. back to experience, all of these guys have said it at a national level. mark: i know that we are over time, but the fact of ryan's decision means a lot of republicans are going to give up dreaming about a white knight and they are going to say john kasich, ted cruz, donald trump, pick one. john: now for what we are calling ryan's rule, the argument that when it comes to conventions only candidates who are or were in the race should be considered.

will ryan's rule prevail now? mark: i think for a lot of people it well. that will be an attitude thing. mathematically, if it's not trump on the first ballot, trump on the second ballot, cruz on the second ballot or third ballot, then the easiest way to break the deadlock is to say that's the ticket. and increasingly, and less john kasich and really move up -- and we will talk later about -- unless john kasich and really move up, and we will talk later about an important speech he made, unless he can move up, it is just going to be people who are in play. the symbolism makes it very hard. ryan won't do it. ryan won't bless it. very hard for anyone else to come in.

john: i agree with everything you just said. i think the reality is either donald will get to 1237 or there will be a mad dash to cut a deal. trump could try to cut a deal with either one of those two guys. could have enough delegates to put trump over -- john kasich at have enough delegates to put trump over the top, so he could cut a deal with john kasich. mark: no one -- what his name, the governor of wisconsin? scott walker left after 70 days. jeb bush, disaster. marco rubio, disaster. rick perry, disaster. john: and the only one who might have qualified was chris christie who has endorsed donald trump. mark: paul ryan is the chairman of the republican party convention in cleveland this summer.

he talked today about his plans for the country no matter who the republicans nominate. can paul ryan play those two roles effectively? john: i think he will try to, but i don't think he will very effectively play them because what we know about presidential politics is that presidential politics will blot out the sun. mark: the only way i think he can do it, and this is something paul ryan is capable of, is that he is super specific about policies. the problem is, once he is super specific, he will have to tilt left, right, or center. that will probably give the democrats a big opening. john: if you wanted to be a shadow party running in opposition to donald trump, he could be that. we might end up there. but that's serving as a loyal

internal opposition within the opposition. mark: is he going to propose comprehensive immigration reform, entitlement reform, budget cuts? it's a problem. mark: and not politically popular. john: when we come back, to roads -- two roadster verged in a yellow wood. long he stood, and it helped his campaign. more on john kasich after this. ♪

john: but enough about paul ryan. now it's time to talk about presidential candidates who actually want to be presidential candidates.

today, john kasich gave one of the most important and presidential speeches of his campaign so far. he laid out his vision for the country and lambasted the tone of presidential politics. john kasich: when we unite as a country, america always wins. for those who are angry and afraid, i want to assure that there is another, better way to deal with this. some who feed off the fear and anger held by some of us and exploit it, feed to their own insatiable desires for fame and attention. that could drive america down into a ditch and not make us great again. the path that exploits anger, encourages resentment, turns fear into hatred, and divides

people, this path solves nothing. it demeans our history. it weakens our country, and it cheapens each one of us. it has but one beneficiary, and that is to the politician who speaks of it. the other is the path america has been down before, fear turns to hope because we remember to take strength from one another. uncertainty turns to peace because we reclaim our faith in the american ideals that have carried us upward before, and america's suppose it decline becomes our finest hour because we come together to say no to those who would prey on our human weakness and instead choose leadership that serves, helping us look up, not down. mark: did governor kasich do what he set out to today?

john: if what he was trying to do was draw a very clear bright light in the sound between what he and many republicans see as a kind of republicanism embodied by both crews and trump, that is not embodied by reagan republicans, i think he did a good job of drawing a line and putting himself on the other side. mark: this was a good speech because he spoke from the heart and made the distinction clear. i will say, ironically, if paul ryan had made this decision yesterday and john kasich had made his speech today, or even vice versa, but it's not going to get very much coverage. the other thing is if he had given the speech after he won the ohio primary -- today was a good day, but he got stepped on. in the room, people loved it. it wasn't his crown though. can he keep it up? can he keep the message going. it's a message tens of millions

of people in the party are interested in. john: it's a speech that seemed to be weeks in coming. there were many opportune moments to give that speech. you mentioned ohio. there have been many others. this one by sheer bad luck turned out not to be a great moment, but if he sticks with it, it could be important for convention strategy. mark: he was talking about trump and ted cruz, and i think he will have to do that without taking the low road. john: speaking of the low road, donald trump was at it again last night. he repeated one of his new favorite talking points that the

nomination process is unfair, rigged, corrupt. wait, there is another way to describe it. mr. trump: its effects. we thought we were having an election, -- it's a fix. we thought we were having an election, and they said we will do it by delegate. they will do it by delegate. isn't that nice. if i go to the voters of colorado, we win colorado. it's a crooked, crooked system. let me tell you a little secret as far as our country is concerned. we have a democracy, but we have to keep our democracy, and we are going to do that. mark: is this a politically effective argument or just, as ted cruz puts it, whining and going to fall on deaf ears? mark: if he makes it about himself, like when he says the rnc is not treating me well, it can be seen as whining.

if he makes it about voters, look, the system is undemocratic , collocated, and intended to reward the inside game rather than popular -- complicated, and intended to reward inside game rather than popular feeling. i think he could get a lot of pr mojo behind it. john: part of the question for me about this, i think those who are already in the trump camp are inclined to believe the system is rigged. that's why they want to elect trump to begin with. i think this will get them more angry and upset. i don't think it will expand his voter pool at all. he has 56% of the delegates. he is going to need to do better. he can't get 35% in the coming states. mark: i think he will. john: does he want more voters or to keep a static pool? more voters would help him win the nomination.

mark: speaking from the heart and has a lot of faqs on his side. up next, -- he is speaking from the heart and he has a lot of facts on his side. up next, we's be to the former communications director for hillary clinton and -- we speak to the former communications director for hillary clinton. ♪

john: sometimes, when you are a total amateur, you have to call in a pro. joining us now is a senior adviser to our boss, michael bloomberg. he is also the former communications director for hillary clinton's 2000 eight campaign. and from washington, d.c., bloombergs senior politics reporter. what is your experience with this long, bitter, political cycle? >> people are getting tired and tensions are beginning to manifest themselves. i think at the end of the day, hillary clinton will be the nominee. she will not need superdelegates to become the nominee. we all know that in this process is is very difficult for the person in second place to catch up once they fall behind. bernie sanders is going to win more states.

he will collect more money. i assume he will go all the way to california. hopefully, at some point, the two sides will begin to ratchet down. in 2008, there was a point at which we came to the conclusion that we were unlikely to overtake barack obama. i assume something like that will happen, but it hasn't happened yet. mark: margaret, since the primary results came in and sanders won big, what are some things the sanders campaign has done well? >> one is to continue to inspire his supporters with the notion that, math aside, a win is still possible. if new york could be close, perhaps california is a place that something beyond the bounds of statistical probability can be kept alive. but what hillary clinton is doing this week is much less of the differentiation on senator

sanders part. john: what good does it do hillary clinton's campaign for her to go on twitter and engage in attacks and negativity toward the sanders campaign? what purpose does that serve? >> i didn't see it, so i don't know exactly what you are referring to. mark: the caustic back and forth using social media. >> i would attribute that to a general fraying of the nerves. mark: does that serve a purpose? >> it serves as an outlet for people's frustrations. i am not sure if it serves an electoral purpose. she was trying to prove that she

is tough enough to take on donald trump and to handle tough questions. so, maybe a little bit of punch ball on social media may drive that a little bit. john: this is a bit of a mirror of 2008 in which hillary clinton is now barack obama and bernie sanders is hillary clinton. i want to do a psychological question. where was barack obama's head in 2008, and how did his aides deal with getting him to not be self-destructively annoyed at hillary clinton sticking around long after it was possible for her to win? >> the differences she has never been the underdog in this race. there was a point right up until the end where she led with the popular vote and an was finally surpassed in the delegate vote. it's a different psychological game, but it's true in both

cases that the aides and advisers had to keep reminding candidates to pace themselves and not act to presumptive. john: you dealt with hillary clinton a lot in 2008 in these circumstances. there came a point when you decided as a campaign not to make things worse. talk about how you got her to the point where she accepted that? >> it is tough, because when you are winning as senator clinton was late in spring, early in summer, the temptation is to think on some level that this is possible. people are voting for me. mark: it's the charlie sheen school of politics.

winning. >> in senator clinton's case, she would vote to these rallies where there were in norma's numbers of people showing her a great deal of affection, and it was hard to square what was happening in her bubble with the delegate math. at some point though, and they give her a lot of credit, she is a lifelong democrat. she understood that the party needed to come together and get a nominee who could win. john: we will keep this conversation going after this quick word from our sponsors. ♪

john: we're are back talking about the democratic nomination. howard wilson, the senior advisor to our boss, michael bloomberg.

the president and the vice president both have talked about hillary clinton. the vice president talked about sanders and clinton. i am wondering how anxious you think they are to get this nomination fight settled so they can play a role in helping whoever the nominee is? >> i think they would like it to be settled. they both marginally think it is settled. they both have made a commitment not to jump in for voters in the party to decide. president obama, to my mind, has almost been doing this for a year now. in this interview released with mike. you see a situation where they don't want to be part of a division. they want to unify the party.

mark: you have a situation where the public polling suggests hillary clinton is up by a dozen points in new york. it is safe to say that she's had as good a week as sanders. the debate, something could lead him to win the primary, or is it done? >> debates do change things and it is conceivable he has an amazing debate. she doesn't have a history of many terrible debates. mark: could the polls be wrong? >> you have to be concerned but all of the polling i've seen suggests she will get somewhere in the mid 50's. john: do you think on the basis of what you know, knitting the party back together was a challenge. it will it be harder or easier this time around?

a lot of the sanders people have as much intensity. >> i would say it was easier but now it feels like it may be just as complicated. it will take some work. mark: is that exacerbated by being questioned about it? >> you know that this will go on until june and it is only april. you can't take your foot off the gas just yet. at some point, you will have to ease off the gas a little bit and recognize that sanders is going to win some states. not enough of them to be the nominee. the important thing is to have a unified party.

john: one of the great complexities is that she will be dealing with someone on the other side that is not what hillary clinton was to barack obama, a fellow democrat. mark: if you look at bernie sanders and get a read on where he stands, do you think he thinks he can be the nominee? or is this about accumulating delegates and influence? >> it is certainly about influencing the convention but if you are still in the race, you have to believe you can do it. there is the fbi investigation. i think bernie sanders and his aides are smart people and can understand as well as anyone. you see him still competing very aggressively. this can change by california depending on what happens in new york. what happens as we move west.

mark: what the president relish donald trump being the republican nominee? she thinks it would be relatively easy to beat him? >> unless it isn't. the entire establishment relishes unless they are wrong. then they will blame themselves for not doing more to stop it. it's a risk. i think they understand that. john: who do you want to run against if you are hillary clinton? >> donald trump. he is not electable and he will put states in play that otherwise would not be. john: and that he is as unpredictable as he is isn't giving you pause? >> there might be some more difficult days emotionally because of donald trump, but i cannot imagine circumstances

under which someone with his numbers currently and his style of campaigning -- mark: how many states will she win, best case? >> the obama '08 map is the floor. in addition to those, you put arizona in play, utah in play, maybe georgia. mark: fewer than five additional states? john: not mcgovern. >> we don't live in that country anymore. states become safe and you can extend the map. you have in a norma's of taking the senate back. -- enormous help taking the senate back. mark: if you are watching us in washington, you can listen to us -- 99.1 fm. we will be right back. ♪

mark: with the help of former president clinton and george w. bush, our next guest was able to connect with and learn about the unique challenges of raising a child with asperger's. he wrote about the experience in his new book "love that boy." two parents taught me about expectations. it is a hefty question to ask of an author but there is a great story behind the title of the book. >> in 2005, i was covering bush's reelection campaign. they think the correspondent for their sacrifices. bush is doing it for me and i'm walking with my three kids and

wife including my son, who is five. tyler can only talk about barney the dog. he's going on and on. and he starts talking about roosevelt's dog. and i'm very anxious. i'm worried i'm taking too much of the president's time and my son is embarrassing himself. and bush, you know how well he reads a room. the president grabs me and takes my hand and says, "love that boy." i thought it was a nice thing to say and i should love him despite the fact he is quirky and a little bit different.

i realize you've got to love your kids because of what makes them different. john: what did you learn from watching your son interact with president clinton who you've known for a long time? >> we started the meeting by clinton and i looking out over little rock. we were reminiscing on our career together. i fade to the background. they are talking about teddy roosevelt, bill clinton's favorite president. when clinton talked about roosevelt, his presidency, i am taking notes. really fascinating and really smart. i'm thinking to myself, bill clinton has been obsessed for one topic which is very much like my son and he's not picking

up on the social clues. i wrote down, is bill clinton an aspy? i know he's not autistic. but he's probably the greatest communicator out there and can feel a nation's pain. if he's got some social rough edges, why am i worried about my son? mark: it's interesting that you are interacting with guys and took away some real insights from your interactions with presidents. as you look back, what was revealed to you, in some ways, about tyler that you did not know before those interactions? >> he's probably the guttiest person i will ever meet. what we are doing right now, it's not just uncomfortable for him, it's unnatural. we were watching a news

conference. you do this, dad. i said, your mom wants you to do this. he walked in and did it. i learned not to sweat the rough edges. i learned to love him because of his idiosyncrasies. mark: you and i met when you were in little rock. you are covering bill clinton and came to washington when he came to washington. in all that time, you put a lot of time into your career. talk about the importance and the process of thinking about the book and writing the book. the transition that made a little bit of hard focus. not just your son but your family. >> it came to a head when he was

diagnosed. standing in the parking lot, just heard the scary word. autism and asperger's i knew nothing about. she said you've got to spend some serious time with him and bond with him. tyler's fixation, his obsession. the presidency is what took you away from the family so you will use it to help him. off he went on these trips. john: the book really deserves a longer session but thanks for being here. mark: up next, we have ice cube to talk about donald trump, bernie sanders, and black lives matter. you do not want to miss that. ♪

john: one of this year's inductees to the rock 'n roll hall of fame is nwa. i met up with one of the group's founders and certified movie star, ice cube. it was a good day. we talked about his music, "barbershop: the next cut," and the group from straight out of compton. starting with the ways nwa was from the start, a defiantly political act. >> you about to witness the strength of street knowledge. meaning, you are about to witness, you know, a knowledge coming off the streets or out of the streets you may not have ever witnessed before. we wanted to be real.

to be honest. street knowledge is a term to me. it means, letting the streets no what the government, politics, police, authority figures are. what they are doing up to exposing them. and letting them know what the streets think and how things are going. and hopefully, there's an understanding that can be made in all of this. john: you became a flashpoint in a lot of ways. does it seem totally crazy to you? ice cube: it was weird. to speak on what was going on and compton and get this recognition was great. but also, we had to realize and grow up real fast because we felt the powers that be were

kind of converging on us at the time. and it became a freedom of speech issue. pmrc led by tipper gore, you had dolores tucker and countless other people really trying to say that music was the cause of all evil in the world. we knew that wasn't true. john: the movie comes out last year, "straight outta compton." it comes out at this moment where you have ferguson, baltimore, staten island, instances of police brutality. it was a lot of stuff you were talking about in 1988 and 1989 has become super relevant again. ice cube: in a lot of ways, it's a shame that the same thing we were going through is the same thing that's still happening.

not too much has changed with the behavior of the authorities, just realizing that it's not cool to prey on your own citizens. john: last summer when the movie came out, the beginning of the black lives matter movement. ice cube: one race in the culture is being treated pretty unfairly and probably more than one. probably a few that are being treated pretty unfairly by the system. that has to be addressed. the fact that you have to say black lives matter lets you know how bad the problem is. when you feel like the government is against you, who will be with you? john: a lot of protesters came

in to try to shout him down. back when hillary clinton talked about gang members as super predators, that kind of rhetoric to justify the notion of the tough crime policies and what her husband passed. it's a way to talk about nwa and the culture you represented. it's crazy we are talking about this. ice cube: to call your own citizens super predators is pretty harsh. it's just an easy brush to paint somebody with. and it is really not solving the problem, just making it worse. the authorities feel like they

are justified having to treat these super predators. what is that? who is that? who, specifically, are you talking about? daryl gates and the lapd did a war on gangs. i'm a black kid not in a gang. but i look like a gang member to this white officer, then it's a war on me. and for some reason, the democrats feel like they are exempt from these protests. go talk to the republicans. no, no. everyone is a little guilty of turning their back, passing bad legislation. john: the black lives matter wants to prosecute that case, it

seems totally legitimate. ice cube: of course. it she might be the president of the united states. we need to know what she's thinking. how will she fix this? john: do you have a point of view about donald trump? ice cube: donald trump is what americans love. he's what americans aspire to be. rich, powerful, do what you want to do, say what you want to say, be what you want to be. that has been the american dream. so he looks like a boss to everybody. americans love to have a boss. that's his appeal to me. do i think he will do anything to help poor people are people struggling? no. he's a rich white guy.

he's always been rich. being rich don't make you bad. but, how can he relate? how can he relate to the small guy? john: trump, before he ran for president, he was loudly going around saying president obama was not a legitimate president and he was born in kenya. do you feel like he's a racist? ice cube: i'm still mad he took down the usfl. [laughter] i thought that was a cool league. anyway. nah, man. you know, he sounded crazy to me then. i could see raising the question, but once you get the answer, move on. to still harp on it and lie that you are sending investigators and all this stuff, to me, was just a guy who couldn't say that he was wrong.

john: you got any thoughts about bernie sanders? talking about the 1%. ice cube: he's been there 30 years, and what have you done? you've been up in there. what are you going to do different from outside congress now? was going to happen different? where you been? all of them, to me, got work to do to get my vote. john: thanks to ice cube and we will keep you updated on the cube primary. ♪

john: wait, wait. i heard you guys had birds in this place. mark: we had birds. bring them in. get out the way. lots more on bloomberg politics.com. including billy house on paul ryan and his fans in the republican establishment are taking the news that ryan won't run. legendary investor peter thiel. same bat time, same bat channel. thanks for watching. sayonara. ♪

♪ it is the 13th of april, wednesday. i am rishaad salamat. this is "trending business". ♪ rishaad: taking you to singapore and sydney this hour. the asia-pacific winning streak , regional equities adding $100 billion of value today. the imf has cut its outlook for the global economy again, with japan taking the biggest hit.