>> we're wishing you the best. hope that goes away soon. we're glad that you are with us in the morning. thank you for being here. >> always good to have you on a sunday. "inside politics" starts now. thanksgiving holiday. >> we are taking every possible step to keep our homeland safe. >> terror politics dominates the 2016 debate. >> there's something going on in the mosques at other places. >> he doesn't know what he's talking about. he's not a serious leader. >> trump's rivals call his rhetoric wreckless. can they chip away at his steady lead? plus, a big gop shift. ted cruz is on the rise in iowa. "inside politics" the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to "inside politics."

i'm john king. thank you for sharing your sunday morning with us. with us is kcnn's nia-malika henderson, dan balz of the washington post, jackie kucinich of the "daily beast" and matt viser of the "boston globe." >> please escort the person out nicely. >> he was not so kind to hillary clinton. >> she doesn't have the strength or the stamina to be president. she doesn't. she doesn't. and you know what, and i say it. you ever notice she has something and you don't see her for three or four days. we can't have that. we need somebody with endurance with unbelievable strength. we can't do this. we can't do it anymore. she goes back to sleep. >> now there are other insults, too. too many to count, as usual. jeb bush, marco rubio, the "new

york times," and this. >> did you know that trump predicted bin laden? i also, in the same book, talked about terrorism. it's natural. terrorism happens when you have weak leadership and weak people. that's what happened. >> one thing trump did not mention is the friday shooting at planned parenthood. he did make a comment about the second amendment and the paris attacks. >> if the folks that were slaughtered in paris, if a couple of guns that were held gi the good guys in that room you would have had a totally different story. >> let's save the gun control conversation for a bit later. but let's start with trump on terrorism. at the moment he's leading in the race. he's still leading narrowly in iowa if you look at the polls together. ted cruz pulled into a statistical tie, maybe, there. he's well ahead in new hampshire and the national polls. other candidates say some of what is racist, even fascist, and what kasich, christie, jeb

bush said it's not a serious leader. he projects an image of strength there. to his base in a crowded field. >> he has a strong base. i don't think there's any question about that. the issue, i think, all of us have been wrestling with throughout the last four or five months is the degree of which he has a ceiling. and as this race narrows what that means for him. when you look at the nature of his support. we did a poll on abc a week ago. 47% of republicans favor deportation and oppose bringing syrian refugees into the united states. 51% of them support donald trump. that's the nature of what he has. and the others continue to try to chip away at but so far it hasn't had much effect. >> hasn't had much effect. the establishment said we have to get trump because he's so dangerous. 63 days from now iowa votes. >> insofar in some ways it's let trump fall on his own, you know,

sort of gaffes and insults. that hand worked. now you see people like jeb bush, people like chris christie talking about serious times call for serious people. the problem they've been saying it all along. it doesn't seem like it's shaping up to be a résume election. if you look back at past elections. george w. bush had a pretty good résume but people don't necessarily think he was great in terms of the war on terror and the war in iraq. it's a difficult argument to make. i think the other thing about trump what makes him powerful he knows his base. he knows his audience and the other folks like jeb bush and chris christie, they don't know who -- they don't have the same sort of rhetoric and they're not able to connect with folks in the same way. >> there is a lot of growing concern on the establishment side, in particular. if you look at some of this that he will have an impact on down ticket candidates. kelly ayotte in new hampshire, rob portman in ohio.

at a point when it's tougher for republicans to hold the senate. there's a grappling with what happens if donald trump is at the top of the ticket. how does it impact the other races? how they do that, i think we're starting to see with john kasich, his super pac going after him. bush going after him directly hasn't had a great effect so far. >> if you add up jeb bush, chris christie, john kasich, car lly fiorina you have to add up five candidates to get to him there. they all think there's going like the nascar theory. someone will take trump into the wall and there's the spectacular crash and you want to be just far enough back not to be caught up in it. will it be bush, kasich, or christie who weakes up to a unin leader endorsement in new hampshire. people say he's not in but he's not out. he seems to be getting traction. new hampshire has a history

allah john mccain hang around and rock it around the holidays. the union leader says this governor christie is right for the dangerous times. he's prosecuted terrorists and dealt admirably with major disasters. the one reason he may be best suited to lead because he tells it like it is. i thought that was trump's place in the race. we thought he was going to be the larger than life personality in the race and along came trump. it doesn't hurt, right. >> i think it's good news for chris christie. it comes on the heels of him getting important endorsements in new hampshire. new hampshire is kind of his life blood. where else is he going to, i in the early contests? if he can keep the momentum going, christie is alive and well and we're probably to see more of him. new hampshire is more of a natural fit. >> do the other establishment candidates going after christie? trump is still up here and they're down here. >> i think that at this point some will go after trump.

i think they'll wait to see how it begins to sort out. i don't think you'll see them going after each other much with the exception of rubio and cruz who already have engaged. but for the rest of them, at this point, i think they think for the best thing for them is to work their own message day in and day out and begin to make the connection that jackie is talking about with enough voters so at the moment when people are making their decision, and we're still a ways away from that, they're in the right spot. >> they think -- when people have to think about it gets more dramatic. you mention cruz and rubio they have been going at it. cruz said i don't like to criticize other republicans. he likes to note that marco rubio stood next to chuck schumer and had an immigration bill. cruz is taking off in iowa at the moment. the rubio campaign is saying he's with rand paul. he wants to do away with nsa surveillance. if you look at iowa, this is a

quinnipiac poll, it shows he's in a dead heat with donald trump. and the guy who dropped is ben carson. that's a more traditional evangelical versus the establishment in iowa. is it about cruz or carson? >> both. carson essentially dropped ten points and you've seen cruz grow about the same amount. he's a perfect iowa candidate in many ways. he speaks like a tell advantage list. i think he would do well in the south as well. he's been building up a lot of infrastructure and support for the sec primary states come march 1st. he's going to be at a church service on sunday. he's appearing with louis goaler in iowa. not surprising he's doing well there. it has to do with his strengths and carson's weakness. >> he has the endorsement of steve king who has own supporters in the state of iowa. so cruz has taken a smart way. he built it slow and steady and

starting to rise. >> and carson has dropped in part, people say because the focus on foreign policy a. he's in jordan at the moment. he'll be on "state of the union" at the top of the hour. watch the interview with brianna keilar. he said the united states must do more. it does nothing to solve the crisis bringing the refugees. jordan needs and deserves our help. what he's saying is we should be emphat emphatic. candidates often go overseas when they want to say i'm learning the world. voters think he's not ready for prime time. if he's going down because voters think he's not a commander in chief. and trump is not moving. do other cause think we have to reassess our strategy? >> i think the trump appeal is based on the rhetoric of strength. we're at a moment in which

people are very afraid. the paris attacks have heightened the concern about terrorism and the possibility of a big visit here on u.s. soil. and trump's strong rhetoric resonates with people when they are nervous. ben carson doesn't project strength in the same way. he projects calm often but on foreign policy he's had a difficult time getting his thoughts together. so the contrast between the two, i think. >> what will impact more between now and the holidays? you have tv ads spending starting in earnest and a cnn debate the last debate. this race has gone up-and-down. like 2012. i would assume is that the last big event of the year for the republicans? i think so. that we know of. we don't know what is going to happen. >> some external. >> some external factors some news could shake things up in the way we've seen so far with what has happened. >> and with the paris attacks, i mean, we had a poll a week or

two ago where new hampshire voters had been concerned with the economy. now it's terrorism and foreign policy. that's where ben carson has struggled. and the latest trip is a photo op. it's good for him, in a sense. his struggles, really, are in articulating a foreign policy view. i don't know a day-long trip to jordan fixes that. >> but a good answer in a debate could help. >> i think dan's point he's soft spoken in contrast to trump being out there and sure of everything. whether you agree or not. he sounds sure. president obama is fighting to shake the lame duck label on gun control. the president talks turkey. >> it's hard to believe it's my seventh year of pardoning a turkey. time flies, even if turkeys don't. [ laughter ]

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"state of the union" with jake tapper up next on cnn. president obama has 417 days, yes, we count left in the white house and he hopes to shake the lame duck label for as long as possible. that's harder to do when you're struggling in the polls and the campaign to replace you is so loud and feisty. listen to the president talking about to the terrorist threat. responding to the paris attacks, trying to reassure americans at

home. he has donald trump in mind, clearly. >> we cannot and will not succumb to fear. nor can we allow fear to divide us. that's how terrorists win. we cannot give them the victory of changing how we go about our lives. >> it gets overshadowed a lot because there's a loud and feisty campaign to replace it. it's a fascinating moment for the president as he's winding down. i remember the last year or so of the bush administration of a two-term president. his party starts to think he's the past. we forget about him. the president is standing on terrorism dropped precipitous youly when you have the candidates saying he doesn't have a clue and even bernie sanders and hillary clinton saying he should change his strategy when it comes to isis. what spot is in? >> a difficult spot of a second-term president in the final year of office. we've seen at different moments

his efforts to project himself into the debates, to take on the republicans, if you will, and counter the criticism. it's a very hard thing for him to do. as you suggest people are moving on, looking elsewhere, they're moving toward a replacement. it. >> he's trying to convince the american people that america should reflect the statute of liberty, should allow a modest number of syrian refugees to come into the united states. democrats and the democratic candidates and voters say of course we should do that. the republican candidates and republican voters say we should not do that. >> yeah. you've seen him have many takes at doing this. he sounded very different when he was overseas really going after the republican candidates ted cruz, donald trump, and those folks. he sounded a different note, i think, in the last comments. and certainly i think empathizing more with how people were feeling. he's almost over thinking it when he was overseas going after the republicans.

he seemed to be distracted by that. i think he's rising a bit above some of the political fray. >> it is clear he knows he has almost zero chance of getting any gun control legislation through the republican congress. after the colorado shooting he issued a statement. we haven't heard the president's voice. it was unusually personal. he said we can't let it become normal. if we truly care about this and offer up our prayers and prayers again for god knows how many times with a truly clear conscious conscience, we have to -- you can hear the frustration. he's trying to inject himself into the campaign where none of the republican candidates in their statements about the shooting mentioned it. they issued their condolences and said it was horrific and unacceptable. the democratic candidates bernie sanders saying we should be careful about rhetoric. it can incite crazy people.

hillary clinton saying she stands with planned parenthood. the republicans see it as against gun control is right for themmed in the primaries. >> this is six weeks. we can't let it become normal. six weeks after he had a similar moment coming to the white house after a shooting in oregon at a community college. so, you know, there's little chance of this changing much. i think he's looking beyond his term trying to sort of change public opinion. but, you know, this issue is merging abortion, potentially, the planned parenthood opposition with gun control. it's a toxic issue. >> and this issue defined his second term. it started with newtown, if we remember, and it continued with the mass shootings and obama has been powerless to do anything. he used the juice from winning the second election to try to push the gun control legislation and ultimately failed. so you can hear the frustration every single time he has to issue one of these statements.

it's hard to think that any of the democrats, frankly, that pick up the torch are going to be able to move it forward. the president has worked very hard on this issue. >> it is a mobilizing issue. >> it is very much so. >> i think the president and secretary clinton see it as a mobilizing issue even if it's not going to result in any legislation. >> you look at the electoral map they think it helps with the obama coalition, if it is secretary clinton she wants to keep together. sit tight our reporters give you an insight inside their notebooks. ys to this home belono mark and alissa anderson. they bought the place four months ago on what was arguably the scariest day of their lives. neither has any idea what the future holds for them. but they bought into a 30-year mortgage anyway. that was bold. they must really believe in themselves. buy in. quickenloans/home buy. refi. power.

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let's head around the "inside politics" table and ask our reporters to share tomorrow's news tomorrow. >> martin o'malley we don't talk about at this table. he met with vice president joe biden over the thanksgiving break in this week on tuesday he's going to meet with house democrats on the agenda policy discussions, whatever the legislative business of the week is. i think what is interesting about him is it's unlikely he'll win but it is interesting in the

context of this meeting to think about what martin o'malley does next. what is his end game in this race? who is he in the democratic party. what kind of future he has. it's interesting to look at the meeting in light of his presidential race and his political future. >> does he dial it up or back as we get closer? dan? >> john kasich has been aggressive in going after donald trump, as we know. i think there's going to be more of that both from the super pac in terms of advertising and more from john kasich, but the goal is not necessarily to bring down donald trump. the goal is to rev up people who might support kasich. he's focussed on that. >> focussed on it. let's see if he can make it a little wider. >> if you live in iowa or new hampshire, get ready to see more marco rubio on your tvs. he's starting his first ad in the early primary states tomorrow. it's a 60-second spot. focussed on his dad called "bartender." we looked a the data for wumr.

already one in five commercials is geared to the presidential campaign. rubio has more reserve time than anybody else for the next two and a half months up until voting. and interestingly donald trump and ben carson have reserved no time so far. and this brings out the question of does it matter? there's been no return on investment so far from candidates who are airing tv ads. so the question heading forward is for rubio can you move the needle on the air? we're about to find that out. >> and does saving your resou e resources for the last dash help or hurt? >> the "daily beast" patricia murphy reported that several african-american pastors who are advertised on a flier to meet with donald trump are not endorsing him. over the weekend, more have come out and said they're absolutely not endorsing trump. one blamed the trump campaign

how they were marketing the event. we don't know who is endorsing trump. we found african-american minister who said he is. one thing it for sure the media is going to be slightly awkward. >> another slightly awkward. we'll keep an eye on that. >> i'll close with a thanksgiving dinner twist for how voters view the recent. to think about a family dinner. place hillary clinton and donald trump as a family member. women intended to say a sister or brother. man had a harder time relating to her. she's my wife's sister, graceful at times, totally opinionated, and available to rip your head off. trump was described as a drunk racist, and a smart alec teen. and a priceless take from an independent voter he described trump as the very, very confident buzz light gear who

didn't know he was a toy. voters, they say the darnedest things. we'll see you soon. "state of the union" starts now. new details on the planned parenthood shooting that left three people dead. >> he was in front of me and he was aiming and he started shooting. i was looking at his face. >> how did the gunman choose his target? the president pleas enough is enough. plus, more arrests in the paris terror attacks as officials warn of radicals working inside airports. what is the u.s. doing to prevent a plot here? and trump under fire. his comments about muslims in america send fact checkers into a frenzy. >> i watch when the world trade center came tumbling down where