big step forward. anti-fraud experts worry that cost cutting for the program could weaken protections long term. watch for a new card in the mail if you haven't gotten one already. i'm richard lui in san francisco. trump blows it. let's play "hardball"." good evening. donald trump should have cut his losses. he should have dumped his birther thing when the president released his hawaiien birth certificate. he should have done it last night when he had a fat chance to do it. he didn't. he didn't take it back before. he didn't take it back last night. now he has to live with it. if the president of the united states is someone who snuck into this country and falsely claimed the identity of someone born in

honolulu and is a 21st century phantom who conned his way into the oval office through identity theft that would be quite a story. if donald trump trully or partially believes that story he should come forth with evidence or recant his claim here and now to keep the conspiracy into the minds of those who can't accept president obama as our president is below him, let me start with that one, tonight. here was the first question trump took from the crowd of supporters last night in new hampshire. >> this man, i like this guy. >> we have a problem in this country. it's called muslims. we know our current president is one. you know he's not even an american. >> we need this question. >> anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us.

that's my question. when can we get rid of them? >> we will be looking at a lot of different things. a lot of people are saying that. a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. we will be looking at that and plenty other things. >> shouldn't be surprising that someone in the trump rally is claiming the president is a muslim. >> people have birth certificates. he doesn't have a birth certificate. he may have one but there is something on there maybe religion or maybe says he is a muslim. i don't know. maybe he doesn't want that or he may not have one. if he wasn't born in this country it's one of the great scams of all time. >> absolutely. i don't think that is the case. >> of course, trump was the most vocal champion of the so-called birther movement which he has yet to disavow. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate? i wish he would because i think

it is a terrible pal hanging over him. >> translato >> all i want to do is see this guy's birth certificate. >> i was a really good student at the best school in the country. the reason i have a little doubt, just a little is because he grew up and nobody knew him. nobody knows who he is until later in his life. >> whether or not that was a real certificate because a lot of people question it i certainly question it. hillary clinton wanted it, mccain wanted it and i wanted it. he didn't do it for them. he did it for me. in one sense i'm proud of it. >> you sent investigators out to hawaii to find out whether or not obama was not born here. turned out to not be true. >> according to you it's not true. >> he released his birth certificate. >> it's an old subject. a lot of people don't agree with you on that, by the way.

>> i am joined by howard fineman, david corn and i want all three of you, what do you make of the guy's refusal to take the opportunity handed last night to move on and say he is an american? instead he played into that crowd and that guy's prejudice. >> faced with the choice between correcting himself and saying that he was wrong or plunging ahead further into the thicket that he created to begin with, he chose the latter. i think if you look at that video you see he wished that he could maybe go on to another topic, but he is suffering the consequences of the world in the issue that he created. and that's where he is. >> david, it was original sin in my religion. he became a national political phenomenon on this issue.

he can't say that's how i got started but i don't believe it anymore. i guess he is caught. >> he is caught because 54% of republicans nationwide in a poll say they believe the president is a muslim. one-third of republicans in iowa say that they believe the president was born in kenya and is not an american. one reason he doesn't want to disavow his own actions is because that will put him against the republican base. this is one reason why we have seen republican after republican after republican play footsie with birtherism and not come out strong. very few republicans who have come out and said no to this non sense. now trump -- howard says he will suffer the consequences. i think howard is being optimistic. i'm not sure he will suffer many consequences for not telling that guy you are wrong, sir.

>> and you know i find it really interesting that we have now returned to the original bigotry of donald trump. it preceded his bigotry against hispanic americans. during that time when he was pandering to the fevered right wing base he said president obama was simply clearly not smart enough to have gone to harvard law school playing into the idea that this black man can't possibly have been smart enough to be the law review president and that he doesn't belong in the white house. i think in order for donald trump to have refuted this person who asked him that question at the rally the question would have had to sound absurd to him. the reason that figures are correct that so many republicans believe this nonsense about the president being born in kenya is because prominent figures who were well known to them supported the idea that he did so. donald trump was probably the most prominent among them. he was an original birther and can't walk away from it now

because it is part of his persona. he is a rich crank running for president. some of the cranks believe that the president was born in another country. >> i always get this job. i wanted to take this job to joy. this racial aspect of this crap, it always comes down to the charge he must have been head of the harvard law review because of affirmative action. there is a little factoid that racists ought to remember. it was a blind review. he got the job because he had the best application for it, the best on paper. nobody knew his ethnic background. he was the best. that is how he got the job. help me with this one. what did it mean to say that the people in school he claimed to have gone to school with don't remember him. this is the phantom part of it that he is a name created out of nowhere. this is an amazing conspiracy theory. it's that he's not the person who supposedly went through high

school, college and these places. he was not there. what is that accusation? i want to get back to howard how your mind works on this. how do we put our minds around a charge that a guy was not him? >> well, remember that there was even efforts put in to travel to kenya to try to sort out the mystery of this nonperson whose mother was lying about where and when she was pregnant. just an invented personage designed to trick the american people into putten a man chur yn candidate into the white house. you have people that believe this madness and one is being taken seriously as a potential president of the united states. remember, african-americans have known donald trump a lot longer than the rest of america has. we go back to him wanting to put to death five young black and hispanic boys who were wrongly

accused of rape. he took out a full page ad saying they should be executed. they were later exonerated. he has been making racist cracks for many, many years. it is only now that he is being noticed by everybody else. >> how do you figure this theory? how wide is this theory that the guy is a phantom? it is going to go in the history books some day, an asterisk, never really was president, never was barack obama, didn't happen. >> right. there are two versions of the fear and the race consciousness. one is flat out we don't want a black man in the white house. there is a lot of that. the other is for a lot of people around the country he just doesn't compute. and they have to find the sort of extra logical, ext

extraterrestrial explanation for something that frightens them but they can't understand. there has to be something wrong. it couldn't have happened this way. a guy with these credentials and brain and skill can't be somehow. and so it is either the act of good old fashioned race hatred or this weird, unexplained. it's too mysterious for words. that's just as corrosive politically. whatever you want to say about donald trump on this thing and he can survive anything and david may be right that he will sir mount this, too. it doesn't work to be known as a bigot when you are trying to become president of the united states. you can get a following. you can stir up the blood as others used to say. i don't think you can become president of the united states as a known outfront bigot of the kind that donald trump has

repeatedly shown himself to be. >> the question is whether you can become the gop presidential nominee as a bigot. there is a chance that donald trump might get that far. and this we are talking about him as a crank and a bigot. the whole strategy has been for republicans and conservatives to depict barack obama as the other, those who don't go into birtherism say he doesn't get america. he doesn't believe in american exceptionalism. others have come about it more subtle ways. the bottom line is that this guy ain't one of us. he doesn't believe in america. he doesn't care about america. he may want to destroy america. that goes much wider than the birther base that donald trump is trying to appeal to. >> and the regular guy on the bar stool tonight after four or five beers is going to say that

guy has a lot of money. he must have something. there must be something to this thing. a number of republicans have called out trump for lack of response last night. they said he should have acted differently. let's watch some people take him on here. >> i suspect that if he gets that question again that is exactly what he will do. >> would you refute it? >> i think i would. >> if somebody at one of my town hall meetings said something like that i would correct them and say the president is a christian and born in this country. >> had a chance to show who you are. this happens to all of us. it happened to john mccain. you have to push back. we are trying to be the leader of a nation here. you have people like this in every country and every party and a chance for you to display your character. we are looking for a leader who will push back against this kind of hateful stuff on both sides of the aisle. >> this afternoon ted cruz was asked about the trump controversy.

he answered this way. he refused to answer. let's watch. >> i understand the press wants to get republicans throwing rocks at each other. >> is obama a muslim? >> you know, president obama's faith is between him and god. what i can tell you is this, the president's policies over the last 6 1/2 years have done enormous damage. >> that was a direct answer. that really cleared this whole baby up. is cruz still playing slim pickings riding this trump rocket all the way down? does he know it is going to explode when it hits the ground or is he deliriously wanteding to ride this guy? >> may as well use nascar analogy since we are talking about texas and ted cruz. he is drafting. he is being pulled along by the vacuum of donald trump.

that's what he is doing. >> if trump crashes and burns which i don't think is necessarily going to happen. if that happens those voters who have been whipped up by donald trump have to go somewhere else. ted cruz is positioning himself to be the next best thing for them. that's why he won't say word one against him. >> i think it says some things about donald trump because it reminds me a lot of the palin rallies when sarah palin was whipping up the same base and people were screaming off with his head and madness and she wasn't saying anything. until john mccain found his voice and dignity and refuted that woman who said that barack obama is a muslim as if there is something wrong about being a muslim. >> we know that part. >> it is not just donald trump. it's the party. the republican party has used this kind of conspiracy mongering and whipping up

resentiment and hatred for many decades. remember glen beck said barack obama hates white people and the white culture. >> who said that? >> glen beck did. >> he doesn't matter. a lot of muslim americans are as good as us or better than the four of us. it is horrible that this is used as some sort of card used against a politician. have a good weekend. coming up, how far will republicans in congress go to defund their new enemy planned parenthood? the hard right is at war with its leadership threatening a government shutdown. top republican presidential candidates are pushing hard for the shutdown. democrats are giggling over it watching republicans unravel in this fit of dysfunction again. hillary clinton is sending a not so subtle signal to rivals. bernie sanders and joe biden. she is sending up endorsements from vermont and new hampshire

and throwing an elbow at vice president joe biden over critical issue. house of cards, homeland, veep and good wife could be big winners. what happened and what didn't. this is "hardball," the place for politics. to clean the oceans, to start a movement, or lead a country. it may not be obvious yet, but one of these kids is going to change the world. we just need to make sure she has what she needs. welcome to windows 10. the future starts now for all of us. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night,blind. and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24. learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com.

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welcome back. the battle lines are being drawn on the upcoming political show down over planned parenthood. today house republicans passed a bill to defund planned parenthood for one year unless the organization certifies it will not perform abortions. while the act of 2015 is

expected to be blocked by democrats over in the senate it does foreshadow what many expect to be a messy budget fight which could result in government shutdown. president obama threatened to veto any bill that killed funding. hard lined republicans like ted cruz vowed to oppose any bill that extends funding to planned parenthood. cruz is encouraging his party to follow suit. >> you know, obama is committed to his liberal principles. he will fight for them. he says i will veto any budget that doesn't fund planned parenthood and republicans surrender. we need to stop surrendering and start standing for our principles. >> democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton defended planned parenthood and warned against the prospect of another government shutdown. >> what this is about is the fact that some of the planned parenthood facilities perform abortions which is legal. i think it deserves not only our

support, but the continuing funding from the federal government. i would hope that the republicans and particularly the republicans in the house led by speaker john boehner would not put our country and our economy in peril pursuing some kind of emotionally politically charged partisan attack on planned parenthood to shut our government down. i think that would be a very, very unfortunate decision. >> i'm joined by u.s. congressman. what are the republicans up to? it is clear the president will never go along with this attempt to defund it. we will have a shutdown it looks like. >> now we know why republicans are at their lowest job approval at history which is hard to beat. you watch the presidential debates and say they are crazy. you watch what they are doing on the floor of the house today and over the next ten days and you say they are crazy. it is simple.

i support a woman's right to go to planned parenthood for health care. some people don't support that. you can support or oppose planned parenthood they are willing to shutdown the government over planned parenthood and that is fundamentally wrong. why are they doing this? because they are in a civil war. the right wing lunatics in the republican caucus are saying to the speaker of the house if you fund the government and that includes funding for planned parenthood we not only will bring the government down, we will bring you down. we will depose you. this is a result of a civil war that the republicans are fighting. i wish they would fight more for people's paychecks and less over their extreme ideology. >> they are not all united because new hampshire republican senator wrote a letter to senator ted cruz yesterday asking whether he has a plan to avoid another damaging government shutdown. it reads during the last government shutdown i asked you what your strategy was for

success. we did not have the votes to achieve the goal of defunding obamacare. i did not receive an answer. i would appreciate your sharing your strategy for success with all of us before damaging government shutdown becomes imminent. i remember and you know better than i that shutdowns are not popular even among regular republicans. isn't planned parenthood fairly popular in the country as a whole? i thought it was. >> it is. and shutdowns should not be popular. the problem is i respect the fact that senator sent a letter. she needs to stop the shutdown. two years ago they did the same play. i was on your show and others. people were saying will they shutdown the government in 2013? i said i don't believe they are going to go that far. veterans went without checks. parks were closed. social security recipients were nervous about whether they would get their checks. they are on track to do it again because they are right wing and

willing to bring down the government over their civil war against speaker boehner and over the prospect of a woman getting fundamental health care at planned parenthood. >> thanks for joining us on this preview of another been shutdown. carly fiorina scored a huge applause line against planned parenthood. >> as regards to planned parenthood anyone who has watched this video tape i dare hillary clinton, barack obama to watch these tapes. watch a fully formed fetus on the table. its heart beating and legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. this is about the character of our nation. if we will not stand up and force president obama to veto this bill shame on us. >> that's a horrendous story. did it happen?

yesterday it was strongly challenged recounting of that. let's watch that. >> we watched all 12 hours and concluded either fiorina hasn't watched the planned parenthood videos or knowingly misrepresented the footage because what she says happens simply does not exist. >> rest assured i have seen the images i talked about last night. rest assured that human lives are being aborted fully formed in order to harvest body parts. rest assured that this erodes at the character of our nation and once again i will say i dare mrs. clinton and president obama to watch these video tapes. >> fact checkers also looked at fiorina's comments and rated them mostly false. the wall street journal spelled it more plainly saying described scenes not in the abortion videos. i am joined by the author of

that video as well as by jonathan allen of fox. let me get one fact straight. is it possible that carly fiorina is telling the truth, that she did see pictures of that fetus with its legs kicking and heart beating on a table somewhere? did she see such a picture? is that possible? >> there is on the video that the anti-abortion group made as well as video that her campaign staff pointed me to and said she was referring to that does show a fetus in a bowl with a leg kicking. however, there is no evidence that it is being kept alive to have its brain tissue harvested. the image itself is cited as coming from a third party. there is no evidence that this fetus that they showed came from planned parenthood. as well there is another image of a fetus that comes from a third party anti-abortion group and it appears that that image

came from the website of a woman who had a stillbirth at 17 weeks. so there are some things that you could look at and perhaps walk away from with some confusion or thinking that what is there, but that is not actually in the video in terms of what she described. >> and not something that had anything to do with planned parenthood? >> well, in the videos that were released by the anti-abortion group they did under cover videos at planned parenthood and showed images of post-aborted fetuses and parts which is difficult and graphic to see. >> in particular reference she made to a fetus alive and kicking, breathing on a table, there is no evidence that that occurred at a planned parenthood facility, right? >> no. there is no evidence of that. >> jonathan, your evidence and

reporting on this. you basically had the same report. this was not an accurate portrayal. >> my colleague went through this. i think carly fiorina thinks she saw what she said she saw. i think the reason that she thinks that is because the planned parenthood videos were put together in a way that was intended to confuse the audience into thinking that. there are these images, these stock images that were inserted into the video that carly fiorina is talking about that as stephanie said don't match up. >> there is propaganda. if you take something outside of planned parenthood and jam it into a set of pictures and say it is planned parenthood that is propaganda. that's not the truth. >> correct. i think carly fiorina was confused by what the film maker intended us to be confused by. not just carly fiorina but everybody else. >> the voice of the individual

talking in the video is a former employee of a separate company, a tissue procurement company about what she claimed she saw. >> i know. i saw that part and read that part. journalism i seek to go to primary sources and not derivatives. these sources have their own editorial agenda which includes propaga propaganda. thank you for the reporting and the analysis. have a nice weekend. still ahead hillary sends a warning to bernie sanders and an elbow thrown by her at joe biden. this is "hardball" the place for politics. [ male announcer ] whether it takes 200,000 parts,

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that you are a woman means we will have no more woman presidents. >> welcome back to "hardball." it's that time of year again. that was a scene from "veep" nominated for outstanding comedy. the emmy's will broadcast and a lot of nominations are shows about politics shows like the good wife, homeland, veep and house of cards. here it is. >> what do you want? what is the [ bleep ] alternative? please tell me. because i don't understand. all i am hearing is it's not enough that the white house is not enough, that being first lady is not enough, not enough? >> no. it's you that's not enough. >> wow. joining me now for a preview of how the shows are going to do is ted johnson. that is one of the most frightening scenes because it is

about a marriage going to hell and they realize they are both in hell and both burning and don't like each other. it is horrible. i gave you the white house and made you first lady. i don't like you. >> isn't that the insatiability of people in politics. a lot of people say if you are in the position of power that it is never enough. that show exemplifies all of that. >> it is like lady and mcbeth deciding they got there. they are looking at their hands. we did it this way. we are both bad, i think. >> actually, that scene i think capped what i didn't think was one of the better seasons for house of cards. i think that kind of made one of a hell note. >> for years people in business would tell you you can't do a movie on politics. it has to be like the three days of the con dor. it can be about politics but a thriller. now they say it can be about

politics about being vice president when the president never calls. that is what the whole show is about. >> ask how they feel about the politics on tv. and probably counting. you look at how that debate on cnn. this is now the third biggest show on television of the year after the oscars, after the grammys. it will outrank the emmy's. >> and now he has the real story to cover. >> the oscars of the election is what he had. >> we are in the grand stands watching the arena. the arena is politics for show business. i want to ask you about the good wife. it may not be nominated but the character is popular. as sort of the clever political operative in chicago. >> i thought this was one of the standout seasons for the good wife. i was really surprised that she

did not get it. this was the state's attorney. >> i was on that show. >> so what is it -- we going to see more of this with trump? is trump going to pump this because he is show business of overflow into politics? more show business about politics? >> just imagine if trump self-destructs and gets out of the race the rush to sign him up, i can see for another primetime series. that's going to be the big competition. >> i like anna last scene in my girl going into the basement and her father is the undertaker and there is a body down there. now she is back as the top aid. >> who would have thought she would outlast. some kid actors you can count them on one hand and end up with real careers. >> michael kelly, what a

character. >> i thought he had a breakout or standout year as doug stamper. >> revenge. >> and i have to say it's a testament to the shows that the minute especially house of cards, the minute somebody is becoming sympathetic he commits a murder. >> his goal is to win back the trust of the master, kevin spacey's character. that is so political. you want the boss to need you. we thank you. up next, warning call, hillary clinton trying to fend off competition. she is getting tough going against bernie and the vice president. you are watching "hardball" place for politics. sfx: drum beats mother nature can turn in an instant; sfx: drum beats

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misswill turn anan asphalt parking lot into a new neighborhood for san franciscans. a vote for "yes" on "d" is definitely a vote for more parks and open space. a vote on proposition "d" is a vote for jobs. campos: no one is being displaced. it's 40% affordable units near the waterfront for regular people. this is just a win-win for our city. i'm behind it 100%. voting yes on "d" is so helpful to so many families in our city. here is what is happening.

authorities in massachusetts have identified the young girl whose body was found on a beach. the girl's mother is under arrest. her boyfriend is charged with murder. president obama and cuban president raul castro spoke by phone earlier discussing the re-importance of establishing ties. volkswagen ordered to recall half a million cars. back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." while the republicans battle it out hillary clinton is making a swing through new hampshire. she is picking up key endorsements like this one today from the granite state's governor. >> she is the right person to lead our country and get things done. and that's why i am so proud to endorse her for president of the united states today.

>> and yesterday while campaigning in new hampshire with neighboring vermont governor clinton reminded that audience she is getting backing of new hampshire's senior senator as well. >> a couple of weeks ago jeanne shaheen endorsed me. that meant the world to me. >> clinton is ramping up presence after vermont senator bernie sanders campaign started to gather strength where sanders is leading in the polls. clinton isn't going to give up on new hampshire. clinton is sending warning messages to vice president biden. clinton told voters that she blamed joe biden for pressuring her to vote for controversial bill that credit card makers and banks wanted making it harder to walk away from credit card debts. joining me now is cornell

belcher. thank you all for this friday evening. let me go to heidi on this question. who is threatening hillary? who is taking away her poll numbers nationally? let's get to new hampshire for a moment. >> that is very important that you preface nationally. certainly there has been a huge and populous surge behind bernie sanders. if you look at the national polls and the shift away from her it has been a very specific segment and that is moderate to conservative democrats. what are they doing? they are going to joe biden. we can't ask all of them why but we think we have a good idea of why they are starting to get cold feet about their electability, about her ability to govern and it is kind of like the continuing story of the tarnish of the e-mails. the good news is that nationally if you take joe biden out which some people might say is fair to do she is ahead in the most recent polls by a whopping 30

points over bernie sanders nationally. >> let me go to cornell. are these sands coming out of the hour glass? it seems like that kind of decline. nothing dramatic. just a slow dropping of her support point by point to someone like biden. if biden is not the candidate, if he's not a candidate who is that person who gets those votes or do they become dissatisfied and support hillary of necessity? >> i am going to do the unpopular thing and not say it is time to hit the panic button on the clinton campaign. here is why. she has been running 40 plus points ahead in the national polls. you are never going to have a candidate who can maintain that. it's not realistic for her to run that far ahead. of course the race is more competitive and will tighten up. what is most interesting in the national polls is that when you look at her favorability for month and month is not changed among democrats.

it's not that they have become more favorable. i would be worried if the democrats were becoming unfavorable of her. they are shopping around because it is volatile electorate. the other thing i say and you heard us say this over and over in 2007. national polls don't matter. it is a state by state contest. it's a state by state contest. the national results don't matter. what is more problematic is what is happening in new hampshire and iowa. >> that is an argument we could have made two or three years ago. it is a smart analysis and true. you are teaching me how to watch an election. that is your argument. i want to know why joe biden is going up. if nothing is happening why is biden going up? i need another shot at this. it is a phenomenon i'm looking at. he is joe biden. we all know him. >> he is better. he is better. joe biden that walked into that office with president obama and the things he has helped

president obama accomplish is not the joe biden of eight, nine years ago. he has a track record that he can sort of sit side by side with the president on. this is problematic if you are the hillary clinton campaign is does biden say that i am a more valid authentic person who can embrace the obama coalition than hillary clinton can right now? i think he can make a claim. it is interesting that hillary put a shot out there. >> i always viewed joe biden as a break this glass candidate that in case hillary clinton implodes he is there to step in. materially, what is so different about joe biden? he is a former senator with foreign policy experience. he is over the age of 70. some can argue that he has more liabilities than hillary clinton not just on bankruptcy bill but crime legislation. hillary clinton's message is to

him there is more of this where that came from. >> the round table is staying with us. is donald trump in trouble? it's the big question of the week after a poor debate performance and the refusal to stand up to someone can trump keep up his command in the polls forever or another two weeks. this is "hardball," the place for politics. it's so shiny. i know, mommy, but it's time to let the new kitchen get some sleep. ♪ if you want beautiful results, you know where to go.

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i think women all over this country heard very clearly what mr. trump said. [ cheers and applause ] >> i think she's got a beautiful face, and i think she's a beautiful woman. >> all right. on that note. >> on that note. carly fiorina clearly got the better of donald trump in that

exchange over fiorina's looks, if you will. at wednesday night's debate. we have yet to see how trump's recent debate performance and his reaction to that anti-muslim questioner just last night will affect him in the polls. we're back with the round table, heidi cornel and sabrina. how about a caption for the week starting with you, heidi, then cornel and sabrina. i think he has to go dirtball to hold that 20%, 25%. he's got to be the worst part of donald trump, ethnically, genderwise. they like that politically incorrect style of him. that keeps him at 20, 25. and as long as nobody else can get that amount, as you said, cornel, he'll be right there ready in iowa in february. your thoughts, first of all, heidi, with that approach he's sticking to including the birther stuff, will it carry him through the fall? >> absolutely. because that was the first thought i had, chris, with the anti-muslim rant that we all saw, is that's not necessarily at all a deal breaker with that segment of the population that he is appealing to.

what did happen, though, with the debate is he's capped it off because there's certainly a whole other universe of voters who are now going to look at him very differently because if there's one thing that republican voters writ large hate it's a loser. as we've seen with donald trump's rhetoric lately. and that's what he came out of that debate as. he was very stumbly. he went dark for whole segments of the debate. and i think that what he did was made sure that there's going to be a hard cap on that number going forward. >> cornel? >> but of course if the establishment can't coalesce around an alternative we could very'll still see him. >> i'm going to go a complete opposite direction. i don't think anybody laid a hand on donald trum np that debate. i think he did exactly what he wanted to do. i think he's still the reality television star that's bringing people in. there are people who never watched a republican debate before in their lives. they were tuning in to watch donald trump. not a hand laid on him. 40% of republicans think the president in fact is a muslim. so the muslim stuff is not going to hurt him at all.

and in fact he may gain support from. his poll numbers are not going to drop. >> serena? >> i'm going to disagree with cornel on the debate actually. i do think several weaknesses were exposed of the other night in terms of donald trump's candidacy, his viability as an actual nominee. he didn't have anything substantive to say with respect to policy. sure, for a while his supporters aren't going to care. but as this field narrows, as we get to crunch time, we are going to meet people who are looking more carefully at whether the eventual nominee is at all competent on the subject of foreign policy. we saw a very clear contrast the other night when marco rubio was discussing russia, syria and donald trump had nothing coherent to say. we also saw moments in which other candidates got the better of him when it came to immigration policy, when it came to shutting down his comments about speaking spanish. so i think he came out bruised. it's going to take a while for it dwroim pact his poll numbers. but yes, i think voters will start to look at their more serious options as we get closer to the caucuses. >> okay, guys. consensus lower ceiling but he's still on the rise. heidi przybilla, thank you,

cornel belcher, and thank you sabrina siddiqui. when we return let me turn to what happened this week and what did not happen. you're watching "hardball" the place for politics. ideas are frightening because they threaten what is known. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are. yes, ideas are scary, and messy and fragile. but under the proper care, they become something beautiful.

who knows, one of these kids just might be the one. to clean the oceans, to start a movement, or lead a country. it may not be obvious yet, but one of these kids is going to change the world. we just need to make sure she has what she needs. welcome to windows 10. the future starts now for all of us. woman: when a student understands a concept for the first time. man: when the students get it. man: their eyes get big, the lightbulb pops on. woman: "i got it, i think i got it!" they light up. it's like magic. woman: this is not just a job. woman: the rewards i get are... priceless. man: we help kids grow, and that's part of the rush of teaching. narrator: the california teachers association.

educators who know quality public schools make a better california for all of us. let me finish tonight with what happened out here this week and what didn't. the republican debate at the ronald reagan presidential library offered feisty action and what a great audience. what it didn't do is show us a republican party converging on a candidate for president. what i saw was a band of special

pleaders all singing songs to their particular factions. marco rubio was like romeo singing up to the balcony with shelton adeleson up there in the role of juliet. i'll bet the young senator from florida called right after the debate, his heart beating for the casino man's enrapture. i watched ted cruz go after the tea party with all the subtlety of a crow bar. mike huckabee woo the religious right as if it were sunday morning and he was a mid-life mar joe. please, show me where the president too stood in all this. bush looked like somebody hoping to become president the way gerald ford won the job, by appointment. chris christie was great as if the bridge scandal trials were not looming ahead, which unfortunately they are. those darn facts. like carly fiorina, he has to deal with those darn facts, which include the one that those gruesome images she recounted seeing of planned parenthood behavior were not in fact images from planned parenthood. there was a lot of sound and fury wednesday night, but i wonder if it signifies anything but for the relentless race to prove who was the angriest, who hates hillary clinton the most,

who is most apock liptic, most biblical in their fears for this country. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. be sure to catch me tonight on bill maher's show. it's at 10:00 eastern on hbo. and "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in" -- >> we have a problem in this country. it's called muslims. we know our current president is one. >> reporter: donald trump cancels at least one appearance as the firestorm from last night rages on. >> when can we get rid of them? >> we're going to be looking at a lot of different things. >> reporter: tonight, trump in trouble. can he control the monster he himself helped create? >> maybe it says he's a muslim. i don't know. then a trip down memory lane. how do you shut down donald trump? watch the expert. >> he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter. like did we fake the moon