politics.com. for the latest on nevada, thanks in south carolina for hosting us. >> we'll have all the results from here. sayona sayonara. coming up "hardball with chris matthews" with chris matthewmat. could be a bad night for the trumpers. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris m t m.a.a. matthewts. ted cruz and marco rubio made their closing arguments today, in other words, making their case against donald trump. >> frustration is not a plan. being angry is not a plan. it doesn't solve the problems. this election can't be just about making a point. it can't be about electing the loudest person in the room, but

that alone will not solve the problem. >> i'm not willing to gamble my daughter's future with donald trump. the truth of the matter is, if donald becomes president, nobody knows what the heck he would do. he doesn't know what the heck he would do. >> in a rally, trump unloaded on cruz, personally calling him the biggest single liar he has ever met. >> when you hold up a bible, and nobody loves the bible more than i do, when you hold up a bible, you don't then put it down and go around lying and doing a lot of things that are wrong, and i have to tell you, what he has been doing is terrible. this guy, ted cruz, is the single biggest liar i have ever dealt with in my life. i mean it. he will lie about anything. you meet some -- i've met much tougher people than ted cruz. he is like a baby than some of the people i have to deal with. he is like a little baby. soft, weak, little baby, by comparison. but for lying, he is the best

i've ever seen. >> i love the way he lilts for the voice. little baby. katy tur has to cover the guy, ralston live is at msnbc political analyst, and back from washington, yes, the former chair of the republican party when it was a normal political party, michael steele. the former chair of the former republican party. also an msnbc political analyst. caucus site, msnbc jacob soborof. you're already in position. we'll get the reality. john, something happened this weekend, starting here on saturday night. something is going on. not here, but out in south carolina. all of a sudden, trump is unstoppable, if you listen to all the nervousness. the titanic is sinking. >> as i've told you, nevada is ground zero. the -- >> what i was -- >> i know what you're talking about. listen, trump is going to win

nevada. it's going to be a bad night for the antiestablishment. >> it's going to be bad for. >> exactly. i talked to one of the key advisors, who predicted, predicted that his guy would finish in second, 25 points behind trump tonight. and they thought, well, at least we're going to get second place. how do you argue. >> that's not second place. >> marco rubio could give a victory speech if he got 12% of the vote. that could happen. >> that is incredible. so that's how bad it looks out here. katy tur, you covered trump. he has done some events here today. he had one in sparks. he looks like trump. >> exactly. i mean, trump is confident. confident as we've seen him. >> why is he mashing the face of ted cruz into the asphalt. >> i think at this point he is enjoying it. i think he took the loss to ted cruz very personally. and he is not letting it go.

also, ted cruz is taking out a number of attacks, attack ads against him, and he doesn't have jeb as his foil any longer, so ted cruz is the prime target. he's going to continue doing that until he sees ted cruz drop out of this race. remember, texas is next week, and donald trump as i said today wants to win texas. what he is going to try to do is diminish ted cruz as much as he can. >> knock him out. >> because if donald trump wins texas, ted cruz might not have any where else to go. >> michael steele, we keep hearing rumblings, i don't know where it meets, how much clout they have. they're not too good at winning primaries or caucuses. what are they going to do? they're trying to get poor john kasich out of the race now with his single digits, so that makes room for rubio to win higher double digits. they're not going to get cruz out of the race. how does the republican so-called establishment consolidate? >> they can't. and they won't.

that's the honest reality that no one wants to face. their closet is getting smaller and smaller for the meeting by the way, simply because there is no more room to take out donald trump. he is on a trajectory that works for him. it does not work for them. they're rallying around marco rubio, but even there, you look at the enthusiasm level. there is not this spark of energy and fire for that. the goal here is to try to get the number down to one. one-on-one with trump, they think they have that opportunity then. but john kasich has made it clear. he is in this thing to at least ohio. >> yeah. >> he wants to play. you know, and ben carson, he is still raising money. no incentive for him to get out. >> yeah. and i'm looking at this situation, while everybody just decides when they're going to get out and creates this support so nobody can challenge trump we're having elections coming up. if trump or rubio can't plunge

his momentum, there will be nothing electorally to stop him. nothing between here and next week, which is a week from now. super tuesday is next week. >> yeah. >> seven days from now. calendar of upcoming primes according to recent polls looks very good for the new yorker, donald trump. the tycoon. nine points in georgia, 15 in vermont, 21 in alabama, 34 in massachusetts. i know that state well. cruz leads in arkansas and texas. two states. after super tuesday, the calendar favors trump. strong leads in michigan, illinois, north carolina and ohio. he is ahead of kasich by the way, all which vote in march. so back to you, john raul tlstof he wins tonight, and you think he will, he cake walks to next tuesday, 11 states, he could win

nine of them, right. >> look at the numbers you just presented in texas for instance, and you know how this works. this feeds on results from previous states. let's say cruz finishes third in nevada, maybe his numbers in texas go g down and trump can beat him in texas. they'll just go up. >> worst case scenario for the anti-trump people, katy, jump in here, if cruz does survive in this race, wins in texas, wins another state or two, oklahoma, somewhere where they're conservative, he stays in the race, the longer he stays, the less rubio consolidates. >> the better for donald trump. this fighting between marco rubio and ted cruz is only benefits donald trump. it's separating all of the support. so there is not that one person to coalesce around an establishment. >> and carson stays. >> he is just trolling ted cruz at this point to take away support from him. >> okay. >> i think the longer they stay in, the better for trump. he has won in the religious

south, potentially win here in the far west. cutting across the boundaries. >> not changing his manner. if you think he has manners, let's watch him now with a protester. this happened last night in a rally. truchl exploded if yp -- trump heckler as the man was being dragged out of the room. this is so trump. he considered to be the good old days when a guy like that would have been taken out on a stretcher. let's watch trump being trump. >> bye-bye. let's see, he's smiling. see, he is having a good time. i love the old days, you know what they do to guys like that at a place like this, they would be carried out on a stretcher, folks. i hate to see that. here is a guy throwing punches, nasty as hell, screaming, when we're talking. i mean, walking out, we're not allowed, the guards are genital

with him, he is like high-fives, smiling and laughing, i would like to punch him in the face, i'll tell you. >> michael steele, you once headed this party. what has happened? is he the jerry springer or something? the roman colosseum. the cruelty. he is the insider telling people they can't come to the rallies, and you're all laughing. they're enjoying it. >> they're enjoying it, because he is in the mow moments and authentic. he is doing a lot of things what a lot of people are thinking in their heads they would want to say and do. he is the first quote politician to expose himself, and damn the consequences, and people gravitate to that. >> it's close to that, but a

dic different kind of exhibitism. >> who would you vote for, him or hillary? >> who, me? >> yeah. >> i like the laugh. more fun to laugh. you're my friend, so i'll let you laugh. jacob, the caucuses, tell us what's going to happen. don't forget to explain why they can't count out here. they have a florida competition going here. florida gets it wrong, they get it late. why so late out here? go ahead. >> all right, so here we go, chris. so welcome, first of all to democracy, republican party style. this is palavarta high school, the 3,100 schools that go to school here, population 100,000 went home for the night. this place right here is their cafeteria where they're normally eating lunch, breakfast, but tonight, transformed into a caucus location. excuse me, guys. so this location, chris, is pretty amazing, because it's the

biggest caucus location is clark county, which is where las vegas is located. 14,000 to come here, but they expect about 10% of that. i talked to a source in the republican party here, and they were telling me that they've already seen 41,000 online registrations for today's republican caucus in nevada. that is almost 10,000 voters than even showed up the last time around, and about equal to the 2008 numbers. what's going to happen when they come in the door here, chris, they're going to go to the voter verification station, voter i.d. here in nevada, checking those closely and then they're going to come into this area and separate into 1 of 31 different precincts that are caucusing back in this area. it's not the same as the democratic process we've seen the last couple of times. they're going to grab a ballot, write it down, inside an envelope and hand counted and

transmitted to the state party later on this evening. now, as to your point about counting and why they can or cannot count, there is a lot going on here, right. this is a party function. not run by an election organization. it's run by the state party. this is not uniform across the state. 17 different counties in the state of nevada, and each county gets to start at a different time. if they want to start at a different time. so within about 45 minutes, they're going to get started here, but other counties in the state may not start until 7:00 local time, 10:00 eastern, everywhere it has to be done by 9:00, except, get this, confusing i know, this location, clark county, nevada, at 8:30, they're going to start to slow down and they want a head start counting. it took two days last time to get all the results. they're hoping to get it done tonight. >> when we get back, why it is so hard for them to count. i don't get it. it seems to me simple. thank you, jacob for getting us the best in the world, the inside look. john, what is the reason why it's so late to count here? >> well, back in 2012, only

33,000 votes cast, but they had no idea what they were doing. it's ineptude. cell phone pictures and text the results to the grand central republican headquarters, but the really probably tonight, jacob mentioned this, more than 41,000 and still counting, preregistrations, which is way more that turned out. there may be 75,000 or so that turn out and they're hand counting. it's going to take longer. you're going to be thankful you're on pacific time, chris. >> we watched people count ballots in other states, jacob was watching with us, and in fact reporting it. it didn't seem that complicated. you put them in piles, trump's vote in one pile. >> what if you lose count midway? >> the last time, remember, when romney won here, the poll folks had control of the party, and

they were agitating. >> okay. >> you won't have that this time. >> what if trump wins tonight? >> he has a rally at his headquarters tonight. is it cesar's. >> treasure island. >> his best friend. >> and he has already had a rally. the wildest rallies i've seen. >> at 4:00 in the morning, is he going to come out and greet. >> that's unclear. i'm not entirely sure. >> you know, rubio has victory parties and he never wins. he is supposed to be 3-2-1. >> it's a good strategy. >> they may have it counted by 10:30, 11:00 best case scenario. >> any trump people, no matter what happens tonight, any chance? >> any chance that what, trump loses. >> to stop trump from winning the nomination in philly? >> no, i think the train is on its way. forward momentum going into

super tuesday. all the rallying and all the seconds, the new first, it's not going to stop that. >> well, he is accused the president of not being american, being an illegal immigrant basically. accused cruz of that, being a canadian, an anchor baby in canada. playing with the charge that mr. rubio is question abif he is american. anything he can say that can stop him in his tracks. >> no, nothing he can say. the reason for that, if you look at the exit polling, the majority of his supporters decided months ago. they're not paying attention to these new cycles where he has another controversy. he has also trashed a former president. he has broken all of the taboos. nothing he can say. >> a regular viewer of msnbc. that could do it. >> which republican president. >> a lot of people are watching, so -- >> who has he trashed.

>> george w. bush, with the wmds. today at his rally, he bragged about his support being so strong, nothing he could do, he could murder people, he said. >> i don't think george -- i think he believed chaney. >> i have to say, honestly, though, i thought there would be much more competition from the rest of the field. i've just been stunned that here we are, seven, nine months into this thing, a week out from super tuesday, and nothing from anyone else to push back against him. that's been effective. >> it's a -- >> they don't know how to do it. that's what it is. >> it's too late. >> with him as gulliver. >> thank you, katy tur, who knows him so well. john ralston, i know, you have to. john, we're going to ask you about the state tonight. michael steele, you have great sense of humor about a rotting party. what's going on. come out with another candidate.

bring back mitt. oh, god. coming up, republicans could be here in nevada, the democrats are battling for south carolina, where bernie sanders faces a tough road, tough fight with hillary clinton. that's ahead, right here on "hardball." any minute now, i'll join brian williams and rachel maddow for live coverage of the caucuses. by the way, deserts do get cold at night. 10:00 eastern tonight. "hardball" college tour resumeless. i'll be joined by bernie sanders at the fabulous university of chicago, that's thursday, what a treat it's going to on to sit with bernie sanders to talk about the 60s and his early work and fighting for all the civil rights and all that stuff. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

we ha we've got some new numbers on what could be a tough march for bernie sanders. let's check the scoreboard.

in texas, win week from today, hillary clinton is on top. 54% to bernie sanders 44%, ten point spread. in georgia, on super tuesday, clinton also leads there. she is at 72%, to bernie sanders 20%. and to the battle ground of ohio, where democrats vote three weeks from today, on march 15th, clinton has a majority 55% there. bernie sanders at 40%. we'll be right back. ♪coming soon from progressive,

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are we behind today in the african-american vote, the answer is yes, we are. but i will also tell you that we are making progress. and i believe we will continue to make progress. >> welcome back to "hardball," live in las vegas for tonight's republican caucuses out here. any way, on the democratic side,

bernie sanders says he is making progress with the african-american vote. hillary clinton has proven she has an overwhelming support in that community. 74% of the vote in the nevada caucuses last time, and that spells serious trouble tonight for bernie sanders. charles blow wrote in the new york times, sanders appeal is not strong enough that make under the base of the democratic party. let me go to some experts, just four days until the primary, she looks very strong actually already in south carolina where the democratic primary electorate in 2008 was 55% african-american. any way, clinton, the former secretary of state, has been bolstered by some high profile endorsements, including that james clyburn, of course, member of the house leadership and "washington post" reports bernie sanders didn't even seek clyburn's endorsement, i guess according to clyburn. as he told reporters, sanders never asked me for an endorsement, so i never

considered giving one. that's pretty hardball. i'm joineded by two gentlemen, thank you for joining us. i was looking over the numbers, congressman, i noticed in places like georgia, a large african-american electorate, strong support for hillary clinton, and i just wonder, when it takes years and years to gain the trust of the african-american community, it seems to me, it's very hard to be a challenger, what do you make of that supposition. >> it is years and years. you're right. years and years of trust and a familiarity. and so you know, you ask the question earlier, is bernie going to close the gap. it's going to narrow everything. that's why we call them races, but in the end, people are going to vote with the person they feel most comfortable with. i mean, she has been a fighting democratic for decades. he just got into the democratic

party last year. that causes people to take pause. i said earlier in my endorsement that i served with him in the congress. he is a likeable guy, but at the end of the day, i know that hillary clinton understands the needs and issues, and much of the feelings of the after kmaern a -- african-american and latino communities. >> can you -- this is a tough job, but i don't mind doing it, my job is to ask these kinds of questions. when a white candidate, a white politician walks into a black church or into a black setting, wi where the culture is black, can you tell which people are comfortable and which weren't, which has a familiarity? >> you can. when somebody has a level of comfort with something, walking into a black church or standing up on a street corner or walking into a room of people they don't know, i mean, it's obvious through body language and

everything else the way that they engage there a level of comfort that may not be the case if in fact somebody has not had those experiences. it doesn't mean the other person is a bad person, it means the other person is they're more comfortable because they've been doing it before. >> howard, let's go through some of the analytics here. i'm wondering, african-american votes, but in the democratic party, the words like base, but i don't like the word base. it sounds below. to me, it's rely reliable, advairial to you. the african-american vote has been there nine out of ten times, ever since the 60s. >> that's right, chris. it has to do with elections that those voters have taken part in involving bill clinton. that's part of the brand. and what i just spent a lot of time in south carolina, as a matter of fact, i just spoke with jim clyburn, the congressman who you showed in the video clip there and he told

me two or three things. first of all, the level of familiarity that the clintons have in south carolina is almost familial. first of all, they've known jim clyburn, who supported them originally before barack obama got in the race in 2008. and marion wright edelman, who founded the children's defense fund out of yale law school is from south carolina, the wright family is very well known in south carolina. it's a family style thing that the clintons are apart of. that's number one. number two, voters in south carolina, african-american voters were incredibly impressed by the way hillary went to work for barack obama, after she lost in the primaries to him. the fact that she went and joined his administration made -- had a big effect. the other thing, she is essentially doing what george h.w. bush did when he extended the two republican terms of ronald reagan to a third term. h.w. grabbed ronald reagan

around the ankles, and what hillary is doing around the campaign is getting as close to barack obama as she can. she is essentially running for a third barack obama term. and that counts in the african-american communitity. as for bernie, you know, bernie doesn't know those people. they don't know him. it's like the old chicago thing. we don't want no guy, no guy sent. >> i know. >> they don't know him. they don't know him. >> let me go to congressman about celebrities, wilt chamberlin was a republican. not a lot of african-american celebrities are. hamilton was. now we have spike lee today, senator sanders, morgan freeman, one of the greatest voices in america, backing hillary. danny glover. do they matter, the high level endorsemen endorsements. >> they may matter to some people. it's a contest that you're watching. at the end of the day, african-americans are going to make up their minds what they

feel comfortable, what they have known to work and they believe in. it's interesting, from emancipation, african-americans voted 9-1 republican. when they felt the party left them and they didn't have the familiarity any more, particularly in the 1960s, it's been the opposite. so i think what you're going to see is endorsing like myself and others, but the african-american community is not any different from any other american community. most of us are average. we have a few geniuses and a liberal sprinkling of fools. that's the voting in every country. people will make up their minds what they feel comfortable with. >> you're charmer, and let me just say this. jackie robinson, who was with nixon, and nixon wouldn't go to the aid of martin luther king when he was arrested in georgia. he cried leaving the nixon train.

nixon just didn't get it. howard fine man, congressman, always an honor to have you on. john kasich prides himself of being the positive candidate in a nasty presidential race on the republican side. is he an obstacle now to the republican party establishments hopes of stopping donald trump by consolidating behind rubio. getting complicated. this is "hardball," the place for politics. (patrick 1) what's it like to be the boss of you? (patrick 2) pretty great. (patrick 1) how about a 10% raise? (patrick 2) how about 20? (patrick 1) how about done? (patrick 2) that's the kind of control i like... ...and that's what they give me at national car rental. i can choose any car in the aisle i want- without having to ask anyone. who better to be the boss of you... (patrick 1)than me. i mean, you...us. (vo) go national. go like a pro. and ca"super food?" is that recommend sya real thing?cedar?

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fight against terrorists, because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit. this is about closing a chapter in our history. reflects the less onons we've learned since 9/11. >> earlier today, announcing a blan that he said is designed to close the u.s. detention center in guantanamo bay, cuba. a challenging problem to solve, of course. of the detainees held, 59 of them face criminal charges, some of them may be sent overseas, determined by u.s. authorities that ten will never be released. the president's proposal includes plans to bring up the 60 detainees to an unspecified facility in the united states. republicans on capitol hill pouncing on the proposal. here they go. >> this morning, i watched president obama talking about gitmo, right, guantanamo bay, which by the way, we are keeping open. which we are keeping open.

and we're going to load it up with some bad dudes. >> when i'm president, if we capture a terrorist alive, they're not going to get a court hearing in manhattan, they're going to garuantanamo. >> don't shut it down. >> these are the worst of the worst. why would we send them into our country. i don't understand it. >> well, joining me now is the former secretary of homeland security, tom ridge, who will be the national co-chair of ohio john kasich's presidential campaign. i'll gate to kasich in a minute. governor, the problem it seems to me, i'm not a lawyer, but you have people in gitmo, we know to be dangerous, sworn their lives, out-and-out terrorists, who get us if we set them free. we can't make a case against them in our judicial system. how do we bring them into the country for all kinds of

opportunities for aclu who will legitimately fight for their rights for prosecuting or holding them. >> thank you, chris. that's an important question. first of all, you and i have had this discussion before. i don't buy into the president's narrative that inn prisoning them in a propaganda tool, because they've got to be imprisonment someplace. it's meaningless when it comes to al qaeda or a propaganda tool. what we've demonstrated over the past couple of years, we've finally realized there has to be some kind of adjudication process. from my point of view, from the longest time, it's never been the venue at which they're im princip imprisoned, the contusion, the rule of law, what is the process we determine that they deserve to stay there. fortunately, because of our legal system, we've gone down that path. we develop a system and you're talking to somebody that believes they should probably be

a separate system of adjudication for these terrorists. i'm not wanting miranda warning, but they're entitled to counsel, independent judiciary. the rules of evidence probably have to be a little different than we have in criminal court, and then we make it adjudicat n adjudication. i don't think closing guantanamo is really solving the problem. because there will be time in the future when we apprehend the terrorists, we have to put them some were until we can determine how responsible they are and you the accusations that put them there in the first place for the outcomes for which they've been charged an make the determination. i think we had need a slight different system of add justification of their guilt. >> okay. you don't believe guantanamo is an embarrassment, but you believe donald trump is in how does john kasich help an effort to defeat donald trump if that's your goal. >> well, i think, chris, ultimately, i'm hoping we get this down to a two person race. we have a governor who has a

proven record of leadership against a rhetorical candidate. we have someone who has demonstrated his conservative credentials, against one who claims he is, but pretty difficult to find. we have somebody who is respectful of the process. who has built coalitions way back in the time in the congress of the united states, the time he has been able to lead the great state of ohio. ultimately, i don't know what the establishment, i hear people throwing that term around, a lot of us think the best way for us to win not the traditional republican states, but you and i have had this discussion before, the purple states. you have to get somebody there that is unified, appeals to the broader section the party and john is the guy. >> hey, i have talked about him being on the ticket with hillary. i don't know how he fits into your party any more. i wonder if your party has room for a moderate like kasich any more. i look at trump and cruz, and

far to the right of john kasich seem to be making all the noise. >> well, i think first of all, trump gets a lot of attention because he is noisy, and it is rather remarkable that he has managed to insult his way into a 30% appeal rate across many, many states. but i do think, as we get closer and closer, we have the super tuesday, we have -- we're going to win in ohio, we're going to come in, i like to think first, second in some of these places. it will narrow it down. wise as a party, think about a much broader dimension. not just about the presidency. who is going to lead the ticket when we have i think 30, maybe 20 plus republican senators up, some of them in purple states. who is going to lead the ticket, because it's pretty clear the next president is going to choose the ninth supreme court justice. i would like to think the majority of my colleagues in the republican party take the long view, go with the proven

conservative who has got a record against -- and i think record trump's rhetoric. >> okay, governor tom rich, one of the best governors of pennsylvania. the battle for first and second in nevada, as republicans battle it out here in the coldness of the desert tonight. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics in vegas. we can help guide your retirement savings. for over 75 years, investors have relied on our disciplined approach to find long term value. so wherever your retirement journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. call a t. rowe price retirement specialist or your advisor ...to see how we can help make the most of your retirement savings. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. can't afford to let heartburn get in the way? try nexium 24hr, now the #1 selling brand for frequent heartburn.

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his entire crazy year, the circus of attacks, lies, smears, all the nonsense, all that time has passed. this is now our time. >> this is a long process. especially when you get to the win or take all states.

a narrow race by then and so this a very unusual year, but we feel really good about people coalescing around us and we'll be the last person standing. >> he is an op t. >> he may do it tonight if he fin finishes more than 10%. it's fair to say that donald trump is heavily favored. ted cruz and marco rubio making their case to voters here in nevada. donald trump could do well and actually win the caucuses tonight, cruz and rubio are looking for something that looks strong. if one of them wants to take out trump, they have to take out the other. one or the other. what l it happen tonight. three reporters covering these candidates, zeke miller, time magazine, and seth richardson, with the reno gazette.

do you think there is a chance for rubio, just say rubio, to get a good 20% chance here tonight? >> certainly a chance. >> something more minuscule. >> a strong second in south carolina, sort of the come back narrative out of new hampshire, that's certainly the type of thing that could be rewarded here in nevada, but the question is can he actually get, you know, you know, can he hold back ted cruz bring in some of the libertarians votes, keep the coalition, that ted cruz is trying to build and also the trump onslaught of the angry voters, everyone frustrated with the system light d.c. on fire, basically a metaphor that the voters will use. that's a hard thing. those are emotional arguments that he is trying to use logic against. that's a problem. >> seth? how does anybody stop trump. >> i don't know how anybody stops trump right now. he gains in popularity and keeps

growing and growing. while cruz and rubio keep beating each other up, he is happy to ride the highway and collect delegates. >> rubio keeps talking the last couple of hours, 70% that don't like trump on paper. trump says that will never coalesce and doesn't mean anything. >> the other problem is when you look across the polling, there is no evidence necessarily to support that that 70% of other candidates drop out of the race that some of them don't go to trump any way. for example, they they polled jeb bush, who is your second choice, it was evenly split between ted cruz, marco rubio. >> actually that's what trump was arguing the other night. you can't -- isn't at that right? >> yeah, i mean, that's the thing. it becomes a issue of alternatives. there are a lot of republicans out there, they will fight against donald trump as long as they possibly can. at a certain points, if they see m momentum, they want to vote for

a winner. you don't want your vote to go to waste. >> if you're not going to be with him since birth, he is not going to form a political party. >> you're going to be with a winner, your neighbors and friends, i voted for him and he won. >> people under estimate how he polls from some different factions. this is not just the base. disentran dis disenfranchis disenfranchised. people overlook it and associate with the immigration. but it's more than that. >> what is it? what's more than that? >> essentially mostly about the economy. people have been left behind who are working class americans and he gives them a sense through his success and i'm a winner that is the one that will turn it around. there may not be any proposal around it, but that's enough to persuade them in the moment. >> is the guardian responding well in this, that he makes sense? >> well, i don't think that -- i

think they're scratching their heads and wondering what's going on in america. >> i think it's about the economy, economic nationalism. thank you. love these names. any way, much more from las vegas, as the lines are getting long at caucus sites around the state. this is "hardball." look at the lines there. we've got jacob out there. he is the best there is in covering real life democracy. any way, covering the nevada caucuses. look at the lines. it's starting out here. only flonase is approved to relieve both itchy, watery eyes and congestion. no other nasal allergy spray can say that. when we breathe in allergens our bodies react by over producing six key inflammatory substances that cause our symptoms. most allergy pills only control one substance. flonase controls six. and six is greater than one. complete allergy relief or incomplete. let your eyes decide. flonase. 6>1 changes everything.

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back tonight for excitement in washington. 10:00 eastern, i'm going to join brian williams and rachel maddow for the republican caucuses out here in nevada. it's getting cold out here by the way. who will hope for redemption in next week's super tuesday. it's coming here in 2016. 10:00 tonight. we'll be right here. come back and watch. i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. her life's work has been about breaking barriers. and so would her presidency. which is why, for every american who's not being paid

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let's get back to msnbc jake who is in summerland west of vegas. >> reporter: this is pretty extraordinary. like i said, four years ago and eight years ago the turn out was, it's fair to say pathetic. 12%, 7%, 8%, something like that both times. come with me. the line, the doors are just now about to open and the line is probably hundreds of people long all the way down here. everybody is sort of early. these people were here half an hour early. i'm jacob from msnbc. what compelled you to show up so early for the republican caucus? >> i think it's important this year that we are here and do our duty. >> have you ever caucused before? >> yes. >> she's caucused before. she's showed up early and all these other people showed up early too. >> thank you so much. love the lines. when we get back, what do people here in las vegas think.

we have some great person in the streets to talk about donald trump. interesting back and forth. proand de and definitely con. you're watching hardball.

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man 1: i need to call mike... man 2: don't use your phone. it's not just security, it's defense. bae systems. welcome back to hardball. tonight, republicans will caucus here in nevada, and the front-runner in the race is more than just a name in the headlines or on a ballot. donald trump has been part of the action in this town for

years. i went down to the trump international hotel on the vegas strip to find out what people thought about donald trump. >> how do you like donald trump? >> we like him. he tells it how it is. >> would you vote for trump or just stay at his hotel? >> i'm definitely not a trump supporter. >> i'll give him four years. i think he'll do well. that's my motto. let's see what he can do. i think he will try to help us. i really do. >> what does that name mean to you right now? >> i think he's repulsive. the stuff he did with the guy with telemundo and then just his policies is ridiculous. he's entertaining. whatever he says, it reaches out to the angry part of america and some kind of way it's working. i am fearful when i see a very wealthy rich, white guy say let's make america great again.

from his stand point because what is that saying? what does that go back to? does that go back to slavery or the '60s when we didn't have our right to vote? it's fearful. >> do you think it relates to obama? >> yeah. >> what does obama mean to you? >> leadership. genuine leadership. hopeful that we get the job growth that we need here. try to get this economy driving the way it needs to be drief vi. i think there's a job that will get jobs back to the u.s. >> what does make america great even means? i don't know what that means. i think the american people hear about china and you want the mexican people out of here. you're going to take 14 million immigrants out of here. you're the big billionaire that's not tied to anybody. i don't think that's reality. >> who would you vote for

hillary or trump? >> trump. >> politically, i think he has some really good ideas. i think he's an incredible businessman. if he runs the country like he runs his organizations, we would be in good shape. >> when you watch him as a businessman because you work here, you watch what he says on television about building a wall along the rio grand or moving 11 million illegal people out of country and you hear what he says about the world, it's wild statement, how do you square that with him as a business guy? >> i think he's serious. i think some of the things he says gets a little bit out of context. >> i think he's kind of scary because to make accusations like he does or just characterize a certain race of people, it makes me feel a type of way. >> i'm not really sure what he's going to do with all of those thoughts and how he'll act out

on that. >> i believe trump will do anything he says. >> he will have the mexican government pay for it? you believe that. >> i don't know if that will happen. he's going to go for everything he said he'll do. >> that's hardball for now. i'll be back at 10:00 p.m. eastern with brian williams and rachel maddow. all in with chris hayes starts now. tonight on all in. >> we're going to build a wall and who's going to pay for that wall in. >> culture wars heets up in nevada as we get preliminary reports of massive turn out for republicans. >> dishonesty can knock out a poll very quickly. that's the only wap we lose. >> donald trump goes for three in a row. we'll go live to the caucuses. republicans sign their names on the plot to stop obama's supreme court pick. the unprecedented letter signed by republican senatorers