slickers." cal perry on the road in canton, texas. see you tomorrow in arkansas. don't for get to weigh in on where cal should visit on your super tuesday state. go to facebook, twitter, instagram using the #division2016. that is going to do it for this hour from atlanta. i'll steve kornacki coming to you live from centennial olympic park. "mtp daily" starts right now. it's thursday. it's the beginning of the end for the party that wants to stop trump. it's an alamo last stand in texas tonight. can marco rubio or ted cruz make their case to be the one-on-one with trump? this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. good evening from washington.

welcome to "mrksz tp daily". we caught up with hillary clinton on the campaign trail a few minutes ago in south carolina. i'll bring you that in a few moments. first, we're going to start with the big story tonight. houston, we may have a problem. tonight's debate in houston, texas, could very well be the republican party's last shot at stopping trump before he steamrolls his way into super tuesday and towards the nomination. a new poll of super tuesday states that's just out from bloomberg politics has trump with a 17-point lead over rubio and cruz. carson and kasich are off the pace there. if you want a sense of the panic there, here's senator lindsey graham talking reporters about the prospects of trump facing off against hillary clinton. >> i am like on the team that bought a ticket on the tie tan tick after we saw the movie. this is what happens if you nominate trump. i think all the things that we care about are going to be locked in place, and she's going

to get to pick supreme court nominees. so don't look at me to be the guy who stops her from being president of the united states. you can't have it both ways. you can't nominate a nut job and lose and expect it doesn't have consequences. >> uh, nut job is what lindsey graham used at the end. the weight of the republican establishment is falling on rubio's shoulders. "the washington post" editorial board is pleading with, quote, gop leaders you must do everything in you power to stop trump if the unthinkable is starting to look like inevitable. history will not look kindly on gop leaders w s whs who fail to everything in their power to prevent a bullying demagogue from being their standard barrier. rubio seems to be the best hope to take on trump and finds himself having a very bad day making that case heading into tonight's debate. look at this poll. rubio is 16 points behind donald trump in one home state -- would

have been rubio's home state polls of florida according to quinnipiac poll. there was another poll out today from the associated industries of florida. it also had trump up but only seven points. it's not something for rubio to be bragging about. florida is the first big win or take all contest on march 15th. rubio cannot beat trump if he can't defend his home turf. for comparison cruz in a few polls are ahead in this field of the home state of texas. leads trump by is a. that's not a win or take allstate. so 38%, 40% is not going to be the big delegate hall that rubio could get if he won florida. still for cruz it's a bigger lead than most other polls out of texas over the last week. kasich's campaign jumped on rubio's weakness in that florida poll. certainly bad blood right now after rubio's allies have tried to strong arm kasich out of the race. john kasich is the only

candidate who can beat donald trump on march 15th. marco rubio needs to do the rig thing and suspend his campaign. kasich aide told nbc news, you can't lose to trump 16 points in your home states, winner take all, and expect to go on. kasich's super pac is now hitting the airwaves with this ad trying to bimd uild on that message. >> only john kasich has the experience to be president. only john kasich. d.c. lobbyist, wrong? now, there's a first. >> all of kasich's criticism we should note the most recent polling out of quinnipiac has trump leading kasich there, too, although his lead is five points over kasich in ohio. we saw the cruz campaign telling their supporters in florida that, quote, cruz is the only candidate that has beaten donald trump. referring to iowa. that brings us to this headline from politico heading in tonight's -- into tonight's big

debate. quote, rubio has concluded that going after trump would accomplish little because the businessman's supporters are 2k50e7 dooeply committed and unlikely to swing rubio's way. the party was reminded of the potential demographic death spiral many republicans worry about for trump. eight in ten hispanic voters have an unfavorable view of donald trump. those are very similar to our latest nbc/"wall street journal" telemundo numbers. anti-trump anger is boiling over, especially among some hispanics. here's former mexican president vicente fox. >> i'm not going to pay for that [ bleep ] wall. he should pay for it. >> trump is calling on the former mexican president to apologize. but what else is trump doing today? i tell you what he's not doing. he's not fending off attacks from rubio. he's not fending off attacks from cruz. and he's not fending off attacks from kasich. his biggest critic at the moment mitt romney who alleged a bombshell could be hiding in

trump's taxes. well, trump unloaded on romney today saying, quote, mitt romney who was one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of the republican politics is now pushing me on tax returns? dope. then he added this, i'm going to do what mitt romney was totally unable to do, win. ouch. i'm joined now by republican congressman sean duffy of wisconsin, a rubio supporter. congressman duffy, welcome back. you've been in this position before from marco rubio. let me ask you this. why isn't tonight the night that marco rubio takes to it donald trump? >> first of all, you're right that tonight is incredibly important and i think as you decided all the poll numbers, what we also see is that people aren't all locked in. you see 30% to 40% of the people who will change their mind the day or two before the election or the caucus. so marco performing well tonight and i do think he has to call donald trump out on the fact that he doesn't have any really policy prescriptions to back up

his high language. i'm going to make america great. it's going to be huge i'm going to build a wall. how is he going to do this stuff. and i think that marco has to be able to call him out and say, listen, give us the policy prescriptions that are going to accomplish the goals that you talk about on the stage and tonight the opportunity, chuck, is as that stage shrink shrink, jeb bush isn't going to be there to jeb won't be the punching bag for donald and the lights get brighter, mork cohas more of an. opportunity and so, too, does ted cruz to call donald out. i think that's going to be important. but i also think that there's -- there is a concern in the republican party not just about the policy of donald trump but a lot of us don't think he's a conservative. i mine, it's one thing to have bad policy positions when you're 1 but in the last ten years. i mean, on the conserve did side he supported single parent, the stimulus bill, nancy pelosi, weiner, these are not good stuff for conservatives. >> congressman, his supporters are not conservative.

it's pretty clear. his supporters, some are former democrats, some are just frustrated at the system. that seems to be what marco rubio, ted cruz, jeb bush, go down the line, john kasich, they have failed to tap in to. >> well, i would disagree with that because there are some who are new voters who are democrat voters and he's done a good job of bringing those folks in. my own district, my own state, there's a lot of conservatives who are frustrated and they believe he's going to accomplish the goals of the conservative movement. and what we have to think about is, as conservatives barack obama has done a horrible job on the economy and foreign policy. we need conservative leadership if we're going to save america. donald trump is not going to offer conservative leadership in the white house. he doesn't share those principles bep don't know what we're going to get with donald. that's why it's important you have a tried and true conservative like rubio who is honest and trustworthy unlike cruz to take on hillary. >> how much hardered do you think it will be for your

re-election if donald trump is at the top of the ticket in wisconsin? >> listen, he brings in a lot of different folks but it's tough, chuck, when you have to defend some of the crazy things that he says. and i don't want to be in a position to have to defend that but i will tell you if it's a choice between donald and hillary or bernie, i'm going to go with donald because i know i'm going to get with hillary and bernie and it's going to be more socialism and bad economic policy. >> i'm curious. what do you say to the "washington post" editorial, republican leaders need to take it another step further, if you want to stop trump you've got to be willing to say i'm not going over the cliff with him? >> but i think the point to him is it's not our responsibility. we have a democracy. the american people, the american republican voters get a decide who their nominee is. and so i think it's important that rubio, and rubio is the guy that has to make the argument along with some of our help to the american people that there's a better pathway, more conservative leadership that's tried and true and marco rubio and the risk of donald trump isn't worth it. if people want to burn down washington now, chuck, because

of the dysfunction and the lack of movement of good legislation, just think, they're going to have pitchforks out if donald trump is the president. it's going to be a larger disaster than it has been under barack obama. >> all right. congressman sean duffy, i will leave it there. thanks very much. well, to get the perspective from the cruz campaign i'm joined now by former congressman jack kingston of georgia who is a supporter of senator cruz. congressman? >> chuck, good to be with you. >> i want to get to your race in georgia in 2014 because we were talking earlier thauz there may be interesting similarities. what does cruz have to do tonight? there's a lot of pressure it seems on him to step aside now and say, the only way to get behind trump is to get behind rubio. >> senator cruz has to draw blood on trump's conservative credentials which is sean duffy just pointed out very questionable. he supported john kerry, he supported hillary clinton, he supported nancy pelosi. recently supporting planned

parenthood. his victory speech in nevada actually quoted steve wynn, impressed him. and one sentence later jerry falwell. for republicans particularly in the south, gambling and christian coalition, politics don't quite jibe. yet he seems to get away with that. >> i'm curious why is that? it's pretty out there that he is not somebody that is, i would say the most evangelical guy. >> no. >> right? he may have his faith but he doesn't necessarily practice it the way a lot of folks in the south do. and supporting him. >> and he's come out before for same-sex marriage and pro-choice and, again, planned parenthood. i think at some point conservatives who are frustrated with the system have to say, you know what, i like the fact that trump is a disrupter but so is ted cruz, plus he's conservative. he's -- he is credentialed. trump has not had these

positions when he was a college kid 19 years old. he's had these positions as a grown man. and for a southern conservative and the evangelical vote will be strong the way it was in iowa, i think they're going to be more discerning than the people in nevada or new hampshire. >> you have a firsthand experience of being a conservative -- you had a conservative record, sterling conservative credentials and you lost to a political outsider in your senate primary. somebody who was wealthy, you know, in the business community. now, he was -- he was staking out more conservative positions, unlike trump, i think, in this case. but what's the lesson that you in georgia that maybe ted cruz and marco rubio should learn? >> i had a 22-year a-plus rating with the, 100% with national rights to life. >> first name was congressman. >> first name was congressman and my opponent's first name was outsider. the yearning for that big disruption of what i would say the uber element of politics

that would come in there and just turn the whole system upside-down, people are looking for that. and i think that's why in the democrat side bernie sanders is doing so well. i don't know that he'll do so well next tuesday. but the reality is bernie sanders should not even be top tier. neither should donald trump but the reality is the disrupter and -- >> look, as i went through this "washington post" saying, it's not just -- actually a lot of conservative leaders saying don't just say you're supporting cruz and rubio. say you will never support donald trump. why do you think so many republicans are hesitant to go that far? >> i think the reality is the system is working. he's won three out of four primaries. >> you can't deny the voters. >> you really can't. and trump is bringing nontraditional republicans to the polls, which is a good thing. i think we all recognize that the energy, the fact that he's bringing up a lot of the big issues. but the reality is so is senator cruz. and again, senator cruz can be a disrupter, he can change the

system. but he has a consistent conservative message which i think voters are going to start looking at more and more the closer we get to super tuesday. >> well, i've been hearing that on trump for some time and it hasn't stuck. this issue. is it because -- could you make the argument trying to go after him on conservative isn't working, temperament is the better way to go? >> i think you have to go after him on both because there is a temperament question. 4 he has been irresponsible in some of his 125i789s, attacking reporters, attacking senator mccain, attacking the pope and yet he's gotten away with it. however, i think skroet evoters have to ask themselves is this who i want at the negotiating table on trade agreements, war agreements, peace agreements. is this the guy who we want to appoint the supreme court justices. i think you will start to see some and i think tonight you will see even more because as

we've gone from 17 to 6 standing and 5 and probably really 3 that the focus will be on, i think they'll start having a little more substance in their debates. >> jack kingston, former congressman from georgia. good to see you. coming up here, in a few minutes could boert parties nominate their most popular candidate in a general election. believe it or not both parties are headed that way. the two candidate with the highest unfavorables for the party are the favorites for their nomination. what hillary clinton is saying ability running against trump is next. and later, has he led to the end of the art ft deal in congress? stay tuned.

live pictures right now. recognize that person. that's bill clinton in spartanburg, south carolina, right now stuffing for his wife. two days away from the democratic primary in south carolina. sunday, the democrats and

republicans will hold their primary on the same day. but that's not this year. and less than two minutes away from my quick catch-up with hillary clinton. she was on the trail and how she's responding to bernie sanders' latest attack on trade and whether she's gearing up to battle donald trump. all of that is up next on "mtp all of that is up next on "mtp daily."rt? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. at&t can help you stay connected. am i seeing double? no ma'am. our at&t 'buy one get one free' makes it easier for your staff to send appointment reminders to your customers... ...and share promotions on social media? you know it! now i'm seeing dollar signs. you should probably get your eyes checked. good one babe. optometry humor. right now get up to $650 in credits to help you switch to at&t. won't keep you up at night.n know you have insights from professional investment strategists to help set your mind at ease.

know that planning for retirement can be the least of your worries. with the guidance of a pnc investments financial advisor, know you can get help staying on track for the future you've always wanted. hillary clinton has now again the clear front-runner in the democratic race for setting up a potentially epic battle against the republican front-runner donald trump. but bernie sanders isn't going quietly. he is throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at clinton at trade. clinton was confronted by a young black lives matter activist over comments she made about crime as first lady in the '90s. i caught. with secretary clinton in a phone call earlier. i began with a question about the current state of this wild race. a week ago there was a perception the campaign was in huge trouble and then there was

a sense the could put the nomination away in a week. does she feel that change? >> i try to take it one at time and i'm focused on south carolina on saturday and the super tuesday states to follow and then going on from there. i feel good about the work we've been doing and all of the states. but, you know, chuck, i am not somebody who gets ahead of myself. i think we've demonstrated, you know, a real resilience. i'm proud of our good outcome in nevada but, you know, we've got to keep proving it over and over again. >> you know, yesterday i had a new endorser of yours, jim clyburn, on the show. the congressman, of course, senior democratic congressman from south carolina. and he had an interesting critique of you. he said he feels like in the last week you've talked less policy specifics and more --

been more conversational, more we rather than me. has that been a conscientious change, is he right? has he spotted something? >> well, i'm so proud to have his support. he is a treasure. and has been instrumental in helping me getting or n organiz doing everything i can for saturday. we laid out a lot of policy in the first seven or eight months of this campaign. i did it deliberately because i wanted people to know what i wanted to do. and i wanted them to hold me accountable during the campaign and going into the white house for delivering results. but now i do think we're in an opportunity moment where we can talk about, you know, some of the bigger values at stake, the vision for the country. i keep talking about i want to break down all barriers so everybody has a chance to get ahead and stay ahead.

and i do think that there's a real sense of inver jens here. we've laid out all the work we want to do. i think it's fair to say that we've been very specific, we've been careful about costing it, look at the number data. now we can build on that to talk more generally about how we unite the country, bring us together, and have a sense of optimism and confidence about the future again. >> couple of quick news items of the day. your opponent senator sander, his campaign did an event in ohio today talk about your past support of nafta. saying, it's easy to say you support manufacturing jobs in an election but when it really mattered bernie sanders was on picket lines opposing nafta. secretary clinton supported it. it's a hit on judgment saying you're now anti-nafta but -- and you're now anti-ttp but obviously the charge is once the campaign is over you're going to

be more of a free trader again. how do you convince democratic voters that don't like these trade agreements that you're not going to switch once you're in office? >> well, look, i think the question americans are asking is who can stop other countries from hurting our workers and who can start our manufacturing renaissance in america. you know, i'm the only candidate in this race who has actually dealt with the chinese. i've taken them on on trade abuses. i've worked to protect american companies. i've laid out a strong trade enforcement strategy to make sure we're not taken advantage of. i don't think it's enough to say again, i think we have to also tell people what you're going to do and what you're for to create good jobs. i've got a long record supporting that when i was a senator from new york, when people were writing off manufacturing. >> yeah. >> i was standing up for jobs in buffalo and rochester against the bush administration.

i was in south carolina yesterday, big tire factory there. employs about 1600 workers because of the new market tax credit, which was implemented n in -- create jobs. i'm also a big supporter of export-import, something else that senator sanders has opposed. in oh hio alone it's provided $ million over the last six years. he doesn't support the export and import bank. he doesn't have a plan for manufacturing. i do. i think voters wants somebody who doesn't just talk about what they're against but has a proven record on what we're for and get results. >> i want to ask you, the other piece of news of the day, i want to ask you about a black lives matter protester who appeared at a private event. apparently according to reports the confrontation and it was a

criticism of something you said back in the '90s when selling that crime bill, the protesters said to you today, i'm not a super predator, hillary clinton. and it was a phrase you used when you were promoting that crime bill back in the mid '90s. is the protester have a point about your choice of words? >> oh, look, i said that that was a poor choice of words. and never used it before, never used it sense. and looking back i shouldn't have used those words. i certainly wouldn't use them today. but, you know, i think what's important is my life's work. it's been about lifting up young people who have been let down by the society and who never got the chance they deserve. and unfortunately there are too many of those kids, especially in the african-american community. so i've been very specific from the first day i started this campaign about ending the school

to prison pipeline and replacing it with a cradle to college pipeline. and, you know, i was a champion for children as first lady, as senator, and i'm going to keep being the champion to break down the barriers, whether it's economic barriers or systemic racism or whatever it might be that stands in the way of all kids. so every one of them can live up to their god-given potential. >> i know you don't want to handicap the other side. final question. i'll let you go. i know you don't want to handicap the other side. is donald trump, i've spent a lot of time with trump supporters. i can't tell you how many of them were bill clinton supporters in the '90s. these are former democrats, secretary clinton, that have decided, the democratic party let them down, now the republican party is letting them down, and they're gravitating toward trump. what have you done? what is the democratic party done to alienate these folks, do you think? >> you know, chuck, i think it's

too soon to make any real judgments about this. i'm going to wait and let the republican process play itself out. you know, i noticed that there were only about 70,000 people participating in the nevada caucuses. in fact, we had more than that around 80,000 on the democratic side. so i don't think that we yet know where people will finally decide their interests, why, who's going to be there for them, who they can count on. i'll wait until they pick a nominee. i hope to be the nominee on the democratic side and then we'll, you know, start the conversation. >> but this phenomenon is sort of, many of necessary folks are sanders say that their second choice is bernie sanders. so there seems to be an appetite for this radical change. >> well, look, i think people are disappointed. they're frustrated. some of them are angry about

economic setbacks. they don't think the government works. they are really pretty much giving up on the political system. i'm well aware of that. i think it's a fair reflection of the way, you know, many americans feel. but campaigns come down to a choice between, in our country usually, two candidates. and once again when the election gets under way, once the nominees have been selected, then, you know, a lot of americans really, you know, pay attention. they want to know who's saying what and who is going to do what. so i just don't think we have a very comprehensive or clearview yet about how the general election will play out. i'm certainly not going to be prejudging it. i'm going to wait and do my best to get the nomination and then we will do our best to win the general election. >> all right. i know you've got to go to your campaign event. thanks for checking. appreciate it.

hope to see you this weekend. >> great. thanks a lot. bye, chuck. >> all righty, my colleague chris matthews will talk with the other democratic candidate bernie sanders tonight at a special time, 8:00 p.m. eastern. old-fashioned college tour. you can watch more of hillary clinton on "morning joe" tomorrow morning. joe and mika sit down with her just ahead of the south carolina primary. still ahead, donald trump is know nor known for his tough talk on the trail but are the tactics rubbing off on the elected delegates? the declining decorum on capitol hill. stay tuned. delegates? the declining decorum on capitol hill. stay tuned.

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. welcome back to "mtp daily." donald trump's tactics, are they rubbing off on elected officials on the hill. here is a small sample of his more questionable comments since beginning his campaign. >> if you are mexico, you're not sending your best people over here. we're getting drug dealers, we're getting rapists.

i'll build the greatest wall and i'll do it underbudget and ahead of schedule and i'll have mexico pay for it. john mccain goes, oh, boy, trump makes my life difficult. he's not a war hero. he is a war hero -- he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured, okay? i hate to tell you. donald j. trump is calling for a te total and complete shut down of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. a nice reporter, now the poor guy you got to see this guy. i don't know what i said. i don't remember. you know, the guards are very gentle with him. walking out, smiling, laughing, like to punch him in the face, i tell you. >> that's been some of the more colorful comments donald trump has made. some mlt in the republican establishment claim to fear it could poison the ticket. has it already gone that far down? look at the past month. president obama sent his annual

budget proposal at the beginning of february, usually they dismace the plan soon evafter a have a vote but this year, breaking with a 41-year-old tradition, the republican chairman said they wouldn't even meet with the commissioner. they said no hearings, no votes or even the courtesy of meeting with the president, we're out of the question when it came to replace the vacancy. on the day the president announced the plan to close the guantanamo bay detention center, senator tom roberts released a video of himself krurchling up the plan and throwing it into a trash bin. it's standard that a republican congress and republican president will disagree or democratdem it does feel increasingly like decorum is being thrown completely out of the window and you have to wonder is it sort of the trump effect and does it end up serving the trump narrative

that nothing gets done in washington and at the same time he gets stronger. let me bring in the panel on this one. jamal simmons, cofounder of crate.com and matthew, editor of the washington free beacon and contributing editor of the the weekly daily standard. i want to start with you on this. do you feel as if the republicans are drawing these tougher lines, that it's a response to sort of trumps out there feeling as if they have to get tougher? >> my first reaction to your intro there is, chuck, it's not like republicans have been particularly cooperative with obama over the last seven years. >> there's a line. >> i don't know. i'll blame donald trump for degradation in relations when paul ryan starts personally insulting the president. starts calling him a loser and things like the trump affect is less about these policy disagreements or gridlock than it is just i'm the winner, everyone else is a loser and i am going to make fun of you personally until you accept that you are a loser.

>> yeah. >> what do you think of it? >> i think it's a very good point. i agree with the way you ended up that sentence when you said i think it's only helping to build him up, which is the more that congress looks dysfunctional, the more that things look like they're not working the more people say why not take a risk with donald trump, why not go in -- >> we've gone with these guys. >> we tried it with these guys. the difference -- what donald trump can do is what very few other candidates can do, elected officials can do, is they do it and it looks staged, it looks phony, it looks political. he does it and it looks authentic and genuine and like he's actually going to be able to follow through on these threats. >> some would argue it's just as phony, doing an act, too. >> of course. but it somehow seems -- >> authentic. >> yes. >> i had someone say to me he's authentically phony, like he's in on the joke, lets you know he's in on the joke and that's why it works. >> probably true. i also think there's a reality that the parties are nowing being base turnout operations

that fight over very small sliver in the middle of people who are left. so the republicans know they can't anger their base. they've got to be as loyal to them as possible. looking for these symbolic ways of doing that. i think that's what you saw in the mitch mcconnell last week was i'm going to prove that we're with the base so, with trump or without trump, we're going to be on their side so we can tump thrn them out in novem >> is there a point that there are damages, republican senators? do you worry about that? >> not on guantanamo. for one thing, public is with them on guantanamo. that's not going to damage. >> they will do the hearing, to have it is probably good politics. >> i agree with you there. i think they should have waited until the nominee comes out and vote against it and vote against the hearing. that might hurt them. at the end of the day it's going to be the two presidential contenders. >> better that they drive all of it. >> one chance to get a supreme court nominee through, loretta lynch or somebody like that. either they're going to

embarrass the republicans to the point they have to go through the process with her or be a base turnout operation. >> ryan sand yoefl decided he would -- he didn't enjoy being in the political football for 24 hours. for bryan sandoval's career that's not a surprise. his risk adverse. >> that's why nobody thought -- well, people in nevada, good friend was skeptical he was going to run for the senate, which he did not. listen, i agree with jamal's point, too, and saoval. he's too liberal for most republicans whether it's on abortion. >> probably to the left of anthony kennedy. >> probably never going to be able to get their votes in the first place just on ideology and he wasn't going to motivate the democratic base. reason governor. >> there would have been a massive disruption in the democratic party had that

happened. >> let's talk about the trump affect in another way. you've written about this a little bit which is does he -- does he, is he -- turnout is up in all republicans primaries. he's bringing in new voters. why is this not a plus for the republican party? >> well, because i think so many republicans are frightened by the prospect of him being president. i'm out there saying that democrats should be frightened of him, too. as i listen to democrats and think sound like republicans when donald trump -- >> oh, it will never -- >> never happen. he's going so easy to defeat. he's such a joke no one takes him seriously. donald trump is just playing at a different level than most political actors. and hillary clinton has shown, i think, to be a weak candidate in some respects. >> i think republicans are not -- sorry, democrats are not going to do what republicans did, which is let him build up this head of steam and wait. the minute it looks like he's getting the nomination, there will be millions and millions of dollars going after him.

everybody assumes, well, he's tough, he can take the punches because nothing defeats him. we don't know if he has a glass jar or not because nobody's punch him. >> i've seen people get under his skin. take the heat and hit him again. >> there's one politician that has gone up against trump and won. a showdown. president obama. how he went at him he went at him with ridicule. >> you got to get him the way he gets you. >> which is sort of the way he goes. >> yep. >> why do you think, matthew, that the cruzs and the rubios and jebs haven't gone the ridicule route? >> the blow back. they each have trstrategies tha depend on everyone else getting out. i'll say this about trurp. typically a republican move to the right in the primary and this limits his support in the general. trump hasn't moved to the right. he's only moved to the right on one issue, abortion several years ago. he's going to be in this weird position. he will be attacking hillary clinton who i assume will be the nominee from the right and the

left. >> right. >> and, yes, $750 million in negative advertising is going to have an effect. he already has high negatives. so does hillary clinton. >> they're the two most unpopular presidential candidates we have. >> what will her negative ratings look like after six months of donald trump every day finding new ways to insult her? >> what about this bernie sanders effect? look, clinton supporters, after a bitter race with obama, did come around and support obama. and i know the assumption in clinton world is sanders supporters will come around. boy, if you've spent any time with sanders supporters they're defiantly anti-clinton. may go to trump. >> barack obama was a movement candidate. he had to get the pragmatists in the party to join him. hillary clinton is the pragmatic county and she has to get the movement people. much harder thing to do. her having a message to appeal to him and her maybe having a vp nominee to appeal to them as well would be helpful. >> you think needs to go younger

or more progressive? >> more progressive. >> progressive and that's where sharon brown can be somebody that fits into that category. >> none of us would have thought somebody like that would be with clinton. >> right. >> democrats have been saying that for a while. >> especially with trump though -- >> brown would be a good match-up against trump. >> about the only way you would a -- >> trump will go for the unions. the foreign policy argument against hillary the way no republican can because they're all internationalists. he's not. he's going to attack her from the left. >> if he picks john kasich might need a brown there, too. >> i don't buy the conventional republicans for all the things they said will they be willing to be on his ticket. >> fair point. >> i'm going to pause the conversation. you guys are sticking around. we have a star studded edition of the ws coming up. we're also president obama is going to be coming out after an all-day state department event on targeting isis. we'll be listening to that. stay tuned.

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it's joe biden at the oscars, he'll introduce lady gaga. his office says he'll use the big stage to talk about domestic violence. what, we're doubling down, another intersection for a music star and a washington call. last night, kanye west tweeted, there is no freedom without economic freedom. paul ryan had a good point, all apart of kanye west, 2020. to the where. arizona senator vehicle convoy charged by a group of elephants. these elephants have no respect for a fellow republican. i also added to the retweet. the only republicans that will

take on donald trump. now to the when. it's this november. arizona congressman will not be running for reelection again. founding members of the freedom caucus. he wants to spend more time with his family. he was a congressman in the '90s and holding on -- mitt romney may have turned heads last night, when he alleged that donald trump has a bombshell on his tax returns. strange echo when harry reid was ribbing romney, remember this. >> the word is out that he hasn't paid any taxes for ten years. let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn't. >> so romney did to trump what reed did to romney. reed remembered what he did, and when asked, reed said, quote, i can't imagine romney having the gall to come and ask for anybody's tax returns. let's look at his. here is why it matters. reed trolling romney gives more

oxygen to romney trolling trump. that's never an accident with harry reid. we'll be right back. vo: know you have a dedicated advisor and team who understand where you come from. we didn't really have anything, you know. but, we made do. vo: know you can craft an investment plan as strong as your values. al, how you doing. hey, mr. hamilton. vo: know that together you can establish a meaningful legacy. with the guidance and support of your dedicated pnc wealth management team.

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so which state are you going to win, dr. carson? >> you know, what i used to always tell patients when they would say what's going to happen with the surgery, i would say don't guess. you'll know soon. >> that was my colleague, hallie jackson, yes, he is still running for president, a few minutes ago, a. amy walter and matthew.

let's talk about the debate. we haven't focused on that. a big night. is it going to be about cruz versus rubio or everybody versus trump? >> going to be everybody versus everybody. >> again. >> it's going to be one of these -- >> finally asking me a question. everyone will play to, you know, to tune. and rubio, maybe he is suggesting he might attack trump. that's what the media wants him to do. on the other hand, he believes he has a shot as the sunny unified candidate everyone will turn to in the end. >> he has to look like he is presidential and a vision that goes beyond just -- >> a lot of donors still sitting on the sideline. >> and there a reason for that. >> they're not sure he can do it. >> he has to look like he has the stature, he has to look like he has the ability to do this. not just to beat trump and see if he can take a one-on-one, but to look like the person and say that guy, that's right. that's the person that could be

president. >> what i'm trying to figure out, when does somebody pull the samuel l jackson on snakes on a plane and say enough is enough, you know? >> maybe it will happen like a saturday night live routine or something. here is the thing troubling about trump. you can imagine trump winning the nomination and then showing up at the convention and saying all that stuff i said before about walls and mexico, i just said it to win the nomination. i don't mean it. everyone would scurry around and forget about it and run away with it. that's what makes democrats nervous. you don't know which way he will come back. >> they should be nervous. i'm not sure how much he actually believes in the wall right now, as he is saying it, right. so there is this idilogical. trade has been consistent and foreign wars. you've pointed to the past in the ad he took against reagan. those were the three issues.

those three issues. >> consistency. >> consistency, on everything else, including tone, which he can modlate much better. >> i even said that on sunday, i said you were not bragging about your win. you seem humble. he said yeah. >> i do think he knows how to modlate, but look what he did in neff add dachlt nevada. he wants to punch someone in the nose. >> it's fascinating to swatch someone. we think of them as performers, and you see someone who is actually a performer and doing it for 20 years, and good at it, and its a professional versus amateur. >> does he make this all of a sudden, offer them spaces, i saw he hired mike huckabee's daughter, been in republican politics, not just been working for her dad. do we see more of that? >> who does he listen to?

>> i don't know. >> that's the thing. you can bring on all the smart people in the world. he is still not polling. he doesn't have a date operation. he doesn't have a person going to sit down and say do this or don't do this. >> he has melanie. >> more tomorrow with "mtp daily." "with all due respect" starts right now. i'm mark halperin. >> i'm john helemann. "with all due respect" to mitt romney, i know harry reid. harry reid is a friend of mine. you sir, are no harry reid. republican debate day, hello again from historic, beautiful, amazing charleston, south carolina where the clockki