for everyone losing their elections. you pushed him there, he wouldn't commit that he wouldn't vote for donald trump. most people will end up saying, hillary clinton is so terrible, she's a socialist criminal, we need to stand against her, even though it's donald trump. >> mo brooks did say that stuff about hillary clinton, too. josh barro and sabrina siddiqui, that does it for this hour. i'm steve kornacki. "mtp daily" with chuck todd starts right now. if it's monday, it's the party of lincoln on the brink of coming apart. the troubles have been there for many years. now a firebrand front-runner has put the fractures into overdrive. but do republicans have a backup plan that sounds just as unbelievable as what we're already seeing? this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. good evening from our

election headquarters right here in new york city, at rockefeller plaza. i'm chuck todd and welcome to "mtp daily." we are on the eve of history tonight. donald trump is on the precipice of potentially beginning to lock down the republican nomination. and the republican party, as we know it, might be on the brink of coming apart at the seams if that does happen. things have gone from nasty to outright insane. just look at what topics are dominating the campaign trail in the last 24 hours. the kkk, the mafia, mussolini, drafting a third party, which candidate sweats more, which candidate's taller, who's got bigger, um, hands, spray tans, a prominent photojournalist brawled with a secret service agent at a trump rally. it is madness out there. so can the republican party survive trump's takeover? either way, this may not end well for anyone involved. trump is barreling his way towards a dominant super

tuesday. in big states where there's been reliable polling, trump leads everywhere but cruz's home state of texas. a new national poll has trump soaring to 49%. that is significantly higher than any other recent national polling out there. so, could be an outlier, or it could be a sign of things to come. only time will tell on that front. but there's no doubt that tomorrow could be the beginning of trump's coronation. the latest nbc news/"wall street journal"/marist state polling of super tuesday states, we've got him up seven points in georgia, one of those bellwethers of the south, he's up 18 points in tennessee. a state that has elected a very moderate republican governor, even out of a primary. as i mentioned, trump trails in texas to cruz, double-digit lead for cruz in his home state, but a new suffolk university poll in massachusetts, trump leads by 23, over rubio in that one. a new monmouth university poll out today gives trump a 23-point lead in alabama. and guess what, trump leads by double digits in this oklahoma poll as well. now to the blowback. the fractures in the republican party have existed for a while.

but it's now playing out in public, in a very big way. for instance, we're seeing an arms race between trump and rubio when it comes to schoolyard insults. >> i watched this lightweight rubio, total lightweight, and little mouth on him. bing, bing, bing. bing, bing, bing, bing. he has really large ear. the largest ears i've ever seen. for the last debate, i go back and i see him with makeup, it's like he's putting it on with a trowel. >> the guy with the worst spray tan in america is attacking me for putting on makeup. have you seen his hands? they're like this. and you know what they say about men with small hands. you can't trust them. you can't trust them! you can't trust them. >> you know, in florida, where he comes from, this guy couldn't be elected dog catcher right now if he ran. no, think of it. >> we've seen an explosion over

trump's initial refusal to disavow the support of david duke, a former grand wizard of the kkk, mind you. >> will you, unequivocally, condemn david duke and say you don't want his vote or that of other white supremacists in this election? >> well, just so you understand, i don't know anything about david duke, okay? >> we cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the ku klux klan. we cannot be a party that does that. it makes him unelectable. >> let me tell you, i'm sitting in a house in florida with a very bad ear piece that they gave me, and you can hardly hear what he was saying. >> i don't care how bad the ear piece is, ku klux klan comes through pretty clearly. how can someone like that be our nominee? >> what makes all that stranger is that our own katy tur asked trump about donald trump on friday. he did disavow. and then doesn't on sunday. but it got stranger. donald trump retweeted comments from fascist benito mussolini,

and then stood by them when i asked him about it yesterday. >> what difference does it make, whether it's mussolini or somebody else? it's certainly a very interesting quote. >> you want to be associated with a fascist? >> no, i want to be associated with interesting quotes. >> folks, it's those kinds of comments that remind us just how difficult it's going to be for the republican party to unite behind trump, which brings us to the revolt against him and the talk of a third party candidacy. ironic, isn't it? it was the fear of trump before in a third party, now it is third party to stop trump. anyway, former senator tom coburn endorsed rubio today, slammed trump's campaign as a, quote, fabrication, he is perpetrating a fraud on the american people. republican senator ben sasse of nebraska, who will be here in just a moment, wrote an open letter to trump supporters saying, quote, i cannot support donald trump. if donald trump becomes the republican nominee, my expectation is that i will look for some third candidate.

i suspect, i am far from alone. well, he isn't alone. just recently, the prominent conservative radio host, erick erickson, said, quote, i will not vote for donald trump ever. i will vote for a third party candidate if donald trump is the republican nominee. folks are seeing an outpouring of anger and frustration within. the gop. chris christie endorsed trump last week, which led his former campaign co-chair meg whitman to attack both of them in a statement she provided to me here at nbc news, she called christie a, quote, opportunist, and said this. "donald trump is unfit to be president. he is a dishonest demagogue who plays to our worst fears." folks, this looks like a concession that republicans cannot stop trump unless there is a miracle tomorrow. and on neat, we saw rubio barnstorming four states today ahead of super tuesday. he hit the ground in georgia, arkansas, oklahoma, and tennessee. cruz, on the other hand, is stuck in texas, where he tried a new line of attack on trump. take a look. >> apparently, there is a secret tape that "the new york times'"

editorial board has, of donald trump saying that he doesn't believe what he's saying on immigration. that all of his promises to secure the border are not real, and if he's president, he doesn't intend to do what he said. >> cruz is referring to a buzzfeed report that suggests that there's a tape of trump making these kind of comments in an off-the-record discussion with "the new york times." trump wants cruz to release a transcript of that meeting, so does rubio. yes, it is do or die for both of them. and for rubio, by the way, it would be a disaster if all of that consolidation that has taken place around him, and he ends up landing in third place in delegates tomorrow night, behind cruz. then what does the establishment do? meanwhile, new jersey governor chris christie threw his support behind trump last week. alabama senator jeff sessions endorsed trump over the weekend. others are rallying behind him. because there are only two options for republicans right now as far as the party is concerned. start trump in the party or stop him with a third-party bid. either way, this could be a wig moment.

and they're not wigging out. i'm talking about the wigs. remember, the republican party came about because of fractures in the wig party. and that was the center-right party back in the 19th century. are we seeing the same thing? then there was this dramatic confrontation today at one of trump's rallies. a reminder of the devolution we've seen in this campaign. words were exchanged between "time" magazine photo journalist christopher morris and trump's secret service detail over access outside the reporter pen that the trump people came up with. as you can see, things got violent. "time" magazine says it has contacted the secret service to express concern about the nature of the agent's response. the trump campaign put up this statement about the incident, quote, there was an incident involving a photographer and a u.s. secret service agent at today's ratford university trump rally. we are not aware of all the details surrounding the incident and all future inquiries should be directed to local law enforcement. and we got this statement, the

secret service is aware of an incident involving an employee of the secret service that occurred earlier today in radford, virginia. at this time, our local field office is working with their law enforcement partners to determine the exact circumstances that led up to this incident. the secret service will provide further details as warranted once additional facts surrounding the situation are known. well, here's what the photographer, christopher morris, told our own jacob r rascon about the incident. >> you didn't do it first? you responded? >> it wasn't even responded. i was showing the press handler what he did to me, and i touched him. i stepped 18 inches out of the pen, and they grabbed me by the neck and started choking me and slamming me to the ground. and -- whatever. >> reporter: you're not happy about that, to say the least? >> no, no, no. >> anyway. that was just all happening today. all right, i'm joined by republican senator ben sasse of nebraska, who wrote that open

letter. i believe, senator sasse, welcome back to the program, i believe you are the only republican senator right now who has said, will not vote for donald trump under any circumstances. how many of your senators came up to you today and quietly said, good for you, keep it going? >> well, i live in nebraska, we have three little kids and we commute, so we're going to vote here shortly tonight, but i haven't seen any senators yet today. >> let me ask you, when you said you're looking for a third candidate, is there an active movement? we all hear plenty of speculation. i've talked to operative x and operative y and hear about certain things. do you know of one that is real, that could happen? is it with the constitution party? is it an independent bid? what do you know? >> well, let's start with the fact that it's february 29th. i think 4% of the delegates have been selected and we're nine months away from an election and the american people deserve so much better than two fundamentally dishonest new york liberals. and i think we'll have more

choices and i hope those choices come from within the republican party. >> do you think it's important -- if you believe that donald trump becomes the nominee, that you can't be a member of the republican party. would you go as far as saying, i'm going to leave the republican party and join a new conservative party? >> this is the party of abraham lincoln. this is not a party of david duke, donald trump. so i think we can do much better than the nonsense that had to be the opening segment of your show today. but fundamentally, this party needs to return to its principles of believing in equality under the law and believing in the greatness of the potential of the american people. we believe in limited government. we don't believe in a bigger washington. and so, the kind of nonsense that's dominating the opening segment to your show is not what the republican party should be about. >> trust me, nothing something we enjoyed putting together, to be honest with you, senator. let me ask you this. if you have -- what is a political party? and i ask it this way. is it a, is it a party who gets its principles and its ideals

from its leaders, or is it ground up? what if this is the people speaking and the people are basically handing the nomination to donald trump? you may not like it, but is it then fundamentally that the republican party is changing because the people that are members of it have changed? >> so, great question. and let's start with this. donald trump has one definite skill, and he knows organizations that are ripe for the hostile takeover. and the republican party has been way too vacuous and not nearly clear enough about first principles for quite some time, so he's trying to wage a hostile takeover of this party. he's attacking all of the core ten infants of the republican party's platform. this guy believes in abortion on demand, this guy says that he hates the concept of guns, this guy's been for single-payer health care, he's for a $6 trillion tax increase. that's not the republican party. but right now, people are worried about future of the country, and donald trump is screaming at us. the problem is, at the end of the day, most people really want a choice that is about a

constitutional recovery. they want to rebuild what's broken in america, not tear it down. and when you listen to donald trump, all you really hear is more donald trump, more tear it down, and a lot of praise of foreign dictators. i don't think the american people, and i don't think most republicans really want a strongman. >> what's more important to you, at this point. if it means electing hillary clinton, you would rather see anything to be done to stop donald trump from taking over the republican party? >> no, it's a false choice. the american people deserve better than two fundamentally dishonest new york liberals. this is a country that put a man on the moon. and the american people deserve a better choice than this. but you asked what a party is. a political party is a tool. it's not a religion, it's not a family, it's not the nation, it's not even as important as husker football. the republican party is a tool. and if it's useful, people should embrace it. and if it becomes totally vacuous, they should find a candidate that believes in the american ideals and they should want somebody who will lead us forward by celebrating a washington that is about servant

leadership. >> you can talk about a candidate, but somebody's got to do it. you know, if mitt romney tomorrow says, i'll go ahead, i'll do what it takes, starting on march 2nd, you know, it's hard to get on the ballots in texas and north carolina, you know, this takes work. you say it's nine months away, but you realize, to do this, you've got to start wednesday. >> well, i think, first of all, you did a great service to people by talking about the history of the wigs and the republicans. this is, in some ways, an 1860 moment. abraham lincoln is the father of this party. and we need a recovery of the constitution for america, and we need a recovery of core first principles inside the republican party. so my first hope is that the voters in the primaries over the next three weeks are going to make a better choice. after that, who knows what happens next, but like in 1860, where they ended up being fourish choices, i think the american people will get a lot better choices than these two in november. >> so you can see, basically, you have until march 15th to

stop him. >> well, i think the voters -- obviously, the elections of tomorrow and two weeks from tomorrow are significant. right now, only 4% of the delegates have been chosen. but i think people need to understand, and what i hear from nebraskans, that's my home and those are my people, i've never been a politician before, i think a lot of the people who want a protest vote to try to scream, washington is broken, they need to recognize that there are a whole bunch of other people who say, if this becomes the david duke/donald trump party, there are a lot of us who are out. >> is it important for senator cruz and senator rubio to basically go as far as you did and say, look, we're not just running against donald trump, we're not going to support him. they all had to sign that pledge card, but it's a pledge card. it's not legally binding. what's your advice to them? >> neither of them have asked me for advice about that. i'll tell you this, nebraska, we don't vat until may. and i'm excited that we have two really good choices in senators rubio and cruz. both of those guys believe in

america and they believe in a constitutional system of limited government. they're not saying, hey, if you need a king, i would be glad to suck up more power for myself, which is largely trump's message. think how many times this guy uses the word "reign," it's really quite bizarre. >> and very quickly, should the one who's in third on wednesday basically say, you know, it's more important to stop trump than my own candidacy. it's time to unite behind whoever's in second? >> you know, i don't have any advice to offer to people about the timing of consolidation, but i'm glad that my party has a bunch of choices that are not donald trump and i hope one of those prevails. >> senator ben sasse, a republican from nebraska, or maybe we'll be calling you conservative from nebraska or constitutionalist from nebraska. we don't know, at some point. senator, thanks for coming on. >> you got it. >> thanks. we'll have more on this issue of a fractured republican party and what it means for november just ahead. and later, eric trump joins me to discuss his father's super tuesday strategy and i imagine

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11 states up for grabs and just about $11 million have been spent by the republican candidates and their allies on super tuesday ads. here's what we can tell you. ted cruz is the biggest super tuesday spender in the republican race, by far. the texas senator and his super pac supporting him are outspending marco rubio and his allies by almost two to one on the air in super tuesday states. and by the way, outspending donald trump by a six-to-one margin. trump's spending some money, just not a lot. team cruz has spent about $6 million, team rubio has shelled out about $3.5 million on super tuesday ads, and trump just over $1 million. both ad buys are in cruz's home state of texas, but both are being outspent by cruz, who are spending $1 million on ads there. team cruz is outspending rubio

by $1 million in georgia. the only super tuesday state where rubio is outspending cruz, virginia, where rubio is spending about $500,000 more than cruz on tv ads. up next here on "mtp daily," can the republican party either work with or survive trump's takeover? we'll be right back. to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. join us for real change. (patrick 2) pretty great.ke to be the boss of you? (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. well, is there a crackup going on inside the republican party over donald trump? he's certainly polarizing the party. he's poised to dominate most of the big contest tomorrow, when 595 delegates are up for grabs, nearly half the number needed to nominate. we're seeing an all-out revolt by some against trump from inside the gop. with some of the fearest shots coming from the party's 2012 standard-bearer, mitt romney. he recently went o through the and trolled trump on taxes, alleging a bombshell hiding in tax's returns. he says he's in the middle of an audit and accountants we've even said, you don't make it public in the middle of an audit.

but romney's comments ignited a round of attacks from trump's rivals, including ted cruz who threw this grenade out there when i spoke to him yesterday on "meet the press". >> there have been multiple media reports about donald's business dealing with the mob, with the mafia. maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been reporting. >> i'm speculating, if you have mob ties, there's not a place on a 1040 form to talk about that. it's sort of an interesting line of attack, but i don't think you would put it on your tax return, for what it's worth. not saying it's there, but using a little common sense here, from the mob movies i've seen. usually the tax returns are the problem. anyway, romney continued to lead the attack on trump, tweeting today, a disqualifying and disgusting response on the kk. romney's former 2012 campaign strategist, stuart stevens attacked trump as well, writing, "there's winning and then there's supporting a bigot. if the gop lines up behind trump, it doesn't deserve to be taken seriously anymore. i'm joined by republican

elections lawyer, dealmaker, msnbc political analyst, ben ginsburg, and the aforementioned stuart stevens, consultant, writer, author, and daily beast columnist, and, of course, a former strategist for mitt romney's 2012 presidential candidate. welcome to both of you. stuart, i'll start with you. i know we have a little bit of a delay. our friends in canada aren't giving us split-second satellite time here. so let me start, is mitt romney interested in being the third alternative on the ballot? is there any way he would be recruited to run for president? >> i haven't talked to mitt about that. i think his concern is trying to help the party select someone who we can be proud of. it's more than just someone who can win. donald trump has crossed a threshold that we really haven't seen before in modern politics. this idea that you would go out and not be able to disavow david

duke and white supremacists, there's really no going back after that. and i don't think that republicans are going to have to ask themselves a very tough question, can you support him? i'm with senator sasse on this. i thought he was fantastic. we've always had a conservative choice on the ballot in november. some people didn't like that conservative choice. you can always argue about that. but with donald trump and hillary clinton or bernie sanders, there would be no conservative alternative. and that seems unacceptable. >> you know, ben, it's interesting here, we've got all of this hand wringing going on inside the party. there's not a strategist i've talked to that doesn't have their own plan. but there isn't an organized effort. that's what we have found. there's a reason donald trump is succeeding. because whatever efforts have taken place have been scatter shot, at best. >> right. and there are a couple of strategies that i think people are starting to play with today. one is, to look at the delegate

selection process and how it works. that's all based on the assumption that donald trump doesn't run the tables tomorrow night, but he does have to win texas, cruz's state, he does have to win florida, rubio's state, he has to win ohio, which is john kasich's state. the second strategy that people are starting to pay attention to all of a sudden is what goes on inside a convention. exactly how you deal with the delegate selection process. after all, about 3/4 of the republican delegates don't have to be chosen to the candidates' wishes. they're an independent actors. and that's a factoid people become aware of today. >> meaning what? i mean, literally, if this is -- the delegates that he won could end up just splitting from him on the first ballot? >> 75% of the delegates will have to support donald trump on the first ballot, if their states voted for them. but the individuals who were selected are selected at state

conventions and by state executive committees. those people are not pledged to the person they have to vote for on the first ballot for procedural rules, fights, for things like the vice presidential nominee, for even figuring out -- >> the only pledge for just that one vote, for the first ballot of the presidential nominee and that's it? >> it's different from state to state, 75% of the delegates are pledged on a first ballot, but not on any other ballot. and they are not pledged, necessarily, to the candidate for whom their state has voted. >> stuart, i want to go to you, though, on this other aspect, the bigger picture here, the party. the fact of the matter is, what is a political party? we were talking about that with senator sasse, on one hand, it's a vehicle. on the other hand, there is a group of voters who are saying, we don't like the choices that you guys have been giving us, so, yeah, we're going with a different -- yeah, okay, he's not a conventional conservative, he's not a conventional

politician. but there's 35% of the party that's very krvel going with an outsider. isn't that the voter speaking? >> you know, my definition of a party is, it's some group you want to be associated with, because you feel that they represent something that's important and represent something you're proud of. everyone's going to have to make their own choice here. that famous ronald reagan, it's a time for choosing. that's where we are. we've never had a candidate that has crossed the lines that donald trump has. and if i had told you friday that on sunday donald trump was going to disavow -- he has that it to disavow a white supremacist, the ku klux klan, we probably both would have laughed, but he's done it. so who knows what else is going to happen here. i think it's really a moral choice. and as a political consultant, i like to focus on winning and not moral choices. but this is one that's in our face and i don't think we can walk away from. >> ben, you know ballot access rules, okay?

and there is a couple of vehicles here, if the convention way doesn't work, and i don't know how you guys deny him the nomination -- i say you guys, i don't know where you are on this. i'm saying, i don't know how the insiders deny him the nomination, if he's the guy with the most votes and the most delegates, even if he doesn't get a majority. so third party, if you want to have a competitive and third candidate, don't they have to start wednesday, in texas, gathering petition signatures to get on that ballot? >> yeah, they do. there are two vehicles that you have. one is to create your own party, in says enessence, to get on ba. then starting on wednesday to get on all the state ballots. the other is to work another ballot. >> constitution party. >> yeah, they managed to do it for 2012, to get ballot access. it is possible to do it, if you want to form a party. >> i want to go back to what i started, stuart, for the last thought. mitt romney looks like a guy

that is wanting, if no one else will take this fight, that he wants this fight. would he be -- would he be comfortable being recruited as the third candidate, do you think? do you think he could get talked into this? >> i would never speak for governor romney on this. i think his focus right now is trying to help the party nominate someone who cannot only win, but represent the best part of the party. there's three good candidates out there. hopefully, each three is going to win their state. if they do win their state, this ball game still continues and there are various options. that should be our focus. helping each of these candidates win their state. >> wow, the old late 19th centuries. first i'm talking wigs and republicans, now we're talking favorite sons and favorite daughters and things like that. i feel a feeling cleveland is going to be one fascinates place to be come july. stuart stevens from canada, thank you, sir. ben ginsburg, our delegate guru, appreciate it. still ahead, we're going to hear

from the trump campaign. donald trump's son, eric, will be here and we'll talk about all of this hand wringing going on inside the republican party and how his father is reacting to it. we'll be right back. ♪ he has a sharp wit. a winning smile. and no chance of getting an athletic scholarship. and that is why you invest. the best returns aren't just measured in dollars. td ameritrade. hi i'm kristie. and i'm jess. and we are the bug chicks. we're a nano-business. windows 10 really helps us get the word out about how awesome bugs are. kids learn to be brave and curious and all kids speak the language of bug. "hey cortana, find my katydid video." oh! this is so good. if you're trying to teach a kid about a proboscis. just sketch it on the screen. i don't have a touch screen on my mac, i'm jealous of that. you put a big bug in a kids hands

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and i suppose i could sit here today and hurl insults, personal insults against him, because he's done that the whole campaign. i've done it a couple times lately, but i'm not -- >> and he recently said he loves the poorly educated. well, i hope it's not the case that donald trump is telling "the new york times" editorial board that he is deliberately misleading the voters and he has no intention of doing anything he's saying right now. >> then they got together and they said, oh, we have to be tough. the last debate, did you see them shaking hands, behind my back, shaking hands. they're high-fiving each other inside before the thing. >> welcome back to "mtp daily." donald trump says he can unify the country, but for right now, he's united marco rubio and ted

cruz, solidly against him. so let's hear directly from the campaign and from the trump family on super tuesday eve. i'm joined by eric trump, the executive vice president of acquisitions at the trump organization, obviously. >> great to be here. >> the second son. >> the better son. >> oh, ouch. >> just kidding. it's pretty competitive in the family. >> i think baron has something to say of that. >> let me ask you this, your father is being accused essentially of being a racist on this show. is your father a racist? >> it's disgusting. it's absolutely disgusting. my father is an amazing man, he's an incredible man, the greatest father in the world to us. and to hear those three letters in the same sentence as my father's name is disgusting. you see what's happening with rubio and cruz, they're sinking and they're trying to take him down with them. but it's the worst part of politics. it's the side of politics, that i never realized before we came into the race seven months ago,

it's the worst, most disgusting side of politics. >> is there more you think he could do to just shed any association -- >> i don't know how many times you can disavow, right? he disavowed and he disavowed and he disavowed. and you have these guys get up on the stump and say, trump's a racist. even look at what cruz was saying before with mob. maybe trump put the mob connections on his tax returns. like, is this guy really -- is that really a serious statement? you're going to put a mob connection on your tax return? this is the kind of garbage and nonsense that come out of these candidates' mouths and it really hurts the country. >> what -- what do you think your father can do to unite this party? this is a fractured party. this is a party that -- look, i've not seen -- we've had tough nomination fights before, but you have a sitting u.s. senator saying, i'm not supporting the nominee if it's donald trump. >> chuck, you call it fractured, but i look at the polls, right. look at nevada, look at south carolina, look at iowa, right? look at all these states. look at how many people came out to vote. look how few democrats came out

to vote in south carolina the other night between hillary and bernie. he's actually created an unbelievable movement. there's more people excited to go out and vote now in the republican party than ever before. is that what we would call fracturing a party? in fact, you know, when the newspapers in boston, literally two minutes ago came out with an article about how many democrats and independents in massachusetts right now were switching over to the republican party in order to vote for trump. that's never happened before. i mean, mitt romney, he's going around running his mouth. that never happened with romney. my father's brought an unbelievable base of people over, because he's a competent guy, built an amazing organization, he's a great guy. he's going to do so well. and what has the gop gotten us? we've lost the last ten races. we need a party -- we need somebody who gets excitement into the race. that's what my father's doing. and it's being shown in the record numbers that are turning out for him. >> so i guess it seems like you would argue, hey, the party's moving to him, the rank and file are moving to him and they're leaving -- >> yeah, maybe the good old byes in washington, d.c. who are

sitting around a nice little table, maybe they're not uniting behind him, although he had a major endorsement with sessions. the people are speaking. when you see these lines that are 5,000 people long going into a voting booth that the last go around had a thousand people vote at it, i think that says something. when you see 30 million people watching a debate, in the last go around, you had 2 million people watching the same debate. i think that says something about the growth of the republican party, and quite frankly, the party should embrace it. >> let's talk about tone and tenor. the tenor has devolved. your father is not somebody who's afraid to say some tough things. >> sure. >> and clearly, rubio and cruz are responding in kind. is your father going to elevate the rhetoric? or is it time to elevate the rhetoric? >> my father's an amazing guy. he's my best friend in the world, my mentor, he's -- >> i assume you would get in trouble for saying some of the things that have been said? >> at the same time, he's a counterpuncher. that's what america needs. if somebody hits him, he'll hit back. they're sitting on either side of him and punching at him.

one punches then the next person punches at him. what's he supposed to do? he punches back. if you don't want a counterpuncher, he's probably not your guy. my father's a fighter, but he's also a guy who would give the shirt off his back for somebody. he's an amazingly charitable guy, he's an amazing guy, but he's a fighter. quite frankly, america needs a firefighter. >> what's going to happen tomorrow night? >> people will do great. >> you think you can win every state other than texas? >> i really do. >> that it can be almost a clean sweep short of texas? >> chuck, i can't walk down the street without having a hundred people walk up to me, tell your father go all the way, i've never voted before, i used to be a democrat until your father come into the race and i'm so excited to vote for him. i'm coming to the polls with my why have and whole family and we're voting for your father. he's created a move. washington and the insiders don't like it, the pundits don't like it, special interests don't like it, but he's self-funded his campaign and he's created a movement. and i'm proud of him. >> and to circle back, is there

a -- what's the best example you could give to say, not only has he disavowed all things with david duke, but let me tell you what he's done for african-americans or for hispanics. >> what would you say? >> look how many african-americans and hispanics we employ as a company. how many of any of the other candidates on stage, how many people do they employ? we employ thousands and thousands of hispanics. so many people. we have so many women executives. that gets thrown out all the time, trump is a sexist. we have more women executives in our company than anybody else. the garbage that comes out of these people's mouth is really incredible. but he's a great guy. he will cut through the red tape so quickly people's heads will spin. i'm proud of him. here's a man who stepped into the race seven months ago and is winning the race for commander in chief. >> can't imagine to have people hurling insults at a parent. >> not fun, but he's got thick skin and he'll do great

tomorrow. >> eric trump, appreciate it. you're looking right now at a shot of valdosta, georgia, where donald trump will be holding a rally at the top of the hour. we'll, of course, dip in and out of that when it comes. up next in the ws, a supreme court moment. ten years in the making. stay tuned. but one thing should remain constant - a financial relationship with someone that understands and cares about your business. pnc corporate and institutional banking offers strategies tailored to your company's needs. know that our dedicated teams of local experts offer insight to help you achieve your business objectives. see how working with pnc can help your company grow at pnc.com/ideas ♪

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and that mean hillary clinton's lead has gone from 519 to 86 in our official news count. we have surveyed every single super delegate, so we have verified personally their endorsement and intent to support hillary clinton. and that's why they're in the number. clinton has just a 26-delegate lead over bernie sanders when it comes to pledged delegates. delegates allocated via the primary and caucus system. that's 91-65. you throw in the super delegate lead and it goes huge. she leads in the super delegates alone 428-21. that's how clinton is so far ahead now in our nbc delegate count. we will continue to reach back to these folks, because guess what, super delegates have powers beyond regular delegates, which means they can change their mind. those super delegates, of course, they're democratic party leaders, elected officials. they're not bound to any vote, any candidate, even what they tell us, they're not bound to that down the road. so, that's everything you need to know about the super delegates, but they do matter. and i can tell you this, republicans wish they had the

super delegate system. meanwhile, our friend david wasserman at the cooper report says when all the super delegates are added up, it's possible sanders will need to win 60% of the remaining delegates to surpass clinton. that's a tall order, because to get 60% of the delegates, you've got to win 75 to 80% of the vote total to get that kind of advantage. more "mtp daily" right after the break. incredible bladder protection from always discreet that lets you move like you mean it now comes with an incredible promise. the always discreet double your money back guarantee. always discreet is for bladder leaks and it's drier than poise. try it. we're so confident you'll love it,

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who hopes to get into the top two and become appealing to republicans in a general. now to the what, it's the outsider effect. richard shelby of alabama has been in congress since the '70s. about half of it, he was a democrat, butdemocrat. tomorrow he could get a run for his money from a 33-year-old campaigning on the outsider brand due to trump voters. watch out. could he survive that. now to the where. the iranian election results from this weekend brings good news for the nuclear deal. moderates won key races. hardliners lost who are against the deal. they took the hit. now to the when. ten years and seven days ago, february 22nd, 2006, the last time jubs tis clarence thomas asked questions during oral arguments until today. now to the why. allen grayson is supporting bernie sanders. more sanders endorsements could be the trend from democratic

candidates who need to boost their progressive credibility, especially if they're running against the establishment. there is a preferred democratic candidate in that democratic race. a guy named patrick murphy. grayson wants to be some sort of progressive hopeful. don't be surprised if in senate primaries in ohio and in a place like california, those places that you will see the outsider democrat go for sanders to flex those muscles. we'll be right back. most new wealth flows it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system

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he's trying to wage a hostile takeover of this party. if this becomes the david duke-donald trump party there are a lot of us who are out. >> we've never had a candidate that crossed the lines that donald trump has. i think it is really a moral choice. >> he does have to win texas, cruz's state. he does have to win florida, rubio's state. he does have to win ohio. >> you see what's happening with rubio and cruz. they're grasping at straws. >> all of that took place in this hour on the story ahead of super tuesday. the all-out revolt against trump within the party. joining me today a former senior policy adviser for the rand paul campaign. are you like ben sasse going -- do you think this is going to be a growing movement of sort of a bunch of republican senators and republican elected officials

saying, i'm not going to do that? >> i think it's stories about to break in politico about the rga's call this morning, where governor governor suzannea said do not support trump. how it's going to be decided, texas tomorrow for ted cruz is so important. >> bob, you're a political historian. i can't believe i made a wig's reference today. it does feel as if the party is saying, and i go back to, look, what is a political party? is it made up of the people that show up to vote? or is it made up of its leaders? donald trump is making the case that, hey, i'm the leader of the people who are showing up to vote. record turnout. you can't sit here -- who's out of touch? is it trump? or is it the republican leadership? >> you said that the party is fracturing, and that's actually the case.

the leadership, and also, a lot of the rank and file in the republican party really do want to stop trump. but at this point i don't see any way that they can stop trump, or make an effective effort to stop trump without alienating his voters so badly, that there's a catastrophe for them in november. >> what cruz and rubio are doing, there's always a fine line between attacking a candidate or a candidate's supporters. >> it occurred to me listening to senator sasse earlier, that some of these voters are making bad choices. i wouldn't think that that would sit well with the voters. it is a tricky line. >> 30% to 40% of the party right now are saying, by the way, you talk to these folks, they know that trump, you know, you get some of them that say -- you know what, this system needs shaking up, so i'm going with them. >> i think the lack of attacks

on trump has allowed his record to go unscathed by people who are not so obsessed with politics the way we are. a lot of the donations to hillary clinton, his shady construction records, things like that, people just don't know because there hasn't been an opposition or search effort to get trump's stuff out there. >> i go back to, it's amazing, six months ago, the republican party was more worried about him leading as a third-party candidate, now cruz and rubio are wondering why -- >> i think elise makes such a good point. i've wondered in this campaign why they've not gone after trump more on substantive issues where he's really vulnerable, where you can make hay. they chose not to do it. >> more money was spent attacking rubio and cruz. i think more money has spent attacking john kasich. >> that is all true. i also think that the -- trump has a tough quality to him. i know at times we've run -- we

ran a big piece about trump university and the legal mess there. >> i look at -- the interviews i've done with him, he said stuff to me that any other candidate said they're done. scott walker made one comment about a wall in canada, on the canadian border, and it was essentially the beginning of the end of his candidacy. and this doesn't hurt him. >> i think there's something very curious going on in the way the attacks are made, or not even attacks, but research, and exploration of his record. the way that you would for any candidate. it doesn't seem to stick. >> where does this go? >> trump has been able to dominate the conversation so far. he hasn't had to respond to attacks. he had to spend time the other day responding to rubio's attacks. finally he's put on the defensive. >> trump university or whatever. i guess we'll see. is this good for the democratic party or not? >> no.

this is good for the democratic party. the democratic party needs to be smart in the way they re acts to all of this. >> you're not telling me hillary clinton does not have every bit of opposition research ready for trump? exactly. >> don't believe they're somehow looking forward to this campaign. i've got to leave it there. thank you. we'll be back tomorrow. big super tuesday coverage, and i have the first exit polls right at 5:00 p.m. "with all due respect" starts right now. "with all due respect" to ted cruz, are you really the right person to be attacking donald trump on the mafia? >> every time i get out, they keep pulling me back in! >> happy leap day, sports fans. we're making the most of our bonus show on