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tonight's republican debate was the night of the jackills as far as i'm concerned. senators marco rubio and ted cruz did what they could to put up speed bumps. let's watch that. >> donald trump has mocked everybody with personal attacks. he's done it to people sitting on the stage today. he's done so about people who are disabled. he's done it about every other candidate in this race. if there's anyone who deserves to be attacked that way, it's donald trump. two-thirds of the people who have cast a vote in a primary caucus have voted against you. they do not want you to be the nominee. they will not turn over the party of lincoln and reagan to someone whose positions are not conservative. >> if we nominate donald, we'll spend the fall and summer with the republican nominee facing a fraud trial. >> oh, stop it. >> the hillary clinton --

>> my -- >> my campaign and my foundation $100,000, and with hillary clinton -- >> give me a break. >> her four times in a presidential race -- >> it's a minor civil case. >> donald, learn not to interrupt. count to ten, donald. >> if you want to know what joe mccarthy was like in the early 1950s, watch cruz. he said unless you release tapes, you were guilty. in other words, you have to prove you're innocent. chuck hagel took $200,000 from the north koreans, unless you can prove otherwise. that is ted cruz's method of operation. michael steele, chairman of the republican national committee. robert costa political reporter for the "washington post." in detroit, amarosa who supports donald trump. let's start with amarosa. these attacks that came from two sources tonight. i think everyone here was saying, i haven't decided, but

that the least effective assault was from rubio, the more concerted ideological attempt, which i think was consistent and unacceptable. because it is mccarthy-ite, coming from cruz, accusing your candidate basically being guilty of fraud. just says it. he just says it because he can say what he wants legally with a libel lawsuit that we have in this country during a campaign. tonight, fraud with something else to do with his university. he throws these charges around. what do you think works? categorize the two. rubio sort of says you're an old man attack and cruz's ideological attack. >> can we talk about the earlier attack from romney and then segway into the attacks by rubio and cruz. trump is fighting from all directions. he gets to the debate. he hasn't had a chance to deal

with the debate prep, because of mitt romney. and cruz with his snide kind of way of trying to attack. what's most important is this fox news, with these slides and videos, i mean, the fix was in. they pulled up no slides and no videos for any other candidate. but every time donald trump went to respond to something, they had a video or a slide for him. and so it was very interesting. it didn't matter where it was coming from. donald trump was up there fighting for his political life and i thought he did very well. >> commercially, why do you think fox did that? >> i think they are part of this whole move. it's very clear that the republican establishment is not respecting the will of the people. the will of the people have voted. they're showing they want donald trump. they used this romney thing, so they can get to a brokered convention and get a candidate they can control and manipulate. donald trump cannot be controlled. he will not be manipulated. god forbid they keep coming at him because every time they do,

he keeps rising, rising, getting stronger and stronger. and people see the tactics. fox was in on it tonight. the trump university thing over and over again. even after he moved on from it, megyn kelly went right back to it. it was just so clear they were trying to hit him very hard. >> let's watch that right now. >> you're going to see -- >> senator -- >> no, no, before they had the information -- >> marco rubio.com -- >> wait. >> senator rubio, senator rubio, let him finish his point. >> it is right now -- once they had the information, it got switched. the only reason it was a "d" is because we didn't care, we didn't give them the information. when they got the information, it became an "a." >> with respect, we went back and looked at this. the rating from the better business bureau was a d-minus. the last publicly available rating in 2010. it was a result of a number of

complaints -- >> but it was elevated to an "a." >> that's never been publicly released. >> i spoke to one of the victims yesterday. >> one. >> there are several. i can't talk to them every day. i spoke to one of them the other day. they signed up for this course because they believed mr. trump was this fantastic businessman, that donald is going to teach them all the tricks of the trade. they signed up. they paid $15,000 for this course. they were asked for additional money for this course. if they really wanted the real secrets of success, they had to pay even more money. so they did. you know what they got in these courses? stuff you can pull off of zilo. when they finally realized what a scam it was, they asked for their money back and you refused to give them their money back. >> if we nominate the donald, we'll spend the spring and summer with the nominee facing a -- >> oh, come on. >> my campaign and my foundation -- >> it's a minor civil case. >> and with hillary clinton

pointing out that he supported her four times in a presidential race. >> it's a minor civil case. >> donald, learn not to interrupt. it's not complicated. count to ten, donald. >> that's the kind of joke performance. count to ten. what is this guy trying to accomplish? i'm going to ask robert about this. what is that rhetoric? you're the grown-up and the other guy is not, is that the posturing? >> the temperamental argument against trump. the one case cruz has to make as he has been in the trenches, in the movement right ever since he got to the senate and he wants to make this an ideological race. but when he's arguing temperament, they seem to like the angry temperament. i'm not sure that's going to work. >> that's the biggest problem cruz has. this is not an ideological campaign. trump has trumped the argument just as he has done on the social issues.

and other ideological arguments. >> no one's told that to cruz yet. he makes regular references to the bible and israel and all the usual paint by numbers points you do. >> but the fundamentalist right isn't there with him. we saw that in iowa. we've seen that in nevada, in new hampshire. we've seen it in south carolina now. and so they're trying to pull that argument back. that's the one anchor that he has to robert's point. because he came in on that charge. on that charging horse. that horse has kind of moved up from under him. trump has one of the reins. >> let me get back to robert. i think when you ask a question on television, you have to give an answer. he asked a simple question to cruz tonight. do you think same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt. he just dropped it and moved on. that was a good question, i thought. it tells you about your sense of

tolerance, whether you disagree with a person's relationships or sexual behavior, or whatever it is. and it would have told us something. i bet you kasich would have said, yeah, probably. this guy never had the nerve to say no. he played it off as state's rights. my first question i always ask of the state's rights, you live in a state, how do you vote in the state? you're an individual voter. and you're also a u.s. senator. >> the answer from many of these republicans is to go back, retreating to the state's issues. they don't want to make it a perm issue. these are the final four. they see the general election ahead of them. they want to eye it. they don't want to alien eight the election voters. supreme court's already ruled on same-sex marriage. they know they still have to win a primary. keep it on the legal state's issues, but not alienate the suburban. >> do they know what they're

doing? >> but that's the whole rub here. why do you think donald trump is where he is right now? they have been hearing it for years and they're no longer buying it. that's been the biggest problem that the other three candidates have had. >> amarosa, let's talk manners. saturday night trump gave a presidential -- there must have been six flags behind him. that's always a sign of serious business. and there was a press conference delivered at the end of a political night. and what he did was answer questions, very calmly. he was on his best presidential behavior. then tonight -- >> he was. >> -- was it his fault he was dragged back into the sandbox? >> he was already amped up from the way the day started. i hate to keep going back to the ronl any thing, but it's something we have to address. when the candidate has to spend most of his day dealing with the former nominee, who's attacking him, and not be able to prepare mentally for this debate, this is what you get. you get somebody who's ramped up and ready to go.

no other candidate had to deal with an attack like that, like donald trump did. >> trump clashed with moderator megyn kelly a bit who played video of trump seemingly consistent position. >> you change your tune on so many things. that has some people saying, what is his core? >> megyn, i have a very strong core. i have a very strong core. but i've never seen a successful person who wasn't flexible, who didn't have a certain degree of flexibility. you have to have a certain degree of flexibility. for instance, let's say on the second question, you can't say, it's okay, and then you find out it's not okay and you don't want to do anything. you have to be flexible. because you learn. >> amarosa, flexibility. that's a new tact. >> i love it. >> why do you love that? >> i love that he's evolving. he's showing that he's growing as a candidate.

like he says all the time, he's a businessman. he's not a politician before he entered this. he's learning, he's growing as he goes. and that's the sign of somebody you can work with, to make decisions based on that information. and not stand firm on a yong position. i love what i saw tonight. >> would flexibility mean i'm not going to build a wall but stop illegal hiring in this country? i found another way to stop the flow of undocumented people? that's ludicrous tonight saying i'm going from 60 feet to 45 feet. that's a ludicrous conversation about flexibility. what did he mean? what did he mean? he's going to build a wall. >> he's definitely going to build a wall. and he's going to make mexico pay for it. the point he was making is he is willing to -- >> that sounds like you drank the kool-aid. you think he's going to put a wall across the length of the rio grande? he's really going to do that?

>> you do know that there is already fences across the border -- >> no, no, he's talking wall. not a fence. he's talking wall. >> let's not -- >> no, it is. it's bigger. you know it's bigger. >> he's going to build it. i know he is going to make mexico pay for it. >> with memorial bridge in washington falling down, and everything falling down in our infrastructure, we're going to say, let's not fix any of that stuff, let's take all that concrete down to the mexican border and build a wall. >> something has to be done. chris, something has to be done. we have an issue with illegal immigration in this country. you may mock him about the wall, but something has to be done. >> i agree. >> the only candidate who made this issue a central part of this is campaign. you mock the wall, but donald trump is the one who brought is to the forefront. >> it was called the bipartisan bill that passed the senate and the speaker of the house john boehner refused to bring it up. that was a serious attempt.

it would have helped people already here. it also would have stopped the magnet of illegal jobs in this country. that would really stop them. i don't care how high the wall is, people will find a way to get here, if there's a job waiting for them in a kitchen somewhere, in chicago, any decent guy will try to get here to look out for his family. forget the walls. stop the illegality that stops business in this country. there's another half of this illegality. if the business person is giving them the money so they're cheap. thank you. you have to make your case. it was well said, actually. i have to agree with you on that one. thank you, michael steele. please come back. robert, thank you. and thank you, mike. stay with us. anyway, coming up, much more on tonight's debate and the implications for the republican campaign. within ten days from now, practically, we're going to have -- from saturday at least, we're going to have decisions in florida, ohio, illinois, and, of course, this tuesday in michigan. lots of decisions.

plus, we're going to hear the case for senator cruz from a top supporter of his campaign. this is "hardball," the place for politics. live tonight, after the republican debate in detroit. >> when you wrote her a check in 2008 -- >> let me tell you something, sid. the last person that hillary clinton wants to face is donald trump. that i can tell you. >> let's move on. your path to retirement... may not always be clear. but at t. rowe price, 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. [ sneezing ] a cold can make you miserable.

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that's why comcast business doesn't leave you there. when you call, a small business expert will answer you in about 30 seconds. no annoying hold music. just a real person, real fast. whenever you need them. great, that's what i said. so your business can get back to business. sounds like my ride's ready. don't get stuck on hold. reach an expert fast. comcast business. built for business. this campaign for the last year, donald trump has basically mocked everybody with perm attacks. he's done so to people sitting on the stage today. he's done so about people who are disabled. he's done it about every other candidate in this race. if there's anyone who sdeshed to be attacked that way is donald trump. >> every time rubio talks, i think he's rehearsed it, or said it so many times it sounds like he's reading, or he's got a

thing in his ear and he's following it. it seems like part of a speech he's giving. donald trump took on marco rubio for saying he's the only one who can beat him. >> i've heard ted say that over and over again on television that he's the only one that can beat me. just for the record, i've one ten, he's one three or four? last week, in fact, on tuesday, i was a half a million votes higher than him. i was a million votes higher than marco. 1 million votes. that's a lot of votes. and was by far in first place. so i keep hearing that he's the only one that can beat me. but he's getting beaten very, very badly. so where does this come from? >> two-thirds of the people casting a vote in the primary caucus have voted against you. they do not want you to be our nominee. the reason why is because we are not going to turn over the conservative movement or the

party of lincoln or reagan, for example, to someone whose positions are not conservative. >> i didn't know that lincoln was part of the conservative movement. gabe gutierrez is covering the rubio campaign. he's from the debate site tonight. what are they saying in the corner you're covering, the rubio campaign? >> hey there, chris. i did ask todd harris a question earlier in the program about that line. the donald line that he said after he was called little marco. todd harris said, no, it wasn't me. >> that's why it was so bad. the best lines are written by todd. go ahead. >> he said it wasn't him. listen, with the rubio camp, they're saying marco rubio was able to land punches on donald trump. that's what they're really trying to push. and they're trying to make the serious takedown of donald trump. i think there's a realization in the rubio camp, maybe he went a little too far last week about the spray tan, the hair, you know, the tweeting on the -- the

hair force one, the small hands. they may have gotten pushback for that. what they're arguing is the media didn't care about marco rubio beforehand, or didn't take his speeches live, or they needed to mix it up a little bit. that way they were able to attract more attention. now they can talk about the substance of policy. it remains to be seen. >> answer the question, when will he win? >> see, that's the thing. they're really putting this all on florida. a little while back, they're trying to set expectations a while back. now they're basically admitting thae have to win florida. the poll has them down by 16 points. they come back and say, we think he's going to get more momentum over the next couple days. and that we feel that now that people are really starting to take on donald trump, that the ads are airing in florida, they feel that this can turn the tide in florida. now, they're going to kansas tomorrow. they added stops there. they feel they can do well in kansas and other states. chris, really, it all comes down

to florida for the marco rubio campaign. you know, his home state. >> of course. >> is jeb bush going to endorse him, might that help him. we don't know. for the marco rubio campaign, they don't have a good answer, what happens if this goes to a contested convention. they're kind of floating it. but really, their path to the nomination, they feel if they can win florida, get the momentum coming out of florida, then they'll get a week's worth of positive stories. the comeback kid, that sort of stuff. then they feel they can turn the tide. even if they win florida, a steep hill to climb. that's really what it all comes down to right now. they're looking forward to march 15th. >> one big question to you, gabe. the word is out, that marco rubio's very angry with the fact that mitt romney stole the headlines today. that he jumped into this with what purports to be a candidacy. what do you hear? >> well, you know, the rubio campaign is not commenting on that specifically. all we heard from them today is,

oh, that they're happy to see that mitt romney's helping expose donald trump for the con man and fraud that he is. you know, that's their standard line that they're giving. no official word yet from the rubio campaign on mitt romney yet. >> okay. thank you so much. nbc's gabe gutierrez covering the rubio campaign. thank you, sir. out in snowy detroit tonight. >> it's cold out here. hallie jackson caught up with justin amash from michigan who's a surrogate for senator ted cruz. here it is. it's taped, but it just recently happened. >> thank you for being with us. overall, what did you think of the tone and tenor of tonight's debate? >> i thought ted cruz did a great job of sounding professional, like the adult in the room, talking about the constitutional principles he believes in, and presenting himself as the clear conservative choice. >> he went after donald trump pretty hard when it came to the issue of "the new york times" tape, trump university.

do you find that's going to be an effective line of attack for senator cruz? >> i think it's important that people keep going after trump on those issues and pointing out the consistencies, pointing out the fact that with the tape, it's his privilege. it's not the newspaper's privilege. if he wants to waive that privilege, they can release the tape. that shouldn't be a problem. so pointing out those kinds of consistencies is important. we want to make sure that donald trump faces the appropriate scrutiny. i think a lot of people like him because he's brash, he talks the talk, and he's out there saying things that other candidates haven't been saying in the past. a lot much people at home are angry and upset. but we need a president who is going to be respectful in his discourse, who's going to be honorable in the way they cob duct themselves. i think ted cruz is the candidate can. >> senator cruz has been going after the consistencies for weeks now. it seemed to not work for him in the super tuesday states. people went to the polls and

it's not res natd with them. >> i think it's changing. the state of oklahoma, that wasn't expected to go to ted cruz. ted cruz got hard, got his message out there and won that state, by a pretty big margin. and i think that's important. this is a republican race. we want to see who can do best for the republicans. i think ted cruz has the chance to do the best with the republicans. >> we heard donald trump make the small hands remark, unprecedented on the debate stage. >> that's where we've gotten with this kind of campaign. it's unfortunate, actually. there are people at home who maybe have young kids watching the debate. and we have to be careful what kind of presidential race we're presenting our country and the world. >> do you think ted cruz is the person who can present that kind of presidential performance? >> i think ted cruz looks presidential. he's been respectful in his

discourse. sure, you're going to have people challenge each other. that's okay. it's okay to talk about it the consistencies, to criticize. but there are some limits. i think that getting into the potty jokes is a little bit too much. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> that's justin amash from michigan who supports ted cruz. we're back with michael steele and robert acosta. i heard tonight, i get katy was talking to trump. he doesn't want any more debates. he's not gaining. but he can't refuse to show up, because look what happened in iowa. next week in florida? >> another one in miami. same forum. when we talked to the trump campaign, they feel good where they are. trump's barely ahead in this race. debates are something to endure, not to really -- >> amarosa said he does prepare. she gave that away. >> he didn't have a chance to do it today because of -- i think that speaks to the discipline

that he's sort of developed along the way. you could tell from the first debate where i think he figured he would go out and rif for two hours. two later debates where he clearly had a thought process. as robert said, he would always come back to the talking point. >> this is a seasoned trump. >> there is a guy in that body. >> oh, sure. >> the face gets angry. he looks down and says, he is counting to ten. he is really mad. >> i think the skin may still be a little thin on certain subjects. >> how about his finances? >> well, i think -- >> they always go after him on his finances. >> i don't think he minds talking about that so much. i think it's the other stuff. >> like? >> well, when rubio's hitting him on the university. >> fraud. like he's bernie madoff. >> i think impugning his integrity, calling him a poor businessman. he's built an empire. and they haven't.

they sat and -- >> i think when you watch kasich tonight, you've got to beat trump. you can't just take trump down. it hasn't happened month after month. if you're a rival, you've got to present yourself as someone who's at his level politically. kasich tonight separated himself. >> if i were him, not giving advice on television, if i were trump, i would go to rubio again and again and do it on television, and in an ad campaign. first ask him what they've done. rubio's done what? >> been a u.s. senator and foreign relations committee. >> trump's done all this stuff. he's actually put the buildings up. he's done stuff. just say that. before somebody tells you what they're going to do, first ask them what they've done. it's a great question. for every voter. what have you done? i think -- it doesn't have to be in politics. it can be in building -- what

have you achieved in life? have you ever hired a single human being, created one job? you notice that rubio couldn't answer that question. the answer is no. >> that's how kasich answers every question. he answers with what he's done first to set up what he's going to do. >> you know what i'm struck by -- >> you're right. >> and everyone's trying to make this about a flip-flop election, how trump flip-flopped. this is a new year. >> in this business, on "meet the press," they would grab a guy and open up a manila folder and there was the magic question. david duke, what made you hate america so much that you joined the nazi party? these are not -- these are different things. it's not about the importance of what he asked about. robert steele, robert costa. more on tonight's debate. we'll hear from donald trump on what he thought about tonight's performance. i'll bet you that he says he's the best.

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you could resolve this issue very quickly by simply releasing "the new york times" tape. because listen, maybe it's right. that you didn't tell them you're misleading the american people. >> the tapes i'm not going to discuss here. >> the tapes will prove you're innocent. but if in fact you went to manhattan and said, i'm lying to the american people, then the voters have a right to know. >> you're the liar. you're the lying guy up here. you're the one. you're the one. >> what are you hiding in the tapes? >> i've given my answer, lying ted. i've given my answer. >> lying ted. boy, that went elevated. at that point i think it was a deserved title for cruz. anyway, we're back with the live coverage following tonight's gop debate out in detroit. joining me are two top political reporters who were there for the fight. eli was with politico.

i've got to start with my friend sabrina, and i'll get to eli. sabrina, what is the headline coming out of tonight's kerfuffle, or whatever i can come up with? what was it about that you could actually put a heading on? >> i think the headline will be, you have another ugly debate between the republican candidate that really doesn't change anything in a significant way about the direction of the race. donald trump once again aggressively attacked by marco rubio and ted cruz. we saw that happen in the last debate. there was nothing that really stood out that i think would stick in the minds of voters that at this point would blunt trump's dominance going into the next primary contest. i think also, the problems for both marco rubio and ted cruz, throughout the entire debate, saying trump is unfit for the presidency, that he would be a disaster for the republican party as a nominee, and after the debate pledging they would support him anyway. >> you're extremely coherent in

putting it all together in about three sentences. let me go to eli on the same question. what's the headline? how do you put the follow-up to the headline? what's in the jump? >> i think one headline could be race to the bottom. and we've been seeing this for a while now. i think if anyone's cheering tonight, it's democrats. democrats put out a very sus stingt press release basically with a headline about donald trump asserting his manhood on the debate stage. whether it was jokes or the debates about the questions about process and polls, and contested convention. the democrats look at this republican nomination fight just going off the rails. and i think they have to be feeling pretty good with every passing debate at this point. >> what did you make of them all saying, the other people, the other three, that they would support trump were he the nominee? after all this idea that he's a disaster, not a conservative, not a republican. oh, yeah, we'll back him if he wins. >> yeah, i mean, they've all pledged to do that. they pledged to do that months

ago. i think it's the most uncomfortable for rubio who in the past week since the last debate has been pushing out the never trump hash tag and making his campaign about, i will never stop at nothing unless trump is defeated. if trump is the nominee, you heard rubio with his back to the wall, i have to say, yes, i will support him. that undercuts the whole forcefulness that he will fight trump to the very end. >> was mr. trump, will you support the nominee of the party, if that nominee comes from the convention itself? somebody you beat in the primaries, but will you support the nom mee? >> i think that would be a scenario in which trump would walk back from the pledge. he's already threatened to do that on multiple occasions anytime there are reports of the establishment of the party elites trying to coalesce around

an alternative and try to find a way to undermine his candidacy. i think the question really reflected what the reality was in the race, that donald trump is on his way to locking up the nomination, that the idea of a contested convention in reality is very unlikely still to happen, as much as donald trump's opponents would like to believe that that that's where we're headed. i think that mayhem would ensue if that were the case. you can imagine the kind of protests you would see from donald trump's supporters who we learned are very committed. in fact, die-hard supporters, no matter what he says, they stand by him. i think the party knows they can't go down that path if he is able to secure the delegates he needs. >> thank you. up next, we're going to hear from republican front-runner donald trump. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics, with full coverage of tonight's republican debate. >> he hit my hands. nobody's ever hit my hands. i've never heard of this.

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we're back with our live coverage following tonight's raucous republican debate. raucous being a nice word for it. in the last hour we heard from donald trump in the spin room. here's nbc's katy tur hitching up with the republican front runner, still, i believe, here's the interview. >> how are you doing? >> i think chris matthews is terrific. he's the only one that got it. >> how did you feel about

tonight's debate? >> i thought it was great. i really had a good time. i did not think as rough as it was going to be. i thought it was going to be a lot rougher. >> do you think the debates are worthwhile? >> no, i think they're boring. i think it's ridiculous now. but it's part of what you have to do, i guess. but i think they have overstayed their course. i enjoyed the evening. i thought it was going to be much tougher. it wasn't tougher. and drudge in all the polls show i have 79% or something, and i'm very happy about that. but i did think it would be more evil. i thought it would be more vicious. >> the closer you come to the nomination, will you consider stopping doing these debates? >> how many times can you answer the same question? it's really that. and if i were in the position of the other folks, because they're way behind, i would probably take their -- you know, do what they're doing. i thought it was going to be a

lot tougher tonight, to be honest with you. >> what about the schoolyard taunts of the debate? >> i don't see schoolyard -- look, see how beautiful my hands are? those are powerful hands. hit a golf ball 285 yards. i was very proud to hold my hands up. because these are politicians. they say things and make things up. you have to clear up the record. >> what did you think about megyn kelly tonight? >> i thought she did a very professional job, megyn. i really felt she was -- >> about the university and -- >> look, i can settle the lawsuit very easily. i don't want to settle the lawsuit. i'm going to win the case. i'm not a settler. because when you settle cases, and you get known as a settler, like every week the banks get sued. the executives are settler. i'm not a settler. not because i don't want to settle, but if you settle cases, everybody brings suits against you. we'll win that case. we have tremendous report cards from a lot of the people, most of the people that took the courses.

and i think we'll win that case. i think we'll win it easily. i win a lot of cases. >> how concerned are you about the prospects of a broken convention? >> i'm not concerned. >> less than 100 delegates behind you. are you concerned that he's going to be able to get closer to you than -- >> no, i'm not concerned. i think we're doing very well. we're very strong. we're leading in a lot of different places, as you know. by tremendous numbers. and i think we're doing very well. whatever it is, it is. but i think we're doing very well. >> your mar-a-lago press conference sounded like the east room of the white house. everybody remarks on how presidential you sounded. then today you're talking about hands and things on a debate stage. do you think that you're going to moderate your -- >> i actually thought i did better today than i did at mar-a-lago. >> do you think you can moderate yourself when you get to the general election? >> when you're fighting 17 people, that's one thing. then you're fighting five, nine,

ten, no, it will certainly change very easily. >> and move to the center? >> i don't know what you mean by that. >> i don't know what you mean by that, what a great answer. that was donald trump after tonight's debate. francesca is here. did somebody here say during the break, while we were watching this, i shouldn't say the break, that me lanny, his beautiful wife liked the joke about the hands and all? >> apparently dana bash had time with her and she said it was a great moment. i think for all of us it will be the moment that stays in all of our minds, that's for sure. >> i was looking at the a.p. headline tonight, it's right there in the lead. about the hands and how he said i have no problem there. >> i'm glad she's so proud of donald trump in that regard. >> just remember --- >> what was his wife, maple --

>> marla maple. >> by a unanimous decision. >> it outlived its usefulness for me. we should be -- >> i know, i know. >> let's just -- >> i don't think we learned anything. >> the university, again, we're going to do cruz saying if you don't release the tapes of your op-ed, or editorial board meeting with "the new york times" -- >> then just saying a bunch of things that never happened. what else are we going to learn from the debates? >> i think they still have yet to drop their pants. >> what's going on is this clear-cut departure from any policy debate. we have serious policy debates within the republican party. what do we do with trade? remember, that was a big issue in the republican party. they're free traders. did anyone challenge trump's close the door policy? >> we only talked about the

flint, michigan, water crisis for about 45 seconds. that's got to be a republican issue. >> it's a republican state. >> it's got to be a universal issue. >> i hate to be the prude on the -- i hate to be the prude on the panel, chris, but there's something to be said for decorum. coming up there and -- rubio was asked about this after the debate. and he said -- how do you feel about behaving in this manner? he said, well, if anyone deserves it, donald trump deserves it. that was his excuse. i try to raise my kids to not behave this way. >> they're pious about it. the first hat -- head of government. chief executive of the exetive departments. commander in chief. the other is, head of state. he said he's the representative of our country, to make your point. that's why we put him in the white house, because that's

where the family of the president should be held in high esteem. that's why. it's not just a job. we hold you up as a family and as a person. >> can you envision this person being your commander in chief, going to g-20 with angela merkel and francois hollande. >> the other guys? >> we're not really getting these kind of debates. no serious issues that should have been discussed. we're talking about the water crisis. absolutely that should have been discussed longer, considering how close they were to flint. trade as well. trade is a big deal in a state like michigan. that's why i said that it's outlived its usefulness. >> it is the trump effect. what's interesting to me is the other candidates went into these debates not looking to behave that way. and trying to find other ways to distinguish themselves. and found that up against donald

trump, with the gop electorate being what it is, that they couldn't get any footing. and that they had to -- >> i disagree with you on this point. >> that's not an excuse. it's an explanation. it shows what they think the base wants. >> but the fire with fire, what about if someone just took the approach of saying, i'm going to let these people play in the corner? i'm going to use my point -- but to say, look, here's my exact plan how i would replace obamacare. i'll go through policy proposals, this is how i would deal with opioid addictions. >> the beauty of trump is we don't know what kind of a president he would be. rubio we know. there will be regime change after regime change. our guys and women will never leave the battlefield. from the other guy, cruz, hard right on abortion, hard right.

original intent -- we didn't have one in the original intent. an amazing throwback to earlier times. with trump, loose ball. loose ball. >> he's going to -- >> he's going to pay for it. >> anyway, thank you. we already have a fence. maybe a fence. the round table is staying with us. this is "hardball," the place for politics, live for the republican debate in detroit. when you're told you have cancer

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david, francesca, megan, who won tonight in this -- it was a kerfuffle. >> let me say mitt romney lost. he tried to stir up this no-trump movement today. and at the end of the night, they threw him under the bus and said we'll support trump if we lose to him. >> do you know why? he's likely running for president. >> they'll be crowded out. >> trump, because he successfully brought half the rest of the people on the stage down to his level. second place, john kasich, because he got time to talk today. >> who will be in the headline? >> trump. >> trump. and body parts. >> and little rubio. >> little marco. >> john kasich won tonight. but if we're looking at the larger scheme, we've got another several months to go. unless everybody raises their game, this is going to be a long, brutal -- >> unless michael bloomberg gets in. >> i haven't heard anything

about that. >> no comment. >> the next debate worth watching? next week? >> of course. because how low can they go? i don't think they've hit bottom yet. and rubio -- listen, cruz knows he can't win at a broken convention. he has no chance. he has to get into a one-on-one with trump. he's not going to lay off. >> i think amarosa was right tonight. i think we're looking at a possible trump-kasich ticket as of tonight. thank you very much. much more ahead on tonight's debate. the candidates, the best lines and top analysis from the top-line panel. you're watching "hardball," the place tonight for politics. (da. neighbor boy. (neighbor) yeah, so we're just bringing your son home. he really loves our wireless directv receiver. (dad) he should know better. we're settlers. we settle for cable. but let us repay you for your troubles. fresh milk for the journey home? (neighbor) we live right there.

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being flake free isn't. because i have used head and shoulders for 20 years. used regularly, it removes up to 100% of flakes keeping you protected live flake free for life the night of the jackals. let's play "hardball." i'm chris matthews. the day started with donald trump getting blasted by republican hawks. the neocons west after him, too. the front-runner came under other constant attack from the remaining contenders in the race. the dynamic was clear from the outset donald trump versus everyone else. ted cruz one of the jackals, marco rubio the other