if it's friday, an incredible split screen moment in the collective mind of the republican party. on the west coast, a dignified farewell to the former first lady, nancy reagan, and perhaps a symbolic end to the reagan era. in the midwest, another rabid rally for the current republican front-runner, where donald trump once again makes no move to turn down the heat in the wake of violence at his events. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. good evening from washington. i'm chuck todd and welcome to "mtp daily." it wasn't an actual split screen today, thankfully, on your television, but when it comes to t wrenching struggle for the heart and soul and future of the republican party, you cannot imagine a more striking contest

playing out with two events happening at exactly the same time. on the one hand in california, there is what you actually saw on your television this afternoon, the touching memorial service for nancy reagan, which in many ways, and for many republicans, and even non-republicans, marked the end of a great chapter in the republican party, the reagan era. it has defined the appeared for decades. it was a who's who of the reagan era at the funeral and even younger members of the so-called republican establishment were there to honor the legacy of both president ronald reagan and first lady nancy reagan. and then at the same time, nearly 2,000 miles away in st. louis, we saw the latest rabble for the republican that wants to be the next republican president of the party of reagan, the front-runner, donald trump. it's not just that trump's rally was raucous, political rallies frequently are. it's not that there were protesters there. we've seen that before with any front-runner, and you see it with other candidates. it's the outlandish atmosphere

that engulfed it all. trump's thrown people out before. he's said over-the-top things about what he would do to protesters before. but today, despite the criticism or perhaps because of it, trump seemed to allow things to get even wilder then they normally do. today's event in st. louis unfolding both as the establishment seems to give up on stopping trump, and as stories swirl around trump and his campaign, about strongarm tactics and even violence at his events, the whole thing just seemed to embody the spiritual struggle that has crippled the republican party and fuel the rise of donald trump. reagan's legacy, which most republican candidates desperately grab ahold of for every campaign, from president all the way down to dog catcher, was defined by the morning in america mantra and an overriding optimism about the country's outlook. compare that to the confrontational and caustic style and how it's celebrated at

trump events. and today was even more over the top than usual. trump was constantly interrupted by protesters for the bulk of his remarks, throwing him from his regular stump speech. each time a protest flared out, trump stopped and commented on what was happening. >> get 'em out of here! he's all mouth! he's all mouth. get him out. get him out. get out of here! get him out! get him out! troublemaker. get him out of here. go home to mommy. for the press, the officers are being very gentle. very gentle. very gentle. see, nowadays, we have to say that, right? we have to be politically correct. oh, please don't hurt them. they're allowed to get up and interrupt us horribly and we have to be very, very gentle.

i'm very gentle. they can swing, they can hit people, but if we hit them back, it's a terrible, terrible thing. yeah, get him out of here! get him out! get him out. young kids. two young kids. young, spoiled kids. they are all writing about us, folks, and they're saying, there's nothing like a trump rally, okay? >> that was all today. that isn't like a clip file of just things trump said over the last few months. that was all today. and those were just the protesters that got inside the rally. outside, the peabody opera house, yes, this event was in an opera house, trump backers and protesters verbally and physically sparred throughout the event. supporters were chanting "build the wall" while protesters responded with "we're all immigrants" and "go back to europe." and at least one individual was led away in handcuffs and our reporter saw one man bloodied up.

inside, trump had more words for the protesters that made it inside. >> go home and get a job. go home, get a job. get a job! i heard this was going to happen and they said, mr. trump, would you like to cancel? i said, absolutely not. these are not good people. these are the people that are destroying our country. get them out. how about letting some people in to take their seats? a lot of people standing outside. let them in. let some good people in to take their seats. i can't believe, missouri, i can't believe this. they're being politically correct, the way they take them out. so it takes a little bit longer. and honestly, protesters, they realize it, they realize that there are no consequences to protesting anymore. there used to be consequences.

there are none anymore. it would be so nice. i won't say what's on my mind, folks. i won't say it. i refuse to say it. i'm a nice person. i refuse to say it. >> i don't say double down, it must be a triple down. these wild and ugly interactions between protesters and backers are getting to become common place at these massive trump events. during a february 22nd rally in las vegas, trump voiced his anger from the podium and expressed his desire to personally punch a protester in the face. >> i love the old days, you know? you know what i hate? there's a guy -- totally disruptive, throwing punches, we're not allowed to punch back anymore. i love the old days. you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? they would be carried out on a stretcher, folks. that's true. honestly, i hate to see that. here's a guy throwing punches, nasty as hell, screaming at

everything else when we're talking. and you're walking out, and you know, the guards are very gentle with him, he's walking out with big high fives, smiling and laughing, i would like to punch him in the face, i tell you. >> just a couple weeks after those remarks, one of trump's supporters did just that. this is social media footage that appears to show a man assaulting a protester as he was being led out of the arena. yes, a punch to the face. trump campaign said it is not involved in the incident and that they're taking measures to ensure safety at their events. last night, my colleague, lawrence o'donnell, talked to rakeem jones, he's one of the protesters who was punched in that video, and the jones says the crowds are encouraged by their candidate. >> he was encouraging the crowd. he was encouraging the crowd to, you know, jeer and encouraging the police to escort me out, and as i was being escorted out, you can see in the video, i was hit. >> trump can't be personally

blamed for an individual's actions. but it is on the candidate to set the tone at his rallies. he said on stage that the protests are part of what makes his events great. remember, though, back to john mccain's 2008 campaign. the temperature on the trail was starting to boil over after the conventions into the fall, and mccain himself made efforts to stop supporters when they would spread misinformation. take this instance, when mccain corrected a woman who called barack obama a terrorist. >> i got to ask you a question. i do not believe in -- i can't trust obama. >> i -- >> i have read about him and he's not -- he's not -- he's a -- he's an arab. he is not -- >> no, ma'am. no, ma'am. >> no? >> no, ma'am. no, ma'am. he's a decent family man, citizen, that i just happen to have disagreements, on fundamental issues. and that's what this campaign is all about. he's not. thank you. >> that's, of course, the moment

where the woman said he was an arab. compare that, though, with trump today. >> our country has to toughen up, folks. we have to toughen up. these people are bringing us down. remember that. they're bringing us down. no reason for it. >> msnbc's trymaine lee is in st. louis. he witnessed the atmosphere, particularly outside this opera house, firsthand. trymaine, i don't know if i've captured it or not. and perhaps the trump campaign should be glad that all televisions were airing the nancy reagan memorial service live and not this spectacle. >> reporter: i'll tell you what, for the thousands of people who wanted to get a taste of the donald trump experience, the supporters, the protesters, and even the curious, they got it today. one by one, protesters were dragged out of these doors, taken by a crowd of at least a couple thousand, jeered and

taunted, escorted out this way. i talked to those who got out of the rally, they talked about how trump egged on the crowd of supporters, how they were taunted, even some using racial epithets. but one part that really sticks out, over and over again, was kind of their fear, their concern that their safety was actually in danger. and we've seen it week after week. and that's not lost on the protesters, who have been paying attention. they saw that young man in north carolina get elbowed in the face. and the police didn't jump on him. there was one moment, and we don't have all the details around this incident, a man was dragged out here in handcuffs. his face and shirt bloodied. now, we don't know if that was a confrontation with another, someone who was here, a supporter or protester, whether he fell, whether there was an altercation with the police, but the optics of a bloodied man, with his lips busted and his shirt bloody, and then the crowd cheering on. but let's take a listen to what a few people had to say. what is it about donald trump

that hits that something inside of you. >> his hate. his hate. his hate. it's the hate. he enforces hate. if you were in there, there was nothing but hate. >> the crowd was antagonistic, at best. yelling racial slurs, yelling, just anything that they could to make the situation worse. donald trump, himself, yelled for us to get a job. and that has nothing to do with why we are here. >> from the very beginning of this day, hours before donald trump even stepped to that lectern in there, and spoke, the literal line between protesters and supporters, was clear and volatile. many skirmishes throughout the afternoon. chuck? >> trymaine, let me ask you this, why -- why did the protesters want to go in? i mean, it was -- that's guaranteed confrontation at a trump rally. what message did they want to send? >> reporter: one, the last --

over the last year and a half, we know ferguson and st. louis have been embroiled in protests and organizing, but many of them say that they wanted to come out to express themselves, they're against this idea of building a wall to separate america from mexico. they're against the idea of banning muslims. and they see the rhetoric that donald trump has been spewing, the whipped up frenzy many of his supporters have found themselves in kind of part and parcel to the bigger idea of police brutality and bigger injustices and structures of white supremacy and all those things so many people have been talking about over the last year and a half. they said they understood coming into this kind of hostile environment, they understood what could happen, what has happened, what would happen today, and we've seen it time and again. they wanted to come out and at least make their voices heard and they did. >> trymaine lee on the scene in st. louis, and what a scene it was. thank you very much. i appreciate it. coming up, ben carson buries

the hatchet and throws his support behind donald trump. will the rest of the party start following suit. plus, john kasich responds to donald trump, ramping up attacks on him in brand-new tv ads that are running in his home state of ohio. we'll have a preview of this town hall that airs tonight right here on msnbc, with our man, willie geist. stay tuned. e part of what make you, you. and you're not going to let anything keep you sidelined. that's why you drink ensure with nutritious calories, 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. come on grandma! giving you the strength and energy to get back to doing... what you love. from the #1 doctr recommended bran. ensure. always stay you.

we've been talking a lot about delegate math in recent days, and that even in the best-case scenario for druonald trump, he's not likely to cinch the republican nomination anytime soon. but we've crunched some more numbers today, and as tough as it is for trump, it's a whole lot tougher for his rivals. if trump continues winning delegates at his current pace and comes away with both of the big prizes on tuesday, ohio and florida, he would need to win 52% of the remaining delegates to get to his magic number of 1237, very doable. if cruz continues picking up delegates at his current pace

and assuming he doesn't win either florida or ohio, which is a pretty safe bet, the texas senator would need to win 80% of all remaining delegates to hit 1237. and if you think that sounds like an impossible task, wait until you hear these next tuesday. even if rubio wins florida, if he continues to win delegates at his current rate, he would need to win 97% of all remaining delegates after march 15th to get the nomination. yes, 97%. short of some kind of implosion by all of the other campaigns, that's obviously not going to happen. and then here's the kicker. if kasich wins his home state of ohio and wins delegates in the other contests at the percentage he's currently get welcome he would still need to win 112% of remaining delegates to hit his magic number. a mathematical impossibility. and as the math keeps getting tougher for trump's challengers, the momentum has stalled on the stop-trump movement. much more on that, straight ahead on "mtp daily." disease is, but i've managed. except that managing my symptoms was all i was doing.

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welcome back to "mtp daily." with just four days to go before the make or break contest on tuesday, the stop-trump effort feels like it is on life-support. today, ben carson signed on to team trump, endorsing his former rival. >> there are two different donald trumps. there's the one you see on the stage and there's the one who's very cerebral, sits there, and considers things very carefully. >> i don't think there are two donald trumps. i think there's one donald trump. >> well, there you go. donald trump already disagrees with carson. carson says any personal discord between the two of them is long gone. >> we buried the hatchet. that was political stuff. and, you know, that happens in american politics, the politics of personal destruction. >> yeah, that happens. but it doesn't happen this way. the hole that hatchet is buried in has got to be deep. because let's go down memory lane here. this is how trump railed against

carson when carson pulled ahead of him in some polls. >> frankly, he looks like -- he makes bush like the energizer bunny. he's very low key. he's got a lot of -- >> strong words. >> -- a lot of people pushing him. but ben carson, you look at his faith and i think you're not going to find so much. >> i'm presbyterian. boy, that's down the middle of the road, folks, in all fairness. i mean, seven-day adventist, i don't know about. >> he doesn't even know me. i've met him a few times, but i don't know ben carson. he was a doctor, perhaps -- you know, an okay doctor, by the way. >> he said that he's pathological and that he's got, basically, pathological disease. i don't want a person that's got pathological disease. but if you're a child molester, there's no cure. they can't stop you. pathological, there's no cure. now, he said he was

pathological. >> and now ben carson has endorsed donald trump. last night, donald trump and his rivals struck a more subdued tone. >> i would say this. we're all in this together, we're going to come up with solutions, we're going to find the answers to things, and so far, i cannot believe how civil it's been up here. >> the candidates still in the race caved on challenging trump. it's not hard to see why they backed off, at least individually, after marco rubio got down in the dirt with trump, hitting him for hand size and spray tans, his favorability rating dropped eight points within the last month alone, and rubio told me he was embarrassed about his behavior. outside, though, of a few digs about trump's trade and foreign policy agenda, ted cruz did not push trump very hard either. for cruz, the as few as quo puts him closer to often with on one matchup against trump. john kasich vowed never to enter the scrum, but it's not a two-way street. trump's ramping up attacks against the ohio governor ahead of that stake's winner-take-all primary.

wait until you see this one. >> after john kasich helped wall street predator lehman brothers destroy the world economy, he decided to run for governor of ohio. john kasich has been an absentee governor, spending most of his time everywhere but ohio, especially michigan, the latest disaster in his failing presidential bid. >> and today, trump released a new ad that will air in the buckeye state. >> governor kasich, you know the story, he disappeared. he lived in new hampshire, i mean, he lived there. and he said he's going to win new hampshire. i won in a landslide. he then lived -- he left ohio. >> we, obviously, transposed those things a bit. you heard what trump said and they have an ad to back up and essentially attack him the same way. kasich responded to the attacks in an exclusive town hall with my colleague, willie geist. >> just today, governor, donald trump up with an ad airing in your home state here, hitting you on a couple of things. he says you're an absentee governor, you've been out

campaigning when you should be taking care of the state, he hits you on your time at lehman brothers, seven years you spent as an executive there. how do you respond to the ad? >> first of all, wallowing in the mud with donald is not what i think is a successful strategy. i will say one thing about lehman brothers. i ran a two-man office in columbus, ohio, and if i bankrupted lehman brothers from a 20two-man office, i should ha been selected pope. that's like blaming a car dealer in lima for the collapse of gm. it's all negative and desperation, but the people in this state know me so i'm not concerned about it. >> you can catch the full interview and town hall with governor kasich and willie geist right here at 8:00 p.m. tonight on msnbc. it's a good one. let me bring in two people very familiar with this the stop-trump movement. eliana johnson is with the "national review," has been covering the republican race. and the magazine is officially calling for cruz to be the nominee after previously saying they were simply, quote, against trump. and david mcintosh is the president of the club for

growth, which has aggressively campaigned against trump for mont months, financially in particular. david, let me start with you, were you disappointed with last night's debate? i understand the individual decisions candidates make, but the collective decision to not confront trump, even on policy issues, seem to allow him to be on a glide path again. >> yeah, so, in one way, yes. i think people have to tell the truth about trump. that he's really always been and continues to be for big government, health care, taking away private property rights. he supported hillary in the past. he's not a conservative and he's a typical politician, who will pander and say what people want to hear to get their votes. now, the good part about the debate was, i think, both cruz and rubio showed they're capable of leading. they are substantiative, conservatives, articulate, who have a vision. we've just got to get trump out

of the way, so one of them can be the nominee. >> but, david, let me follow up on something. i believe that these attacks on trump not being a krconservativ his supporters know this. i mean, in hindsight, do you -- should your campaign be a little bit different where you're -- look, his voters, they're frustrated, they're fed up, their economic situation is in a bad place, should you be talking to them more directly, rather than trying to make an ideological argument? >> very good point. one of the things we've said all along in the ads is a character position. he's playing you for chump. he's not really what he seems to be. and more recently, we've been doing ads that point out, look, he says he'll stand up against china and other countries, but the people he really has stood up against who are widows whose house he took, and small businesses who lost out when he went bankrupt. that type of character, you

know, the thug, is not what we need as president. >> you know, eliana, when i saw you guys, the "national review," coming out for cruz, it feels a little late, to be honest, to be doing this. carly fiorina the other day coming out for cruise. you see this sort of reluctant rallying around cruz. people aren't excited about it. i think if somebody else were in second, if rubio were in the cruz position, there would probably be more enthusiasm for folks rallying around him. but is the stop-trump movement starting to fizzle here a little bit? >> i think you make a mistake when you refer to it as a movement. >> it is a movement, that's clear. >> that's one of the problems with it. you have some disparate organizations launching ads, some attempts to fundraise, some magazine editorial boards coming out against him, but none of this is a connected, concerted real effort. >> should it be? >> i mean, if donors, if conservative donors and editorial boards were all going to really get behind this, it would have worked much better.

but i think there was a debate, you know, six or nine months ago among donors, about whether to put money behind this. and they decided that it would legitimatize trump. and the other difficulty was what you raised, which is that efforts to, efforts to undermine trump would only boost cruz in the long run. so that's been the difficulty. there's no real alternative that people are happy with. >> david, the other part -- so it was interesting earlier today, the rubio campaign went on tv to say, hey, they're encouraging their supporters in ohio to vote kasich. obviously, they were hoping for a reciprocation. kasich did not reciprocate. cruz not only did not reciprocate in florida, he's been campaigning there. that to me shows -- isn't in a case where if the three candidates trying to stop trump can't even agree on their own strategy, how can you guys stop him? >> and i think eliana is correct. it's not been a cohesive

movement to stop him. it's been our goal, because we saw two very good alternatives, cruz and rubio. as long as they're both in the race, we've continued to say that. i think tuesday we'll do some sorting out. if it's cruz and rubio, we'll continue to say trump's a terrible alternative. if it's cruz and kasich, we'll point out that kasich isn't -- you know, some of trump's ads are truthful about him. he brought obamacare to ohio and has other problems. but i think what she also pointed out is, maybe a little reluctantly, but people are starting to see, at some point, to not have donald trump be the nominee, you've got to get it to a one-on-one choice and they're reconciling. we may not have started out with ted cruz as our favorite, but he's the guy who's closest to him right now. >> but his math is awfully difficult, as i pointed out earlier, we're at 80%, eliana, of the delegates. >> i think the reality is, people are going to reconcile themselves to a contested or an

open convention. >> you better hope for one, i don't even know if that's going to happen. >> yeah, i think establishment republicans are going to hope for a contested convention, and to wrest this nomination out of trump's little, grimy fingers. >> he's got a pretty tight grip on it right now. we shall see. eliana johnson and david mcintosh, thank you both. we'll have more on the state of the republican race later in the hour. i want to go to the democrats in a few minutes. you're watch "mtp daily." stay right here. ♪ 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.

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what i so admired act nancy was that ability to do just that. she knew how to protect her husband and her president, but also her own place. to stand her ground and once it had been resolved, to move on. >> there likely wouldn't have been a president ronald reagan without a nancy reagan. >> unlike so many people these days, she never seemed to harden differences into definitions. >> occasionally, i've thought

that even god might not have the guts to argue with nancy reagan. >> that was just a very small portion of some tremendous remembrances today for nancy reagan as politicians, journalists, and celebrities joined the reagan family to bid a final farewell to the former first lady and a final farewell to the reagans and the reagan legacy, perhaps. joining me now from the reagan library in simi valley, california, reagan biographer, ted shirley, tom brokaw and andrea mitchell who both covered the reagans extensively. tom, let me start with you. you had a wonderful eulogy of her. it was -- you guys didn't see this, but it was an amazing split screen moment for the republican party, this legacy being honored of the reagans and at the same time, donald trump was stirring things up. sort of, my head is still spinning, to be honest. >> well, i did think about that today, the food fight that we've

been all a witness to in the republican party, going out, and the kind of dignity that the reagans brought to the process. it was amazing they didn't play hardball, because they certainly did. and it took them a while to get where they wanted to go. people remember, he made -- in '68, ran against joe ford, when he got ready to run the last time. he did get beat in iowa, but they came back strong and they were very strong, but they always had a kind of elegance about the campaign. it was well organized, they had grown-ups around them and when they had something to say, they had something to say that landed in the american public. >> andrea, what really came through today in all of the eulogies was how nancy reagan was the extra bit of steel in ronald reagan's spine. >> in fact, the fact that he did not have that suspicion gene. he was not that political in all of his dealings with people. he wasn't skeptical, he didn't

see who was, you know, as jim baker said, paddling their own boat. and she had that gene. she was the worrier. she stayed up at night worrying so he could sleep better. and it was her being the political antenna that made him so successful, as, again, jim baker, and as ron jr. said, he would not have been president reagan without her, and he certainly would not have been a successful president reagan without her. >> you know, craig, you have written so extensively on the reagans, on ronald reagan, on the fight to sort of the battle to define conservatism, via the vision of ronald reagan. who is embodying ronald reagan's conservatism today? >> well, probably nobody and everybody, in a certain sort of way. nobody completely, but everybody partially. you know, nobody goes around calling themselves a bush republican or a nixon republican, but lots of people call themselves reagan republican, even if they don't understand it.

but basically, american conservatism is reagan practices, as he understood it, was the power flowed from the citizenry up to institutions, as opposed to the british form of conservatism, where power flowed down from institutions to the citizenry. it went sideways with the bushes, and that's why the party is having so many problems today, is that it's lost the meaning of reagan conservatism, which is why you saw basically the bloodbath going on for 2016 for the nomination. >> you know, chuck, what i do -- yeah, i was going to say, i recommended people, including all the people running now, to read the reagan diaries. there are exceptional pieces of remembrance on his part, wrote every night in longhand. and you got a real insight to what he was, what he believed, and how he thought things could get done. when they had to have the tax increase, jack kemp came down pounding the table and the president effectively sent him home and said, jack doesn't get

it. you get things done in politics by getting a compromise. >> and he would sit in the office at the end of the day, the legislative strategy team, and one on one, they would go into the oval office, and he would sit with the president and the president would say, just get me 80%. that'll be good enough. get me 80%. i was also struck by the letter that brian mulroney, it was a christmas day letter from ron reagan to his wife, nancy, their first white house christmas, and when that book of letters came out, you realized the elegance of his writing, the intelligence that went into it, the attributions to poems. he was very, very bright. a beautiful writer. no speechwriter could have written those beautiful love letters. >> and not only that, and every husband, including myself, you think, boy, do i have this in me? you know, it really does -- you're like, gosh darn you, ronald reagan, you're making us all look so bad. craig, i am -- one of the other

parts of the elegance of the reagans was the way his opponents treated him. i was stunned in reading the carter diaries, when jimmy carter was -- you know, the whole panama canal issue was such a huge issue, and he knew reagan was on the other side of it, but he even gave reagan a heads up of what was coming, sort of so, with, you know, there was a proper way to be against it. >> well, it was a different time. carter was making a very good case for the panama canal treaties. reagan was leading the charge against panama canal treaties. so much so, cvs offered ronald reagan a halftime broadcast time to go on national television and make his case against the panama canal. you know, most politicians today thought in sound bites. reagan thought in chapters. he thought introduction, conflict, resolution. he was probably, since teddy roosevelt, one of the best read and best-written presidents of

the 20th century. >> and tom, that does seem to be what -- and look, let's go back to nancy reagan's legacy here. i think she got the short shrift when she was first lady, that there was a lot of staffer leaks and things like that to try to paint her a certain way. and i think she seems to be getting her due now, a little late, but getting her due, really as among the trail blabls of first ladies. >> well, what you heard, one person after another, close to the president today said, he wouldn't be president without nancy reagan at his side. she was the steel in him. and she also had a great political calculus about what could go and what couldn't go. and i believe about all the criticisms she got about her fancy gowns and china and white house, she restored a sense of dignity and majesty to it that the public wanted to see. they wanted that to be their home. and they wanted it to be an emblematic place of the great power and the standing of the united states and the world.

and she got that. their state dinners, for example, were never completely over the top, but you had a sense that you were some place special when they put out a dinner for whoever it happened to be, in town at the time. >> you know, it's a legacy that i feel like all of the successive presidents since seem to carry on. anyway, craig, tom, and andrea, thank you all. you have no idea what you missed in st. louis with donald trump. >> yeah, we do. >> i think we're all glad we're here instead. >> yea, i think -- i think so. anyway, thank you. appreciate it. we'll have more "mtp daily" right after this. is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student? is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves? is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the natural world? whatever your definition of success is, helping you pursue it, is ours.

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and take charge of your score. if it's sunday, "meet the press" is previewing the upcoming super tuesday contest. going to have brand-new polls in ohio, florida, and illinois. i'll have three republican candidates, john kasich, ted cruz, and this just in, donald trump. and then on monday, msnbc will have a democratic doubleheader on the eve of the big contest. i'll be moderating a town hall with vermont senator, bernie sanders, from columbus, ohio. that will air at 6:00 p.m. eastern. and hillary clinton will take part in a town hall from springfield, illinois, moderated by my colleague chris matthews at 7:00 p.m. eastern. msnbc is the place for politics for a reason. more "mtp daily" after this.

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w time. the who. nobody, no candidate won the virgin island gop caucuses. all nine delegates from the u.s. territory will officially be up for grabs at the republican national convention as uncommitted delegates. that number is growing, may get to over 150. that may matter in a contested convention. now to the what. bernie sanders' new anti-trade ads. the message targets midwestern voters in minnesota and ohio following his success in michigan, he's hoping to at least win one, maybe two, maybe even three on separation tuesday. now to the where. it's austin, texas today. president obama became the first sitting president to attend the south by southwest festival. he spoke the importance of innovation, including how the private tech industry could help create a secure online system for voting. saying, quote, it shouldn't be easier to order a pizza than to

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the other point i wanted to make too is it may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about hiv aids back in the 1980s, and because of both president and mrs. reagan, in particular mrs. reagan, we started a national conversation, when before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it. and you know, that too is something that i really appreciate with her very effective low-key advocacy, but it penetrate the publish conscience and people began to say we have to do something about this too. >> speaking to andrea mitchell

before the memorial service began. there was quick blow back for what she said about the reagans. tweeted this, quote, while i respect her advocacy on issues like stem cell and parkinson's research, she was sadly no hero in the fight against hiv/aids. hillary clinton issued a statement saying, quote, while they were strong advocates in finding a cure for alzheimer's, i misspoke, and for that, i'm sorry. here now for the lid, msnbc, "washington post," usa senior political reporter, heidi, welcome. molly. misspeak. i mean, they're trying to play cleanup quickly. you know, that's not my definition of a misspeak. >> right, she went quite some length that was clearly incorrect. you know, this lgbt community

has been some of the stauncest reporters. she really misunderstands a really gay history when it was becoming an issue in the 1980s. it's going to suggest to that community she is not in touch. >> not in touch. and heidi, look there is some evidence that, you know, when hollywood was lobbying them to do more, perhaps had hillary clinton said she was, you know, some people think she didn't do enough but more of a quiet voice or something like that, maybe there isn't this. >> probably would have opted for not mentioning it. you could have praised her for stem cell research, but if you're going to mention it, and you know, some of the tweets were out there before this interview, slamming nancy reagan for -- on the aids issue, if her team had been monitoring it, i

don't know if they briefed her. >> she volunteers it, right? andrea does not say, on aids. which is interesting to me, because i've always that the thing that made her not a great candidate is her caution. that she is unwilling to ever say any -- right. it's always this around the issue. this was not that. she got into trouble. >> it's hard to call it a misspeak. >> she didn't misspeak. she overstated something clearly. >> i was mistaken about history or something like that. >> but that's admission of an error as opposed to a misspeak. >> no candidate whether ever add met a full fledged mistake, ever. >> no one knows that. >> we have a junk caohn kasich n hall tonight. if he wins ohio, he needs to win 112% of the remaining delegates. that's mathematically

impossible. create something. so will the guy ask john kasich about the running mate issue? here is what he says about running with trump. >> he has floated the idea that you would be a great vice-president for him. he says -- >> he better not say that in front of my wife. i'm serious. >> you represent a swing state. [ applause ] >> look, you've said in the past you would support the nominee. >> i believe i'll be thenam nominee. i love being governor of ohio. >> so if donald called and asked -- >> willie, i just answered your question. >> you will not accept the vice-president den shall

nominee. >> i'm going to finish the rest of the country, okay. >> marco rubio after i pushed on the same question, did say no. >> right. >> he said no. >> john kasich did not. >> this is the hardest. people, there is a lot of theories, we hear it everyday. we'll keep trump, and then it's like -- and someone else is the nominee. but what did you do when you did the thing with your hands down there. that's not how it works. there is no magic box that someone is going to pop out of, and this idea that he goes to the convention and it's cruz second, and they give it to somebody else. >> if you're trying to stop trump, then stop him. say you're not going to support him. say you're not going to do this. they're not doing anything. >> they want a back door option when it's over. >> of course they do. >> i think kasich does believe there is a path not to getting a majority of the delegates, but to having a contested convention and by that point, it will become clear, he thinks it will

become clear. >> a slam dunk, and you know. >> the running mate issue, joe biden said no. everyone always says no, but you can go back on it later. i'm always surprised, trump rallies, say kasich is the other candidate they like. it used to be ted cruz. but trump and kasich have never gone after one another. trump doesn't hit anybody who doesn't hit him first. >> kasich is hitting. >> really high profile way in the debates. the other thing is, more people in the republican party who are moderate or liberal republicans support trump than conservatives, and kasich is on that side of the spectrum. >> but i am surprised that trump, not being instigated, is going so hard. >> that tells you there is something there. he has had wonderful radar who is the threat, and you saw in the debate, he is starting to hit kasich for being an absentee

governor. it's hard for him, but that does play as we saw in new jersey. >> when he calls him little johnny kasich. >> he is going to do it like heidi said. >> you got the last word. >> i guess. >> we'll be back monday with more "mtp daily," but between then and monday, look what we have. town hall moderated by willie geist, tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. -- tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. then meet the press coming up, trump, kasich, but "with all due respect" will start right now. i'm mark halperin. >> i'm john helemann. "with all due respect" to ohio, it's pretty nice to be in florida right