if all else fails, the plan to stop trump, let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews, in washington. well, the defenders of the gate are sharpening their swords if they can't stop trump once inside, do they retreat and fight him from without. they appear to be in chaos. after a dismal showing in four out of five state, the anti-trump forces wonder if there is time to stop him before, during or after the republican convention. a group of conservatives met today to plot one effort. a third nominee against trump. for his part, senator lindsey graham, who recently joked someone could kill ted cruz on the senate floor and get away

with it, announced he will now fund raise for trump. donald trump has warned there could be riots, and john kasich blasted that trump warning. quote, this implicit acceptance of violence is the kind of rhetoric that's pulling people apart. a true leader usuals peaceful debate over violence. leadership requires responsibility. i have faith the american people want civilized debate. susan page, washington bureau chief for usa today, and john, washington bureau chief for buzzfeed news. you put the headline together, what is uniquely wild about this moment? this day, when they're all meeting, what do we do? >> coming to terms with the fact there is a civil war coming in the republican party. the only question is do we have it now, before the convention, during, after.

the answer is probably yes, all those times. the republican is splintering. donald trump has succeeded by getting actual voters to come vote for him. >> they come from any where. >> irrelevant to the process as long as he keeps attracting voters. >> we'll get them, i can't resist, i want to form a new party, used to be the ones who voted republican. i mean, i thought the whole idea of politics was to enlarge the group. i don't want those new people. >> the new thing i heard today was for me at least the idea you're going to have a write in campaign. you are already missed the dead lines to have a third person on the ticket. it's easy to write mitt romney or paul ryan. that's the idea if trump was the nomination, you can't vote for him, you have write in campaign. still, the core problem is, hillary clinton would be president. so you have those people sort of like they can't vote for trump,

but they have no plan to elect someone to be a republican president. >> the nomination goes to trump and they hate the nominee, or they could break up the whole thing and give it to somebody besides trump at the cost of somebody walking out. >> that's right. especially if they do this thing of a third party run. >> what would it be called, the pre-trump party. >> donald trump conspiracy against them, right, an even bigger fraction. as opposed to proving to people he was an unelectable guy. it would make them say that's why the establishment sucks so bad, and we're going to go after him. >> isn't it great we can use words like that thanks to trump. he said sucks. so what. any way, you'll love this guy's name. some in the republican party pushing efforts to deny in july.

i love this guy's name. curly, he is a member of the rules committee. nobody named curly should be on the rules committee. they should back the candidate with the most popular support. here he is. talk about non-democracy. >> created a perception that the voters will decide the nomination. political parties choose the nominee, not the general election. >> then why bother holding the primaries. >> that's a very good question. >> can we all plead guilty for the notion when they vote they decide who wins. >> i actually believe in that notion. i plead guilty. >> we're just charlie browns. nancy, we thought it mattered we showed up. it doesn't matter. >> think about it, you're holding back, you're so careful. but it is outrageous, i think, that statement. it sounds terrible. >> of course, it's true. >> it is technically true. >> we don't have direct election of nominees. try to put a candidate forward who failed, who was way behind

the guy who actually got the most votes and see what happens to your party. >> or else bring in a masked man who hasn't been there before. we got a great idea. paul ryan. >> does he want to step in, that drama and have people coming at him, trump's people already becoming. i don't see how he would possibly want to do that. >> a group of two dozen conservatives, news about this, with the goal of organizing an effort to stop trump by any means necessary. according to the "washington post," robert costa our friend and colleague, per three people familiar with the talks, the mood of the room was muted and down beat. attendees voiced frustration. and wondered aloud. one of the organizers said in part, we believe the issue of donald trump is an issue that. we intend to keep our options opened as to other avenues to oppose donald trump. i guess everything here is democracy is it avoid donald trump. yesterday, he told npr, while he preferred to stop trump by, if

always else fails, he will back a third party candidate. let's listen. >> i think if donald trump becomes the republican nominee, the republican ceases to be the party that i was an elected representative of. there is going to have be groundwork for a new political party in the country that represents people who typically have been republican voters in the past. >> well, he has a good voice for radio. i was impressed by that. for the content, it was outrageous. it seems they've taken it upon themselves to deny the guy who gets the most votes. in fact, they seem to talk like goes to the requisite majority, they're going to find some way to scudle the ship. >> a lot of these. >> tell me who eric erickson is. >> an influential republican. he and everybody else in the room two or three months ago, anybody but hillary. this is now anybody but trump,

including hillary. if they do a third party -- >> tell me, all three of you, tell me what it is about trump about the brazenness, what it is about the ideology, his philosophy? is that too long a list? >> ronald reagan talks about the republican party and donald trump doesn't endorse any one of those, which they would be a foreign policy, being conservative on social issues and discipline fiscal policy. none of those does trump subscribe to the traditional republican formulation. >> but the grassroots love him. >> donald trump does not respect or care what the republican establishment or its leadership, he doesn't care what eric erickson thinks. he doesn't care what mitch mcconnell thinks, paul ryan thinks, they know they'll lose power, marco rubio would have

followed a lot of their instructions, donald trump, cynical, but it happens to be true. >> he said there is a bunch of nobodies inside controlling the party. now they've all come out from under their rocks. >> he has tapped the unhappiness among republican voters about how their own leaders have behaved. >> yes, they're behaving like that in public. >> so you know. >> this guy, carly, he is unbelievable. >> donald trump is playing by the rules, winning delegates by the rules they set up. >> let's go back to the economic numbers game. how does it look for him to win fair and square. >> right now, the republicans need 30% of the nonwhite vote. he is something like -- >> you're actually ahead of me. i meant the nomination. >> i think he'll either get the delegates. if you have 1,100 delegates, 1,200, you're so close, can they give it to somebody else. >> there has to be a gimme. >> i think if he doesn't get there, he'll so close. >> he'll get the gimme.

what is it, one hundred shy. >> i think he might get over it. he'll walk into the convention with all the delegates. >> see, i think if kasich stays in for the good people, the moderates, better sort, okay, and he splits the vote with the angry crowd behind cruz, really angry crowd, that they just do the job for trump. >> yeah, but cruz is going into a tough territory here. cruz's states have now voted. cruz has to win in states that are kind of knot his natural constituency places. >> i can't see him in connecticut, even in pennsylvania, with all the riflemen there. >> kasich is not a team player either. the logical process, you heard rubio, nikki haley, a lot of praising cruz. >> you asked about donald trump.

let's watch that. >> you're a republican. >> that's right. >> if donald trump is the nominee, the republican nominee, are you going to vote for him? >> susan, i'm not going to answer. >> don't ask that. >> in your book, it's clear you don't think islam hates america. you don't think all muslims should be banned from entering the united states. is there a point where you would feel compelled to come off the sidelines to speak against -- >> this is what i want americans to remember. what our real values are. one of the very first things, one of the reasons we're a country, is because we believed in freedom of religion. >> wow, that's impressive. but i mean, it sounds like she's not going to vote for a guy -- >> it seems like she didn't want to answer the question. we've had episodes of our past of zen phobia and we need to battle them. >> the irish, now that it's st. patrick's day, we might remind ourselves that we were on the

receiving end of that hatred. the bushes are so great, the spouses. years ago, i was upstairs, i was the only guy in the room interviewing barbara bush. during the interview, i looked her in the eye, i was doing it for my paper. just looking at you, mrs. bush, you look pro-choice. so waspy. she said i don't care what i'm look like. i'm not talking. i see laura bush is the same way there. thank you, susan page, thank you. >> if donald trump is the nominee, will he drive women to the polls the wrong way for him to vote for hillary clinton? between accusations of ground swell support for the democrats come november. that's what i think will happen. plus, the republicans are fighting control, hang on to seats, those sitting senators could be vulnerable with trump

for the top of the ticket, don't you think. the "hardball" round table is here to tell me something that i don't know. let me finish tonight with of course. st. patrick's day. this is "hardball," the place for politics. we needed 30 new hires for our call center. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. (announcer) need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 100 of the web's leading job boards with a single click.

then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. you put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. makes my job a lot easier. (announcer) over 400,000 businesses have already used ziprecruiter. and now you can use ziprecruiter for free. go to ziprecruiter.com/offer99 well, tune in tomorrow night at 7:00 eastern, governor john kasich will be my guest. i'll ask him how he makes his case for the nomination over donald trump, and ted cruz and the likelihood of a contested convention, come july in cleveland. 7:00 p.m. eastern, here on msnbc. we'll be right back.

i have more respect for women than hillary clintons that. i have more respect than hillary clinton, okay.

i will take care of this country far better than hillary clinton. >> welcome back to "hardball," that was of course, donald trump back in january, saying that he respects women more than hillary clinton does. well, today there is new evidence of a growing gender gap when it comes to the republican front-runner. reuters poll today, unfavorable view of trump. nbc "wall street journal" poll earlier this month found in a hypothetical matchup, clinton would win double digit among women. that's a 27 point spread. new york times reports president obama privately told a group of donors last week that the time is coming for the party to unite behine hillary clinton. well, the president did not express a personal preference, of course, he did. the race is winding down and they're looking to the general election. as hillary clinton competes to become the first woman president, there is no question, women voters will make a critical difference in november. especially if the opponent based on the numbers. joined now by michelle backly,

dnc, howard dean. congresswoman, thank you for joining us. i'm looking at the numbers and they're impressive. it paints the picture that if you look at the numbers sustaining through the rest of the year, trump's unfactorability among women, it really looks like the male vote is going to have to come galloping to the rescue, like 65% would are to vote for trump. your thinking? >> actually i'm not terribly worried at all. donald trump of all of the republican candidates was doing very well with african-american voters, hispanic voters, female voters, male voters, hillary clinton is the one that has the major gender gap, and that's with men. men don't seem to like hillary clinton, and i don't blame them. she just came out and said that she was going to put out of business the coal industry.

the entire coal industry. and she was going to throw all those coal miners out of work. this is something more that a candidate who is in line with fashist values. women want to make sure that they have jobs, that their husbands have jobs, and i don't think hillary clinton is calming anyone's nerves right now. >> which one has fashist values. i missed the reference there. >> mrs. clinton. mrs. clinton. because here she is, and she says she is going to put an entire american industry out of business because the number one energy source used to supply electricity in this country is coal. what is she going to do to replace coal? we need to have energy and electricity in this country. people really like it when their gasoline is more around $2 a gallon under. electricity prices spike? of course i do we want clean --

our country, chris, has done more to clean coal than any other country on earth. we're delivering clean coal, a wonderful product where people can have electricity or be like bernie sanders, socialist, and be like venezuela, going to shut down the country for a week, because they don't have any electricity. we are a first world country and we need to have energy resources, and hillary clinton is going to deny energy to the american people. >> you know, i always know where a congressman, where she stands. we just heard it. hillary is on the wrong side with her -- against her. this thing about the gender gap, you're a male, as am i, i look at this thing and the way he talks to people on television and these words are pretty much not just not pc, but cave man sometimes. >> there is that. these numbers actually make it impossible for donald trump to

win, period. congresswoman backman, 40% african-american voting, we know where he'll end up with hispanics. we don't know who the republican nominee is going to be, because they have the most unbelievable rules, and it is actually possible somebody who is not even on the ballot to end up as the presidential nominee. >> that will guarantee hillary's victory. >> an anti, our principal pac, showcased some of the denigrating language trump has used to describe women. here is an ex except. >> bimbo. >> dog. >> fat big. >> real quotes. >> a person flat chested is very hard to be a ten. >> i looked her right in that fat ugly face of her.

>> look at that face. >> would anyone vote for that. >> i like kids. i mean i won't do anything to take care of them. i'll supply funds, and she'll take care of the funds. >> it doesn't matter what they write. as long as you have beautiful piece of [ bleeping ]. >> this is how donald trump talks about our mothers, sister, our daughters. >> congresswoman, what do you make of that, thrown back at him? >> this is going to be exactly what hillary clinton puts out as part of her campaign material, we're going to be seeing this all the way until november. but i think more importantly, take a look at what happened from donald trump and hillary clinton after the election on tuesday night. donald trump gave a very optimistic view of what he'll do for america. hillary clinton looked like she was mad that she won on tuesday night.

she looked tired. she looked angry. she is upset she has to go through the primary process. she doesn't have a very optimistic view of america. women especially look at donald trump, they trust this guy. he is a tough guy. this is a guy who succeeds, and he is a guy who i think is going to follow-through with what he says he is going to do. we don't know if he'll the nominee. it may be the constitution conservative in this race, ted cruz. he may be the candidate. it will be ted cruz or it will be donald trump. it doesn't matter which one it is for democrats. they're going to rip to shreds whichever candidate it is. i'll put our republican candidate up against hillary any day of the week. that's where the enthusiasm will be for the republican candidate. >> unfortunately you're wrong about that. you understand it wasn't done by the democrats it, was done by republicans, the comments about women. >> oh, sure, it's the people that want to pull him down.

that's true. but the candidate will either be trump or cruz. >> who knows. it's not my specialty. congresswoman asked where the energy was coming from. last legislature, which extended the solar tax credits. what most people believe the amount of solar power will increase by five fold in the next five years. that's where our electricity will come from. >> it will be great if it works. >> it will be better than coal. >> congresswoman. >> solar is great -- >> i think we can all agree on solar. that's a nonpartisan. thank you both, actually. donald trump has energized the party, but could he be toxic for other races. big surprise there. swing state republicans, this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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i also don't believe in the end that he is going to be or nominee. >> but you would support him if he were? >> you know, i don't support what he has done, and i don't think he will be our nominee, so i don't think i'll have to worry about supporting him. >> welcome back to "hardball," that was new hampshire republican sen nor kelly ayotte, last summer saying she wouldn't have to worry about supporting him, because she didn't believe he would be the nominee. high hopes apparently, but as he inches closer, she could be eating her words. she along with four other republicans running for reelection, mark kirk of illinois, rob portman and pat toomey of pennsylvania, nervous about the prospects of losing the senate to the democrats this fall.

"the new york times" reported in february that senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell has been preparing them for a trump nomination, assuring them that if they threatened to harm them in the general election, they could run negative ads to create space between him and republican senators seeking reelection. what a line, drop him like a hot rock. any way, according to the colleagues, democratic want to make republican own mr. trump. here is the latest web ad. >> what the hell are we doing? >> i'll support the republican nominee. >> i plan to support the republican nominee. >> i'm going to support the nominee regardless of who it is. >> would you support donald trump? >> if he was the no nominee, i certainly would.

>> republican representative, joe heck, says he'll support the eventual nominee. >> my hands, if they're small, something else must be small. i guarantee, you there is no problem. >> good for our candidates to have somebody like donald trump. >> what the hell are we doing? >> time for the "hardball" round table. senior political reporter with usa today, shane with politico. this problem is real, because i'm seeing statistics, so goes the senate line, 90% of the cases. the days of ticket splitting, are over. you go with the tide. >> i think if you look at this, i don't think you're going to see a lot of republican senators, house members running against trump. they'll run in parallel with him. >> how do they hide from him. >> see what happened in texas and -- >> comes to the airport, are they waiting for him. are they there with him holding

his hand, introducing him or not. >> i think we'll see a lot of scheduling miracles happen between now and november so they don't end up in the same part of the state. >> no pictures together. >> i don't believe so. >> what do you think? can they get away with that to ditch the guy. >> they've been threatening about this for months, take you back to december, when they put out this memo, they think they can do this wet noodle embrace on capitalizing on the populous fervor he is stirring up. >> but you. >> but you have to condemn the woman thing. the ads running earlier today, how does she say i don't agree with the rhetoric. >> explain with the wet noodle, how can you be that clever, stick the women with you, sophisticated, all women and not lose that angry white guy.

>> i don't think you can. it's going to really hurt them. it's going to be devastating. that's the words of the nrsc political, rob jessmer, an utter disaster. remember 2014, if the senate map looked like 2014, red states like arizona, alaska, it would have been less of a huge issue, not as much of a liability. all of these industrial states, we're not sure how it will shake out. in ohio, he is drawing all these blue collar voters. more crossed over to vote for kasich. that's where the map is this year. >> i think there truly are, they don't like the word moderate republican. let's call them mainstream conservative republicans. they have a sensitivity. they don't want to be known as racist, they don't to have it public. they may live in the suburbs,

white flight, but they damn read the newspapers and don't want to be one of the bad guys, and trump sounds very bad to people. >> an inversion of 2014, when barack obama was unpopular, wasn't on the ballot and all the democrats in all these red states tried to run away with him, the same scheduling problems, they weren't aware with him. guess what, the republicans are going to face the same problem, or even a nominee like ted cruz. so for all of the republicans, they are facing a challenge. how can they run and separate themselves. >> let's take a candidate who is pretty attractive, watching her over the years. i don't know if i'll vote for her, kelly ayotte, senate, governor, tough to be a governor. >> she's running out of -- >> in a small state, where everybody knows each other, you get a sense of kelly versus trump. are they together or not. >> that's exactly it. she runs on her personal brand. that's the argument they're making now to these vulnerable republicans, is look, you go out there, you do your own ground game, you do your own advertising, and you run in your

personal brand. small state, right. but all throughout this campaign, there is going to be additional comments coming from donald trump, inflammatory comments, and unlike now, when you get into the heat of those campaigns, she'll be asked to respond to everyone of them. >> by the way, the democratic opponent will have, right, the pictures together. any time they get within a mile of each other. >> you're right. but if you look at trump, there will be a lot of republican money. >> a purple state like toomey, johnson, would you like to be one of those people running for reelection with trump at the top. >> i wouldn't want to be running for reelection in any state. >> there are a lot of safe senators, except for michael bennet. the super majority pac is called, slamming kelly ayotte for following trump's lead by denying obama a vote.

this a tough one. double whammy, not only trump, not letting people vote. want trump to be the nominee, but you don't want to be nominee to be considered. let's watch. >> delay, delay, delay. >> donald trump wants the senate to delay filling the supreme court so he can choose the nominee next year, and senator kelly ayotte is right there to help. she joined party bosses in refusing to consider any nominee, ignoring the constitution. newspapers calling her appalling, wrong and disappointing. >> delay, delay, delay. >> kelly ayotte, ignoring the constitution, not doing her job. >> how do i know those words weren't headlines. buried in the junk somewhere. the round table sticking with us. up next, these three people tell me something i don't know. all three of them. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ you're not gonna watch it! ♪

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we're back with the "hardball" round table. >> john kasich going to utah this weekend and has a lot of people scratching their head.

winner take all for delegates if somebody gets to 50%. the most likely person would be ted cruz. he is almost guaranteeing donald trump can pick up the delegates, which hurts him. >> why is he going to utah. >> a really big question. he can get delegates if he goes there, he wants more when he gets to cleveland, part of the anti-trump movement would rather he stay away. >> maybe he'll get more fire power. everybody in the state watches salt lake tv. he'll be on here friday night, tomorrow night at 7:00. >> if the tone of this campaign sounds a lot like high school at times, you would be wrong. there is a new study out that shows that the language structure, the vocabulary and it's getting worst. they measured the grammatic constructs that sixth and eighth graders used and this is bipartisan, trump scores the lowest.

>> i've read that. >> like grade school. is it still a school where they teach you to speak with an english accent. >> i don't know. it is not a place i frequented. >> i if it's not bloomberg, who else will have the name id or $200 million. >> i could bet you, happy either way, i could win the bet if it does happen. but if i lose, i would be happy, i like a straight up and down election. it's better for the country. you can vote for the person that wins or loses. a lot of people are cage gee. it's too superior. thank you. that's one of my opinions. thank you for joining us. heidi, you're something else. you're getting every time. it is a business, getting the ideas out there. exciting people by your thought

process. and shane goldmocker, gold finger. greatest story, doug brinkley will be here, he'll tell us a few things about donald trump, what they could learn about franklin roosevelt. great new book about fdr, saving our environment. this is "hardball," the place for politics. we needed 30 new hires for our call center. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. (announcer) need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 100 of the web's leading job boards with a single click. then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. you put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. makes my job a lot easier. (announcer) over 400,000 businesses have already used ziprecruiter. and now you can use ziprecruiter for free. go to ziprecruiter.com/offer99

marco rubio returning to capitol hill today after bowing out of the republican presidential race on tuesday night. not long ago, was heralded as the savor. in ten months, he says he'll be out altogether. here he is. >> i'm not going to be anybody's vice-president. i don't want to -- i'm not interested in being vice-president. i don't mean it in a disrespectful way. i'm going to finish out my term in the next ten months, work hard and we want to achieve some things and i'll be a private citizen in january. >> you know, i can't bring myself to believe that. once it's in your blood, this guy wants to be president and expects he'll get there sooner or later. good for him. we'll be right back.

we're back. franklin roosevelt best known for pulling the country out of the great depression and winning world war ii, but like his cousin, teddy, an conservationist. historian douglas brinkley examines. rebill tapted the natural landscapes as president in the 1930s and '40s. in addition to creates numerous parks and wildlife, 3 billion treats planted, and by

roosevelt's third term, 5% had participated in the ccc. worthy subject of the environmental effects of climate change becomes as heated as ever. republican front runner donald trump considers it a hoax, says efforts to change climate claiming hurt american industry. he tweeted the concept of the global warming wag created by and for the chinese in order to make u.s. manufacturing noncompetitive. joining me now, douglas brinkley. thanks for joining us. remind people of what a great break working guys out there out of work, the ccc and what it did positively for the country and what it did for each of those hundreds of thousands of guys that went into it. >> thanks for having me on, chris. fdr created the ccc, his own

invention, take young men and that were unemployed, often lichg in urban settings, and get them to work in the national parks, create state park systems, plant trees, because the whole country was deeply deforested, agriculture, heirlooms, they did amazing work everywhere. it gave these young men loving american environment, loving the land. they got paid $1 a day and sent the money home. now all the states that had ccc camps, they have an alumni group, i interviewed many of the survives, they all became conservation nists, or most did, because they are they were in history army from 1932 to 1942, when congress defunded it. fdr wanted it to be permanent, because he thought we needed corps doing work.

>> do they go back to the battle field, look at what they had done and see the trees full-grown. >> absolutely. i talked to many of them. they went to see the exact picnic area, the swimming whole reservoir they doing, created so many water foul stations, you know, fdr created u.s. fish and wildlife, which today, runs 550 national wildlife refuges, and it saved many species, the alumni go back and they're proud of it. i've read their diaries. did a comprehensive job of understanding the ccc, the pet new deal program that fdr loved the most. >> you know, i've had a theory about politics, the guy or woman, you think as outdoors, when you think of indoors, they tend to lose, dukakis, dole. amazing pictures of fdr having the time of his life.

he has the whole world on his shoulders, breezing through the newspaper. smoking. how did he get around in his wheelchair, to all these incredible spots he had a role in saving. >> he drive to all of them. he wasn't to places like glacier national park, there is nothing more american than the national parks. he went all the way by boat to hawaii, because he wrote a paper on the volcanos there and wanted to see them himself. he became an honorary member of the black foot indian tribe in montana. june 6, 1944, he didn't cancel any of his meetings, because he didn't want to let the press know it was going, and he was working hard to create big ben national park in texas. accepted the deed that big ben,

created on d-day. when congress wouldn't go for a national park, he would sign executive orders and national monuments. >> absolutely. i talk to many of them. they went to see the exact, you know, picnic area they made, the swimming hole reservoir they dug or just started enjoying. what do you make of that part of the roosevelt tradition which today is very discredited? >> it's the low moment of his entire four-term presidency. you're right, he never feared

mongers. he was optimistic, always. however, after pearl harbor he got deeply fearful that the japanese were going to burn all the coastal areas of california, washington, oregon by arson. take the dry season and have balloons that blew up and we would be burning on the west coast. >> where did he get the idea? what spooked him? what made him think -- these people are pretty civilized. why would they go out of country and start fire fights? >> the japanese did fire and burn a little bit near santa barbara and the national forrest and also up in oregon, but he just knowing the forester and how vulnerable it was in the dry season, we needed to protect that. again, it was the worst moment of his presidency, i believe, by doing that executive order. >> back to your good stuff about conservation. what happened to this country, it used to be something i have gone out to arches in utah and did river runs.

i mean, it's just magnificent. i was out there with my daughter recently. shoshone, yellowstone, you just watch and watch the bison go by the hundreds. nobody in the country has this, nobody. >> let's take utah since you raised it. fdr created capital reef points park. arches where you went, roadside attraction. he quadrupled the land around it. he went into zion, not a huge site and made it much bigger. george dhuran former democratic of utah they built all the roads. utah and idaho both vote -- always voted for franklin roosevelt because he was trying to turn them into national park, ski resorts states and they got federal money, they got work crews. they collected a lot of papers from the mormons and the ccc who really worked hard at it. he went to yellowstone with eleanor roosevelt and had a wonderful time. she was angry that the souvenirs

in the shop were made in china not by american wood carvers and she wrote in her column how upset she was that we weren't selling american trinkets in our national parks. >> thank you, douglas brinkley. you're an amazing author and amazing historian. you know so much and write it beautifully. the book is called "rightful heritage and the land of america." beautiful cover. when we return, let me finish tonight with what else, look at this thing. st. patrick's day. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. ♪

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♪ let me finish tonight with st. patrick's day. here it is again, at the time you never know what the weather is going to be like. when i was in philadelphia marching up broad street, it could be snowing or sweltering. st. patrick's day was unpredictable. my parents were married on st. patrick's day. a real orange woman with an accent and cooking skills to prove it. my four brothers and i grew up in that cross section of the british aisles that come preiszed the matthews family. one thing we knew was the

importance of st. patrick's day it was mom and dad's anniversary and we were all dispensed from lent. it was a day to enjoy what you had been giving up. what if st. patrick himself? he was the apostle of ireland. bridget of kill dare and columbia, a missionary back in the fifth century of our lord. he was captured by pie rots at 06 and taken as a slave to ireland. he became a priest, returned to ireland where he rose to primate of ireland. he died today march 17th in ireland a holy day of obligation today. i went to college at holy cross, what was then called wall to wall irish that was okay. it's more diverse now and even better. last night the holy cross basketball team beat southern in a preliminary round to the ncaa tournament. it was a three pointer in the last minute that won. good for the crusaders, good for the irish. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. all in with chris hayes starts right now.

tonight on "all in". >> there's more likely to become an open convention than we thought before. >> the republican plot to stop trump at the convention. can they rely on delegate rules to block the nomination? >> they have a very good brain and i've said a lot of things. plus, the awkward quest for a gop savior. >> i think he's the best alternative to donald trump. he is certainly not my preference, senator cruz is not. then the fight is on, as obama's supreme court nominee arrives on the battlefield. >> the president has a four-year term. scientists tell us that there are approximately ten months left in his term. >> i'll speak with senator al franken about the unprecedented obstruction. and, senator harry reid unloads on his republican counterparts. >> when trump calls immigrants rapists and murders, he is doing what he learned from generations of conservatives. when "all in" starts right now.