...another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works... ...in one week. with the... fastest retinol formula. ...to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®. . . . it is wonderful to be here. back in 1928, president coolidge came on a battleship. it took him three days to get here. it only took me three hours. [ laughter ] >> president obama flew the 747 over to cuba today and i don't

know if you heard this, it just came out an hour ago, he landed in cuba and raul castro, or fidel castro, raul castro, the head of cuba, wasn't there to greet him. [ laughter ] folks, what are we doing? what are we doing? what are we doing? can you imagine if i were in that position and i landed and nobody was there? they would say donald trump must be incompetent to allow a thing like this to happen. the head of cuba, who was there for the pope and he was there for other dignitaries that come in but he wasn't there for the president of the united states. i mean, we are amateur hour, folks. amateur hour. [ applause ] and honestly, obama should have turned the plane around and left. no, he should have. he should have turned it around. he should have said bye-bye. >> well, there you have it. good monday morning.

it's march 21, mika and willie have the morning off. we're reaching out the joe who will be with on set in new york. we have managing editor of bloomberg politics mark halperin. veteran -- i hate saying that, can we change that? legendary columnist in and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. hello, mike. >> hello, nicolle. >> senior political editor and white house correspondent for the huffington post fresh off his "way too early" success. >> good to see you this morning. >> and msnbc political analyst and professor -- how did you get such a better intro than poor barnicle? >> shock to me as well. >> former democratic congressman harold ford. and in havana, cuba -- how often do you get to say that -- nbc's senior white house correspondent chris jansing. hello, chris. >> good morning. good morning. got a lot of news to get to this morning. >> i know, go ahead, chris.

>> about 100 republican convention delegates up for grabs tomorrow with a winner take all primary in arizona and a caucus in utah that has a proportional split but becomes winner take all if one candidate exceeds 50%. in arizona, a poll taken before last week's contest found that trump had a significant 12-point lead, 31% to cruz at 19%, governor john kasich tied with marco rubio at 10%. in utah, a post-rubio poll puts cruz 593%. kasich in second at 29%. trump down at 11%. 2012 republican nominee mitt romney posted on facebook friday "in the utah nominating caucus i will vote for senator ted cruz." adding "at this stage, the only way we can reach an open convention is for senator cruz to be successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections as possible. a vote for governor john kasich in future contests makes it extremely likely that trumpism

would prevail." so donald trump battled back with a jab at the former massachusetts governor's faith while campaigning in romney's new backyard of salt lake city. >> i have many friends that live in salt lake. i have a lot of friends. i have a lot of friends. by the way, mitt romney is not one of them. the [ boos ] did he choke? did this guy choke? he's a choke artist. i can't believe -- are you sure he's a mormon? are we sure? he choked. he choked. >> yeah, wow. okay, so mark halperin and nicolle, he has a lot of friends in salt lake. you knew he did. i mean, you knew coming around here that when we got past the early states that salt lake city was his kind of city. so very interesting, this battle between romney the and the establishment and trump seems to be getting hotter by the way. this weekend you couldn't go on

twitter and look at the influencers on the right and left where you didn't see every second or third tweet was just a vicious attack at trump and then countercharges from trump. it seems to be getting uglier out there instead of both sides making peace, right? >> i think so. and the big question is how does this end in any peaceful coalescing around anybody at our convention? it's difficult to put all of this back together and it's becoming a hotter war not less bombastic. >> it's a big day with trump in washington meeting with some congressional officials, republicans, and having other private meetings and speaking to aipac, but it's a big two weeks. we have contests tomorrow in arizona and utah but also two weeks from tomorrow is wisconsin. and i think if kasich and cruz can't figure out a way to stop trump in wisconsin he may be able to be on the path to a

majority and uniting some of the party but he'll never unite all of it. >> mike barnicle, though, it seems that the anti-trump crowd is getting angrier by the moment. it's like time is not healing any wounds. it's stirring things up even more and they're getting so dug in at this point that i don't see how they put this party together again over the next several months. i just don't. >> joe, they seem to be heading down a path to a total destruction. you have a cabal meeting secretly. we get reports this weekend, tomorrow night 50, 100 members of the establishment. they could not beat donald trump, they missed donald trump for months and months and months when he was right in front of everyone's face. everyone was hearing his voice other than the small secret cabal of republicans, now they're going to try and steal it from him because they couldn't beat him. this is really ludicrous.

>> chris jansing is? >> i want to pick up on both what he was saying and what mark halperin was saying, that donald trump's unconventional campaign making conventional moves today. trump is heading to capitol hill to meet with those two dozen influential republicans at a nearby law firm according to the "washington post." the guest list is mostly unknown, though politico reports senator tom cotton of arkansas will be there along with senator jeff sessions of alabama who endorsed trump last month. robert costa reports that anti-trump super pacs will be staking out that meeting for footage of republicans who attend as republicans take part in the hundred-day dash to halt trump's mart to the nomination and planning begins on an alternative ticket should they fail. "weekly standard" big kristol is suggesting third party candidates, under tom coburn and

rick perry. coburn has privately considered a bid but said he doesn't expect to be the candidate. meanwhile, perry's former campaign manager says the governor wants the gop to unite around senator ted cruz who he has endorsed. joe? >> all right. so sam stein, they're talking about bringing trackers toll follow people that would have the audacity to follow donald trump. this is at the point you can declare your party is at an all out civil war. >> this surprised me. we're talking about a republican operated anti-trump super pac going after fellow republicans for meeting with the republican front-runner. you have to step back and think to yourself, the party's kind of coming apart here at the seams and it's interesting because the more establishment republicans

do actually go to donald trump such as chris christie, senator jeff sessions, the harder it becomes for them to take it away at the convention because trump will have more mainstream people complaining on his behalf saying no, no, he got the most votes, he got the most delegates, maybe he didn't reach the critical threshold but he deserves this. so as you get more and more establishment republicans, it becomes his nomination. >> in addition to that, what happens if he arrives at this convention somewhere w somewhere between 1125 and 1225 delegates, 112 to 75 shy, to his point. how do you stop him? i understand you go from a second vote and third vote, but from a practical standpoint and you see the momentum that he's -- i mean the thing that happened this week were very troubling. we watched on television with his campaign manager who didn't

try to defuse the situation, but let's pause that for a moment. i don't know how you stop him once he gets to the convention. does he lead? does our third party -- they talk about third party mainstream candidate. there could be a third party trump candidate if he decides not to run. from mark's standpoint, the reporting, what do you get? do you hear neigh hexd launch a third party candidate? >> it will be too late for him at that point to get on the ballot as anything but a write-in. but the republican party has a hundred different ideas about how to try to stop donald trump. >> what are they? >> it's too late that the point. >> does anyone in trump's camp get so angry this is happening. >> there are only four of them. but you tried to separate out the violence -- >> i'm not. no, no. >> that's at the core of the discomfort. >> as an american, it's deeply troubling to watch that. it concerns me he would not -- i

mean, he condoned his campaign manager and condoned -- >> i'm just saying, look at palm ry -- paul ryan having to go out and condemn these types of actions. at the core of the republican establishment's opposition to trump is precisely what you described. >> has a campaign manager ever served due w served dually as a crowd bouncer before? >> i'm curious, you've been out there almost on a daily basis with these campaigns, specifically the trump campaign. how close do you think the republican party is to just saying we surrender, we're going to have our gallipoli moment, we'll go out of the trenches and run to our deaths with donald trump in the lead. how close they to that as opposed to this ridiculous meetings they're having with people trying to take the thing away from him snrj. >> it's hanging in the balance. you can see a largely unified party in cleveland and you could

see, joe, an absolutely divided republican party. i think it depends on how many more contests trump wins and also stylistically how much he reaches out. how many more chris christies can he find in the republican party? >> well, that depends on two things. the first thing has to do with the violence. the violence has to be tamped down. it makes the republican establishment for good reason very uncomfortable. of course there are protesters all over the place. he's always being interrupted. you know what? they need to not respond and that's not his brand but the more incidents like this that happen the more uncomfortable the republican establishment is for good reason. the second thing has to do with the fact that we're hearing it more and more, we saw in the the david brooks column yesterday, the unprepared nature of everything. the lack of depth on policy issues, the lack of experts around him. the inability to get up and dig a little bit deeper than just surface soundbites. that's one thing chris jansing

that people are looking forward to date, an sproord extraordina important speech at aipac. will donald trump sound presidential for the first time in his campaign? some people close to him are letting reporters know this morning that they are going to see a new donald trump and this is where he makes a turn to the more presidential approach that he's been promising for a very long time: >> we've heard it before, as you say, and this is an incredibly important day with all the remaining presidential candidates who are going to be speaking to the american israel public affairs committee, commonly known as aipac. hillary clinton, john kasich, ted cruz, and donald trump all in washington today. addressing an expected crowd of about 18,000 people. several groups are expected to protest trump's remark this is evening with a group of rabbis planning a walkout after he is introduced while others are advocating a less disruptive

boycott. despite his typical off-the-cuff style politico is reporting that trump has "taken input from a number of very significant jewish influencers who have reaffirmed to him the importance of this particular speech." now, last month, trump said he'd like to broker a deal between the israelis and the palestinians and got criticism for saying he'd be neutral something which he says his speech is going to address. >> i think making a deal would be in israel's interest. i don't know one jewish person that doesn't want to have a deal. a good deal. a proper deal, but a really good deal. >> define a good deal. >> well, i'll define that tomorrow because i'll be defining it tomorrow. i'm not going to define it now. i'm going to define it tomorrow. but we would like to see and everybody would like to see a real deal be made, not a deal that will be broken, a real deal that will be made. something that can be lasting. >> yeah, you know, mark, the question is whether he can discipline himself.

that's, again, what the republican establishment, a lot of people in the media have been wanting for a long time. can donald trump discipline himself to deliver an in-depth policy speech? if he tries to deliver an in-depth policy speech will he make the same mistakes ben carson made talking about hummus as a dangerous, dangerous food. will he actually be able to stand up and deliver? i think our questions about whether the republican establishment is going to get serious about donald trump or not depends on whether donald trump is going to get serious about being a presidential candidate and start acting like one and talking about policy and the way that a lot of americans expect from their president. >> look, if you were scripting this in a fictional way, today's event would be right in your script because this is of all the things that presidential candidates are asked to do. speaking to aipac is among the most difficult and substantive. it's complicated. you have to navigate a ton of different constituencies and it

involves nuance. so, mike, do you think trump will go in there and give nuance and depth and presidential demeanor or he going to wing it? >> first of all, we'll see a different donald trump. are we going to see a donald trump reading a prepared text and sticking to prepared legitimate points on perhaps the most controversial aspect involving the world peace -- potential world peace. on the one hand, he has ba bibi netanyahu who continues to provide over a system where they increase housing allotments. and palestinians have never come to the table really in a sensible way and he's got to do that -- >> but, mike, i think he will do that. it's just 10 minutes later does he get on twitter and call his first twitter a jerk? i actually think he is capable of that. i think he can stand at a podium and read a tell prompter. but we've lowered the bar to a ridiculous level. we're asking if he can read a teleprompter when he's running

if president of the united states. >> he's probably one candidate who's gone away from republican orthodoxies, not just on israel, about cuba, the iraq war, so on and so forth. and every time he's done it we've assumed he done, but he goes up in the polls. so will he do it? i don't know. >> or stick to a prepared text? >> i'm curious to see if there's a protester in the room or if the rabbis get up and leave how he reacts. >> "get the rabbis out!" >> get them out of here! >> this will be remembered for a long time. to your point, sam, that's most important, where does he come down on policy? because he won't be able to escape the statements he makes here going forward around foreign policy. >> famous last words "he won't be able to escape." >> can't you see that, "rabbis walks out on trump. sad." >> jerks, losers. still ahead on "morning joe," another weekend, another

scuffle at a trump event. now he's speaking out. we'll play his latest remarks. plus, a world in disarray. richard haass is back from overseas with a sobering assessment with the next commander in chief. first, bill karins. >> a snowy morning for some in eastern new england and hopefully this is it. you have snow this morning, three to four inchs on the ground most locations. schools closed for kids in boston today. that snow is moving up to maine. you're done with your snow, d.c., philadelphia, new york is done. so additional snowfall, we may pick up one the two inches boston north wards. portland, maine, to bangor, that may be the worst drive. down east maine could pick up six to eight inches. it's not just new england. we have freeze warnings across much of the deep south, even northern louisiana. it's rare to get freeze this is far south this time of year. we're at 29 in oklahoma city, 38 in montgomery. even atlanta is chilly at 38.

this is one of the coldest mornings we'll see until next winter. this is a good time of year because the march sun is strong. we'll have 68 in dallas, 60 in atlanta. new york city will be at 51 and that snow on the grass will be melted by the end of the day. for our friends in the northeast in new england with the snow, tomorrow looks better getting up near 50 in boston. new york city, you're done with your snowflakes. we got about a half inch in the park. the roads are just wet and it looks just fine for this afternoon. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. [alarm beeps]

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welcome back to "morning joe." chris jansing, a very, very busy weekend for bernie sanders. tell us about it. >> it was, indeed. he was out west. several states in that region, as you know, joe, hold votes tomorrow and this coming weekend. ahead of tomorrow's arizona primary, sanders visited the u.s./mexico border in that state before holding a rally in phoenix attended by more than 3,000 people. he then traveled to washington state, which caucuses on saturday, and turned out more than 7,000 people.

to an event yesterday in the city of vancouver. after that, he held a massive rally in seattle where he addressed a crowd of more than 10,000. so those crowds keep coming. his day ended in spokane where he spoke in front of another huge audience. this one between 7,000 and 9,000 people it's estimated. meanwhile, here's what he had to say about his opponent earlier in the day. >> we need real change in this country and, between you and me, i do not believe that real change is going to come from a candidate like secretary clinton who receives millions of dollars from wall street. who receives -- who has a super pac that receives 15 million bucks from wall street, money from the fossil fuel industry, money from the drug companies. >> mark halperin, 10,000-person crowds packed in wherever he

goes. how does this not translate to votes? >> it's the crowds, it's the fund-raising, he raised in another month pretty substantially and the calendar coming up is good for him. there are a lot of caucus states and primaries where he could do well. people like to think about both these races as being over, the "washington post" has a front page story about trump versus clinton looking to the general election and that's certainly something on the mind of some clinton folks but she is going to have to figure out how to deal with bernie sanders in the coming days because of the crowds, because of the money, because of the credit rirhetori. he's not done fighting. he'll go all the way to california. >> harold ford, he keeps raising money, $43 million. he's got extraordinary crowds. he's got excitement behind him and the only thing that hillary clinton does is win. >> i like the latter more than the former if i were running. she just needs to keep winning. if bernie sanders -- i'm a clinton supporter, i would love if he would get out.

but he has every right to stay in. i hope he continues to excite and get voters focused on the real differences that will -- voters -- i should say the real choice voters will have in the fall between either donald trump or whomever the republicans nominate and a democrat. ty think mrs. clinton has to stay on that track, sharpen her economic message and talk more specifically about how you will empower the middle-class going forward. she stays on that path, she'll be able to excite bernie sanders voters come fall. >> the big question for bernie right now. because the democratic system is proportional meaning even if you do well you only get a certain number of more delegates, he's got to not just win these states, he's got to blow her out. and while he is raising a lot of money, he's spending more than she is. so he has less cash on hand. >> what is he spending that money on? >> staff, tv, all the stuff that comes with the major campaign apparatus, the question facing him is can he use his more limited resources even with grass-roots fund-raising he has to win a state like california

60-40, which i don't know if he's capable of doing. and the second question is at what point does he actually tamp down the attacks against clinton because that stuff we saw was probably more personal than anything he's done in the campaign. a lot of party people are not happy with it. >> big showdown in wisconsin for both parties two weeks from tomorrow, joe? >> big showdown. we thought we had big showdown this is past week and hillary swept them all. bernie sanders has to start wracking up very big wins very soon or people will be asking why does he stay in the race and further divide the democratic party? i certainly understand the logic of him staying in the race up to this point but he's got to start putting points on the board or his campaign just doesn't make any sense. so when we come back, very tough must-read op-eds about donald trump. the toughest from david brooks, we'll read that. plus maureen dowd weighs in on donald trump's strongman approach when we return. it's more than a network and the cloud. it's reliable uptime.

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unsettling weekend on the campaign trail, joe, as you point out. donald trump facing intense protests, including protesters in arizona blocking off the highway to one of his rallies, cabling themselves to cars and chanting "shut it down." but the trump campaign's actions at the highest level also came under scrutiny this weekend. nbc's gabe gutierrez has this report. >> reporter: this weekend, the anger boiled over. >> are you pushing me? >> in tucson a protester in a white hood escorted out by police. another one behind him repeatedly punched and kicked by men in the crowd. that protester, brian sanders, spoke with nbc's jacob rascon. >> this political movement has got on the the point where you may get beat to death inside of a rally. i just got my [ bleep ] kicked. >> it's this video raising even more questions. trump's campaign manager corey lewandowski appears to grab the collar of another protester who's ranked away by a member of trump's private security. trump strongly defending him.

>> security at the arena, the police were a little bit lax and he had signs, that i had signs up in that area that were horrendous. i will give him credit. >> last week, a reporter from the conservative web site breitbart filed a police complaint accusing lewandowski of assault, but he's not been charged. the long-time gop operative once took a break from politics to work as a new hampshire state police officer. >> it's very unusual, unprecedented for a campaign manager to be out in the crowd being involved in security. >> and trump had more to say yesterday, condemning his media coverage. >> we don't condone violence but why aren't they showing the klan outfit walking up the stairs? why aren't they showing that? and you had this -- this is a real supporter. this was an african-american man and a family that were there to listen to me speak, they couldn't hear me speak because of the commotion that was being made by a very few people, you know, you talk about first amendment rights and freedom of speech, you couldn't hear.

and now they're walking these two people out, the klan outfit is still on the one person and this man became incensed that somebody would wear a ku klux klan outfit and did some swinging. okay, i say it for everybody, especially for the media, wedon. why didn't it show that? i hear he's a very, very fine guy, all it showed is this wonderful african-american man swinging, swinging, swinging, and nobody knows why he did it and i think it's very, very unfair. how come a group of people is allowed to use horrible language, hold up horrendous signs, scream at the top of their voice, close roadways, close an entrance to a facility that i rented so it's my facility for the day, i mean, they're not supposed to even be

in it, how come we're the bad people all the time? okay? what about the people using horrible profanity, horrible words and closing up highways? why are they never the bad people? it's an incredible thing. >> mark halperin, there's an awful lot to sort through here. i think one of the reasons why the trump campaign is obviously getting the bad publicity is because they have the guy running their campaign also in the middle of the fray. now this is two times, we don't know how many times it's happened but obviously that's unusual and might be a good move for them not to put him in the middle of the fray. but let's go to the second point and talk about what the trump campaign is going to see for the rest of this campaign and that is going to be protests at every speech. massive protests, interruptions non-stop. i personally think that ends up -- and i'm sure they believe

it does as well -- helping them in the long run where you actually have this visual of a showdown of people in klan outfits using profanity, being aggressive and sort of this melee going on there. and, of course, the greatest challenge is for trump to prove to everybody that he condemns violence unambiguously and he certainly sounded like in the that clip. he has not sounded like in the the past so sort through all this for us, mark, and make this simple. >> well, it's not simple. in the short term it probably helps him because it secures his base and rallies his supporters. in the long term, it's a logistical challenge. he wants to have events that are open to the public but it's simply a logistical challenge because he can not have anybody come in and shout him down, he can't give his speech. so he needs to do a better job with the logistics and talking about the violence and it shows the divisions not just in the republican party but in the

country that donald trump inspires. there's an op-ed from david brooks that's getting attention in the "new york times" that he wrote over the weekend "no, not trump, not ever." reflecting the views of a lot of people within the conservative movement in the republican party. he wrote "trump voters are a coalition of the dispossessed, in the media, especially me, did not understand how they would express their --

and, sam, that represents the view mofrs in the republican party. not the chris christie wing of the republican party but the mitt romney wing and the pete wehner wing. >> first of all, kudos to david brooks for acknowledging that he misunderstood and didn't mingle enough with the people who make up the trump -- >> he didn't leave the office. >> i think it's a fair criticism for myself. >> because trump is powered by his supporters. >> always has been. >> i would make the case just to push this back to the rallies, you know, did trump not expect that this would happen? when you are saying to a hispanic community that we're going to come in and rip your families apart. when you are saying to a muslim community that i'm demonizing you and not let any more muslims in. when you tell your audience that you would like the punch protesters in the face. is it that much of a surprise that hispanics protest you, that muslim prose test you, that people get violence at your rallies? of course not.

this is silly that trump is now playing the victim. >> it's more than that. joe, you and i have had this conversation on and off camera about why isn't he getting better? george w. bush was president during an incredibly difficult and polarized time in this country. wars brought out more protesters than any modern president had seen and we managed to deal with events where there were protesters but there was never any violence. we traveled around the world where, you know, the european protesters and south american protesters make american protesters look like kindergarteners. so there is plenty of history here. there were plenty of people for trump and his folks to call. doesn't this go to how he's not improving as a candidate? >> it does. and the fact is why do we have so many protesters still able to storm into his rallies? because he has no infrastructure yet. he hasn't built out an infrastructure so there won't be

the crowd control. now david brooks point -- first of all, to say i wasn't socially sb intermingled enough is a great way to say "i'm a snob." and that's about 99% of the people that have been covering donald trump. they've been snobs that have been too good to listen to people. i know nicolle you did. i know i did. i know mika did and we heard a lot of people whispering to us and we reported it six months back that they were going to vote for trump. that still continues and we're still hearing that right now. david brooks, it's not too late. you can actually continue in your efforts to leave your office and listen to people out there because as we are shocked and stunned as we have been for six to nine months by what we've been seeing on the air that has not changed, most trump voters, they are staying there with him. but i think and mark you alluded to this earlier, i think the

important part of david brooks' column is the inability apparently of donald trump to grow. the lack of depth on issues. the refusal to pro pair. the refusal to put experts around him. the refusal to learn. a lot of that is what's driving the concern within the republican party. every bit as much as the violence at trump's rallies. that's why this aipac speech is so important today: has donald trump really listened to jewish leaders across america? has he had the discipline to put it into a speech with the help of some aides? we l he have the discipline to read from the teleprompter and not wing it anymore? the time for winging it is over. this is like, you know, you're not -- you are not across the table on "celebrity apprentice" from geraldo. you can't wing it anymore. you want to be president of the united states. and the question is will he be able to do that today at aipac?

>> it's a huge test. imagine him in the general election debates against a very well-prepared hillary clinton. republicans want to know, are you prepared to win a general election and are you prepared to govern? for a lot of elite republicans and a lot of grass-roots republicans there's still doubt about those questions. >> understatement of the morning. still to come, chris jansing takes us inside the last time a sitting american president set foot on cuban soil nearly 90 years ago. plus, to do or not to do is one way of measuring the foreign policies of george w. bush and president obama in the middle east. richard haass is here to break down the dizzying array of decisions awaiting the next commander-in-chief. "morning joe" is coming right back. why do so many businesses rely on the us postal service? because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. that's why we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country.

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so it looks like you're stuwith me! bargain brand cooking spray leaves annoying residue. that's why there's pam. let's bring in richard haass, the president on the council of foreign relations. richard, i understand you came back from asia and the obama administration is talking about a possible pivot to asia, how's

that going? oh, wait, that was in 2013. what's going on in asia now, richard? >> you have real preoccupation with china, a slowing economy and what that means for everybody, it's a blanket on everybody else. is good news out there is a spent a couple days in taiwan and we all grew whereupon china-taiwan relationship is one of the most fraught in the world and now it's interesting how calm and relatively normal it seems. what was interesting in hong kong is you're seeing the effects of the crackdown in china. and one of the big stories in the world is not simply the slowing of the chinese economy but the tightening grip of the chinese leadership on their society. and i would think, you know, coming back to what you've been talking about, one of the things the next president is going to have to think about is a more assertive chinese foreign policy against the backdrop of a slower economy and a more repressive political system and how we'll deal with that will be one of the tougher challenges facing the new president. >> how is the slowing of the chinese economy impacting the

confidence of all of asia? >> it's a drag because so many of them, such a big part of their economies are caught up with china. places like taiwan, 40% of their economy is integrated with china. south korea, china is its biggest economic partner. so all of these countries are feeling it. as is the rest of the world. japan is slowing, europe is slowing and it's no surprise that you're seeing among other things a rise of populist parties all over the world simply because the economics aren't as good. in some ways, similar to this country. you're beginning to see the political consequences of economic slowdown here and around the world. >> richard, your piece on the inbox of the next president obviously wherever you have a transition the new president wants to come in and do some continuity, some change. what are the big challenges for the next president, whoever it is. >> first thing to say is the list is really quite staggering. it's sobering. but among other things, how is it that you persuade a half

dozen countries in the middle east not to react to iran's nuclear program and begin to go down that path themselves? how do you reassure countries around europe and asia dealing with russia and china without triggering a new cold war? what is it you do at home, say the apple fbi case, what is the right balance between privacy and collective security? venezuela. everyone's focused on cuba, but venezuela could be a crisis in this hemisphere that country implodes. so you literally can go around the world, climate change, what just happened in paris, there's real questions about what it means. what if anything do you do about that? so ground forces in the middle east. middle east is unraveling. wheth what are we prepared to do? you can go hopscotching it around the world and it's hard not to be struck by how tough it will be. >> let's stick with that. last week putin surprised the united states and the state department with his announcement that there was going to be a slow withdrawal of russian forces from syria. is it because he has given up on

assad and, if so -- well, what do you think? why do you think he did it? >> the emphasis is on "slow" rather than withdrawal. i think for russia, this was quite an accomplishment. their goal was to shore up the syrian regime. that's just what they did but they avoided trying to transform like syria. unlike us, they don't care if they become jeffersonian democrats, they just wanted to keep these guys politically alive. secondly their goal was to bolster the regime but not pacify the entire country. it's as if putin read colin powell and you had an application of the colin powell doctrine. clear overwhelming force for limited achievable objectives. it's a very different foreign policy than ours. >> i have a quick question. you went through a list of obama foreign policies that are put on the next president's docket and if you talk to obama people, they basically make the case that the things they've done aren't going to be reversed. no one is going to come into the office and say "no, the iran deal, let's get rid of it." no one is going to say "cuban

relations, let's go back to more a adversarial relationships." is that naive? which do you think would be reversed? >> some of the questions it's not a question of reversing, it's implementing. dealing with the consequences. particularly the iran deal. it doesn't solve the problem, in many cases it kicks the problem down the road 10 and 15 years and can we manage the nuclear behavior of some of iran's neighbors as well as iran itself. but the big legacy is going to be an unraveling middle east, a europe that's less stable, less confident than it's been at any time since well into the cold war, and an asia where you've got this dynamism but not security architecture. and the real question is how do you accommodate a rising china. so i wouldn't exaggerate the positives of the foreign policy legacy of this president. >> chris jansing, we've seen several photo-ops of the president down in half thvana b

this trip is about more than photo-ops, right? >> far more. obviously an historic visit by the president, richard, arriving yesterday, first time in 88 years for a sitting president. but on the one hand you have announcements by sheraton, airbnb, by airlines about coming in here, how they'll expand business, job opportunities. obviously american tourists are anxious to come here who have not been able to for so many decades. on the other hand, at the same time you have dozens of protesters who are arrested after a peaceful march following going to sunday mass. some of them who are supposed to meet with the president on tuesday and it's not clear whether they're going to continue to be detained. you have this week another boat load of people who are coming over and nine people died. so president obama went into this knowing that this was going to be something that he was beginning but he would not be able to even come close to finishing. where does this go? where what does cuba look like

and what does the u.s./cuban relationship look like five years from now? >> two things, chris. the other big speech besides donald trump's a-to-aipac is going to be barack obama's to cuba and how he really -- what kind of messages he sends. but taking a step back, this is one of the big bets of his presidency. what he essentially did was reject the congressional program that cuba has to reform politically before we would engage economically. and what barack obama said after 50 years, that wasn't working so let's reverse it. let's us engage economically, in some ways unconditionally in the hopes it sets in motion dynamics within cuban society. essentially we want to kill them with coca-cola. get the united states in, set them in motion. >> is this the headline, richard, they would have wanted is "as obama arrives cuba tightens grip on dissent." >> clearly the government in cuba is worried about this and the real question is and this is a five or ten or 15 year issue, whether this sets in motion those dynamic which is cuba in 10 or 15 years post-castros

looks to be a more open, more normal society and i think the administration said now that the cold war is over, cuba is not a strategic threat the same way that it was, we have the luxury of experimenting. but this is as close as you get to a case study experiment in foreign policy. >> do you think it works? >> i think it's legitimate to try and you have to be prepared that it doesn't work but i think it's legitimate to try to set in motion because the embargo after 50 years was not bringing about the more open cuba we wanted to see. i think it's worth the experiment. >> answer to your question, ten years. >> give it time. see how this plays out. >> kill them with coca-cola. wow, the michael bloomberg doctrine in effect in cuba. [ laughter ] richard, stay with us. we haven't even talked about aipac yet and donald trump and hillary clinton going before there. that will be the big political news of the day. we'll follow it and much, much more when "morning joe" returns. that is cyber-crime

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coming up at the top of the hour, we'll find out how much donald trump's unorthodox strategy works in utah as he's actually questioning whether mitt romney is even a mormon. we have the "new york times" nikon necessa nikon fckock confessore and gens here to make sense of the madness.

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>> it's very chic, it's very shi-shi for leftists to celebrate vicious communist dictators. my father fought in the cuban revolution, my father was imprisoned and tortured as a teenager by batista and my aunt, my tia sonia, was imprisoned and tortured by castro's goons. now, when president obama is in cuba, you know who he's not going to meet? he's not going to meet the dissidents being tortured right now by raul and fidel castro, who are being silenced for daring to stand up. he's not going to meet the ladies in white. and so when president obama is there with hollywood celebrities and rock musicians drinking mojitos at the embassy, the

political prisoners who are languish i languishing are left behind by this president. >> well, i've got to say i haven't agreed with ted cruz all the time in this campaign but he certainly is right there. all the people that are celebrating the opening of cuba like pope francis, ignoring the cuban dissidents, those being beaten, those being dragged away, those being tortured. still tortured by the castro brothers. but we're told we should celebrate it so i hope you're enjoying it and maybe one day a world leader will go to cuba and actually condemn the torture that continues there, the political imprisonment that still continue there. welcome back to "morning joe," mika and willie have the morning off. with us on set in new york, former communications director for president george w. bush, nicolle wallace, senior

political editor and white house correspondent for the huffington post, sam stein. president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass. former democratic congressman harold ford, jr. political writer for the "new york times," nicholas confessore. in washington, pulitzer prize winning columnist in and associate editor of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. and in havana, cuba, senior white house correspondent chris jansing. nicolle, a big day ahead of us. we are already getting the clinton campaign putting out what hillary clinton is going to be saying in front of aipac and there's no doubt who she's targeting when she says her speech will say the united states must never be neutral about defending israel or consider our relationship with israel negotiable. game on, donald trump. she's not interested in deals in this aipac speech. he's going to be interested in a full-throated unambiguous

defense of the jewish state. >> and doesn't that perfectly set up the general election we could be in for as republicans where our opponent takes something, takes donald trump's own words and uses it against him viciously. this gets to the heart of the republican anxious and i wonder just on substance do you think donald trump has the capacity to get ahead of her on this? >> one of the questions joe raised is whether there's going to be growth, whether there's going to be the seriousness and depth. but i think hillary clinton is on to something. one of the most damaged relationships we have is the u.s.-israeli relationship. this president and the israeli prime minister are not going to require to ft. lauderdale together. [ laughter ] and one of -- >> they're not even going to play the shuffleboard game together. >> ft. lauderdale, wow. >> one of the things we have got to do is resurrect this relationship. because it's quite possible in the first year of the presidency you could have a major crisis in jordan, war in syria, saudi arabia could come under pressure from isis. the iran nuclear thing. the united states, the american president and this israeli prime minister have to be able to get

on the phone, be straight with each other and trust one another. so making this relationship work has got to be a priority. i think hillary clinton understands that and i think donald trump has to communicate something like that as well. >> nick, i confess i read your piece last night but you do have this direct line into this donor class. do you any this is sort of at the root of their anxiogst abou trump? >> i think donald trump is opposed to their entire world view on policy and politics. >> is he opposed or does he seem unwilling to -- >> trade, entitlements, social security, immigration, the middle east, it's everything. >> so what are they watching in the aipac speech? >> hopefully finally it will make them so mad -- >> they'll write bigger checks? >> they're always looking if the implosi

implosion. but don't we think -- the donors aren't going to hear anything today, i don't think, that will make them suddenly be like "okay, i like donald trump, i'm fine with donald trump. it doesn't seem like that's something that will happen. if you like donald trump, joe, you like donald trump at this point. if you don't like that donald f looking for some alternative and coming up empty. >> a lot of us are on twitter and you can do two different streams on twitter. you can do verified which are the influencers you follow which have verified accounts and you can open it up and let everybody come into your twitter stream and it's ugly a lot of times but it's a tale of two cities. you go on the verified accounts and yesterday every second tweet was just bitter visceral hatred toward donald trump and not just from the left. from the left, from the center, from the right. trump has no home. you open it up, and i open it up this morning to look at what

generally people are saying and it's a civil war. an online civil war where one person will skew you for being unfair to donald trump, the next will say that you're in bed with his candidacy. and there is this great division among americans. there is not a great division, though, nick, as you said, among elites, among the donor class, we had mary kissel with the "wall street journal" here the other day and she kept fighting the obvious time and time again which is -- i said, mary, you keep attacking hillary clinton but the fact is, hillary clinton's going to be much closer to the "wall street journal" editorial page come november than donald trump is: >> that's right. >> on trade. hillary clinton is going to be much closer to the "wall street journal" editorial page come november than donald trump on israel: hillary clint

israel. hillary clinton is going to be much closer on the "wall street journal" editorial page on intervention, military intervention, than donald trump come november. she swatted all three of those suggestions away and was shocked and stunned and deeply saddened but i can get to richard haass about this. when you talk about where she stood on iraq, where she too old on libya, where she stood on afghanistan, where she stood on syria, hillary clinton is far more of an interventionist along the lines of what the republican party has been since george w. bush was president than donald trump will ever be. >> i'm not convinced of that, joe. i think she has at least at a minimum -- >> it's a compliment. it means republicans might be available to her. this is so funny. >> first of all, let me go to nick first then harold you can respond but i'm not trying to be cute or clever here. this is a matter -- you can take judicial notice of this. you can take their past statements over the past 30 years. this is not a debate.

it's objective factually based, nick confessore, which brings up -- and this isn't a knock at hillary, this just shows, nick, how republican donors especially find themselves in this terrible position that come november they may think hillary clinton is their only choice. >> very possible. the donors on wall street especially have no huge problem with hillary clinton in large part. i would say look back to may and june when the republican party was pushing a trade deal with president obama that their own base hated and thought was corrupt. you had mitch mcconnell and barack obama found something that they agreed on right at the moment when donald trump was about to pop and come out. it's a huge deal. there is a lot of anger at these trade deals and immigration as well. you can see there's anger and a policy of problems so i think the party can deal with trump but they have to deal with

trumpism and there is actually a policy content to it and they can't just run away from it forever and ever. >> i should have let you finish your point, i happen to align more than what you're saying than i thought at the beginning. but the reasoning for perhaps the "wall street journal," the "new york times" or any of these newspapers aligning themselves with her is because of the seriousness and depth she will bring to these issues. thus far the most disappointing thing for people who have watched -- put aside the violence and craziness from trump and the histrionics around him, there's not only not a depth, there's no interest many being deeper. hillary clinton has at least laid out what conditions will have to take place for her to intervene around the globe. she's laid out what the iranian deal has to accomplish and what she expects from iranians going forward before america acts or asks others to act differently. she's laid out her position on asia and how we make this pivot to asia in a way that not only will strengthen us but not weaken our allies in the region.

that's what most people and most editorial pages are looking for in a candidacy. donald trump has come up woefully short. >> so nicolle let's talk about -- forget about the "wall street journal" editorial page or the gop donor class, let's just talk about the washington establishment that has run that city for 30 years. on the issue of immigration, hillary clinton is closer to the gop donor class and the washington establishment than is donald trump right now. >> that's right. >> on military intervention, hillary clinton is closer to the gop donor class and establishment than is donald trump right now. on the issue of israel, hillary clinton is closer to the gop donor class and the washington establishment than is donald trump. and we can go issue after issue after issue where that's the case as well. whether it's breaking up the banks as populist economic policy, taxes the rich. you can go straight down the

line. which may explain why the gop establishment and the donor class are so far against donald trump. but what it doesn't get to is exactly what nick said, beat donald trump if you wish this year, but trumpism, the rise of trumpism stays with this party well beyond november. how do they resolve it? >> listen, i think it's also -- it underscores the divide and the complete breakup between the establishment and our base. and it gives our voters all the proof proof point that they need that there was some sort of -- use whatever word you want, conspiracy, construction, that the party establishment stopped serving their interests. tell me the last time our base felt satiated or satisfied by the republican orthodoxy on trade or foreign policy or immigration. but the conversations happening in private with republican consultants, one step removed from the establishment, is that if you are not a social conservative there is less and less rationale for hardened

opposition to hillary clinton. if you're a social conservative there's no way you get there. you get that bucket of social issues, pro life, what not. but if foreign policy is how you vote, if that is your central concern, if counterterrorism is what worries you, how do you not consider hillary clinton in november? >> well said. >> that is a question. richard haass, here's what's so frustrating to me as a republican. these fault lines have been there since the 1990s. they were there with pat buchanan's rise in 1992, ross perot's success in 1992. when i first got there in early 1995 we had the mexican bailout which, of course, k street, newt gingrich, the republican establishment said bail them out, it's the only wise thing to do. we called it the goldman sachs bailout and we voted against it and it was very ugly early on

and shocked newt and the establishment. the bosnian -- there was a resolution that newt tried to pass on the bosnian war and, you know, we fought it and said we shouldn't be intervening and that battle continued and newt had to drag people in and extend the vote, lean on his leadership and people like john boehner. but the fault lines in the republican party have been there for a very long time. the republican establishment in the donor class, they've just pushed it away and ignored it and they're paying for 30 years of neglect. >> joe, i think what you and nicolle are saying is right. the most interesting fault lines in american politics are less between the parties than within them. and in the republican party on virtually every issue you've got three groups, you've got the neoconservatives who want to role around and intervene and transform the world often unilaterally. you have to realists who are much more cautious in what we do, want to shape the foreign policies of others, often

multilaterally. but then donald trump in some ways is a reminder that there is this third group which is much more economically nationalist, has a much more limited sense of what america's role in the world is, much more skeptical of quote/unquote freeloading allies and what we're now seeing is the basic battle over the other yen station of republican foreign policy and with hillary clinton more broadly american foreign policy. and, again, it cuts across party lines. >> i want to bring in chris jansing because the faultlines on cuba policy are largely generational. are you seeing that play out there on the ground? >> you see it tremendously. you see it with kids on the street huddled in groups who are trying to get internet access, most of the 11 million people who live here don't have it. but before i get to cuba i want to just pick up on what you all were talking about which is aipac and let people know that msnbc will be covering all of these speeches that we hear today because they are so important. it starts at 9:30 this morning with hillary clinton so we will

have live coverage of those speeches at aipac all the way through donald trump. here what we'll be watching is there will be statements by both president barack obama and raoul castro after their big meeting today. that will happen this morning. yesterday, the president and first lady and their daughters and the president's mother-in-law hunched do etouch havana greeted by rain and top cuban officials. noticeably absent, cuban president raoul castro. the official welcoming is later this morning. the two will greet each other at the palace of the revolution for that official state welcome and they'll discuss trade, political reform, and president obama will not meet with fidel castro who, by the way, came to power before barack obama was born. after touching down, the president's first stop was to the recently reopened u.s. embassy where he thanked the staff for their service. >> young american children, young cuban children by the time they're adults ie o s our hope

by the time they are adults they'll think that it's natural that a president visits cuba. we're working for their future and i'm grateful for you making it ham. thank you very much. >> it has been nearly 90 years since an american president set foot on cuban soil even though the island nation is a meer 90 miles away. much like president obama, the last commander-in-chief to visit hope to improve what, for decades, had been tense relations. for the first time in nearly 09 years, an american president is on cuban soil. the last sitting president to set foot here, calvin coolidge in 1928. he took his wife grace to visit president injure rar dgerardo m. his only trip outside the country. >> coolidge was received kwarmly. people were cheering, there was the idea that an american president was a great and noble

visitor. >> reporter: he was met by throngs of people jamming the streets, throwing flower petals on him as he passed. the "new york times" wrote "the cubans' eyes shone and they smiled happily. it was the gayest and happiest welcome anyone ever received from this green island in the caribbean." >> there were always concerns about american meddling in the region but coolidge brought a message of mutual respect as a opposed to american domination. >> reporter: coolidge gave the opening address to the pan american congress, invoking the journey of christopher columbus and trying to usher in a new era of mutual trust and trade. but it wasn't always business. as legend has it, the trip later became known for its drunken debauchery. but not for the president. not for silent cal. >> because prohibition was in effect in the united states, having rough punch or a peina colada or something would be seen as a political problem so when waiters would walk up to coolidge with a platter of

drunks, he managed to always subtly turn around so he never actually had to refuse it but he never had to accept it, either. it was a great case of political pirouetting. >> and like calvin coolidge, president obama has gotten a warm welcome. people were outside the cathedral yesterday cheering for him and they are obviously, gene robinson, you don't have to go very far, you go to a restaurant here that now is not under the communist thumb, people are starting to have their own businesses but you hear from human rights activists that more than 500 people were detained or arrested in the first two weeks of march to you see how fraught this is for president obama the next couple days. >> is it fraught. i spent a lot of time in cuba, i wrote a book about cuba and i think this move by president obama is one of the biggest no brainers in american foreign

policy. if you try a policy whose aim was indeed regime change, try it for 50 years or 55 years and it doesn't work, it really is time to try something else so he's trying something else. the president is meeting with dissidents during his trip. he's expected to meet with some of the most prominent disside dissidents. is he's obviously also meeting with raul castro but not with fidel. this is so important, i think. as you see the reactions of the cuban people i know a lot of people in cuba, including some of the bravest dissidents and almost all of them, not all, but almost all have been arguing for years that it was time to change u.s. policy. that it was actually counterproductive. that it was helping keep the castro regime in power, providing them with their sort of false justification for a lot of the repression that goes on.

and so this move will be celebrated not only by people who you could describe as today di -- toadies of the regime but people who want freedom for the cuban people. >> gene, it's sam. we're discussing this as a by the -- binary relationship, cuba and the u.s., but it will open up a lot of latin america where a lot of governments were upset with how we were treating cuba and used it as a cudgel against us. what do you think this move will have -- what kind of impact will this move have throughout the region? >> it will have impact. it would have frankly, had more impact 20 years ago or 30 years ago when more of latin america was sort of enthralled to the castro mystique. you know, the castros, most

latin americans know fidel castro and raul castro only as old men who were having a very difficult time running their country and so some of that romance i think is gone now. it does for the aging latin american left remove one of the tools they use to help shape latin american policy toward the united states but i don't think it's as big a deal as it could have been one day. >> the region has moved on. the brazilians are focused on a shrinking economy, argentina is excited about its future, so is mexico, so is columbia. castro, that cuba is the past. >> how about the critique, though, the miami mayor in the paper this morning is saying we give a mile and the cubans, the castros didn't give an inch. does this make us look stronger or weaker? >> i just think that's wrong. in fact, what we gave, what we

did with what we should have done years and years ago, it is counterproductive to maintain this policy. we hasten the day when the castro regime is a thing of history, i truly believe we hasten that day by opening up to cuba. and that's evidenced by the fact that over the years and over the decades wherever the united states approached this point and neared this point the castros would always do something to screw it up, do something to race tensions because they don't want this to happen. they're doing it now because they're desperate. >> i'm going to give the last word to my primary night seat mate eugene robinson, thank you. richard haass, thanks to you as well. still ahead on "morning joe," he toured three states in 35 days to get to the bottom of what he calls an angry divided america. the "washington post" david mirandas joins us with his reporting and we'll ask whether it explains the rise of donald trump and bernie sanders. plus, as aipac opens,

israel's ambassador to the u.n. joins us here. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. why do so many businesses rely on the us postal service? because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. that's why we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. here, there, everywhere. united states postal service priority:you [eerie music] i am the ghost of cookies' past...residue. oh...so gross. well, you didn't use pam. so it looks like you're stuwith me! bargain brand cooking spray leaves annoying residue. that's why there's pam.

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>> i have many friends that live in salt lake. i have a lot of friends. no, i have a lot of friends. by the way, mitt romney is not one of them. did he choke? s be bo-- [ boos ] did this guy choke? he's a choke artist. i can't believe. are you sure he's a mormon? are we sure? he choked, he choked. >> that was donald trump taking a jab at the former massachusetts governor's faith. he said he was joking. he was campaigning in romney's new backyard of salt lake city. there are about a hundred republican convention delegates up for grabs tomorrow. winner take allcontests. the primary in arizona that trump is favored in, the caucus in u.s. thought has a proportional split, but it becomes winner take all if any of the candidates are able to get 50%, which ted cruz is trying for. in arizona, a poll taken before last week's contest found trump with a significant 12-point lead, 31% to cruz at 19%. john kasich tied with now absent marco rubio at 10%.

and in utah, a poll taken after rubio left the race puts cruz at 53%, kasich at 29% and donald trump in third at 11%. so joe if trump wins arizona, gets the delegates but cruz gets over 50, that's a split decision that gives trump's -- romney's position that you should support cruz a bit of a boost. >> it certainly does. i wanted to ask you though. yesterday we heard donald trump complaining about the delegates process, the 1237 he needs to get over the top suggesting it may not be fair. is there starting to be more concerned in trump world that they may not reach the 1237? what's behind that, mark? >> they're as unsure as anybody else what the dynamics of this three-way race will be like. you have states coming up after tomorrow like wisconsin, like these northeastern states where trump can't be sure of dominance. his folks are dismissing the

chances of cruz and john kasich certainly to win but not to necessarily stop trump for the majority. that's a real challenge for them. joining us now, former advisor to senator rand paul and a contributor to "time" magazine and an msnbc political analyst elise jordan. elise, welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> in washington, best selling author, associate editor of the "washington post" and wisconsin editor david marius. >> whose name i botched. sorry. >> i'm going to read from your article.

david, you've watched all of this stuff over the course of your career. is this about the moment in the electorate or is it more about the -- just the rise of donald trump as a person? >> well, i think that the electorate can be influenced to its better instincts or its worst instincts by demagogueoral politicians so to that extent it's trump himself but there are deeper structural things going on here which are more important and what robert samuels and i were interested in. this is not a series about the candidates per se although trumpism and the rise of bernie sanders are factors in what we are writing about. but it's about why this moment.

why are people -- why are they going in these directions? what is this splintering about? what does it say about this division in the country about really a definition of what it means to be an american. >> david maraniss, jeff scarborough here. it's very easy for people to focus on donald trump, to focus on bernie sanders. but, you know, they'll be gone six months from now, nine months from now unless one of them becomes elected president and the underlying instincts that are driving voters to go out there and vote for these two candidates, anti-trade, anti-engage me anti-engagement. still going to be with us. a distrust of the banks and traditional media. distrust of every institution in washington, d.c. talk about on a much larger scale what we are all in for over the next 30 years. not just the next six months

with sanders and trump on the political landscape be but what you are seeing, where this is taking us. >> joe, i can't answer 30 years from now, none of us can. you're right that we've concentrated so much on these two candidates but i think there is a splintering in america. things can change in four years. i'm so hesitant to say 30 years from now. i do say these very divergent streams that seem to be going further and further apart. i'll give you an example of one little thing. in michigan i went up to mccomb county where it was the home of the reagan democrats and now the trump democrats and personal after person i talked to there sort of defined why they were for trump, because they want to focus on america again. you know, sort of that isolationist but also inward-looking. and yet when you look at some of the most active liberals in the country, that's what they're trying to do is focus on america. i talked to fatima salman, a

muslim american in detroit who is just working on the neighborhoods there and she's trying to focus on america, too. so you have these two different groups talking about in the largest sense the same thing and yet they're so, so far apart. >> david first of all on the series i've got to say that it points to what great newspapers do, have always done and continue to do it great newspapers will always exist. the point you just referenced, let's go to donald trump's principae -- principle slogan "let's make america great again." if you read these slogans and walk around any city in the country or any state or any primary state and talk to people you get a real sense that most people think america is great today. there's a piece of it they want to retain or come back and strengthen.

but did you find that in this entire series? >> well, in many ways we did. there is this divide. think about it, grow to any city in this country, just about even detroit which i knfocussed on a lot over the last year and you find a revival, an optimism of people looking at america. flint is the worst example of what's gone wrong but detroit which went through many of the same problems is reviving so you find that sense of hope. our series looks at so much more than that in so many different ways. >> and elise you touch on this, too. i've been aware of this. we have these conversations at 7:30 in the morning, talking about the racial undertones to trump's candidacy but if you talk to trump voters, that's not what draws them to him. they like him despite those issues. what are you -- what point are

you -- what larger point are you getting at in your piece? >> i have a piece today in "time" where i'm talking about how i think that focusing on the racial undertones of what trump is saying, we're ignoring the policy behind or rather non-existent policy but the policy that trump has, that he's pushing forth that differs so dramatically with the republican establishment. anti-free trade. he's saying, you know, he doesn't want to be involved everywhere in the world. he wants to cut back the u.s. military presence around the world. he is saying that the system benefits the wealthy, wall street, et cetera. and that's what's resonating with republican primary voters and just the fact, the main fact that they think the system is rigged in washington. they vote politicians into power and go along with the democrats on a 1.8 omnibus obama spending bill. so what do republicans stand for? that's something trump is forcing the party to define. and to put policy forward instead of just demonizing

opposition. >> thank you so much, elise, stay with us. david maraniss, thank you so much. like mike barnicle said, an extraordinary series. this is what great newspapers do. we thank you for coming on the show and talking to us about it. much more straight ahead on "morning joe." woman: it's been a journey to get where i am. and i didn't get here alone. there were people who listened along the way. people who gave me options. kept me on track.

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i'm a negotiator, like you folks. some of us.

is there anybody that doesn't renegotiate deals in this room? this room negotiates deals. i want to renegotiate -- this room -- [ laughter ] perhaps more than any room i've ever spoken to. you're not going to support me even you know i'm the best thing that could ever happen to israel and i'll be that. i know why you're not going to support me. you're not going to support me because i don't want your money. >> well, that was donald trump back in december with some shall we say interesting comments to the republican jewish coalition. will he actually have a script and stick to it today when he speaks to aipac? we are getting reports that, in fact, he will and this will be unlike any address that he's delivered so far in the campaign. but we'll be bringing in israel's ambassador the united nations next on "morning joe" and get his take when we return. today's the day! oh look! creepy gloves for my feet. see when i was a kid there was a handle. and a face. this is nice. and does it come in a california king?

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>> whose fault? the israelis or the palestinians? >> i don't want to get into it far different reason, joe. if i do win, there has to be a certain amount of surprise, unpredictability. our country has no unpredictability. if i win, i don't want to be in a position where i'm saying to you and the other side -- let me be a neutral guy. let's see what -- i'm going to give it a shot. i would be so proud if i could do that. i don't know if it's doable. i have friends of mine that are tremendous business people that are great negotiators, they say it's not doable. you understand a lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal so i don't want to say whose fault it is. i don't think it helps. >> that was donald trump speaking with mika and me during our town hall meeting in south carolina last month and i have to say, at the time he said that i was shocked because you don't running for office and mika and i mentioned it right after that we thought that was pretty big news and it is news that he

repeated and that followed him around and that he's going to have to explain now when he goes before aipac. with us in washington to talk about that, israel's permanent representative for the united nations, ambassador danny dahl -- danon. mark halperin has a question. >> mr. ambassador, is neutrality acceptable? >> good morning, we are happy to see the issue of israel is so important to all of the candidates and we see bipartisan support, most of them will come to speak to attack today in the morning, in the afternoon and then last night we saw the support from vice president biden who is a real friend of israel. we expect to hear all of them talking about the peace negotiate but we have known in the last few years that the unfortunately we don't see any

viable partner. so it doesn't matter who will be the candidate or who will be the president, we need a partner in the middle east. we have a partner in washington, a strong ally so that's why we care more about what will happen with the palestinians in the future rather than who will be in the white house. >> i'm sorry -- >> mr. ambassador -- yeah, go ahead. >> but i'll is you to focus on my professed neutrality a wide position for an american president to have? >> we learn from history we need a partner to direct negotiations. it can be a partner who will support us or not support us but the palestinians are not willing to sit down and negotiate with us so for that we don't want to give grades to any candidate, we do not intervene in the political system in the u.s. but basically i think any president will find out it doesn't matter what he want achieve, you need to get the palestinians back in

the negotiation room and it won't happen in the near future. >> i'll ask you one more time if you'll answer. is it an acceptable position to be neutral or does israel reject that? you don't have to answer if you don't want to? >> well, i think i said it twice and i can say it again and again that we won't get involved in the political system but we don't have expectations and it doesn't matter what will be the policy of the next president because the palestinians are not willing to negotiate no matter who will be in the white house. >> mr. ambassador, let's taken a off ramp on mark's question and try this route. do you think it would be pre preferable to have an independent arbitor sit and discuss the issues of the settlements that seems to be a huge obstacle to any peace process getting started in israel -- with the israelis and the palestinians? do you think an independent arbitor would have a better chance of getting something done? >> i sit at the u.n. and almost

every week there's a new initiative regarding the peace talks with israel, an initiative from new zealand, an initiative from france, some would say they are neutral but the fact it's not helping anyone, the only way to promote negotiations is by getting into the room and speaking with the palestinians. by the way, we did in the the past with egypt and with jordan and yes the american administration were very helpful. but the progress came from direct negotiations. >> mr. ambassador, let me take a wider sweep of history here. i know the israeli people are paying very close attention to this election, my husband was there last week and people stop him on the street and asked him about mr. trump. can you talk about the stakes for your public in the outcome of the american election next november? >> first of all, i came for israeli politics. i thought we had a complex system but following what's happening here with the new era here in the u.s. -- >> well said. >> i have to admit we admire it.

we are a strong democracy. we should appreciate that. maybe we don't like everything, but when we look at what's happening in the u.n. msnbc will have complete live coverage as chris jansing said of all the candidates' speeches to apec starting with hillary clinton at 9:35 eastern this morning. still to come, it's being called "the middle finger vote." the good old boy system. wow, i think i like that. that's how one person explained what's going on this year. we'll dig into elise's new piece for "time" magazine. more "morning joe" in a second. we can help guide your retirement savings.

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>> you have a disarming self-deprecating sense of humor. where does that come from? >> i think both my parents. dad is a funny man. the public image doesn't convey that. of course mother is one of the great quipsters of all time. >> but there's an honesty to it. now you have to be politicalally correct. >> she did so in the '84 presidential race where she

rhymed geraldine ferraro with rich then apologized immediately. i sent an interesting signal when i said we'd get bin laden dead or alive, it just came right out. somebody said you represent the country, don't you think your language ought to be better? i said, yeah, you're right, it should be better but the military understood me. >> that was an exclusive look at president george w. bush's interview with the golf channel's david "fair way" feherty. the former president weighs in tonight on political correctness, the ugliness of campaigning and what he's learned from the golf course. the all new feherty airs tonight at 9:00 eastern on the golf channel, a fascinating interview, make sure you catch it. but right now let's bring in nbc's sports soccer analyst and co-host of "men in blazers" which airs at 11:00 p.m. on nbc sports network roger bennett. roj, yesterday morning i was already just counting the money for the fenway sports group, counting the pounds that were

going to pour in as liverpool was making its poor to the top four, playing in europe and then, poof, it disappears. it just absolutely -- absolutely folded like -- >> i'd like to say i feel your pain, joe. i know that's why it was hard to get out of bed this morning. the liverpool game a crushing loss for boston's finest but the big game taking place in manchester, the 171st manchester derby. abu dhabi, petro dollar fuelled, manchester city taking on cross town rival s manchester owned b the tampa bay glazer family and by owned i mean run aground. overpaid players having terrible seasons. there was an 18-year-old child who scored the winner, marcus rashford: you know how life is. one minute you've got your bar mitzvah, the next you're scoring a winner.

in america you call that failure, in england we say, that was agonizingly close. manchester city's season reminiscent now of jeb bush's political campaign. all that money squandered and for what? hashtag "please clap." the big story, though, leicester city. this time last year bottom of the league, known only for the birthplace of humperdink -- whatever his name is. just spirit, collective ability and they are top of the league with seven games to go. truly is like watching the red sea part. like watching water turn into wine watching this team. it's a biblical miracle. >> it really is, roger. you've shocked me with the information you bring every week to our show. are you actually telling me that

engelburt humperdink? >> that's big news we're breaking on "morning joe" this morning. do you have the winning goal in the newcastle game, joe? it's a thing of beauty. america loves it. these two teams hate each other, newcastle sunderland, two bald men fighting over a comb. i've had that fight before. he runs around like hulk hogan after winning a legal suit. a fan runs on to the field. if you have that, let's see it. it's gorgeous. it turns into a fight between him and the fan. you may not have it. you've seen it before, america, it looks like a trump rally. joe, here he goes. watch this, a fan runs on to the field -- you edit it out. we love you. we're making english football great again, joe. >> all right, well, so roger, really is though leicester city, it's shocking, because you really do have an epl, the top

four, it's always a team that's gotten just billions of dollars behind it. but this year tiny leicester city looks like they may just pull this out. >> it's an unbelievable story. to win march madness you win six games, you get a hot streak. this team has to run a marathon of 38 games. it's like "the karate kid," it's like "rudy" but it's real. >> "karate kid" wasn't neal have. >> thank you so much, roger bennett. stick around, coming up, we'll review all the polls in the western primaries coming up this week and donald trump for the first time expresses concern on whether he'll get enough delegates to lock down the gop convention this summer. we'll ask mark halperin why when "morning joe" returns. audi pilotless vehicles have conquered highways, mountains, and racetracks. and now much of that same advanced technology is found in the new audi a4.

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good morning, it's monday, march 21. 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. with us on set we have managing editor of bloomberg politics, mark halperin, former advisor to george w. bush, nicolle wallace. veteran columnist in, legendary columnist in msnbc contributor mike barnicle, we also have senior political editor and white house correspondent for the huffington post sam stein and msnbc political only u.s. and professor at the university of michigan school of public policy, former democratic congressman harold ford, jr. and in havana we've got nbc news senior white house correspondent chris jansing. she gets us started with our top story this morning. chris? about 100 republican

convention delegates up for grabs tomorrow with a winner take all priel mamary in arizon a proportional split in utah but becomes winner take all if they get more than 50%. trump has a significant lead in arizona, 31% to ted cruz at 19%. governor john kasich tied with marco rubio at 10%. in utah, a post-rubio poll puts cruz at 53%, kasich in second at 29%, trump down at 11%. 2012 republican nominee mitt romney posted on facebook friday, "in the utah nominating caucusly vote for senator ted cruz. at this stage the only we can reach an opening convention is for senator cruz to be as successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections as possible. a vote for john kasich makes it extremely likely that trumpism would prevail." so donald trump battled back

with a jab at the former massachusetts governor's face while campaigning in romney's new backyard of salt lake city. >> i have many friends that live in salt lake. i have a lot of friends. no, i have a lot of friends. by the way, mitt romney is not one of them. did he choke? [ boos ] did this guy choke? he's a choke artist. i can't believe. are you sure he's a mormon? are we sure? he choked. he choked. >> yeah, wow. okay, so mark halperin and nicolle, he has a lot of friends in salt lake. you knew he did. i mean, you knew coming around here that when this -- when we got past all the early states that salt lake city was his kind of city. so, you know, very interesting this battle between romney and the establishment and trump seems to be getting hotter by the day. this weekend you really couldn't go on twitter and look at the influencers on the right and the

left where you didn't see every second or third tweet was just a vicious attack at trump and then countercharges from trump. it seems to be getting uglier out there instead of both sides making peace, right? >> i think so. and i think the big question now is how does this end in any sort of peaceful coalescing around anybody at our convention? it's very difficult to put all this back together when it goes on this long and as you said is becoming a hotter war, not a less bombastic one. >> look, it's a big day today with trump in washington meeting with some congressional officials, republicans. and having some other private meetings and speaking to aipac. but it's a big two weeks. we have contests tomorrow in arizona and utah but two weeks from tomorrow is wisconsin and i think if kasich and cruz can't figure out a way to stop trump in wisconsin he may be able to be on the path to a majority and to uniting some of the party,

but he'll never unite all of it. >> but mike barnicle, it seems that the anti-trump crowd is getting angrier by the moment. it's like time is not healing any wounds. in fact, it's stirring things up even more and they've been getting so dug in at this point that i don't see how they put this party back together again over the next several months. i just don't. >> joe, they seem to be heading down a path to a total destruction. you have a cabal meeting secretly. we keep getting reports, this weekend, tomorrow night, 50, 100 members of the establishment. they could not beat donald trump, they missed donald trump for months and months and months when he was right in front of everyone's face, everyone was hearing his voice other than the small secret cabal of republicans, now they're going to try and steal it from him because they couldn't beat him. this is really ludicrous. >> chris jansing?

>> i want to pick up on what he was saying and what mark halperin was saying, that donald trump's unconventional campaign now making some -- i guess you'd call them conventional moves today. trump is heading to capitol hill to meet with those two dozen influential republicans at a nearby law firm according to the "washington post." the guest list is mostly unknown, though politico reports senator tom cotton of arkansas will be there along with senator jeff sessions of alabama who endorsed trump last month. robert costa reports that anti-trump super pacs will be staking out that meeting for footage of republicans who attend as republicans take part in that hundred-day dash to halt trump's march to the nomination and as planning begins on an alternative ticket should they fail. "weekly standard" editor bill kristol is circulating a memo suggesting potential third-party candidates, including former u.s. senator tom coburn and ex-presidential candidate rick perry. coburn, according to the "new york times," has privately considered a bid but says he

doesn't expect to be the candidate. meanwhile, perry's former campaign manager says the governor wants the gop to unite around senator ted cruz, whom he has endorsed. joe? >> all right. so, sam stein, they're actually talking about bringing trackers to follow people that would have the audacity to support donald trump. i suspect just looking from 30,000 feet, this is the point in which you can declare that your party is in an all out civil war? >> this one surprised me. we're talking about a republican-operated anti-trump super pac going after fellow republicans for meeting with the republican front-runner. you just to step back and this to yourself the party's kind of coming apart here at the seams. and, you know, this -- it's interesting to see it because the more establishment republicans do actually go to donald trump -- such as chris

christie, senator jeff sessions -- the harder it then becomes for them to take it away from him at the convention because trump will have more mainstream people complaining on his behalf saying no, no, he got the most votes, the most delegates, maybe he didn't reach the critical threshold but he deserves this. that's the big thing, as you get more establishment republicans, it becomes more and more his nomination. >> i think negotiation that, what happens if he arrives at this convention with somewhere between 1125 or 1225 delegates, 112 to 75 shy, to his point. how do you stop him? i understand the rules state you go to a second and third vote but from a practical standpoint if you're watching this and see the momentum he's developed -- the things that happened over the weekend were deeply troubling. that people should show up at his events, that he would condone his campaign manager, we watched it on television, his campaign manager escalated the situation, but that's -- let's pause that for a moment.

i don't know how you stop him once he gets to the convention. does he lead? they talk about a third party mainstream candidate, there could be a third party trump candidate. i'm curious from mark's stand point, the reporting here, what do you get from that? do you hear that he could launch a third party candidate? >> it will be too late for him at that point to get on the ballot as anything but a write-in. but the republican party has sa >> what are they? >> i'm saying does trump -- >> it's too late at that point. >> i hear you, but does anyone in trump's camp get so angry this is happening -- >> well, there are only like thing. >> you tried to separate the violence -- >> i'm not. i'm not. >> that's at the core with the discomfort with trump. >> as an american it was deeply troubling. it concerns me he would not -- he condoned his campaign manager andanyone

can run and if someone gets the nomination he can run against him. he condoned his campaign manager, condoned -- >> i'm just saying you look at paul ryan having to sort of go out about every ten days and condemn these types of actions. at the core of the republican establishment's opposition to trump, it is precisely -- >> has the campaign manager ever served duly as a crowd bouncer before? i feel like we're in uncharted territory here. i'm curious with being mark. you've been out there daily with specifically the trump campaign. how close do you think the republican party is to just saying we surrender, we're going to go up together out of the trenches and run to our deaths with donald trump in the lead. how close are they as opposed to this -- >> it is hanging in the balance. you could see a largely unified party -- largely, not wholly

unified party at the convention in cleveland. you could see, joe, an absolutely divided republican party in cleveland. i think to some extent it depends on how many more contests trump wins and also stylistically how much he reaches out. how many more chris christies can he find in the republican party. >> right. well, that depends on two things. the first thing has to do with the violence. the violence has to be tamped down. there are protesters all over the place. he's always being interrupted. you know what? maybe he cannot respond. that's not his brand but the more incidents like this ha happen the more uncomfortable the republican establishment is for very good reason. the second thing has to do with the fact that -- we're hearing it more and more. we saw it in david brooks' column yesterday. just the unfreepd natuprepared everything. the lack of depth on policy experts. the lack of experts surrounding. the inability to get out and dig a little bit deeper than just

surface sound bites. that's one thing that a lot of people are looking for today in an extraordinarily important speech at apac. will donald trump rise to the occasion. will he actually sound presidential for the first time of this campaign? some of it is -- some people close to him are letting a lot of reporters know this morning that they are going to see a new donald trump. this is where he makes a turn to the more presidential approach that he's been promising for a very long time. >> yeah, we've heard it before. this is in fact an incredibly important day with nearly all the remaining presidential candidates who are going to be speaking to the american israel public affairs committee commonly known as apac. hillary clinton, john kasich, ted cruz and donald trump all in washington today addressing an expected crowd of about 18,000 people. self-groups are expected to protest trump's remarks this evening with a group of rabbis planning o walkout after he is

introduced, while others advocate a less disruptive boycott. politico is reporting that trump has k has" taken input from a number of very significant jewish influencers" who have re-affirm to him the sporns of this particular speech. last month trump said he'd like to broker a deal between the israelis and palestinians and got a lot of criticism for saying he'd be neutral in it all which is something he says his speech is going to address. >> i think making a deal would be in the u.s. interest. i don't know one jewish person that doesn't want to have a deal. a good deal, a proper deal, but a really good deal. >> define a good deal. >> well, i'll define that tomorrow because i'm going to be defining it tomorrow. i'm not going to define it now but i'm going to define it tomorrow. everybody would like to see a real deal be made, not a deal that's going to be broken. a real deal that's going to be made, something that's going to be lasting. >> you know, mark, the question really is whether he can

discipline himself. that's again what the republican establishment, a lot of people in the media have been wanting for some time. can donald trump discipline himself to deliver an in-depth policy speech? if he tries to deliver an in-depth policy speech will he make the same mistakes that ben carson made talking about hummus as a dangerous, dangerous food group will he actually be able to stand up and deliver. i think a lot of our questions about whether the republican establishment is going to get serious about trump or not depends on whether donald trump is going to get serious about being a presidential candidate. and start acting like one and start talking about policy in the way that a lot of americans expect from their president. >> look, if you were scripting this in a fictional way, today's event would be writing your script. because this is, of all the things presidential candidates are asked to do, speaking to apac is among the most difficult

and substantive. it is conapplicanted. have you a navigate a ton difficult constituencies, it requires some nuance. do you think trump is going to go in and give presidential demeanor or is he going to wing it? >> are we going to see a different donald trump, are we going to see a donald trump reading to prepared text and sticking to prepared legitimate points, one perhaps the most controversial aspect involving the world peace, potential world peace. bebe netanyahu continues to preside over a system where they increase housing allotments on the west -- yeah. and palestinians have never come to the table really in the sensible way. he's got to do that. >> i think he will do that. it is just ten minutes later does he get on twitter and call his first critic a jerk. i think he is capable of that. i think he can stand at a podium. he's lowered the bar to a ridiculous level. he's running for president of the united states and we're

asking can you read a teleprompter? >> trump's probably the one candidate who's totally gone away from republican orthodoxy. on 9/11. the iraq war. so on, so forth. every time he's done it we all say that's going to hurt him in the polls, republicans don't like it. i'm curious to see if he actually sticks with this notion of neutrality which is completely against what the republican party wants to see. still ahead on "morning joe," the crowds are big, the fund-raising hall is even bigger for bernie sanders. but how does he get from giant turnouts at event to giant turnouts at the polls? plus, special delivery. a cuban woman gets a personal letter from president obama in the first shipment of mail sent there in decades. chris jansing has that report. but first, here's bill karins with a check on a worm dumping snow on the east coast in the first days of spring. how happy is that? bill? >> this is it, joe. i hope this is it, i should say.

it is exiting quickly now. just watching heavy snow north of providence and a little bit on the rail on the 495 loop around boston. three to four inches on the ground from providence to boston. and we may add another one to two. oun east may add a little more than that. the big story is the cold. not just in the east and the snow. it was a cold weekend and freeze warnings are still up in tulsa, nashville, tupelo, even shreveport, louisiana. 37 in dallas. very cold for this time of year. 29 in oklahoma city. only spot colder, kansas city at 26. that's not even taking into account any windchills. this is the actual temperatures. down to 33 in birmingham. the thing about march, once the sun gets up we start to warm things up. high sun angle. 68 in atlanta and dallas. snow exits by noon in boston. it is raining in many areas of theest. northern california, up i-95 to portland, seattle, eugene

included. this storm moves into the rockies tomorrow. out ahead of it, a lot of warm air. the warm air, the storm system, we will deal with severe weather starting wednesday. on the north side, looking for another snowstorm. iowa look out. wis a wisconsin and michigan we will have severe weather in the middle of the country. d.c., new york, philadelphia, a non-event for those areas. we'll wait for our warm-up in the middle of the week. new york city, quarter to half-inch in central park. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back.

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i am a first responder tor and i'emergencies 24 hours a day, everyday of the year. my children and my family are on my mind when i'm working all the time. my neighbors are here, my friends and family live here, so it's important for me to respond as quickly as possible and get the power back on. it's an amazing feeling turning those lights back on. be informed about outages in your area. sign up for outage alerts at pge.com/outagealerts. together, we're building a better california. good morning. chris jansing, a very, very busy weekend for bernie sanders. tell us about it. >> it was indeed. he was out west.

several states in that region, as you know, joe, hold votes tomorrow and this coming weekend. ahead of tomorrow's arizona primary, sanders visited the u.s./mexico border in that state before holding a rally in phoenix attended by more than 3,000 people. he then traveled to washington state which caucuses on saturday and turned out more than 7,000 people. to an event yesterday in the city of vancouver. after that he held a massive rally in seattle where he addressed a crowd of more than 10,000. those crowds just keep coming. his day ended in spokane where he spoke in front of another huge audience, this one between 7,000 and 9,000 people it is estimated. meanwhile, here's what he had to say about his opponent earlier in the day. >> we need real change in this country, and between you and me, i do not believe that real change is going to come from a candidate like secretary clinton who receives millions of dollars

from wall street, who receives -- who has a super pac that receives $15 million from wall street, money from the fossil fuel industry, money from the drug companies. >> mark halperin, 10,000-person crowds packed in wherever he goes. how does this not translate to votes? >> well, the calendar coming up is pretty good for him. there are a lot of caucus states, a lot of primaries where he can do well. people like to think about both these races as many over. front page stories are about trump versus clinton lookinged to general election but she is going to have to figure out how to deal with bernie sanders in the coming days because of the money, because of the rhetoric. he is not done fighting. he's going to go all the way to california. >> harold ford, he just keeps

raisinging money. $43 million. he's got extraordinary crowds. he's got excitement behind him. only thing that hillary clinton does is win. >> i'd like the latter more than the former. to mark's point and your point, she just needs to keep winning. bernie sanders -- i'm a clinton supporter. i would love if he would get out, but the fact he stays in, he has every right to. i hope he continues to excite and get voters focused on the real differences that real choice voters will have in the fall between donald trump and whoever the republicans nominate, and hillary clinton. she needs to sharpen her economic message and talk more specifically about how you will empower the middle class going forward. if she stays on that task, she will be able to excite bernie sanders voters. >> because the democratic system is proportional, meaning even if you do well and win a state, you

only get a certain number of more delegates. he can't just win these states, he has to blow her out of these states. while he is raising a lot of money, he's spend a lot more. >> what's he spending all that money on? staff, tv, all the things that come with a major campaign apparatus. the question is can he use his more limited resources with the grassroots fund-raising that he has to win a state like california. the second question is at what point does he actually tamp the attacks on hillary clinton. that stuff we saw there was probably more personal than anything he's done in the campaign. a lot of party people are not happy with it. >> big showdown between the parties in wisconsin two weeks from tomorrow. >> big showdown. we thought we had some big showdowns this past week and hlhl hillary swept them all. bernie sanders has to rack up some big wins very soon or people will be asking why does

he stay in the race to divide the democratic party. he has to start putting points up on the board or his campaign just doesn't make any sense. coming up on "morning joe," any given tuesday, another week, another make or break for republicans who are dead-set on stopping donald trump. we've got hallie jackson joining us live from the campaign trail coming up next. that's weird. you want to work for ge too. hahaha, what? well we're always looking for developers who are up for big world changing challenges like making planes, trains and hospitals run better. why don't you check your new watch and tell me what time i should be there. oh, i don't hire people. i'm a developer. i'm gonna need monday off. again, not my call.

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but why aren't they showing the klan outfit walking up the stairs? why aren't they showing that? you had this -- this was a real supporter. this was a program man and family that were there to listen to me speak. they couldn't hear me speak because of the commotion that was being made by a very few people. you talk about first amendment rights and freedom of speech, you couldn't hear. and now they're walking these two people out. the klan outfit is still on the one person, and this man became incensed that somebody would wear a ku klux klan outfit and did some swinging. again, i say it to everybody, especially the media, we don't condone violence. why didn't they show that? all it showed was this -- because i hear he is a very, very fine guy. this wonderful african-american man swinging, swinging, swinging and nobody knows why he did it.

and i think it's very, very unfair. >> welcome back to "morning joe." that was donald trump defiant over a weekend that saw a series of scuffles at his campaign events. i'm nicolle wallace, along with sam stein, mike barnicle is here, and contributor to "time" magazine and msnbc, all back at the table, along with chris jansing in havana. we're also going to bring in nbc news correspondent hallie jackson, the intrepid hallie jackson on the road with ted cruz, who is preparing for tomorrow's arizona's and utah primaries. how is that looking from their perspective, hallie? >> let's break it down state by state. utah is place where we saw ted cruz spending time this weekend. the campaign expects to do well in utah. the question is will they do well enough to get over that 50% threshold so cruz can take all delegates. that's real goal for ted cruz. with john kasich campaigning there, that could take some of those delegates away but the

campaign is acknowledging how much is at stake in utah. someone in the campaign said if they lose there, everybody's going to jump off the train. arizona, a little less so. there is so much early voting that happens in arizona so a lot of the voting has been decided on the republican side. 50 delegates, winner takes all there. current polling shows trump prepared to take that state. but there is a sign that cruz is at least making the case he's playing in arizona a little bit. here's what he had to say about that state. >> we've had a number of weeks of early voting. right now in the early voting, donald trump is ahead in arizona. but let me tell ayou where we ae as well. right on election day, we're in. so the entire question of what happens in arizona determines on

turnout. >> that seems like some talk from ted cruz about the importance of arizona. but i'll tell you guys, it is really utah the campaign is focusing on. romney's support will be a boost likely in that state even if it is not a boost nationally. we've been questioning how much romney's influence is nationally. the other place where the campaign will play hard is wisconsin in a couple of weeks. that's a huge state for them, really important. it is where you are seeing the establishment and some of these folks who are part of that anti-trump movement looking to really make a battleground and cruz is right in the mix of that, too. >> hallie, i want to ask you how comfortable ted cruz is with what looks to be a little bit of an establishment swarm around him. >> it's interesting. right? because he's made his whole campaign around hitting the washington cartel. >> they hit him right back. >> right. it's interesting. i found this very interesting. a campaign aide, senior advisor,

telling me that cruz is not really working the phones the way that you might think another senator or congressional member would because who would he call? they don't like him. it is difficult for him. they didn't even know that nikki laically wy lically lically -- going to come out in support ted cruz. we were down by the mexican border in arizona, i said to ted cruz, you hate washington, you talk about hating washington and now you need their support to be able to get the nomination. he said, well, we welcome everybody, basically. he made a point to say that he still fights for what he believes in and has come to washington to what that he says he will do. but it is sort of a way that cruz has to thread the needle here because as much as his supporters love that he goes to washington and kind of rails against his colleagues, at this point given where trump is, he also needs those colleagues to be able to succeed in what he wants to do which is get the nomination. >> one of the other things we love about him is his har lid l

on cuba. >> it's very chic, it's she v-s for leftists to celebrate vicious communist dictators. my father fought in the cuban revolution. my father was imprisoned and tortured as a teenager. my aunt, my thea sonya, was imprisoned and tortured by castro's goons. now when president obama is in cuba, you know who he a he not going to meet? he's not going to meet the dissidents being tortured right now by raul and fidel castro. who are being silenced for daring to stand up. he's not going to meet the ladies in white. so when president obama is there are hollywood celebrities and rock musicians drinking m ining, the political prisoners languishing are left behind by this president. >> hallie jackson, that gets to

the heart of what the critics have said why he doesn't come here, he's essentially giving credence to a totalitarian regime and he speaks about it very personally as many cuban-americans do. i am curious about how you have seen this playing out on the campaign trail, the kind of reaction it gets, how much time he spends talking about it. how is this resonating? is this going to be something that people are talking about as this campaign goes on? >> i think he'll be talking about it over next couple of days. frankly, it is not something that ted cruz brings up often on the campaign trail. it is not a standard part of his trump speech. you're right in that it is personal to him. you hear him talk about his father, his aunt that came over from cuba. you'll hear it over these next couple of days particularly with the president in havana and with so much attention focused on cuba. cruz just came out with an op-ed in politico in which he puts this all in writing. he talks about in his words legitimatizing the corrupt dictatorship, the corrupt regime in cuba. so he's taking this moment and

this opportunity to push his policies and his positions on cuba. we'll see how long it lasts, chris. it's not something you hear from supporters on the campaign trail. it's not something that's top of mind at least for them right now. >> this is the first time i've seen hallie without a bus or a stage behind her. you write today in "time" magazine about the state of the republican party. trump republicans are learning all the wrong lessons by foc focusing on the inpaflaner to showman instead of the failings of our platform and our party. to dismiss trump's ascendancy by caricaturing him as his followers as racist simple tons ignores the real lesson of the 2016 grassroots voters that lost faith in elected officials and a government that isn't living up to the promises they've made.

trump is the culmination of a massive systemic problem of a party that asked what donors wanted, not its voters. that has been an amazing phenomenon for the past several months. the piece in "washington post" alludes to a similar thing that too many people look at trump's crowds, the crowds that he gathers, and say, oh, well, they're all this or they're all that. but, no, they're all different. they're there for the reason you cited. >> i think that that disconnect between what the perception has been focusing on the racism, focusing on the drama behind trump's rise has confused us a bit and we haven't focused on what the actual substance is that he is pushing. that's, you know, the anti-trade, the what he's saying about entitlement reform. his main overarching message, too, is just that, listen, these elected leaders have failed. we need to take washington back.

so you have people who feel disenfranchised from washington and they feel like they vote these politicians into office and they don't live up to the promises. >> his language fits the mood. >> exactly. >> are these people who are backing trump, are they republicans that are big on defense? are they political in the sense that we are around this table? or do they have a different relationship with politics? >> a lot of trump voters that i've spoken to, it is not even that they're such die-hard republican, that they're going to always vote with the party or necessarily consider themselves voting across party lines. it's just they're really responding to trump and they feel like he brings something different. he's an outsider and he's coming in to take on the system. so he might come with a ton of baggage and they might not necessarily like how he talks about women, language he uses at rallies. but the overarching message they do support -- >> i find it funny though. because i do agree, a lot of this resentment is because

politicians came in and said we're going to do x, y and z, and they didn't do x, y or z. but donald trump is promising them totally unrealist policies that will never happen. period. not going to be a wall on the mexican border paid for by mexico. just not going to happen. if they're disappointed in this politicians now, the level of disappoint they have with president trump is going to be much larger than anything we've had to live with. >> hallie jackson, thank you so much for being with us. you do look great whether you're in front of a bus or at the border or on a set. thank you for being with us. still ahead, the bidding war to form the world's largest hotel company and the merger involving marriott. business before the bell is coming up. the top leaders on the senate clash over what to do with the president's supreme court nominee. stay with us.

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over the weekend, snart majority leader mitch mcconnell tried to shut down the idea that merrick garland, president obama's supreme court pick, would be confirmed during a lame duck session. at the same time minority leader harry reid expressed that the republican blockade of the nomination holds up. >> the senate is not doing nothing during this election season but we're not giving a lifetime appointment to this president all the way out the door to change the supreme court for the next 25 or 30 years. it is not the person, it is the principle. who ought to make the next lifetime appointment? it is not this one. >> i don't know why mcconnell's done this to these senators. 's marching these men and women over a cliff. he said we're not going to meet with him, not going to hold hearings, not going to have a vote. but that facade is breaking as we speak. we now have eight or nine senators, oh, yeah, i guess we will meet with him. >> sam stein, he is right about

that. we saw pretty quickly some of the craft in this but where is this going? >> let me just say this. this is a story with monumental importance and stakes involved. it is also the lamest, most frustrating story to come to journalists. >> because reid's concern for republican senators is so laughable? >> literally all we're doing is pointing out everyone's past statements. mcconnell's taken out a position that's a little bit untenable here saying you wi'll never mee with the guy wasn't the little bit savvyist. maybe hold perfunctory hearings, then vote it down. >> time for business before the bell with cnbc's sara eisen.

what are you looking at today? >> good morning. i've got a deal to report. marriott it looks like it set to win the bidding war to buy starwood hotels. this is a $13.6 billion deal and it tops a deal to buy starwood by a chinese company last week. the chinese company owns the waldorf-astoria and some other u.s. hotels. marrio marriott-starwood combination would be the largest hotel company in the world. more than 5,500 hotels also would bring the owner of sheraton, w, st. regis under the same umbrella. it still has to be approved by shareholders. big question is what it means for the loyalty rewards points, those diehard stg starwood holders. which get more bang for the buck than marriott rewards.

marriott's ceo is with president obama in cuba today. a number of ceos went to try to establish better business and economic ties in cuba. this comes after it was announced this week a starwood, the company that was just bought, actually became the first u.s. hotel company to offer a cuban hotel in decades. it is going to take over about three of them and we expect many more deals to follow even though the trade embargo has not passed congress yet and they're still some skepticism on the part of the cuban administration towards capitalist, profit, enterprises like the u.s., two big swing factors in this whole economic relationship. >> thank you. i will be waiting for that news about my starwood points. now back to regular programming. up next, wait a minute, mr. president. a special delivery to havana from the white house. we'll tell you what was among the first batch of mail from the u.s. to cuba in over 50 years.

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it is wonderful to be here. back in 1928, president coolidge came on a battleship. it took him three days to get here. it only took me three hours. >> president obama arriving in cuba the first time in 88 years a sitting u.s. president has set foot on cuban soil. piece by piece we are seeing the

u.s. is normalizing relations with cuba 15 months after the president first announced his plans. the arrival of the u.s. president is something a lot of people on this island, frankly, never thought they'd live to see. one woman in particular now finds herself, in a way, in the middle of making history. in the well used kitchen of her havana home, she honors cuban tradition. >> sugar or no sugar? >> reporter: -- by making a strong rich cup of coffee for visitors. a practice she has in case her dream guests ever come. how many letters have you written to him? >> five. >> reporter: starting in 2008 when barack obama was first running for president, she sat down at her computer to write. >> i just want to ask you to please lift the embargo. >> reporter: then on election night, 2008, a real rarity in cuba. iliana was able to watch the results on television and report

back to her family. i heard you opened a very expensive bottle of many shah pain. is it true? >> it is. >> reporter: and she wrote more letters. >> mr. president, i heard last night -- >> reporter: in her last one, a thank you for opening the diplomatic door to cuba and an invitation to open her own. please, please, come visit mere. give this 76-year-old lady the pleasure of meeting you personally. >> reporter: like the other letters, she never expected president obama to read it. but he did. >> oh, my god, i can't believe it. >> reporter: a response came, hand delivered and as the official white house photo shows it was signed by the president himself. he wrote, "i hope this note which will reach you by way of the first direct mail flight from the u.s. to cuba in over 50 years serves as a bright new chapter in the relationship between our two nations." no mention of ileana's other request. and if he does come, he'll find her coffee is a lot like she is,

delightful and sweet and good. >> reporter: oh, wow. oh, wow. that's good coffee. >> that's good coffee. >> reporter: by the way with be she says he should bring his family. >> my heart is always very uplifting. >> reporter: we haven't seen any secret service activity around her house so we don't know if she's going to get that visit but for her and a lot of people here it is about economic opportunity. we are seeing direct flights are going to start from the united states to havana. hotels are going to be opening up. airbnb is going to open up as many properties here to americans. still, very difficult to use credit cards so people who are coming need to bring a wad of cash. on the other hand, the president's going to be dealing with the reality later today when he's meeting with raul castro who still tries to keep a very tight control over this country and with dissidents, more than 500 of them, protesters arrested in just the first couple of weeks this

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>> oh, my. now to talk about what we've learned -- endured, i mean, today. what did we learn, mike? >> well, i just learned that it's criminal to take one of the great songs of all time. i also learned how deeply angry i still am about not being in havana -- >> this sounds like a personal problem, mike. >> i learned that we still have absolutely no idea what donald is going to come out with at apac today. and it should be very interesting. >> exactly. >> i learned that ted cruz is struggling with this new sensation where people in the mainstream republican party are flocking to him are now running away. >> chris. >> i can bring you up here, barnicle, but what you really want is cafe cubano.

good morning, i'm thomas roberts in new york. the stage is set for a really unique day on the presidential trail. we've got 4 of the 5 remaining candidates all going to be showing up in the same room today. it starts this hour. everybody is going to be there except for bernie sanders addressing the powerful pro-israel lobbying group known as apac. hillary clinton speaking at the bottom of the hour. first, another chaotic weekend on the campaign trail. protesters and supporters clashing once again at rallies with gop front-runner donald trump. there was at least one incident on saturday where a member of trump's final security and his campaign manager personally got involved to make physical contact and should down a demonstrator. >> we all want to make sure that trump knows he's not like here and we don't welcome his hate here at all. >> it was a little intense. there were a couple times of friction where fights started. just had to get out of the way. >> sucker punched on the left. and then you