that's why you're seeing her make a strong pivot now. >> fighting a general election even as we speak. thank you, kristen welker. that does it for this hour. i'm chris matthews. "mtp daily," "meet the press," starts right now. good evening, i'm lawrence o'donnell in new york, in for chuck todd. we begin with the latest from brussels. the threat level there has now been lowered from the maximum. we're learning more tonight about the two brothers at the center of the terror attacks. nbc news confirms that khalid and ibrahim el bakraoui were known to u.s. counterterrorism authorities as potential terror threats prior to the attacks. nbc also learned tay from an expert involved in an investigation devices that the brothers spied on a top nuclear

researcher in belgium, hoping to build a dirty bomb. at this hour, one of the three men, seen pushing the suitcases full of explosives at the airports before the attacks, remains unidentified. a massive manhunt under way for him. and we've got updated numbers on the human toll of this tragedy. the belgium crisis center confirms 31 people are dead. we do not know if the suicide bombers are in included in that particular number. 316 people were injured in the attacks. 121 currently hospitalized. 63 of those are in intensive care. and their condition has been described as very grave. 12 of the injured are american citizens but the state department does not believe they were targeted. >> we don't, at this point, have any credible evidence suggests it was targeting americans. >> james comey said the fbi has

so far found no connections between the brussels terrorists and anyone in the united states. and attorney general loretta lynch says the united states is ready to help, where needed. >> we are committed to providing any and all assistance as we move forward together with unity and with strength. now i also want to make clear while we have received no specific, credible threats to the homeland, we will continue to remain vigilant in order to ensure that we can keep the american people safe from harm. >> we go to ayman mohyeldin in brussels who has been following all of the developments there. >> reporter: officials here are continuing to work through the scene of the investigations at the airport, as well as the subway bombing, to try and determine exactly what took place besides the bomb. but who was involved. that focus of the investigation now is trying to identify the man in white. that is what he's being referred to. obviously officials have put out the picture of him, seen at the

airport with two other individuals, najim laachraoui and ibrahim el bakraoui. the third suspect, being the suicide bomber, the second brother, is the one at the subway station. why that's important, as you mentioned, these two individuals were on a u.s. database for terrorists. they were known to u.s. officials. that's in stark contrast to what we've learned from belgian officials who said these individuals at best had a criminal background and were not being targeted or the subject of an intense terrorist investigation. there were connects to the two individuals in the paris attacks. that's something nbc news learned. they provided a safe house for the attackers in paris. you talked about the targeting of the civilians. that today is a number that continues to rise as the hospital officials and medical workers continue to treat some of those individuals that have been injured as a result of

that. in addition to that, nbc news has learned that the two brothers, two bakraoui brothers, were involved in an attempt to try and make perhaps or create a dirty bomb a dirty bomb is referred to as a crude radioactive device that could have been made. the reason they believed that was in the works was based off a former french intelligent official investigating this. he told nbc news the el bakraoui brothers were responsible for placing surveillance camera at the house of a senior or top researcher at a belgian nuclear fast facility with the hopes of kidnapping him or a family member and blackmailing him with material they could use for a radioactive device. >> ayman mohyeldin, thank you very much. we will go back to brussels for any developments throughout this hour. we turn to the escalating political fallout in united states in reaction to the

attacks. donald trump wanted to legalize torture. ted cruz wants law enforcement to, quote, patrol and secure muslim neighborhoods. democrats disagree. >> one thing we know that does not work is offensive, inflammatory rhetoric that demonizes all muslims. there are millions of peace loving muslims living, working, raising families and paying taxes in this country. >> their children are our children's friends going to the same schools. they are our colleague in our workplaces. they are our men and women in uniform, fighting for our freedom. >> exit polls all over the country, the republican voters, who voted so far this year, agree with donald trump's calls to ban muslims from entering the united states, a large majority of gop primary voters from south carolina to illinois to texas to ohio, florida, virginia, all

said they support that idea. joining us now, paul singer, washington correspondent for "usa today," and the director of research at the institute for social policy and understanding. her group has just come out with an extensive report on muslims in america. dalia, your reaction to what we've seen here in the domestic united states political reaction to what's happened in brussels. >> well, it's unfortunate but hardly surprising. it's what we've seen every time there is a horrific tragedy being politically capitalized upon. i think what we have to do as americans is take a step back and ask, what will make us safer and it's not poring resources into failed policies of universal surveillance, and certainly not torture. i think both of these tactics ultimately are not only a waste

of resources, but actually will backfire and make us much less safe. >> listen to what donald trump said about the possibility of using nuclear weapons against isis. >> you would rule in the possibility of using nuclear weapons against isis. >> i'm not going to rule anything out. even if i felt it wasn't good i won't want to tell you that, at a minimum i want them to think maybe we would use it. we need unpredictability. when you ask a question like that, it's a very -- it's very sad thing to have to answer it because the enemy is watching. and i have a very good chance of winning and i don't want the enemy to know how i'm thinking. >> paul singer, obviously what donald trump doesn't know about presidential position on use of nuclear weapons is that the reason presidents don't wave nuclear weapons around the world with the possibility they might use them is that that increases ex

ex exponentially countries that don't have nuclear weapons their incentive to obtain nuclear weapons. here the united states has been working for decades to minimize the acquisition of nuclear weapons, they have a deal with iran to block the development of nuclear weapons. there are so many reasons not to say things like that. but no one on the trump campaign knows that. >> i think there's been some fundamental misunderstanding as well about the way u.s. law enforcement already interacts with muslim communities in the united states. i mean, it is one thing to say we're going to patrol and shut down muslim communities. since 9/11 there's been active outreach by the fbi, by law enforcement, by local police, to muslim communities all over the country, specifically to build some cooperation, some coordination, there's a new program now being, pilot program launched in i think boston and minneapolis and los angeles to try and help address radicalization of young people in american muslim communities. this is already going on and the muslim communities in the cities have been very cooperative.

so, it's not all or nothing we're going to survey these people and threaten nuclear war. there's a much more sort of step by step process by which we're actually trying to address the problem. >> dalia, what is your impression how muslim communities around the country receive these messages. they hear what donald trump has to say, they hear what ted cruz has to say but hear something totally din from president obama, totally different from hillary clinton, totally different from bernie sanders and other democrats. how do they balance that and what do you think their sensation is about what's happening here. >> i think the, first of all, muslims around the united states are horrified at terrorist attacks and it's important to point out that the same group targeted muslims just a few days ago in istanbul and before that also in turkey, and their primary victims are muslims.

if anyone has the, even if it's only a self-interest incentive in making this stop, in conquering the horrific organization, it would be muslims because they are the primary target of these groups. so wanting safety and security that everyone shares. when we hear these things, those around the country feel that americans do, horrified and they feel that these statements that single out one group as a pool of suspects rather than a group of citizens is un-american. it something that is against everything this country stands for and it makes us less safe. >> listen to what hillary clinton said about this today. >> we cannot give in to panic and fear. it's not in keeping with our

values. it's not effective in protecting us. and it plays into the hands of terrorists who want nothing more than to intimidate and terrorize people, turn against each other, which leads to radicalizing more people and creating even greater problems for us. >> paul, there you have it. it's the can't give in to panic and fear versus the republican reaction which does seem to have elements of both panic and fear. ted cruz coming up with a completely impossible idea of putting police officers in patrol cars and driving around muslim neighborhoods to look for what, you know. go ahead. >> i understand the fear. the fact of the matter is, american people are concerned and rightfully concerned about are we -- the target of attacks.

but on the other hand, this is a difficult issue for me. my brother is muslim, married to a muslim woman. i have a niece and nephew muslim children, i love them, they live in america, and i fear for them. but i also understand that they, as americans, also feel the outrage and the fear at these horrible people who are doing these horrible things. so the fact of the matter is, it is not surprising to me people feel we need to do something, even if it's swinging out our fists and hit someone, i just beg that we don't just swing around and find the nearest muslim person to swing around and hit, that's not the answer. >> dalia, last word on this. go ahead. >> i think it's important to keep in mind that american muslims are at least as likely as any other american to condemn violence to oppose violence. we have to take into account

that isis wants us to use their rhetoric as representing them. playing into their hands is the last thing we want. >> thank you both for joining us. appreciate it. coming up, we'll have more from belgium, including a look at new security measures there. and later, vice president biden offers a novel reading of the constitution, saying that the senate has a constitutional obligation to vote on any president's supreme court nominee. be right back.

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right now bernie sanders at a campaign event in spokane, washington, rallying the crowd there. the second stop in spokane this week. on sunday the candidate drew 9,000 people to a speech at convention center there. washington state democrats hold their caucuses this saturday. with my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis,

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we are following the investigation in brussels where 31 are dead, 316 are injured at this hour. the airport where two major blasts occur ud will remain closed until sunday. one man witnessed the attacks at both the airport and the metro station. he shared this account. >> people were running in panic, but i wanted to escape from the airport. so i went through and was lucky because it was just after the explosion and the situation was not yet, you get off the taxi in front of the entrance, exactly in the moment where i arrived and get off the taxi, the second bomb exploded. so i went down to the second floor, to the train, where i found a woman left on the floor

and i trieded to help her but i was alone and couldn't transport her. >> alex, a terrorism analyst, joins us now. alex, your reaction to the developing investigative file at this point which is getting thicker by the hour? >> yeah, it's really difficult because we're seeing it's international network of individuals who seem to have been in touch closely. so the whole problem is unraveling the network and there seems to be more individuals unfolding and the fact we have two suspects on the run and we know these are very determined group of individuals. they are willing to go until either killed or captured. >> talk about this dirty bomb aspiration they had. what do you gauge to be the gap between their capacity and their hopes to be able to do that. >> of course, ideally think want to incur as many casualties as possible, dirty bomb would be a great way for them.

they were surveilling this researcher. the problem is there's a lot of chatter online, especially on the deep web forums where they help and give manuals that's a go-to manual for anyone interested in this operation. and they are meticulous instructionsen individuals were very good at surveying targets. >> how difficult is the dirty bomb? how hard would it be? given what we know about their expertise and the bomb making that they did get done, what's your gauge about how far away they would be from being able to do a dirty bomb. >> it's hard to ascertain what their skills were in addition for chemicals needs. they built the bombs which are more sensitive than the pipe bomb. there has to be a minimum level of some indication that they were able to obtain. >> what does that tell us about the capacity beyond, say, this brussels cell? if we see that this is what they were capable of there, does that

give us any suggestion about what they might be capable of in some other european the city where they may have cells like this? >> absolutely. we know that thousands of europeans, in particular, have gone over to syria, iraq, have trained and fought. from there 20% to 30% of individuals have gone back to european origins. once you get the expertise and individuals coming back, the threat is terrible. >> cal perry following the developments in brussels in the aftermath of the attacks and joins us now. cal? >> reporter: lawrence, this is a neighborhood that was very little known about, even in europe. now it's known around the world. i had a chance to spend the day there. it's very interesting. it's being molded and changed by the people who live there. take a look. >> reporter: welcome to the molenbeek neighborhood here in brussels. that building right there, that apartment, that's where abdeslam

was taken five days ago, one of the paris attackers. this marketplace feels like a market that you would find in amman, jordan, or in damascus, syria before all of the violence in syria, maybe six years ago. this is what a marketplace would feel like. the main language spoken is era back. most people are from moa rack c, syria, iraq. they tell us authorities come and raid constantly. they're worried if they talk to us, that will happen again. the other thing we've been hearing a lot about is our coverage and media. they say we only come here when there's a bombing that kills europeans, we need to focus on violence in syria and iraq. as you can see, spices and dates, all of the things that you find in the middle east, because this is the community that lives here. this is the community that the authorities are most concerned about. this is the area where most of the raids are taking place and have taken place after previous

attacks. the concern here on everyone's minds across the city increased security. we've seen increased security at train stations, bus stops, all of the places that you would expect. no increased security in that neighborhood. but i have to tell you, this was a neighborhood, a few hours after we filmed that pea ed the of the blinds were drawn as if they were expecting a police raid. >> we will continue to follow the news from belgium and bring you any new details as we get them. still ahead, joe biden would love to have a senate rule named after him but he doesn't. even though republicans pretend that he does. >> frankly ridiculous. there is no biden rule. ♪ i love to take pictures that engage people. and to connect us with the wonderment of nature. the detail on this surface book is amazing. with the tiger image, the saliva coming off and you got this turning.

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offered his interpretation of the constitution saying the senate has no choice but to vote on every presidential nominee for the supreme court. but first, milissa rehberger has the cnbc market wrap. >> thank you. stocks trade sideways on the final trading day of the week. dow adds 13. s&p falls a fraction. nasdaq up four, unemployment lines were longer last week. filings for the first time jobless benefit rose by 6,000. the increase was smaller nan expected. orders for big ticket items dropped for the third time in four months. durable goods, meant to last three years, were down 2.8% in february. mtp daily continues after this. but nothing could be worse for the whales. most of the orcas at seaworld were born here. sending them into the wild wouldn't be noble. it could be fatal. when they freed keiko, the killer whale of

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vice president joe biden is fighting back today against what

republicans have falsely labeled the biden rule. senator republicans are using a 1992 speech made by then-senator biden to justify their refusal to even meet with president obama's supreme court nominee, merrick garland. >> it is my view that if a supreme court justice resigns tomorrow or within the next several weeks, or resigns at the end of the summer, president bush should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not, and not, name a nominee until after the november election is completed. >> the senate, too, mr. president, must consider how it would respond to a supreme court vacancy that would occur in the full throes of an election year. it is my view that if the president goes the way a

presidents ffrmtillmore and joh, the senate judiciary committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until after the political campaign season is over. >> that's the only part of the 1992 speech that republicans want people to hear. later in that same speech, senator biden said this -- >> compromise is the responsible course, both for the white house and for the senate. therefore, i stand by my position, mr. president, if the president consults and cooperates with the senate or moderates his selections absent consultation, then his nominees may enjoy my support as did justices kennedy and souter. if he did not, as is the

president. right, i will oppose his future nominees, as is my right. >> the vice president accused republicans of misrepresenting the remarks, and he defended his record as chairman of the senate judiciary committee. >> so i hear talk about the biden rule. frankly ridiculous. there is no biden rule. doesn't exist. there's only one rule i ever followed on the judiciary committee, that was the constitution's clear rule of advice and consent. i was responsible for eight justices and nine total nominees of supreme court. more than, i hate to say this, anyone alive. every nominee was greeted which committee members every nominee got a committee hearing.

every nominee got out of the committee even if they didn't have sufficient votes. and every nominee, including justice kennedy in an election year, got an up and down vote. >> joe biden's speech comes as a new quinnipiac poll shows 62% of americans say the senate should consider merrick garland's nomination to the supreme court. break it down by parties. 62% of republicans say that the senate should not consider any presidential nominees until 2017. joining us, ari melber, chris kang. i want to play something else that joe biden said that you ari, identified as maybe the most important sentence of the day. let's listen to this. >> my consistent advice to presidents of both parties,

including this president, has been that we should engage fully in the constitutional process of advice and consent. my consistent understanding of the constitution has been the senate must do so as well, period. they have an obligation to do so. >> must, the most important word in there. the constitution actually says shall, which he is interpreting as must. >> as you know, as a fellow student of statutory construction and texturalism what he's talking about what judges do, what do the words mean, what are the obligations. the point there, it's done massively through the selections, hold and new, joe biden is talking about what are the obligations. some are direct, shall, as we know from the founders' language, means something you have to do. advice and consent, exercise through voting. so his point here in the current

climate is, you cannot meaningfully and responsively exercise consent part, a yes or no, without having yes or no vote. >> i've got to say, i thought that was a really crucial thing to point out. all, everything we know about what the founders had to say about this, what they wrote about this at the time was the presumption that this confirmation process is just about making sure no bribes were involved and this person can do the job, intellectually up to doing the job. there was nothing else involved, they thought, in the confirmation process. >> right. if you look at history of the fact is that every supreme court nominee since 1875 has either got. a hearing and a vote. beyond the text of the c. contusion, we have 140 years to consider nominees. >> let's listen to something else joe biden said about this. >> but saying nothing, seeing nothing, reading nothing,

hearing nothing, and deciding in advance simply to turn your back before the president even names a nominee is not an option the constitution leaves open it's an abb abb abdication, frankly that never occurred before in our history. >> i would love to hear a republican point to the phrasing in the constitution that gives them the option to do nothing after that word "shall" that appeared in the constitution. >> i don't think there's a good constitutional argument. there is if you go back to federal law the idea nine justices and on the cord and that's under federal law. it is hard to say, as a matter of the way things work, now you're going to make it eight or seven or five, doing through blocking legislation what was once done through mandated legislation. justice brier and others say it's not a crisis if we a month

of vacancy. i think it's playing with fire. i'm not sure i agree with the warning we're in a constitutional crisis. i don't think we're technically there in the sense of what that actually means. if politics go towards endless vacancy and think about bush v. gore or national security cases, it is not tenable nor wise for the country to leave the jump balls out there and potentially have ties when the supreme court is supposed to be the tiebreaker. >> what a call a constitutional crisis, not necessarily as dramatic in practice as people might think, and that is a constitutional mandate like the senate shall do whatever that says, and then the senate re fusing to abide by that constitutional mandate. where the crisis comes in the constitution provides no remedy. there is no known remedy within the constitution of what do you you do when the senate refuses

to do something that the constitution orders it to do. >> i think that's right. i think one of the reasons why there is no remedies because it was never contemplated. >> exactly. >> that the senate would not do its job and even start the process. when you look at other things contemplated, the presidential veto. here's how it works. but they also contemplate a next step after the veto, they say you can override the veto. they've laid out everything they can imagine we might need to have, and nowhere in there did they lay out an option other than the senate shall advise and consent. >> that's the point i don't think is going to work long term in your position is we're not going to do anything. it is true, theoretically, the congress can abolish lower courts. they created them, ke they can revoke them. if you say this is something that the third branch of the constitution but we are going to do through blocking or attrition what we can't do through the

construck of government, that's a problem. you were extreme and radical you could say, well, we're not going to confirm anyone unless there are people, and we're willing to go down to five justices or zero justices. obviously something wrong with the logical continuation of that approach. >> ari, chris, thank you both for joining us. >> just ahead, the panel is here to discuss paul ryan's comments on the state of politics and much more. you're an at&t small business expert? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. at&t can help you stay connected. am i seeing double? no ma'am. our at&t 'buy one get one free' makes it easier for your staff to send appointment reminders to your customers... ...and share promotions on social media? you know it! now i'm seeing dollar signs. you should probably get your eyes checked. good one babe. optometry humor. right now get up to $650 in credits to help you switch to at&t. chuck, i know i have a 798 fico score, thanks to experian.com.

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as the republican presidential race turns to wisconsin, here's where the gop estimated delegate count stands at this hour. donald trump leads with 749. ted cruz has 468. marco rubio has 172. john kasich has 143. a new piece to add to the puzzle now. according to the nbc news decision desk, there are more than 100 unbound delegates on the first ballot in cleveland. that includes 54 from pennsylvania, 37 from colorado, which isn't holding a primary or a caucus, 28 from north dakota, which also isn't holding any kind of primary. wyoming will have three. in between guam, american samoa, virgin islands 21 more. there are at least 143 delegates who can vote for whoever they want to on that first ballot in cleveland, and there may be

more. but some states are still negotiating with the party about all of this. some of those unbound delegates have committed to a candidate but unlike the bound delegates they can change their minds at any time. that's kind of the republican version of super delegates. that makes it all the more critical for donald trump to get to that magic number of 1,237 before the cleveland convention. we'll be right back. (music plays) hi i'm kristie and i'm jess.

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who disagrees with us politically or votes differently. in a confident america, we are not afraid to disagree with each other. >> that was speaker of the house and gop convention chairman, paul ryan, yesterday delivering an address on the state of american politics. paul ryan's speech is the latest in a string of public denunciations both implicit and explicit of donald trump's inflammatory language. as the front page of today's "the washington post" reports, party leaders scrambling for a way to insulate members of congress against the trump effect in november. as they report, the behemoth koch brothers operation is considering abandoning trump as nominee and focusing its resources on behalf of gop congressional candidates. those worried about a collapse down ballot with trump at the top of the ticket were given more reason to worry today. a new poll from monmouth university has donald trump as

the least electable republican in a general election matchup against hillary clinton. head to head matchup, long shot republican candidate john kasich leads hillary clinton by six points, 45-39 against ted cruz, hillary clinton leads by five points. that's just outside the plarjen of error, 45-40. against donald trump, hillary clinton's lead goes up ten points 48-38. put a ten-point lead in perspective, the same margin of victory that reagan had over carter in the wipeout in 1980. democrats lost 12 seats in the senate and more than 30 seats in the house that year. joined by our panel, beth fouhy, jamil smith, senior national correspondent, susan dell persio. they didn't match up bernie sanders in the one-on-ones which some polls never do. he beats republicans by bigger

margins, way bigger, than hillary clinton does. cnn had bernie sanders beating donald trump by 20 points. but what's clear in all of these one-on-one matchup is is donald trump is absolutely the worst republicans come make in the general election. >> it's crazy. i have to hand it to susan to talk about what's going on the reason bernie polls bet thatten hillary clinton, he's much less known than she is, he hasn't had 20 years of attacks against him like she has. her popularity -- >> hold it, donald trump calls bernie sanders a communist. what more attack can you level against the guy? >> he hasn't gone through sustained attacks on a campaign trail. >> about what? here what happens i don't get about this, about what? we know what the hillary clinton attacks are about, they're about e-mail, they're about speeches, all different things. about what? what in bernie sanders' history would the republicans turn into this stuff that's the magical

stuff supposed to make him collapse? >> issues. >> trillions of dollars of tax money would have to be raised for what he's trying to do. >> he wants to raise everyone's taxes, he wants free education, he says he's going to pay for it by raising taxes. there are a lot of things, number one he is a self-proclaimed socialist and that is going to be an attack that will be levied time and time again. his numbers will go down because hillary clinton is not leveling those attacks. he's not going to be the nominee, so the poll numbers don't matter as much now. >> that's what i was going to say. >> let's stick with the trump versus anyone scenario. >> right. >> which is very bad for the republicans. and yet, the republicans seem handcuffed to this candidate. >> yeah. i mean, this is who they have. this is who their voters have chosen. a, first come to grips with that but also understand that you know the islamic phobic policies in rhetoric that is coming not

just from him but also ted cruz, is something that's utterly destructive to the long term future of the party. they're alienating young voter whose are right now in the business of living amongst and dealing with increasingly multicultural america. and they are, you know, basically writing a death sentence for their own party. >> but at the same time, he, trump, and cruz, as you said, tapped into the zeitgeist. we've seen in exit polls coming out of republican primaries most republican voters support the muslim ban that trump has proposed he's attuned to where his voters are on the issue, and that's where they are now. it may be terrible for the long term but smart for the short term, regrettably. >> indeed. >> do you agree what's the consensus, ted cruz is the only way to stop donald trump. >> yes, in fact the only way they're going to not have donald trump as the party's nominee. donald trump doesn't get 1,237,

second ballot there will be a lot of arms twisted to make it ted cruz. not that he's going to do such wonderful things for the republican party down ballot he is rather extreme in a extreme . a lot of people use the very people who are endorsing him today, they'll use their previous attacks against ted cruz. however, the message there is he is a republican. donald trump is an opportunist. he found the party to run on. if it was easier as a democratic, would he have done it as a democratic. this is not about being a loyal party person. so that's what they're really afraid of, and ted cruz will be equally complicated, but at least he is someone you can - you know who you're fighting. >> according to the polls, which one of these guys do we want to lose within the general election? >> yeah, and frankly, i think trump is the best option if you know you're going to lose the election. okay, this is, you know, basically a chance for the republicans to say it's not us.

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trump re-tweeted this imagine of ted cruz's wife heidi, next to donald trump's wife malania. your wife is lovely, and heidi is the love of my life. this afternoon, ted cruz on the campaign trail, responded again. >> i don't get angry often. but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that will do it every time. donald, you're sniveling. >> he will not be the nominee. >> susan, that's always the killer question. when anyone of these candidates or any republicans says this thing about donald trump, that is so vial, the next question is always, will you support him as the nominee?

>> when you say republican politics now, i will beat him, you're not sure you're going to get into an actual brawl or you're going to win the race, which is a little -- >> exactly. >> it is, it is troubling to see this kind -- that was in response to an ad that did put donald trump's wife, you know, an old photo, it was inappropriate to put the ad -- donald trump loves this game. instead of defending his position on why we shouldn't be in nato, he now gets to go into the gutter and play his favorite sport. now how to tweak someone, and that's exactly where he wants to be, under ted cruz's skin. >> will you support the republican nominee, if the republican voter is looking for strength and you know, this t r athoritian, what if ted cruz just said no, after what he just

did, he crossed the line with my wife, that's it, no, i will not support him under any circumstances, why wouldn't that make ted cruz suddenly the strong man? >> yeah, i think susan is exactly right. you're in this incredible pressure. you can't come against the guy that is marching towards this nomination in march and say no, never, i won't support him. they're in a terrible crunch. what you say about would donald trump support someone else, it's this awful irony the republican had this pledge last fall, pledging everybody in the race agreed to support the front runner, assuming it would be trump who would have to sign it in order he didn't break off as an independent. it's very hard to step away from the pledge. >> it undermines everything they say about trump, every attack, when they can't say, no, i won't support him if he is the nominee. then everything they just said doesn't mean anything. >> right. i mean, they're not locked in there with him, you know. it's just locked in there

with -- he is not locked in there with them. you've got to look it from this standpoint. donald trump is a bully. and he is somebody that, you know, will just continually work to get under someone's skin, but the best way to come back at him is to not -- either to laugh at him or to really actually punch him back. that's not punching. that's just put up your dukes and we're going to act like i'm tough. >> and yet, rubio tried to do that, and what ended up happening, he looked like he went down into the gutter with donald trump. it didn't do him any good whatsoever. >> he opens up another line of attack, real men don't attack women, when ted cruz opposes abortion, including rape and incest. we talk about actual attacks on women, you know, tweets about your wife are terrible, but i think that we should talk about some bigger issues. >> listen to one more thing ted cruz said about this this

afternoon. >> the reason why republicans are coming together and uniting is because donald trump is a train wreck. he hands the election to hillary clinton. donald trump is a gift wrapped in a pink little bow for the democratic party. >> and beth, that's his final word on it so far. we'll see how it goes. >> he is pretty much right. train wreck, that's a good term actual actually. thank you. we really appreciate. before we go, we have some breaking news from paris. france's interior minister says raids in northwest paris have just foiled a paris attack. france says no known links between the thwarted plot and brussels at this stage. chuck todd will be back here tomorrow, at 5:00 p.m. eastern,

with "mtp daily," tonight, i'll be on with the last word, as usual. "with all due respect" starts right now. i'm john helemann. >> i'm mark halperin. with all due respect for ted cruz and donald trump, save it for the convention, fellas. this is going to be the kathleen turner episode. trust me. we'll get to the trump/creuz stuff in a moment. latest numbers from the poll. our big findings, the two candidates who probably see the most good news in the survey are also the two candidates that are least likely at this point to become their party's nominees, that's bernie sanders and john kasich. on the democratic side, despite his delegate deficit, sanders has closed the gap with clinton, basica