second frankly, was a back and foth affair all night with marco rubio edging out ted cruz by just one percentage point, 23-22. bush, kasich, carson they all finished way behind. and before the night was over jeb bush was officially out of the race. here are trump, rubio and cruz as the night unfolded. >> there's nothing easy about running for president. i can tell you. it's tough. it's nasty. it's mean. it's vicious. it's beautiful. when you win, it's beautiful. and we're going to start -- we are going to start winni ingning for our country. >> now the children of the reagan revolution are ready to assume the mantle of leadership. >> tonight, despite millions and millions of dollars of false and nasty attacks, despite th entirety of the political establishment coming together against us, south carolina has given us another remarkable esult.

ever won south carolina and iowa or new hampshire as trump has without going onto win the nomination. on the democratic side hillary clinton got the win she needed to blunt the bernie sanders momentum. clinton beat sanders 53-47 finally getting an unambiguous victory after the nail biting win iniowa. here are the results in nevada became clear. >> tens of thousands of men and women with kids to rarae, bills to pay, and dreams that won't die, this is your campaign. >> i believe that when democrats assemble in philadelphia in july at that convention, we are going to see the resultsts of one of the great political upsets in the history of the united states. >> this morning a packed show. we're going to hear from donald trump, marco rubio, ted cruz and bernie sanders this morning. but we're going to begin with

donald trump, who joins me l le from palm beach, florida. mr. trump, good morning and congratulations, sir. >> good morning. thank you. thank you very much. >> let start with this idea of whether it is a three-way race. do you believe the republican nomination's a three-way race? or do you believe this is you on your way to getting the nomination? >> > ll, i think i have a big advantage, but it's certainly a three-person race. and you have a couple of other people that are very talented there too. so we have a five-man race. and i think that it's going to be, you know, it's going to be ot easy. i have a big advantage, but long way from being won. >> well, that's very humble of you this morning. look, this has been a dramatic week of, i guess, changes, position changes, even by your standards. on wednesday you praised the health care man date, by friday you said abolish. on saturday you said planned parenthood did wonderful things, on thursdada you said you'd defund it. similarly at the debate you called george w. bush a liar, you sort of backtracked on that

are you -- it comes across, are you taking positions that you believe, or are you sort of as things get heated are you switchihi at the last minute? what are we to make of all this this week? >> well, on the mandate, if you look at the mandate, we had a situation where we were anderson cooper, who's terrific by the w and did a terrific job, but we were talking over each other. look, i want -- we're going to repeal and replace obamacare. obamacare is a t tal and complete disaster. it's going to be gone. we're going to come up wii a great health care plan, whether it's health care savings accoun. we have a lot of different things. we can get rid of the lines between states, we'll have great competitive bidding. but i say all the time you can call it anything you want. people are not going to die in the middle of the street. people are not going to die on the sidewalk if i'm president, okay. >> let me get something definitive frfr you on this -- >> chuck, excuse me, i say that to packed houses with thousands and thousands of people. republicans mostly. and i get standing ovations. i'm not going to let that happen. if i'm president, we're not going to have people dying on the streets. you can call it whatever you

let me ask you this -- >> i don't call it mandate, it's common sense. >> do you think it should be a law anybody who can afford health insuran has to have it? >> i think, no. i think it's going to be up to them. i want it to be up to them. but i'm really talking about people that can't afford it. we're not going to let people die in squalor because we are republicans. okay. that's part of the problem with the republicans. somehow they got fed into this horrible position. we're going to take care of people. but, no, people don't have to have it. we're going to have great plans. they're going to be a lot less expensive than obamacare. they're going to be private. there are going to be lots ofof different options. we're going to have a lot of different options. right now you have no options. you know why? because the insurance company controlled obama because they gave him@a lot of money. that's why you have lines around the stalts that you can't get competitive bidding. >> now let's move to planned parenthood. you defended the other work planned parenthood does. >> that's right. i do. >> now you said you'd defund it. >> that's right, i woul

they give to planned parenthood does not go abortions. that the money they give t planned parntd hood only goes to other womens health issues including mammograms and things like that. if you knew the government money were only going to that, would you support funding planned parenthood? >> yeah. if it didn't have to do withth abortions. look, i understand and many, many frieds who are women who understand planned parenthood better than you or i will ever understand it and they do some very good work. cervicalcancer, lolts of womens health issues are taken care of. i know one of the candidates i won't mention their name said we're not going to spend that kind offoney on womens health issues. i am. planned parenthood does a good job in a lot of different areas but not on abortion. so i'mot going to fund it if it's doing the abortion. i am not going to fund it. now, they say it's 3% and it's 4%. some say 60%. i don't believe it's 60% by the way, but i think it's probably a much lower number. but planned parenthood does some very good work. bb i woulddefund as long as

>> all right. let me move to the issue of iraq. obviously a couple clips came out. let me plala you the howard stern clip in 2002. sure. >> we have an idea who the enemy is and a lot of times the politicians don't want to tell you that. >> are you for invading iraq? >> @yeah, i guess so. um, i wish it was -- i wish the correctly. >> now, clearly you didn't sound like an enthusiastic supporter of the war. but i amurious in the second part of that quote, i wish the first time it was done correctly. what do you mean by that? >> well, what i mean by that is it almost shouldn't have been done. you know, i really don't even know what i mean because that was a long time ago. who knows what ww in my head. i think that it wasn't done correly in retrospect it shouldn't have been done at all. it was sort of, you know, it was done. we dropped bombs. now, if you look back, actually that was probably the correct

and not upsetting giving them a lesson or not. i think senior actually did a pretty good job of what he was doing. he went in, he taught them a lesson. what happened is he was taunted because saddamhussein was saying we drove back the americans, the ugly americans were driven back, the power of iraq, the power. well, we weren't driven back, he just decided not -- general and others said let's not go in. although i think maybe he wanted to go in. if you look at my conversation with howard, we're very good friends, different than what you hear on the radio, but we're very good friends. don't forget i was a real estate man and businessman. that was the first time i think that question was ever even asked of me. that was long before the war took place. that was many, many months beore the war took place. and you could see by my answer i

joe scar borough released a point yesterday a tweet saying trump is right, look what he just said. you have to take a look at that. but regardless the war in iraq was a disaster. it was probably the worst thing, if you look at the middle east now, all started because of that hohorible decision to go into iraq. and you know what we end up with? nothingg we spent $2 trillion. we have thousands and thousands of lives killed. just thousands carnage. and we have wounded warriors, who i love all over the place, right, and we have nothing and iran is now taking over iraq. they've been trying to for many, many decades and now they're finally taking over iraq. as we sit here they'ree taking over iraq. we get nothing. >> let me give you one more issue where you sort of went counter to what is perceived as republican orthodox and that is the issue of israeli and the palestinians. you said wednesday you wanted to be neutral in that dispute. explain what neutral means because some heard that in the pro-israeli community and

anti-israel. explain what you mean by neutral. >> no. i'm very pro-israel. in fact, i was the head of the israeli day parade a number of years ago, i did a commercial for netanyahu when he was getted elected asked me to do a commercial for him, i did a commercial for him. i am. but i don't want to be -- look, the hardest thing to do is that in terms of deal, if you're a deal person, right, the ultimate eal is that deal. israel, palestine, if you're going to make it, that probably is the hardest deal there is to make. people are born with hatred, they're taught hatred. and i have to say it's mostly on the one side, not on the other side, but they're taught hatred. i say this, if i'm going to be president, i'd rather be in a position because i will try the best i can. and i'm a very good dealmaker. believe me. to try and solve that puzzle. you're n going to solve it if you're going to be on one side or another. everyone understands that. if i'm going to solve the

never going to get the cooperation of the other side. so that's all i'm saying. >> donald trump, i'moing to leave it there. again, congratulations on your big win. stay safen the trail. we'll be watching on tuesday. >> thank you. thank you very much. >>ou got it. all right. i'm joined now by the man who came in second last night, senator marco rubio of florida. senator rubio, welcome back to "meet the press,s, sir. >> thank you. thanks for having me on. >> you got it. okay. sor about that. let me start with how you feel about this win -- this second place finish last night. you had every major endorsement that you could have had and yet you still finished a distant second in south carolina. how do you look at this as a positive and not a negative? >> because 65% of the people voted yesterday and about 70% of republicans around the country have said we want someone other than donald trump to be our nominee. the problem is that vote was still dided even last night among five other people or four other people. i think now the race is narrowing even more.

to narrow, we're going to continue to gain. so it was a very unusual year. you usually don't have five campaigns operating full-time in a state this late into the process. three states in. but i feel great that now that the choices have become less and less, more and more that new voter alternative to donald trump vote is going to coalesce around us and we have to make the woo to make that happen, but we feel good about that. >> the issue i think all republicans have had going up against donald trump whether it's been jeb bush, ted cruz, you've done it a little bit as well, you sayy he's not a real republican on this issue. i'm sure you heard my interview with him. he doesn't have a lot of traditional republican stances on issues, and yet he's still winning. voters? >> yeah. well a couple things happen, number one he'll say something over the top and you guys in the press will decide let's not cover anything and focus on the outrage of statement. he's been very good at

and in an 11 person or 15 person field it crowded a lot of people out. that's going to become harder to do. the second point i would make is people are really angry at washington and thh have a right to be. that's why i ran in 2010 by the way. and it's because i didn't wanan my next u.s. senator to be someone who was going to go up and do the same stuff people have been doing. our argument is it's okay to angry and upset at washington, but anger alone is not enough. you deserve a nominee who tells you exactly here's what we're going to do and outlines that. so you know what you're getting. so there's some level of accountability here. so my campaign is about this. we are very realistic about our challenges right now in this country. but we're also optimistic about the future, buttnly if we do a few things. and i'm going to tell you exactly what those things are. and that's a big difference in this campaign between mr. trump's campaign and mine. i think that's going to begin to matter a lot more now because there are less people in the race and more time to pay attention to some of that. >> look, throughout the week it was clear a lot of campaigns thought you had momentum, a lot of campaigns were going after you.u. here's one attack ad that cruz

i wa to play a snip-it of it and get a reaction from you on the other side. >> we know we have to deal with the 11 aillion people that are here illegally. >> we have to deal with the 11 million individuals who are here illegally. >> the bill that senator rubio put forward i think is a great place to start. >> they still have to qualify for it. >> passing a background check. >> passed a background check. >> pay a penalty. >> pay a fine. >> paying taxes. >> start paying taxes. >> it won't be a quickprocess. >> that is a long path. >> but it will be a fair process. >> but i do think it's fair. >> so, senator, i know you couldn't see the ad as we played it, i'm sure you've heard it and seen refereree, what part of that ad is not true? >> it doesn't matter. the point -- firstst of all people didn't care aboutit. this is now an attack going on in state after state and people have processed and understand it's a serious issue that needs to be solved. number two, i could put the exact same ad on about ted cruz. ted cruz said he wanted to fi a compromise, ted cruz said he wanted to bring 11 million

ted cruz said that he wanted immigration reform to pass. here's the bottom line, i tried to solve a very difficult issue. and we tried to produce the best and most conservative bill possible in a senate controlled by harry reid at the time. and then send it over to the house and have them, consvatives, make it even better. it didn't work out because the house never took it up. and so now it's very clear that the only way forward is going to be to do it in pieces beginning by securing our border. that's what we'll do. when i'm president, the senate bill's not going to be what we're operating off of. it's going to begin by focusing on securing our border first and foremost. and until you do that, you're not going to be able to do anything else. >> all right. i got to talk process. you woke up in tennessee this morning. that tells me that's a little bit of a tell, that's a state obviously you think you can win on super tuesday. where else do you win on super tuesday? now it's about winning. you haven't won yet. you got to win somewhere. >> it is. well, i think first of all as we understand all these states award delegates differently.

for each of theye states depending how they award delegates. when we get into the winner take all states, in march, big chunks of delegates, that's where you need to win states and i feel very good about where we're going to be by then. i'm not going to reveal to o u our campaign play book but we're going to be in a lot of different places, i'm in tennessee, b b in arkansas, nevada, we're going to contest and work very hard for those caucuses on tuesday and keep moving forward in a bunch of other places. we have a naqional campaign. and i feel great about it especially after last night. >> all right. senator marco rubio, i'm going to leave it there. stay safe on the trail. it's going to be a big, quick race overq,d next 23 days. >> yes, sir. thank you. now to the democratic race and a close but crucial victory for hilllly clinton in nevada yesterday. and a big blow for my next guest, senator bernie sanders. welcome back to "meet the press," senator. >> good to be with you. >> let me start with something you said on friday. you said on friday it could be 10, 20, 30 years from now people

in nevada and say this was the beginning of the political revolution. obviously the results didn't turn out the way you thought. what happened, sir? >> well, what happened is over the last five weeks, chuck, we came from 25 points down to five points down. as i understand it we actually won the latino vote yesterday, which is a big breakthrough for us. but the voter turnout was not as high as i had wanted. and what i've said over and over again, we will do well when young people, when working class people come out. we do not do well when the voter turnout is not large. we did not do as good a job as i had wanted to bring out a large turnout. >> you know at the last minute therwere reports that harry reid and the culinary union were working to try to beef upturnout in places where hillary clinton was going to do well including right there on the strip in las vegas. do you think that made a difference? >> it's hard to say. what i do know is, chuck, our

which people inn nevada and around the country are working longer hours for low wages, why almost all new income and wealth is going to th top 1%, i'll tell you something else, this issue of a corrupt campaign finance system where big money interest in wall street trying to buy elections, those are the issues that are resonating. again, i wish we had had a larger voter turnout. by the way, we did phenomenally well with young people. i think we did well with working class people. remember, we were taking on a candidate who ran in 2008. she knew nevada a lot better than we did. she had the names of a lot of her supporters. so i'm proud of the campaign that we ran. obviously i wish we could have done a little bit better. but at the end of the day i think she ge 19 delegates, we get 15 delegates. we move on to the next state. >t was interesting listening to her victory speech last night. i want to play a clip of it because i may sound familiar to you. here it is. >> wall street can never be

no bank can be too big to fail, jail. >> it's pretty clear she has ratcheted up her rhetoric on wall street because of your candidacy. do you see that as a victory of sorts? that you've got her trying -- >> chuck, chuck -- >> -- compare your message. issues here. those are our words. well, obviously i think what the secretary has recognize edd is the american people are extremely angry abou the power of wall street, the greed, the illegal behavior of wall treet. by the way, the fact that when a kid gets picked up with marijuana, that kid gets a police record, wall street executives destroy the economy, there's no prosecution against them. the american people understand that we need real change in this country. in my view a political revolution which says to the people on top, you know what, you guys can't have it all. >> it's interesting the guy who

time had to drop out of the race. jeb bush outspent everybody. he arguably had more special interest supporting his candidacy. isn't sort of the people already overturning citizens united? isn't your message a a donald trump w w've done this without super pacs, isn't this already resonating? >> no -- well, in some ways it is. but i think, you know, if you look at jeb bush's campaign it's more than just money. it's the nature of the candite and the message and all that stuff. but let me give you an example. right now we have raised, as i understand it, chuck, more contributions from people than hillary clinton has. but she's now going into the super pac that shsh has which comes from wall street and v vy wealthy individuals. she will be outspending us in the next number of weeks precisely because of that super pac. do these things matter? yes, they do. >> where are you going to win next? you've got -- you can't just come close. you're right, you came close in

but to win you got to win. and super tuesday, can you win a majority of the delegates on super tuesday? you don't have to win a majority of the states, but you need to win a majority of the delegates if you're going to win this thing. >> right. well, we're studying that issue very closely as to where wewe allocate our resources and allocate mytime. i think we have a good shot in colorado. a good shot in minnesota. a good shot in massachusetts. i think we are looking pretty good in oklahoma- last poll i saw my own state of vermont had us at 80%. so i think we got a shot to win there. and i think we will surprise people in some other states as well. >> don't you have to beat her in a place like texas or virginia or tennessee? a big state to say, you know what, i can win this nomination. i can't just come close. don't you have to do that? >> , you're right. look, at the end of the day what you're saying is true, you need delegates.

state proportiol delegation -- delegates go out. we're looking hard atmicicgan. we think we have a pretty good shot at parts of texas. so trust me, we are focusing ve hard on trying to get as many delegates as we can. but let me also say this. we are in this race to the convention. i think we got some states coming down the pike that we'e' going to do very, very well in. i think, you know, if you look at national polling, our support is growing. so we think, chuck, we have come a very, very long way. i think the first time i was on your show we were probably at 5% in thepolls. we're moving, we're making progress. >> all right, bernie sanders, i knoyou're in south carolina this morning, but this race goes national in a hurry. thanks for coming on. stay safe on the trail, sir. >> thank you. and when we come back, how will ted cruz respond to another third place finish?

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throughout the campaign. here it is. >> a culture exists within the cruz camp that would allow people to take advantage of a situation like this in a very dishonene way. >> well, i've said he's been lying because if you say something that isn't true and you sasa it over and over again and you know it's not true, there's no other word for it. >> you t tk about people that lies, this is ted cruz. this is the biggest liar i've ever seen. >> that was going to be my second question, but i'm going to go there, y heard it there, three different candidates have accused you of being a liar. a third one out of three south carolina voters tught you were running the most untruthful campaign. has all of this hurt you? has it stuck? >> oh, listen, chuck, we saw with both donald trump and marco rubio that their response whenever you point to anything in their record is just to yell liar, liar, liar, and to get very personal and to make direct character attacks. and my approach from the very beginning of thisis campaign starting a year ago is that i will not respond in kind.

i will si their praises. i'll sing donald's praises and marco's prais and everybody else's praises. but i'm going to keep the focus on substance andrecords. and there's a reason why they scream liar. becausewhen you point to their own rrords, their own voting records, their ownn words, they don't like their records because their records are inconsistent with what they're running on. you know, donald trump threatened to file a defamation suit against me for running a tv ad that consistented edconsisted almost entirely of his own words on television. that is really a remarkable theory that's defamation to show people what he said on national tv. that. >> senator, i'm going to play that press conference clip to you because to me contrasts from what you just said. here it is. >> donald has had a long career of using gret wealth and power trying to bully others. whenever anyone points to their actual record, the response of

rubio is to yell the word liar. whenever anyone does as this ad does plays the actual words of donald trump on national television, his response is to yell louder. their strategy is simply to yell liar, liar, liar. >> you did an entire p pess conference. it was some 30 minutes on wednesday. you weren't talking about the issues that you normally do talk about on the trail. you weren't the happy warrior that you just described yourself as being. it seemed as if you allowed yourself to essentially let trump and rubio so get under your skin that you focused on them and you've lost focus on your own message. >> oh, listen, chuck, i was then and am now very much a happy warrior. very much joyful. that press conference was simply to discuss the facts, was laying out the actual facts. not engaging in character attacks myself, just putting out here are the facts, here are the evidence, and i noted, for example, that both of them were relying on fabrications.

tweeted out to the world a quote allegedly from senator tom coburn impugning my honesty. within hours he came out publicly and said that quote was an utter fabrication. i said it's really remarkable to see two candates, trump and rubio, making things up and putting things out for which there is no evidence and no basis. but listen, chuck, the important thing is we had an incredible evening last night. last night what we saw happen in south carolina, particularly when you put iowa, new hampshire, south carolina together, two things have happened. number one, there is now only one strong conservative in this race who can win. and we see conservatives continuing to unite behind our campaign. but number two, for anyone who doesn't believe that donald trump is the best candidate to go head-to-head with hillary clinton in november, and that's about 70% of republicans nationwide who don't think donald trump ishe right guy, our campaign is the only campaign that has beaten donald trump and that can be donald

so what we're seeing is we're seeing republicans coming to us in incredible numbers to go -- >> senator, wait a minute, you finished third in atate with the highest evangelical turnout that we've seen yet. and you finished third. that sort of doesn't support what you just said, that conservatives are coming together and rallying to your cause. >> so, chuck, our path to victory from the beginning was always do well in the first four states and then have a strong, strong night on super tuesday coming up on march 1st. in iowa everyone in the p pss said we couldn't win, we won overwhelming victory in iowa. in new hampshire everyone in the press said a conservative couldn't do well in a modete new england state. we won a strong third there. and then in south carolina we were effectively tied for second. a week ago donald was 20 points ahead, we closed that gap. and what we saw there there were a number of very encouraging hings, for one thing, we won young people in south carolina. our campaign was in first place with young people. by the way, we won young people

and we were in second place with young people in new hampshire. one of the things we're seeing is young people who are optimistic who want a future, who want our constitutional rights, are coming to our campaign. and if you want to beat donald trump, you know, one of the clearest indications of who can beat trump is donald spends every waking moment attacking me. he doesn't attack other candidates because he e eis campaign views us as the only real threat to him. and that's why we're seeing so many people come around and say, listen, we want a real conservative. we don't want a washington dealmaker who will support democrats andut deals to grow government. and give ito the cronyism of corporate welfare. >> quickl are you going to beat donald trump in texas on march 1st? >> i certainly hope so. texas, i c't wait in a couple days to be home. >> must win, i take it? >> it will be wonderful to sleep in my own bed. look, we hope we do well. i believe we will do wel.

i love texans and texas is clearly the crown jewel of super tuesday. we believe we're going to do very, very well in texas. and we're going to do very well across super tuesday. and we're headed right now in just an hour we're headed to nevada to go and work to earn votes there. >> well, speaking of theheoad to super tuesday, that's what i'm dealing with next. anyway, senator ted cruz, thanks for coming on. stay safe on the trail, sir. >> thanks,, chuck. you too. when we come back, that proverbial road to super tuesday

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all right. time to set the road ahead. we're using "meet the press" data download to do itit because if you think things have been turbulent through now, wait until you see the next 23 days. first, the republicans h had west to nevada on tuesday. democrats will go to south carolina next saturday. but it's march 1st where things get fascinating. the first of a couple of super tuesday. 14 contests that day. on the gop side the establishment favored marco rubio. he's going to be focusing in places like massachusetts, minnesota, virginia. ted cruz, he's going to be

s.e.c. states of alabama, arkansas, gegia. and of course he has got to win in his home state of texas. large evangelical populations he hopes make the difference in all those deep south states. but i'm watching tennessee very closely. i think this going to be the swing state of super tuesday along with virginia where establishment candidates have won in the south over more conservative candidates. that's where rubio needs to beat trump. trp of course is going to be a factor everywhere as he's proven so fa for the democrats, we're looking already at hillary clinton shifting her focus to big states like texas where she had an event last night. bernie sanders, he's cherry picking states so far. he's outspending clinton in places like oklahoma, minnesota, colorado. and he's the only one on the air in massachusetts. but can he beat her in a bigger state? haven't seen it so far. moving down the road on march 5th could actually be a good day for both cruz and sanders. why? two of the states are caucus states, kansas and nebraska, which you see on the left. heavy for the bases there.

that day on louisiana. it's aprimary with a large african-american electorate. shifting gears to the 8th, all eyessn michigan for the perception that with winning will be just as important as the delegates on the line, probably john kasich'ssand standby the way. it is an open primary which means in michigan y y don't have to be registered with a party to vote in either democrat or the republican side. good news potentially by the way for sanders and trump as well. and then just around the corner the oh big super tuesday of march, march 15 9. thelosest thing we'll get to a preview of the november battlegrounds. 've got florida, illinois, missouri, north carolina and ohio all heading to the polls that day. could be the establishmt's last stand on the republican side to stop trump. we'll be back in a@moment on this remarkable sunday morning with a look at the republican race. can rubio or cruz turn this into a two-man battl i sure had a lot on my mind when i got out of the hospital after a dvt blood clot.

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joy-ann reid of msnbc she's been all over the country for usus the last few weeks. amy and jon ralston host of ralston live on pbzs in neveva now an nbc analyst. hugh hewitt, nobody has won, why isn't this over? >> donald trump has been practicing in the chords of reality politics for 11ears doing reality television. he is clearly the front-runner and clearly dominating, but i believe in some old rules. i believe marco rubio's going to win f frida, i think ted cruz will win his alamo in texas. i think a month from now we may be back here talking about an open convention because i think ld rules apply. john kasich will win ohio as well. >> if this is a three-way race, you could see it i i the exit poll in south carolina. let me put up some numberer the candidate shares my values, ted cruz, the leading candidate. the candidate there to bring needed change, the leading

and the won that won in november, marco rubio. there's your split. trump's change, electability. >> the difference is that the trump number on change is so much larger than the lead that the other two have in their lanes. and that's going to be the challenge for those other two going forward. the other challenge for marco rubio this assumption that you're just going to get all those bush and kasich voters. you may, it's true if you add up all the new hampshire bush and kasich voters, all the south carolina bush and caykasichvoters, give those to rubio, he wins. but he has to show he can go one-on-one against donald trump and surve that. >> who gets to the one-on-one? marco rubio is the one guy that hasn't felt the wrath of trump yet. everybody else who hass either out of the race or severely damaged. ted cruz has been damaged. >> right. but marco rubio has felt the wrath of chris christie and prove he has a glass jaw. the question is going to be could he with stand a similar barrage from donald trump who is relentless in going after the people he thinks are a threat to

in addition to that hugh says marco rubio will win florida, that isn't clear at this point that donald trump can't win there. >> i don't know it's clear that ted cruz is going to win texas by the way. >> it's not enough to keep winning second and third. at some point ted cruz has to win one, rubio has to win >> speaking of firsts, his first win was supposed to come in your home state of nevada, mr. ralston. that's tuesday. >> donald trump is going to win nevada easily. it's a weird process in nevada. isn't everything a weird proceus in nevada where they have it on a tuesday night, different start times. turnout may be lucky to get to 10%. but hugh talks about old rules. you guys are talking about this math. there are no rules anymore. the old math doesn't work. nobody knows what's going to happen. i don't know why we're all afraid to say that, but right now who goes one-on-one with trump is the key question. it doesn't look like from your interviews or anything else -- they're not going to get out, right?

kasich and carson hanging around for a little while, as long as there are that many candidates trump will win every single race. >> hugh, you heard donald trump th me today, he does not stick to republican orthodox. this is always supposed to have been his downfall, maybe it's his strength. >> we have a debate on thursday night. it will be interesting to see how he handles the bush lie. that was his waterloo moment and the pope rescued him from that. >> i agree that's exactly what happened. >> we will see on thursday night how he nuances that as he did th you. i believe he's the front-runner for a reason. he does represent a smashup of washington, d.c. he represents a total leveling of everything that people are angry about. and he has ivanka. i must say she was there last night and she is the generational bridge that he nes because marco rubio, the children of reagan line, is a good line. >> yeah. you know, when you're looking at this --o ahead. >> no. i mean the only problem with the childrrn of reagan line is it

candidate, right? so you have to be carefuabout using that. but look, i think you still have a problem here when you're going and you're looking not just that trump is winning, but he's winning !n a broad swath of voters. it's not just like he's got this one lanee only wins when there's low turnout, only wins conservatives, only wins in these kinds of states. he wins enough across a broad array array. >> saw last night late deciders he got crushed among 40% of vers who were late deciders. early voters 60%. >> not only that but donald trump is actually dng what bernie sanders was billed as doing. he's bringing new voters into the process. >> look at the turnout in south carolina. >> exacy. he was actually doing that. he is accomplishing getting particular mr.ly white working class voters people angry at their own party, at republican party, and feel in the only other -- >> who does hillary want to run against? >> donald trump. >> you think? >> i don't think so anymore. >> he would be stronger than the democrats think. >> of the three i think cruz is

easier race for her in her mind. >> it's amazing watching your interview with trump is he's like the guy who thinks that every question is, okay, i asked yo a question, now free associate. say whatever comes into your head. now he's sort evolved on the health care question where he read the cliff notes like we did in school when we weren't quite prepared an he knows the issue of portability, someone taught him what health care savings accounts are. but clearly he can't get past the rock skipping across but it doesn't matter to his base. >> it has not mattered. no, it's been the ssage that matters. i'm going to pause there. we got to go to the democratic sie when we come back and why hillary clinton's win yesterday might actually be seenthe future belongs to the fast. and to help you accelerate, we've created a new company... one totally focused on what's next for your business. the true partnership where people,technology and ideas push everyone forward. accelerating innovation.

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welcome back. panels here. now we're going to talk about the democratic side of things from shakeout saturday after hillary clinton's big nevada win. joy, i want to start with you. there's a new adillary has out here, second one now narrated by morgan freeman. i'm going to play it for you and get you to react. >> she says their names. >> trayvon martin shot to death. sandra brand did nothing wrong. >> and makes their mothers fight for justii her own. >> it was only nine months ago when asked about black lives matter hillary clinton said all lives matter. and now look where she is today. look at the rhetoric she's now adopting from bernie sanders. you can't say she's not evolving

and boy is she trying very hard to move to where the democratic base is. >> you recalled a couple months ago she met with a lot of the mothers in chicago. she has the endorsement of some of the moms. bernie sanders i think has one or two of theamily members too. i'm a little uncomfortable with using the families of these dead children in this way. both of them have. both sanders and hillary clinton are now trng to invoke the memories and use the family members of these young people in their campaign. >> do you think it's too crass? >> it makes me uncomfortable. i do have to say hillary clinton understands fundamentally that her candidacy is in the hands of african-americans. full stop. in nevada it was a 72% rout with african-americans that carried her over the top. south carolina, she will be saved by african-americans over age 50. and not even just all african-americans but african-americans of a certain age, right, over 50. and she knows that that is what she needs. >> look at the next 12 states on the nktdemocratic side. it's something like 7 of the 12 have an african-americ electorate percentage of 30% or more.

>> i mean, this is -- joy's right, this is -- >> she is exactly right. >> may come across as crass but that's what she's doing. >> the generational divide you're exactly right doesn't hurt as much because, yes, she doesn't do as well with younger voters voters. but she doesn't need to. in nevada she lost over 25-year-olds by a tremendous margin, shsh picked up over 45-year-olds who make up a bigger part of the electorate and they will in south carolina as well. >> harry reid the most valuable player -- is harry reid going to be known as the person who saved hillary clinton's nomination? >> i think he will be. and having come back to the state he saw what was happening in the state. he saw the internal polls. clinton was hemorrhaging. she went from a 25 point lead down to 9 after new hampshire. it was neck and neck. harry reid said i got to do something. he called up the head of the culinary union. they were being wall flowers said you got to get t`ese folks out to vote, heavily latino they knew they would go for clinton. he did that with other unions too by the way, chuck.

but what joy is talking about the afric-american vote is forgotten because we talk so much about the latino vote. >> it's about half of the non-white vote. not just hispanic. >> the fact she got three-quarters of that vote. she had every african elected official except maybe one or two in her corner campaigning for her. but harry reid is the guy. >> hugh, now that it looks like hillary clinton is back to being the favorite for the nomination and suddenly it is hillary clinton standing there as the boogie person for the republican party, does that change republican ver calculus or no? >> it does. >> changing your calculus, but -- >> the former secretary of state is the nominee. she is also the willie sutton of classified data. and there's going to be a long-term effort of republicans whether it's donald trump, marco rubio or ted cruz to paint her into the corner. they had another release of data on friday. there's one more coming. she is a tremendously flawed candidate. >> she loses all the trust

that has been a fact. her now sitting there as the threat where no longer it's like, oh, my god, maybe sanders will win. does that change the way voters think in the republican primary? >> i think it does. i think voters are very sophisticate and had strategic, they know she can be beaten. they'll look at donald trump, marco rubio, ted cruz, maybe john kasich, who can beat her, what's the best match up. i think that's what's going to work on super tuesday. >> we'll see. it's what the republican establishment hope the voters think. they haven't been right yet. when we come back in less than a minute, our end game segment and the end of the game for the bush dynasty. coming up, "meet the press" end game brought make sure you're keeping up with your kids' online accounts and the social media they're using. talk with them about appropriate online behavior. being proactive and involved is the best way to protect your kids from predators and bullies.

"meet the press" end game is brought to you by boeing, building the future one century at a time. it's being treated as an afterthought now, but guys, jeb bush dropped out of the race last night. south carolina put george h.w. bush into the white house, butt george w. bush in the white house and sent jeb bush back to miami. let me show you these money totals. jeb bush, you hate to say this he's the new john connolly, ggest spender in iowa, one delegate delete, biggest spender in new hampshire, got three delegates and the biggest spender in south carolina. nothing symbolically represents the establjshment's downfall so far than this does it, hugh? >> no, it's because he's such a

changed so dramatically. the rules are completely different. they're not the b bush rules of the '90s. they are the reality television rules of this decade a he was not suited for it. >> joy, this is a conservative governor. this is arguably his record as governor is more conservative than any current republican governor. >> more so thth kasich. >> how did he get painted the moderate? >> well, i think bececse jeb bush theory of the case is he would be painted as the grown-up. his theory would be that the party would go to somebody perhrhps sarah palin, perhaps another gaffe like candidate and the party would come to him. number e, that lane is so fragmented between establishment candidates. and by the way having lived fl edd in florida, jeb bush has never been that great of a politician. he benefitted from a lot of good luck.ni torched his own campaign in '94. weak opponent in '98. benefitted from the clinton boom and out before the bush buzz. >> it's funny how history gets she's right. that's now how the history of jeb bush is going to be rewritten.

version of the same events. >> but it was very clear long before donald trump got in this race when you would talk to republicans the numberne concern they had about jeb bush is whether he was too rusty for this and whether he was going to be strong enough to stand up to hillary clinton. e bush folks thought money would help paper that over, remind people of his conservative record, but when he went on the debate stage and totally flubed it and came on the shows and couldn't answer questions about iraq and he looked like he was unsteady, it absolutely solidified the concerns they had had all along about his skills. >> you ued the right word, strong. this is the election about strength. donald trump look strong to republican voters. jeb bush anyone who's been around him he's a substantive guy, he was a conservative governor but he doesn't project well. he's a terrible candidate, right? he was the wrong guy at the wrong time forhis election. they want donald trump who's going to say what they want to hear jeb bush, they don't want to hear his policy prescriptions and hear the way he talks. >> that money number i put up, all those money things, hh,

said earlier is there are no rules? guess whose name wasn't on a of the top three? donald trump. >> i will say one thing has changed dramatically which is the supreme court vacancy and it will reshape the vase on my side because i'd rather lose an election than lose the supreme court. so i think going forward this is the narrative changer. and i don't know how the candidates respond to this. >> if you lose the election, you lose the court. >> i know. >> it's worth -- i hear you. i got to leave it there. what an amazing all primaries need to be saturday.

sunday, it's "meet the press." it's monday, february 22nd. coming up on "early today," breaking overnight. camille cosby forced to testify. the last-minute bid to stop today's deposition related to sexual-assault allegations against husband bill cosby. super tuesday a week away, the shrinking field pass the candidates spinning as they shore up support and money. a prayer vigil 24 hours after a shooter went on a rampage. new detail on this the kalamazoo killing spree. the coolest move and closest finish in daytona 500 history. the ultimate battle of wits and endurance. chess like you've never played it before. and one of the coolest white house meetings ever. "early today" starts right now. i'm dara brown. breaking overnight, overruled. camille cosby, wife of bill