amanda carpenter, former communications officer for governor ted cruz. amanda, you have ben carson, donald trump, outside the political mold. how concerned should the establishment be at this point. >> the people get in the top tier are who voters want to hear more from. they are saying donald trump, ben carson, carly fiorina, ted cruz, we want to hear more from you. i think for the most part, trump, carson, fiorina, largely not vetted. haven't been in the public eye that long. whereas my former boss ted cruz has and people are very familiar with his poipg. >> donna, do you think that's true on the democrat side with bernie sanders. amanda is saying they don't necessarily want to vote for trump or carson but they want to hear more. do you think the same is going on with bernie sanders? >> i think amanda is right. at this point, vote remembers window shopping. they are looking at all the candidates. they are going to rallies. they are going to union halls. they are listening to all the candidates to find out if they like them. they are dating. what's wrong

patti solis can doyle, amanda carpenter, thank you so much. >>> don't forget, cnn is hosting the nextate on september 16 and cnn will host the first of the six democratic debates on october 13 and we'll bring that to you from nevada live. it will be here on cnn. >>> still ahead -- [ screaming ] police on edge, people pushed to the brink. how the refugee crisis in europe is spiraling out of control. i hate cleaning the gutters. have you touched the stuff? it's evil. and ladders. sfx: [screams] they have all those warnings on 'em. might as well say... 'you're gonna die, jeff.' you hired someone to clean the gutters. not just someone. angie's list helped me find a highly rated service provider to do the work at a fair price. ♪ everyone can shop, but members get more with reviews, live customer support, and better pricing. visit angieslist.com today. you premium like clockwork. month after month. year after year. then one night, you hydroplane into a ditch. yeah... surprise... your insurance company tells you to pay up again. why pay for insurance if you have to pay even more for using it

joining me now, amanda carpenter, former communications corrector for senator ted cruz, democratic strategist and scotty nel hughes. good evening to all of you. glad to have you here. amanda, you first. first it is trump versus fiarina. rolling stone is out with a new piece on donald trump where they follow had had him on the campaign trail. look, here's what he writes. here's what they write, i should say. it says when the anchor throws for her reaction to donald trump's momentum, trump's expression sours. and school board disgusts. look at that, he cries. would anyone vote for that? can you imagine the face of our next president? i mean, she's a woman. and i'm not supposed to say bad things, but, really, folks, come on. are we serious? >> and fiorina spoke out about this on fox news. >> i think those comments speak for themselves. and all the many, many thou sands of voters out there that are helping me climb in the polls, yes, they're very serious. >> what do you take that to mean? >> look at that face? would any and all vote for that? >> i have no idea. and, you know, honestly, megan, i'm

also with us amanda carpenter, former communication director for ted cruz. amanda, donald trump, ben carson, republican sigh. outside traditional mold. not governors. not senators. how concerned should the establishment be at this point? >> the way i view the polls now, anderson, the people in the top tier, are who voters want to hear more from. they're saying donald trump, ben carson, carly fiorina, ted cruz, we want to hear more from you. don't think it is a vote. for the most part, largely not vetted. haven't been in the political eye that long. whereas my former boss, ted cruz has. people are familiar with their positions. i am curious to see once people like donald trump stake out policy position have plans to defend how they fare in the polls once they're put in that position. >> an interesting idea. donna, do you think that's true on the democratic side with bernie sanders? amanda saying not necessarily that they want to vote for trump or ben carson. they kind of look what they're hearing. they want to hear more. do you think that's the same with what

dana bash, thank you, david axelrod, jeffrey, amanda carpenter. a lot ahead. we're on for two hours tonight. sara murray reported at the top trump critics say he only offers applause lines, steps onto an old battleship tonight. he's expected to lay out his view in greater detail. we'll see if that actually comes to pass. and we'll see if he's actually met by protesters. several have already shown up. >>> later with that new polling that shows ben carson on the move, does a food debate performance or even a bad one move the numbers at this time in the race? some of the answers may not be what you expect so be prb prepa to be surprised ahead. but it is not the device that is mobile, it is you. real madrid have about 450 million fans. we're trying to give them all the feeling of being at the stadium. the microsoft cloud gives us the scalability to communicate exactly the content that people want to see. it will help people connect to their passion of living real madrid. heart health's important... ...so you may... take an omega-3 supplement... ...but it's the ing

we're back with amanda carpenter, van jones, s.c.l -- >> well, i think what will be interesting is who can take on donald trump in a way that's actually going to get some traction. can donald trump talk about his campaign in a way that isn't just about the process and the polls and numbers and things like that? and can jeb bush show energy not just strength. he hasn't been able to show a lot of strength and i think has revealed his major weakness should he be the nominee. >> when you have 11 candidates though on the main stage, you don't have a lot of time for each candidate. it does play to the strength of perhaps a donald trump who may not be going into policy specifics. >> part of the thing i think that's happened is this is a different era now of politics. this is -- you've got somebody like trump this is a reality tv era. it's a social media era. and he understands that. and none of the rest of them do. jfk understood television. fdr understood radio. obama understood the internet. this guy understands social media. he understan

there you see donald trump, greeting some of his supporters, here in the spin room with amanda carpenterformer communications director for senator ted cruz. i'm here also with jeffrey lord, served as white house political director in the reagan administration, now supports donald trump. and ana navarro who supports jeb bush. close friends with marco rubio. gloria borger, john king, host of inside politics and david axelrod, former top adviser to president obama. david axelrod, some quick thoughts. >> well, one thought is these people have an iron constitution to be standing there for as long as -- >> hot up there. a lot of sweating. three hours. >> it was. it was a gauntlet they ran up there. i would say one thing is that carly fiorina had a great opportunity tonight. she took full advantage of it. she's going to move up in the polls as a result of this. chris christie was on the verge of falling off the stage, had a very strong night, very strong performance tonight. >> let's listen in to donald trump. chris, go ahead. >> thank you for joining us after speaking to your family. what did

amanda carpenter is with me. good morning. so mark, what do you make of biden.sounded like a candidate at a union rally the other day and last night he sounded like he'd sit on the sidelines. >> he wants to create a ground swell of people who say, please, joe, run for president. >> it was also interesting the way joe biden talked about his faith. he talked about it in a very comfortable way. let's listen. >> how is your faith? i know you're a man of deep faith. how has your faith helped you respond so having lost your first wife and your daughter and now your son. >> for me, my religion is just an enormous sense of solace and some of it relates to ritual. some of it relates to comfort of what you've done your whole life. i go to mass and i'm able to be -- it's just alone even in a crowd you're alone. i say the rosary. i find it to be incredibly comforting. >> so i thought he talked about religion in such a genuine way. when you compare it to what happened out in kentucky when mike huckabee went to support kim davis and ted cruz went as well and mike huckabee app

. >> amanda carpenter are joining us. andy, you're a trump supporter. he didn't just deflect it. eh said we're going to be looking at that, we're going to be looking at the muslims in america and a lot of people are saying that. and so we're going to be looking at this. a lot of people are saying there's bad things happening. is that really straight talk? >> that's not accurate at all. >> it's not accurate that he said we're going to be looking at muslims. >> he said we're going tok looking at that. >> potential training camps, which you may laugh it off, but there are potential reports of muslim rad kls. >> i spent more time overseas more than you ever have in your little life. don't tell me -- >> how do you know, anderson? >> okay, how much time have you spent overseas? >> plenty of time overseas. we can compare passports. >> how much have you spent time in the muslim world? how many times have you been to iraq or afghanistan? >> what is your point here? >> you're asking me -- he's concerned about raz call islam 37. >> you're laughing it off. >> i each not laughing it off. my q

. >> and now, joining us are the cnn political commentators donna brazile, and amanda carpenter and our political contributor gloria borger. how long will this follow dr. car sson? >> well, it will continue to follow him, and people who are dr. carson supporters agree with his argument that what he was saying is that he would not support a theocracy under any circumstance, but the people who support carson are not going to be leaving him, because of what others find offensive. >> and do you agree, amanda? >> well, he has a habit of saying thing, and walking back, and he is not up to speed on the issues aside from the comment. and this is brought to him himself, and donald trump. and the birther issue with donald trump, and scott walker's resignation is a rejection on where the party is going on the issue, and the way he is trying to unify the anti-trump vote, and trying to see people put an end to it, and stop it, and that is positive. >> and donna, you are a democrat, and how does this play down the road from the democratic road? >> well, people are just appalled of the conversations t

perspective from jeffrey lord, amanda carpenter, trump supporter and white house political director, rmer, and communications direct irfor ted cruz, and senior adviser for concerned american voters, a pro rand paul super pac. amanda, the debate lineup, donald trump with the commanding lead. sparring not just with jeb bush as he has been. also dr. ben carson and carly fiorina. to say nothing of all the other candidates who want a piece of him to try to get some attention. does anything in recent memory compare to this political caldron? >> no. this is ash ash a unique debate. unique election. one of the things that is starting to settle in is the notion. we talked a lot on the program. why are trump and carson rising? they're not very much alike. but let me tell you why, why they are so similar. both are rebukes to the culture of political correctness. we don't have to explain that with donald trump. with ben carson. look at his breakout moment at national prayer breakfast where he controversially criticized president obama. his breakout loon wasine was i believe in political correctne

. >> all right, amanda carpenter, gloria borger, watch out for your e-mail boxes, folks.on't open it. >>> all right, coming up, a fugitive accused of capturing women and abusing them. caught after 24 years. now, thanks to a tip seen on the story with john walsh "the hunt." we'll speak to this story. >>> plus, the latest in afghanistan, part of the battle to reclaim a city taken by the taliban. next. ♪ expected wait time: 55 minutes. your call is important to us. thank you for your patience. waiter! in the nation, we know how it feels when you aren't treated like a priority. we do things differently. we'll take care of it. we put members first... join the nation. thank you. i'm a senior field technician for pg&e here in san jose. pg&e is using new technology to improve our system, replacing pipelines throughout the city of san jose, to provide safe and reliable services. raising a family here in the city of san jose has been a wonderful experience. my oldest son now works for pg&e. when i do get a chance, an opportunity to work with him, it's always a pleasure. i love my j

. >>> joining us amanda carpenter and van jones. so we just saw van trump was not at the top of the list for these voters. do you think we're going to actually see some of his support to go. maybe they are seeing jinx in the armor but as you heard, trump hit the town hall tonight to thing online polls based on probably clicks that he according to supporters won the debate. >> so internet trolls like trump, congratulations but the actually polling data has not come in. we have to wait and see. >> there is more than internet trolls, let's be fair. >> i'm giving him a little bit of a hard time. he's so proud of the numbers i couldn't help but take a poke at numbers. sure, listen, is he wildly popular? sure. are there are a lot people that didn't watch the debate and like him so much, true. here is what you have to look at. half of the republican voters are looking for somebody whose not an establishment candidate and i think carly fiorina put herself in a position as you start maybe getting trump fatigue or second glances for her to st

that's even if they didn't -- joining me now, amanda carpenter. you being with us tonight. amanda is the former communications director for ted cruz. also cnn political commentator, jeffrey lord and ana navarro. great to have everybody here. what do you make of this new criteria? >> i think it was a very good move by cnn, as self-serving as it may sound for me. but this is an unusual year. there are 17 candidates running. i think you have to acknowledge that there were changes because of this debate. some people went down. some went up. >> carly fiorina -- >> carly fiorina went way up. and i also think that kudos to her for putting pressure, having gotten the grassroots activists to weigh in -- >> she called out cnn -- >> yes, to this uprising in the public. >> jeff, i want to play a clip of carly fiorina at the so-called happy hour debate last month where she went after donald trump referring to a "washington post" report which said that president clinton called trump months ago encouraging him to play a larger role in the republican party. >> i

amanda carpenter for senator ted cruz and with this trump supporter, andy dean got a start on "the apprentice" and president of donald trump's media company trump productions and david. andy, let me start with you. does it surprise you that donald trump who, you know, calls himself a straight talker doesn't standup to somebody in his audience who says the problem in america is muslims in america? >> look, look, donald opened it up to questions and the first guy who asked a question seemed crazy and donald laughed it off and quickly moved to the next question. the idea donald trump, the beauty of america is people can say whatever they want and may be crazy and may not agree. but the idea donald has to correct every person on every issue isn't realistic. so that's just not realistic. >> amanda is that not realistic? >> here is the thing, there is no way donald trump can tell questioners they are wrong because those are the thoughts he's cultivating over the past four or five years like sarah murray pointed out, he's the most high-profiler birther that's been. i remember the rise of the tea par

joining me to discuss all of this is cnn political commentator amanda carpenter, former communicationsor for the republican senator and now presidential candidate, ted cruz, and cnn military analyst, who served as general david petraeus executive officer in iraq and also is a former commander of the 1st brigade combat team who first -- the first armored division in baghdad. good to see you and an important day to discuss this. amanda, you saw donald trump being self-critical, laying out specifics on foreign policy, taxes, even more in this interview with erin. are we seeing a new donald trump? >> i think a little bit, kate. i saw the first glimmers of this in the aftermath of the cnn debate when reporters were asking him, who won the debate. it was the first time he didn't declare himself the undisputed winner. he said everybody did good. yesterday he released a pretty thoughtful tax plan. i think he's trying to grow into his candidacy, but at the same time, he can't help himself. last week he was calling marco rubio a looser which merited boos from the crowd. it's catching up with him

tax plan a little more namely the politics of it with trump, campaign co-chairman sam clovis amanda carpenter, former xhiexz director ted cruz and our chief national correspondent -- i get tongue tied because he is that good -- john king. >> call me what you will. >> so, sam, in republican politics, offering increases in taxes of any kind can be an asset. trump says he does want to increase some taxes, closing some loopholes, removing some deductions, changing carried interest tax. will republicans respond to this well, do you think? >> well, here is my view on the tax code is that if you take a look at the tax code, it's nine times longer than the bible when none of the good news.ç so any effort to go in there and modify the tax code to streamline the tax code, to cut it down to size and to make it understandable and usable to the american people i think is a noble effort and i'm on board. >> a criticism is he is short on specifics. look, i read this plan, i listened to his propels. this isn't that unspecific. this isn't unserious. this isn't hermann cane saying 99. will this help him, dona

i actually thought he did what he had to do. >> amanda carpenter, former spokesperson for ted cruz, who do you think he did? >> i think senator cruz used his time very effectively. if you look at the debates going into the senate in september, particularly, iran, and planned parenthood. he spent a lot of time on those issues because he has a very effective platform to fight on them, show them he can be effective and show that he's fighting in a way that other people can't and won't. so that was a good use of his time. as for donald trump, i think it is very interesting, tonight was an endurs teance test. i noticed throughout the debate as the discussion became more substantive, he faded away. i think he recognized that. you can see him being a little bit -- a glimmer of humility tonight. >> i think as the discussion got more substantive on foreign policy, marco rubio really was quite forceful. i think he distinguished himself. i think chris christie also managed to get into the discussion very forcefully. and scott walker actually did himself some good tonight. >> and i think speaking o

so joining us to discuss now two cnn political contributors amanda carpenter former communication directorr ted cruz and van jones, former adviser to president obama. it seems a pivotal day in terms of the politics that have now surrounded this fight over same-sex marriage in kentucky. amanda, how big is this going to play or do you think it should play in the republican primary because as we can see now, huckabee is there, ted cruz is going there, and all of them are being asked about it or taking a stand. >> yes. this is going to be a very big deal and it's so nice to be here this morning with you because this is a fight much larger than just kim davis. among christians, particularly evangelicals they have felt there's been a war on faith by the obama administration for many years. this hasn't happened in a vacuum. we've seen the obama administration sue organizations like hobby lobby, little sisters of the poor, catholic charity that provides help to the elderly. we've seen florists be taken to court, photographers, pizzeria owners under attack. this is something that's been happening a

. >> all right, amanda carpenter, gloria borger, watch out for your e-mails, for goodness sakes. >> don'tpen it. >>> all right, coming up, a fugitive accused of capturing women and abusing them. now, thanks to a tip seen on the story with john walsh "the hunt." we'll speak to this story. >>> plus, the latest in afghanistan, part of the battle to reclaim a city taken by the taliban. can protect capital long term. active management can tap global insights. active management can seek to outperform. that's the power of active management. you haven't seen your bedike... in days. no, like you haven't seen a bed in weeks! zzzquil. the non habit-forming sleep aid that helps you sleep easily, and wake refreshed. because sleep is a beautiful thing. plan well and enjoy life... ♪ or, as we say at unitedhealthcare insurance company, go long. how you plan is up to you. take healthcare. make sure you're covered for more than what just medicare pays... consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company... the only medicare supplement plans that carry the aar

i'm joined by sabrina shaffer and amanda carpenter. amanda, was trump right?as that a gotcha question from hugh hewitt? >> listen, it absolutely was not a gotcha question. people who are running to be commander in chief are expected to know about international relations and particularly our fight against terrorism. the fact he's turning this into a campaign once again against the media shows that donald trump doesn't like to be questioned on the issues. really there's no excuse for him not to be prepared for these questions. hugh hewitt has forecasted in multiple interviews on his radio show that he wants candidates to be able to talk intelligently about these issues. it just shows that donald trump doesn't have a serious approach to preparing for these important questions. >> hugh hewitt dug in and he had carly fiorina on his show. next he set up her interview by saying she has no idea what i'm going to ask her, but i'm going to ask the very same questions that i asked of donald trump. i want to play how carly fiorina answered his questions. >> we know that t

i have amanda carpenter and with us is trump supporter jeffrey lord. welcome to both of you. st to you. you heard rubio call trump a freak show. but rubio has not been shy about engaging with donald trump. in fact, in the same interview he rattled through some of the trump insults. do you think this will work for him because it doesn't always work for everyone. what's his play? >> well, listen, i have very critical of republican candidates who get sucked into the trump trap. i'm willing to give marco rubio a pass here. donald trump has been going after marco rubio hard ever since marco rubio made gains in the last debate. if you look at marco rubio's shining moment it was when he was telling donald trump why he was misunderstanding vladimir putin's aspirations in the middle east. that was his best moment. donald trump knows that rubio is a threat and has gone after him, called him a loser at the voter summit. he got booed for it. people like marco rubio. so i think he's actually doing a really good job of walking the line into showing people he's not going to take these attack

i want to bring in cnn national political reporter may reston, cnn political commentator amanda carpenter and a deputy campaign manager for mitt romney's 2012 presidential campaign. so great to have you all here. i feel the nerves even just seeing senator paul getting off the stage. you feel it, right? for them almost in a sense. the question to you first is really the headline today, this new hampshire poll. you see the obvious trump ahead, carson at number two and now fiorina has pulled in at number three and jeb bush has really dropped. >> right. which is not surprising i will say. one thing about fiorina she has been working people there for months. the influencers she's been back so many times. we did expect to see her rise in new hampshire at some point. but obviously this is not good news for jeb bush once again, sliding back. >> psychologically going into it. >> yeah. you've got to have your game face on. it's just really interesting the way these sort of insider candidates as they've been classified are sliding down and you see fiorina and carson rising up there with trump. and p