he's trying to verify the comments he made to our chris matthews. we'll take a short break on the other side. we'll have much more on these comments and the reaction coming ut whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to spacelanes, across the universe and beyond. and if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. ♪ our cosmetics line was a hit. the orders were rushing in. i could feel our deadlines racing towards us. we didn't need a loan. we needed short-term funding fast. building 18 homes in 4 ½ months? that was a leap. but i knew i could rely on american express to help me buy those building materials. amex helped me buy the inventory i needed. our amex helped us fill the orders. just like that. another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com we're always looking for ways to speed up your car insurance search. here's the latest. problem is, we haven't figured ou

and chris matthews joins me now on the phone.exchange you had with donald trump on the subject of abortion, i got the impression listening to it that this line of questioning you asked him about, he never even thought about it before. >> i think a lot of people not in politics take a pro-life position or an anti-abortion rights position because they believe abortion is wrong morally, but i do think political people usually consider what that implication is. what would you do to ban abortion. would you sanction it? out law it? i think a lot of politicians are going over that in their mind and they make an judgment there. >> it was a striking exchange as well simple because i think you pointed this out this is is a guy who gives pretty clear answers on things. it took you an awful lot of probing to get that out of him. >> i know. i thought he was -- it was interesting on the two topics we got into, that and the use of nuclear weapons, the potential use of nuclear weapons in fighting isis. he did not want to take off the table the u

his comment to msnbc's chris matthews made even some well-known anti-abortion advocates wince. to be clear, all the republicans running for president favor a ban on abortions, but none has gone so far as to suggest legal action against the women who have them which may be why trump has quickly backed away from the remarks and adapted the establishment line. nbc's katy tur has details. >> you have to ban it. >> reporter: donald trump dropping a political bombshell telling chris matthews in an msnbc town hall that if abortion was banned, the woman who gets one should be punished. >> the answer is there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman. >> has to be punishment. >> ten cents, or ten years, what? >> that i don't know. >> you said you want to be president of the united states. tell me what the law should be. >> i have not determined -- i am pro-life. >> what does that mean? >> i am pro-life. i have not determined what the punishment would be. >> why not? >> because i haven't determined it. >> a fine on human life which you call murderer? >> it would have to be dete

donald trump created a firestorm during a town hall hosted by chris matthews. the most surprising moment that came while discussing abortion. >> should the woman be punished for having a abortion? >> look -- >> this is not something you can dodge. if you say abortion is a crime or murder, you have to deal with it under the law. should abortion be punished? >> people in certain parts of the republican party would say, yes, they should be punished. >> how about you? >> i would say it's a serious problem and it's a problem that we have to decide on. it's very -- >> but you're for banning -- >> wait, are you going to say put them in jail? is that the punishment you're talking about? >> well, you said ban -- how do you do it? >> you go back to the position like they had where people will perhaps go to illegal places. >> yeah. >> but you have to ban it. >> you ban it, they go to somebody who flunked out of medical school. >> are you catholic, how do you feel about the catholic church's position? >> i accept the teaching authority of my teach of moral issues. >> but d

at a town hall with msnbc's chris matthews. who get abortions should face some sort of punishment if the procedure is i tlaued. >> do you believe in punishment? >> there that some form of punishment.outlawed. >> do you believe in punishment? >> there some form of punishment. >> reporter: the backlash, fast, furious and bipartisan. trumps rivals on both sides quick to pounce and reject the notion. >> of course women shouldn't be punished. i don't think that is appropriate and it is difficult enough situation then to try to punish somebody. >> donald's comments, they were unfortunate, they were wrong and i strongly disagree with him. >> anti-abortionists anded cans all lining up to. >> when he was asked whether women should be punished he said yes. and that is absolutely unacceptable. it is outrageous. >> so punish a woman for having an abortion is beyond comprehension. >> reporter: amid the fire storm, trump's campaign uncharacteristically backtracking, quickly issuing this statement attempting to clarify his remarks. quote, thi

i made a mistake. >> he got played by chris matthews.ght would be the most extreme conservative position suggesting women be jailed for having an abortion and donald trump thought about it because he doesn't know what the conservative position would be. he went along with it. he got played by chris matthews because he had no idea what he thought about the matter. >> it was fair game. i'm not saying that. >> totally fair game. saying we were watching was donald trump trying to appeal to conservative voters. very ironic. or pander, if you want to use that word. and when you're trying to pander to a group of voters who ought to know what they want and what their position is, and what he didn't know is, yes, they are pro-life and, you know, he's against abortion. but he didn't know -- he didn't take it to the next step because these are not deeply held, deeply thought out views of his. on the economy, maybe. on trade, maybe. but not on social issues. >> we have to take a quick break. in the next hour, hillary clinton will be joining us. i'll

i made a mistake. >> he got played by chris matthews.made up what he thought would be the most extreme conservative position suggesting women be jailed for having an abortion and donald trump thought about it because he doesn't know what the conservative position would be. he went along with it. he got played by chris matthews because he had no idea what he thought about the matter. >> it was fair game. i'm not saying that. >> totally fair game. saying we were watching was donald trump trying to appeal to conservative voters. very ironic. or pander, if you want to use that word. and when you're trying to pander to a group of voters who ought to know what they want and what their position is, and what he didn't know is, yes, they are pro-life and, you know, he's against abortion. but he didn't know -- he didn't take it to the next step because these are not deeply held, deeply thought out views of his. on the economy, maybe. on trade, maybe. but not on social issues. >> we have to take a quick break. in the next hour, hillary clinton will

joining me now, hardball's chris matthews, who will be the moderator at the town hall with donald trumponight at 8:00 p.m. i know you're wrapping up elements of that. chris, good to see you. >> thank you, erica. >> what stood out to you? >> well, i think he's got some amazing stuff to say tonight which you'll see on the show at 8:00 and then again at 11:00 about what he's going to do if he's denied the republican nomination. he talks about getting if not the 1237 majority of delegates, he talks about getting close to that. he basically offered a warning a number of times today, and it will be on tonight, about what he will do if they deny him this nomination when he has clearly the most delegates. this is unusual, we had a long talk about his pro-life position which is fairly new for him and what it means. i kept asking, what do you mean by outlawing abortion, what do you mean? i've always been confused what people mean when they say that. do they mean criminalize it? do they mean punish the woman? i also golt tt the impression t punish the guy who was responsible. his answers were fasc

even made those remarks to chris matthews he was struggling with women voters. ll shows 70% of female voters have a negative view of donald trump. for more, let's turn to nbc's chris jansing, talking to voters, specifically female voters, in milwaukee, wisconsin. >> reporter: it's been fascinating because all day long, talking to voters, mostly female, a few men, only one person today didn't know all the details about this story. in fact, it's been everywhere here, it's all over talk radio, on television. of course it's the headlines in the newspaper. and they fall into two camps, nobody defending donald trump, either people are trying to figure out why did he even go there, there's so many other problems more important, and then this woman who i spoke to, very typical of what i'm hearing, this visceral reaction to what donald trump had to say. take a listen. >> that's an absolute unacceptable thing to say. we're not living in medieval times. i think he needs to regard women as equals and realize that this election is going to be based largely on a lot of women a

>> does he know enough about the issue to be president or is this another clever question by chris matthews, who is trying to trip him up? >> absolutely in the latter category. go ahead, gloria. i'm sorry. >> journalists have different styles. chris was very aggressive in questioning him. i think anderson was aggressive as well. as people begin to look at a candidate like donald trump, here talks about how he's against nuclear proliferation but he wanted japan and south korea to potentially have a nuke, right? and i think that people are starting to raise questions about whether these ideas are thought through, whether donald trump needs to sort of huddle with some senior policy advisers and try and talk about the policy that he think he's believes because they're very complex and he hasn't been on this stage before and, you know, as people start to make ai ia decision about commander in chief, they start raising these kind of questions as you go into the later primaries. and i think one of the reasons that donald trump has not been able to consolidate his support the way you see a front-ru

chris matthews continues to watch with us. ris, we don't know when donald trump will enter the arena, anytime i suspect. but he became the latest in a string of politicians to invoke your old boss, tip o'neill. >> yeah, and i have to tell you, if i were donald trump, i would wait a few minutes. because that is one tough act to follow. i have watched kasich for a long time. he generally gets up and does an awe, shucks, sort of impromptu number. that was a written speech delivered brilliantly. it had applause line after applause line. he did it with passion and brio. i've never hear kasich do this. if he had run his whole campaign now, we might be looking at a guy very much competitive with trump right now rather than lagging behind. that speech was a barn burner. >> you took away my second question. i was going to ask you about the mechanics of it. he chose, i am guessing, a teleprompter was an option made available to him. he chose to read it from paper in front of him. he didn't put a premium on looking up at his audience. obv

chris matthews in washington. chris? >> you know, i think that the world is not watching the united states tonight. of course, it's focused on brussels and what happened there this morning. but i think in the headlines tomorrow in europe, especially europe, you're going to see maybe small articles but important ones that trump has won in arizona and hillary clinton has won and it will be read as nationalist winning and trump has been an issue of banning muslims from this country, of nationalism across the board against the chinese, the mexicans, russians. it's our land. we took it. we're going to hold it and protect it by which ever means we choose. that has been his message. it's been a brutal message. many would say an immoral message but it's his. he's going to continue to campaign on this until november. he's going to be the nominee and he's going to run on this issue and he's going to be a nationalist and it's going to be tough for the world to listen to it. they are going to pull back and say we're not like the ame

michigan happens to be where chris matthews is tonight. chris? >> well, brian, i think that we're seeing tonight, someone just mentioned the parallel voting pattern here, both for bernie sanders on the democratic side and donald trump on the republican side. both running on the antitrade issue in a state that very much feels affected by bad trade laws. the motor industry was the first one really hit, actually, probably second after the textile industry was blown away in south carolina. it went from -- of course, we all know the history of the trade stories. new england made shoes and textil textiles, they went south because of the labor unions not being down south and then the moving out of the country altogether. i think the auto industry was the most important industry in the country for us. what is it? as goes general motors, so goes america, so goes the country. and i think there was a strong feeling that we needed to protect our auto industry. and of course, people out there don't feel -- out here don't feel they've been protected. it's inte

at 8:00 p.m., chris matthews does a full-hour town hall with donald trump. at 9:00 p.m., it's hillary clinton's one-on-one with rachel maddow and at 10:00 p.m., another one-on-one with rachel with bernie sanders. let's dive in, because right now everything we're seeing on the campaign trail comes back to trump and it's fallout over these town halls. the gop primary has become a trump referendum. it's trump versus non-trump. trump versus cruz, trump versus kasich. on the democratic side, all they're talking about is who's stronger against trump. clinton or sanders? well, we have some new polling out of wisconsin, which votes on tuesday. and it shows trump in trouble, trailing cruz by ten points. it's cruz 40, trump 30, kasich 21. this is the marquette university law school poll. this ist most accurate and best poll in the state of wisconsin and consistently has been. so not to say you take it to the bank, but you take these numbers very seriously. then there's the chaos inside the gop over supporting trump if he's the nominee. cruz says he won't support someo

and it's very clear he had not really thought this through in answers to chris matthews' questions. >ter: andrea, you almost get the sense it's a cut and paste with ronald reagan and position has not changed from any kind of statement and applying it here because that adds some safety in a republican environment to say ronald reagan. it does seem that there are two separate issues. does, on the substance, does donald trump have a mature reasoned policy position on abortion knowing that voters on all sides of the spectrum are often motivated by this issue, have personal feelings about this issue, and it intersects with religious and moral components that have real impact on how people assess a candidate in terms of judgment, values, and so forth. is he mature as a candidate on that side? the other side, much more tactical. allowing himself to go into an interview and wing it. appeared he was not prepared to go into a deeper level of answers and couldn't control that moment. and that's a problem for a candidate. not only performance through the campaign season but if you become presiden

. >> chris matthews in detroit. called this if you would have told me a year ago election sentence, everybody starts the democratic side, on the democratic side and the republican side. if you would have told me a year ago i wouldn't have believed you. >> what? >> fill in the blank, bernie sanders, democratic socialist, donald trump would be at the top of the pack on the republicans. >> well, that would have been a wild pick. i've got rick tower here who tried to stop that from happening had a long time, communications director for ted cruz. by the way, lying ted and little marco. this is what -- that's how the conversation went tonight from trump. >> yeah, and i think you can expect more of it. if the republican establishment wants that kind of a person to get the nomination then -- then they won't do anything about it. look -- >> what about rachel's argument, i think we all agree, it makes historic sense, that right now it looks like trump can win the nomination by cleveland. no one else can, and if someone tries

i'd like to go down to chris matthews. and chris, i don't want to come near to the end of the evening on a down note. but i was so struck by what you said tonight about what became this day in history. the story we woke up to, and you talked about the possible motivation. and disenfranchisement of these men who woke up and got in a cab and decided to end their lives. we talked about it in the context of politics. steve schmidt is right. this race could very well turn on events outside our country, a national emergency of some sort. but this is the backdrop we have been given for this election season. >> right, and i think in so many ways it's a fight between the east and west, between those who have taken islam to terrorism, these three young men of course did it this morning. they could have not done it. they chose to do it. they were led into it but they decided to go into it and give up their lives to it and certainly maybe the third is at large right now. and in this country, in kind of an asymmetrical way, there is ki

also saying to our own chris matthews that women should be penalized for abortion. walked that back. also dropping nuclear bombs in europe. there are a plethora of things to talk about. remains to be seen what they will. but donald trump in washington unexpectedly. an lost folks on capitol hill knew about this this morning, and we will see what comes out of it, thomas. >> again you say this is a surprise to his schedule. we knew there was going to be a discussion with members of his foreign policy team and you bring up the loyalty pledge. all three candidates seem to have walked way from any agreed upon loyalty pledge with kasich, cruz and trum. in supporting one another. could this also be about the filing of a complaint over louisiana? we know berry bennett would take that on donald trump's behalf about delicate issues with the state of louisiana. there's a lot on the table there for them to discuss. >>> without doubt, thomas, and i presume that is t is probably coming up for discussion here. you mention, are you with the delegate process in louisiana? you mention

several hours after he said that to chris matthews. he put out a statement saying he actually wants to jail or punish doctors, not necessarily women, for the crime of having an abortion. that is not at all what he said out loud when chris matthews asked him about it today on camera. now, because this all happened while i was talking to hillary clinton at the apollo theater today and we did not know about it until after that conversation was over, i ended up -- i kid you not -- left the apollo theater, came back to my office then turned right back around, rushed back out again to find her again. after our interview was done because i felt like i really needed to get her response to this development. i'm not in the habit of following people back to their offices after my interview with them is over but in this case, that's exactly what i did and i'm glad i did it because watch this. madam secretary, i'm not in the hasn't of chasing people down after i've had the chance to speak with them for a second round, but while we were speaking tod

donald trump sat down with chris matthews.n with anyone half as liberal as donald trump is. >> hugh, this is not about hillary clinton. >> no, but it's about the campaign. >> we're going to talk about that. >> i am. >> that's my next question. can we keep it about donald trump? >> i am. >> it doesn't bolster the republican side of the party -- >> hugh, let's stick to donald trump and then we'll get to the hillary clinton part it have? >> don, you can't separate donald from hillary clinton. >> hugh, donald trump's comments are donald trump east comments. hillary clinton's comments are hillary clinton's comments. >> so you don't believe it bolsters -- >> that is unfair to donald trump. >> that's not unfair to donald trump. >> hugh, i'm not going to that. >> the idea that a presidential campaign can be reduced to sound bites on an issue as important as pro life -- i've been pro life my entire life. and the idea that the debate can be reduced to this issue without bringing up the fact that -- >> i'm going to bring up hillary clint

. >> chris matthews is in detroit. call this, if you would have told me a year ago election season. everyone starts every sentence on the democratic side and on the republican side if you would have told me a year ago, i wouldn't have believed you. >> what? >> fill in the blank. bernie sanders, democratic socialist, donald trump would be at the top of the pack in the republicans. >> oh, yeah. i know. well that would have been a wild pick. i have to tell you. i've got rick tower here who tried to stop that from happening for a long time, communications director for ted cruz. by the way, lying ted and little marco -- this is what -- that's how the conversation went tonight from trump. >> i think you can expect more it. i think if the republican establishment wants that kind of a person to get the nomination, then they won't do anything about it. but look -- >> what about rachel's argument. i completely -- i think we all agree it makes historic sense that right now it look like trump can win the nomination by cleveland. n

chris matthews and chris hayes join me with a preview of tonight's action. of course, you're going to keep it on msnbc all night until we call all five states for both sides. and guess what? pop your popcorn, we're probably here until after midnight. we shall see. so stay tuned. don't miss it. >>> polls will start close anything just about 90 minutes from now. joining me from cleveland, chris matthews, and from chicago, the host of all in, chris hayes. chris matthews, let me start with you in ohio. it's sort of the definition of who wins tonight on the democratic side and the definition of whether the stop trump movement has any legs tonight. >> i agree with you. it's a hot state. i think ohio, i will say up front, it's fascinated me since i was a kid. ohio is always interesting in its politics. it is so american. it's sort of the american state. it decides who wins elections. tim russert pointsed out decades before that, ohio gave moderation to the rest of the country. i don't think it will lurch. hillary has a chance here. i think trump does too. it will b

we're going to go to chris matthews, and his friends in arizona. those tuning in for what is normally the "hardball" time slot. chris is with us. we've just been covering these three speeches before aipac in washington. also coming up at 8:00 p.m., our interview with bernie sanders. a lot to get to. please stay with us. our live coverage continues right after this president. asic, but that is changing. at temenos, we use the microsoft cloud to provide banking to the millions and millions of people who need it that don't have access to it. with the microsoft cloud, we can enable a banker to travel to the most remote locations with nothing but a phone and a tablet. more and more people are getting access to credit. everywhere where there's a phone, you have a bank. so now a person is able to start a business, and generate an income, and employ somebody for the first time. and you can actually see the success. it's transforming our world. the microsoft cloud helped us to bring banking to ten million people in just two years. that's potentially ten mill

chris matthews would not let him off the hook. donald trump answered the question the way he believed that republican primary voters wanted to hear him answer the question. and mercedes is right, it's because he's an amateur politician. now, i would not call that a gotcha question. if you're going to say abortion's illegal, you've got to -- >> it's a hypothetical question, chris. >> well, no, no, no. >> the chances of roe v. wade being overturned is not likely. did you listen to the question? >> but, mercedes, i did listen to the question. it has been the republican party platform or conservative platform that abortion should be illegal. if you say it should be illegal, you have to say then what is then the price for having an abortion -- >> and in the -- >> both on the doctor and on the woman. >> and in the pro-life movement, they've made it very clear that the woman is the victim. they have talked about the healing for these women. we're talking about the protection of the unborn. liz: okay, but does -- >> some have. liz: does t

up next, we'll check in with chris matthews who'll join me from, where else, michigan. we'll be right back. >>> so here's the thing. think about how ironic it is that this buick eye comes to michigan and i asked everybody, you put it aside through this primary and by the way, you know what i'm excited about, i'm going to spend a lot more time, because come november, we're going to win michigan as well in the general election, and defeat hillary clinton. >> that was ohio governor john kasich campaigning this afternoon in lansing, michigan. kasich was the only republican who spent the day in a state that is actually casting ballots today. joining me now from michigan, chris matthews of course host of "hardball," for our evening coverage tonight. chris, what's interesting about tonight, and i think that it could have an impact on what we see on both sides, first time in 24 years, both parties holding a primary at the same time in a state that has a constituency that could vacillate, who trump is appealing to and who sanders is appealing to. >> yeah, it's a big state and re

all night coverage with brian williams, rachel maddow and chris matthew begins at 6:00 p.m. here on msnbc. >>> the storms have moved on from the hard-hit south, but recovery is slow as flooding continues in some areas. the sabine river basin in texas is reaching the record and expected to rise. the river continues to push water through dowiville. arkansas saw 12 tornadoes from sunday through last night. fortunately no deaths or injuries were reported. president obama signed a major disaster order for louisiana to help aid in the area's recovery. >>> vladimir putin says he's ordering a withdrawal of russian military forces from syria now that peace talks are under way. putden -- putin made the announcement on monday. he said the forces have helped bashar al assad's military turn the tide of war. the announcement seemed to take the white house by surprise. later the white house released the statement saying president obama spoke with putin by phone about russia's withdraw and that mr. obama welcomed the news.

with chris matthews.ddow has back-to-back one-on-one interviews with hillary clinton at 9:00 and bernie sanders at 10:00. >>> still to come on this hour of msnbc, bernie sanders is feeling some momentum in wisconsin. will it carry him all the way to the democratic nomination? his wife, jane sanders, joins us next. some say "free the whales." for them, nothing else is acceptable. 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 movie fame, the effort was a failure and he perished. but we also understand that times have changed. today, people are concerned about the world's largest animals like never before. so we too must change. that's why the orcas in our care will be the last generation at seaworld. there will be no more breeding. we're also phasing out orca theatrical shows. they'll continue to receive the highest standard of care available anywhere. and gu

chris matthews is standing by in detroit. chris. >> yeah, you know, one of the interesting things is the echo out here. the echo effect of the romney participation in this national election. as of the last week, the big voice out there going after donald trump in a negative way. we can't let him be the nominee, because we have standards this guy doesn't meet. of course what's interesting, the way in which it's like father like son, rather like son like father. george romney, back in '64, did the same thing when barry goldwater, he stood by and said no, i will not support this guy no matter what. i will reject him as a republican leader of the country. now you see, mitt is the last man sort of challenging the rightness even of trump to be the nominee. not just to contest him, but to say this is bad news for the party. i find that interesting here in michigan, the home of the romneys. that's going on again all over again. >> chris matthews in detroit. tell the folks where you are. >> i'm at the american coney island. a number of

with conservative values and he could not fake it in front of chris matthews. there's even a moment trying to bring up chris' religion as if chris matthews was the person running for president rather than answering the question. >> i know. it was really an amazing interview to watchrom that perspective. but, you know, i really -- when i was watching it, saying to myself, you know what? donald trump was actually being candid about the republicans' attitude about abortion and advocacy around abortion. their advocacy makes criminals out of women. we have states -- i think 38 states have fetal homicide laws. the anti-abortion advocates support the laws. women have been prosecuted under those fetal homicide laws, some women for ordering ru-46, the abortion pill, over the internet which is unlawful but they have a constitutional right to terminate that pregnancy. they've been blocked by this web of restrictions and regulations at the state level and we are now seeing women actually prosecuted and imprisoned for it. so the idea that the republicans say, no, we don't wa

trump and hillary could both have big problems in missouri. >> chris matthews, thank you very much. we will be watching your coverage all night long. >> thank you, chris. >> we always enjoy it. we'll be right back with much more in just a moment. we're always looking for ways to speed up your car insurance search. here's the latest. problem is, we haven't figured out how to reverse it. for now, just log on to compare.com... plug in some simple info and get up to 50 free quotes. choose the lowest and hit purchase. now...if you'll excuse me, i'm late for an important function. compare.com. saving humanity from high insurance rates. >>> okay, mary kissel, ben ginsburg, thank you very much. >> so predictions, what's -- >> final thoughts. >> i think the polls will probably be right. i think you're going to see trump win florida and kasich pull it out in ohio. >> you think? >> and what does that mean? >> i think that means it grinds on. >> it goes on? >> it grinds on for another several weeks, looking at the convention. >> and marco rubio going to utah? >> that's the latest news on the wir

chris matthews did not allow him to do. charlie sykes didn't allow him to do that.on to how he manipulates and stays relevant in the press so we'll see. but the real question is, do peemt want this kind of a person with this kind of a temperament to be their leader, their commander in chief? do they trust him to create jobs? frankly, if you look at the cook political report that came out i think this morning, it shows hillary clinton in the electoral college with a commanding lead of about 347 delegates over donald trump and he would be stuck below 200. that's not a good prospect for the republican party. >> rick tyler, good to see you. >> thank you. >>> bernie sanders working to maintain momentum after the weekend sweep across the west. now all eyes are on wisconsin and next week's primary. it's just a stone's throw away. where the race stands, ahead, on msnbc, the place for politics. statement... make sure it's an intelligent one. the all-new audi a4, with available virtual cockpit. playingalways stacy.l phil? at kpmg we've always believed leadership is about visi

trump told chris matthews today, that abortion must be banned in this country. he thinks women will go back to illegal places to get abortions, once it is banned, he said, quote, there has to be some form of punishment for a woman seeking an abortion, and he hasn't yet determined what the appropriate punishment should be. you said on twitter about that, just when you thought it couldn't get worse. horrific and telling. >> what donald trump said today was outrageous and dangerous. and, you know, i'm constantly just taken aback at the kinds of things he advocates for. maya angelou said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. and he has once again shown us who he is. the idea that he and all the republicans espouse that abortion should be illegal, is one that is not embraced by the vast majority of americans in our country. and, in fact, as he pointed out, if it were illegal, then women and doctors would be criminals and this is just beyond any position taken by someone running for president in a serious way in a very long time. and i think not only wom

chris matthews, of course, following along with us. s, we can't say this often enough, this is as a venue, is going to be markedly different for donald trump who has grown accustomed -- you can see the notes he pulls out of his pocket. he writes in black sharpie. he has writing like an ekg. he goes from just bullet points, notes in his own handwriting, and he's used to being interrupted at the end of every sentence by sup sporters. remember, we've got a group promising to get up and walk out when he starts talking. that we're expecting to happen. this is potentially a fraught arena for donald trump. >> yeah, the old expression is, listen with your tongue. in other words, get out there, say something, and if it seems to work, keep going. if it doesn't, pull back. constantly being interactive and testing. you're right, brian, he cast test material tonight. something about the two-state solution, something about the capital, appropriately in jerusalem. something about the history of the country since '48. it's modern history. if he gets an

12 times that chris matthews pressed trump to answer that abortion question.at an interviewer needs to take when questioning donald trump. i think donald trump has long believed he's above the media, that he has nothing to lose. you know, why did he do anderson keeper the night before? why did they think that would be a smart idea? his attitude has always been he's better than the media and he can get away with anything. what the last -- again, the last two nights have proved, between the interview with anderson and then the interview with chris matthews is that's really not the case and he's being pushed in a way he hasn't been before. >> interesting perspective, appreciate it. >>> up next, cnn takes you back to the '80s back when donald trump was just a real estate mogul. morgan fairchild joins me live with her favorite memories from that decade. plus, we're live at the famous cheers bar in boston where we'll be joined by michaela pereira right here. she'll have her fun rum drink for us after the break, stay with us. >>> the calendar may say 2016 but around

i'm chris matthews in washington. the day started with donald trump getting blasted by republican hawks. the neocons, the wall street people went after him too. the party's 2012 nominee mitt romney also went after him. at tonight's debate the front-runner came under attack from the remaining contenders in the case. the dynamic was clear from the outset. it was donald trump versus everyone else. people have now called the jackles because that's all they were tonight. john kasich went after his immigration stance, and his past business dealings. actually john kasich stayed apart from this ridiculousness, especially the lawsuit filed against him by former students at trump university. they went after that too. as has happened in the past, the fight quickly broke down into name-calling. >> i have a policy question for you, sir. >> let's see if he answers it. >> i will. don't worry about it, marco. don't worry about it, little marco, i will. >> let's hear big donald -- >> don't worry about it, little marco. >> big donald a

. >> chris matthews is in detroit. i call this, if you would have told me a year ago election season. everyone starts every sentence on the democratic side and on the republican side if you would have told me a year ago, i wouldn't have believed you. >> what? >> fill in the blank. bernie sanders, democratic socialist, donald trump would be at the top of the pack in the republicans. >> oh, yeah. i know. well that would have been a wild pick. i have to tell you. i've got rick tower here who tried to stop that from happening for a long time, communications director for ted cruz. by the way, lying ted and little marco -- this is what -- that's how the conversation went tonight from trump. >> i think you can expect more it. i think if the republican establishment wants that kind of a person to get the nomination, then they won't do anything about it. but look -- >> what about rachel's argument. i completely -- i think we all agree it makes historic sense that right now it look like trump can win the nomination by cleveland.

chris matthews asked trump if a woman should be punished for having an abortion if it were illegal. >> the answer is that, there has to be some form of punishment. >> for the woman? >> there has to be some form. >> ten years? >> i don't know. >> you take positions on everything else. >> it's a very complicated position. saying, if congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. the woman is a victim in this case, as is the life in her womb. my position has not changed. like ronald reagan, i am pro-life with exceptions. we're waiting to hear from senator ted cruz. he released this statement saying, of course we shouldn't be talking about punishing women. both democrat presidential hopefuls also took to twitter to condemn the comments. >>> now to an exclusive interview with republican presidential candidate john cay kick who's in town campaigning

chris matthews said for women he says yes. again not distinguishing the fact it is the actual procedure that would be illegal. that is exactly why he issued the statement clarifying. donald trump is pro life with exceptions. he does not support penalizing women for having abortions en -- >> then why did he say that. >> my point because it was a miss speak. how many times do i have to say that. >> cnn's phil mattingly life in milwaukee, wisconsin. five days for that state's primary. with more on this. good morning phil. >> reporter: good morning. donald trump's campaign up to this point, very successful campaign to this point are, has been defined by his ability to walk into dangerous political situations and walk out somehow unscathed or even higher in the polls. now he may be confronting something that doesn't actually allow that to happen. >> this is not something you can dodge. >> reporter: donald trump smack in the middle of another controversy -- abortion. this time the front runner stating that women who get abortions sh

keep yourself safe out there. >> thank you. >> let's go to chris matthews. my colleague who took over this live rolling coverage. i was watching today as you were covering that scene on the floor of the pavilion and as you realized live what you were looking at and your coverage ended with that live interview with donald trump. i have to ask your reaction to what you're seeing here. >> i think these pictures speak for themselves. i think every american is familiar with the anger on both sides, the protesters and the people there for the trump rally. both sides knew what the other side believes. they don't like it. these are sort of competition without uniforms, but you could tell who was with who. the trump people didn't like the protesters. they thought they should have their rally all by themselves and not be interrupted. the protesters despise the words being spoken at the rallies especially with regard. i do believe setting venue in down chicago, as you said, a huge hispanic population, many of them immigrants or first generation, they are very upset abo

to elongate her suffering, we're first going to go to chris matthews in texas. e of the big players tonight. the state, and chris. and chris has a special guest with him. chris? >> thank you. i've got rick power here. rick, i guess we -- can you tell me why he told us all that? >> i have no idea. >> we shouldn't be speculating. trump did better. the establishment was firmly defeated today. >> what do you think of rubio coming in third everywhere practically? >> look, we've said that he doesn't -- his path forward is not as good as cruz's. and it's got to become a two-person race if we have the hope of beating donald trump. >> we heard five candidates for tonight. rachel and brian as well. we had five candidates speak tonight. i have lost the ability to tell the difference between a concession speech and a victory speech. i never heard -- >> a press conference. >> maybe that's the way you do it. sanders gave a speech, never congratulated hillary, never said nice try. it's like a systolic universe. >> rubio comes out every time with a victory speech. tonight he act

i'm chris matthews in washington on this day after easter. the republican nominee for president will either be donald trump who will win on delegates, or someone else who wins at an open convention. if it comes to it, that could be ohio governor john kasich, our guest tonight. i'm joined by presidential candidate governor john kasich of ohio. a poll shows you beating hillary clinton by 11 points in a hypothetical general election matchup. it shows trump losing to clinton by 38% to 49%. you're fund rising off the low-level feud between trump and cruz. your campaign sent out an e-mail today that reads enough is enough with the mud slinging and the personal attacks. it's time to get serious and select a republican who can win in the fall. with your help, it would deny trump delegates and head into the convention with the man who will win. there's two ways the republican party will pick a delegate. donald trump, or someone else at the convention. how do you win at the convention? looking at it from this point? >> well, because, chris, if you take

last night was laughable his appearance on chris matthews. this is got it who is going to bring the party together? i think he's self-destructing in front of us. you see it in the polling in wisconsin and california it's a 50-50 chance he walks out of cleveland with the nomination and there are a lot of forces pushing back against it. >> i personally believe donald trump hasn't begun to show us what he's capable of in terms of uniting our party. he felt personally attacked in terms of his wife melania. and he respond in the way any husband would do. charles: was it presidential, john? i don't know, maybe i'm naive or dumb. i want a president who doesn't do everything i would do as a knee jerk reaction. i'm not so sure that would be the thing i could. there is some bad blood out there. he's going to focus on a policy general republicans want in the white house. he will force that we want a strong bored and intelligent national security. tax reform, healthcare reform, all the things your moderate typical republican wants, that will unite us in

donald trump spoke with msnbc's chris matthews moments ago. here is some of what he had to say. >> and i met with law enforcement. we could have didn't. would have done it. could have done it. i decided not to do it. it is very tough. i think a lot of people said this is going to increase it. this has the nothing to do with my decision today. my decision is i just don't want to see people hurt. >> donald trump speaking a short while ago with chris matthews about that melee that erupted in chicago as a result of his canceled appearance. nbc's katie tur joins us. katie, we have been watching the violence escalate at trump rallies. it appears to have boiled over. you have been at so many of them and watched the climate. is it at all surprising this might happen? >> no, this is not surprising. we have been predicting some sort of riot, potentially, a race riot now for quite some time when it comes in these donald trump rallies. they have been getting increasingly tense. at times violent. boiling over into what you are seeing right now. these image

that's a good night for him. >> very good night for him. >> can i bring in chris matthews? >> the shank of the evening. >> since we had ben ginsburg. chris, can you hear us? >> where do you want it? [ laughter ] >> chris, can you hear me? >> we've got a very noisy room here brian. >> i'm sorry. just take anywhere you want to jump on here and if you heard the ben ginsburg conversation about defining who the trump voters are. >> yeah, i think if you listen to ted cruz's speech tonight carefully, he wasn't addressing the trump voters. he was addressing the money guys. the first half of the speech was aimed at the koch brothers. it was about regulators and how we're going the fire regulators. the average guy and person out there doesn't care about that. that was a direct appeal to koch brothers. the last half of the speech was the people that are middle east hawks, who had been looking at rubio as their hope. so what you saw tonight was ships passing in the night. you saw cruz still out there sporting for the money people, whether they're business or foreign policy people and no

(bullhorn). >> larry: hey, chris matthews! your microphone works! and applause) but i understand why they're being a little harsh on hillary because none of the candidates who are dangling d are being loud at all. >> do you swear you will vote for donald trump tomorrow? >> they are getting a one way trip to guantanamo and we'll find out everything they know. >> and the alphabet soup of government that strongles small businesses and we'll unleash economic growth! >> larry: man voices sound good! there is just something presidential when a man yells into a microphone. and it's not just the media that's trying to shush hillary. >> sanders: if you are talking about the wall street bailout, where some of your friends destroyed this economy -- >> clinton: you know -- sanders: -- through -- excuse me, i'm talking. >> cooper: let him sprung. >> larry: ooh! apparently bernie's socialism doesn't include sharing the conversation... (applause) all right, okay. sorry for the bern, bernie, but in all fairness, they're at least having a heated debate. chris matthe