. >>> meantime, co-chair joseph barrel ee, tara setmayer, and david gergen, and "the new york times" reporter alex burns. david, i want to start with you. clinton campaign, staffers, say they've taken donald trump seriously for a long time. say they thought it was always going to be tight. a lot of clinton supporters you know are surprised looking at the polls showing a tie. >> they should be. i think she's still a favorite to win the presidency, but she should be running scared. very scared. we thought a few weeks ago this might be a blowout, trump might be another goldwater, '64, against lyndon johnson.

radio commentator and donald trump supporter and sally cohen is a bernie sanders supporter and david gergen. the senior in politics, i will ask you this question, david. it's becoming evident and "washington post" reporting on it as well. focusing on a 15 state pathway to the electoral college win and we've heard of these pathways before. virginia in there. michigan in there. understand that they're a battleground but california and new york are among that list. and i want to ask you who has been through many an election if that is a republican strategy that can work. >> first, ashleigh. let me ask you a question. there is a picture of you on twitter that suggests you in your '80s punk rock glory. can all of us? >> it's blank. that's a good thing. it does show you. there he goes again. i am old and i've been through a bunch of elections and i know the republicans usually look at california and new york and say you're not going to get those ones. spend your money and time to get the ones you can get and then the ones you're not so sure you can get. what about that strategy? i need to hear it

joining me, adviser to four presidents, david gergen, gloria borger, and cnn political commentator, errolobviously hillary clinton doesn't want donald trump to be president. but she was asked two weeks ago if you think donald trump is qualified to be president and she did not answer, did not say no. she said voters have to decide. i am going to talk about my own qualifications. today a world of difference in her answer. why? >> welcome to the general election. she's taken a turn to the general election. she understands who she's up against. he's been calling her names, crooked hillary, attacking her husband and herself and she's decided, you know, the way to attack him is to let people know that he is a risk and that he is dangerous and we live in dangerous times and that's the best argument she believes, according to her staff, that she can make against him. so if you were to do a word cloud over everything she was saying to chris cuomo, the words are offensive, dangerous, unpredictable, not qualified, fear mongering, provocative, right? and i think that these are words you're going to h

david gergen, former advisor to four u.s. presidents.ttie knell hughes, a donald trump supporter and then peter, hillary clinton supporter. at first, there's a real squeeze of that, you know, she had a heck of a lead a month ago and that has e vab ravaporated by a intents. her demos, she trounces trump and doesn't trounce her. are you hanging on that? any good news to the polls you're seeing? >> i pay a little bit less attention to polls having been in john kerry's war room thinking she was the next president. and then ohio started coming in. so i really pay very little attention to polls at this point but let's get behind what is going on with the poll numbers, especially on the unfavorable numbers. what's happening here is the normalization, at tthe equaliza where there is none. you take somebody like hillary clinton who has mud thrown at her day and night and then donald trump who's throwing mud at other people. both end up with mud but for different reasons. i don't see these unfavorable numbers as comparable in any way. it's apples

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charles blow, columnist for the "new york times," john avalon, david gergen, former presidential adviser. barry bennett, senior political adviser. kelly ann conway, president of a pro cruz super pac. matt lewis and scottie nell hughes. you heard jim acosta saying an unprecedented level of confidence from the trump campaign. but he has been a little more careful in front of some states. if he wins big tomorrow, social security as he thistle, is it over? >> it is. three weeks ago, we were counting any delegates from indiana. >> really? none. >> and tomorrow night we're going to do very, very well. very, very well. >> what do you say to that, kelly ann? three weeks ago counting on none. and now when you look at the polls, the polls may be wrong but you've got ted cruz behind 15 points right now. >> according to one poll. as was the cruz plus 13 poll that seemed like an outlier also. one poll last week, and the nbc poll. a 28-point difference. the truth is probably somewhere in between. but to barry's point, i think the trump campaign does the best job of all in playing the expectations game

. >> but my question is david gergen says that a movement behind him has gone to his head. maria what do you think of that? do you agree? >> it has to be intoxicating to go on a stage and see tens of thousands of people screaming your name and that's not going to be something that is easy to give up. i understand that. but when it comes down to it bernie sanders really does believe in this movement as do his supporters, and when they have a choice to have donald trump to have your progressive values 150% evis lated by this man by the working class and middle class families versus hillary clinton -- in common with -- >> in some ways trump and sanders -- >> today for example, we saw and we have actually heard this before that donald trump pocketed money from the 9/11 fund that was supposed to go to help small businesses revitalize. we also have seen him various times now having a quote about he was giddy about the ongoing or housing crisis in 2007 because he could make money out of it. he paid zero taxes in 78 and 79. he's a free loader. >> i don't even know what a free loade

. >>> meantime, co-chair joseph barrel ee, tara setmayer, and david gergen, and "the new york times" reporter alex burns. david, i want to start with you. clinton campaign, staffers, say they've taken donald trump seriously for a long time. say they thought it was always going to be tight. a lot of clinton supporters you know are surprised looking at the polls showing a tie. >> they should be. i think she's still a favorite to win the presidency, but she should be running scared. very scared. we thought a few weeks ago this might be a blowout, trump might be another goldwater, '64, against lyndon johnson. johnson had 60% support from june all the way to the election. goldwater never cracked 40. this is no goldwater, looks like a tight race, a lot of twists and turns. right now, it looks closer than anybody thought. >> the fact that it is not barry goldwater, that it is close now, i know it is just me, but it matters. among other things, it could bring fund-raisers off the sidelines, donors that are reluctant to get in may say if he has a chance, i'm getting in. >> maybe. but historica

joining me here for the hour, panel, david gergen, served as presidential adviser for four presidents, senior political reporter nia-malika henderson, john king, chief political analyst gloria borger, trump supporter, kayleigh mack kninny, trump supporter jeffrey lord, white house political director for ronald reagan and last, but not least, democratic strategist donna brazile, thanks one and all for joining me. john, a man who endorsed ted cruz, former governor pete wilson said, i believe today, if cruz does not win indiana that's going to make the whole road much much more difficult especially california, true? >> first, let me endorse the pro-truth position. >> appreciate. >> how quaint of you to try something like that. yes, it does. the republican party is preparing like it or not, those reluctantly embracing donald trump, those who will never embrace donald trump, they believe to be step forward as presumptive nominee of the republican party. he can't clinch with math but ted cruz in every way possible said indiana was his fire wall. they think from a math perspective, more from

let's bring in david gergen, former adviser to numerous presidents. and also marsha.a, you wrote if trump could stop taking spot shots to women, he has a golden opportunity to make far greater in-roads than i has now. martha, that's a big if at the top of that statement. but why do you think there is so much potential there? >> well, you know, you can look at this election from the perspective of women voters through the lens of their gender. and women's issues. and that gives you one set of issues to think about how they will vote. but if you shift the lens and look at women voters through the lens of the economy, it gives you an entirely different perspective of them as voter. the economy is the number one issue for all voters and it's even more important to women. issues that relate to economic equality and access are also important issues to women. and donald trump, while he doesn't lead at the moment in terms of the voters opinion about whether or not he could handle the economy, he certainly has an opening to address women and all voters, but plurarticuly women

you know, this whole never trump movement, how realistic or unrealistic is that, david gergen? unrealistic. i don't think you are going to find anybody who can take the nomination away from him, and after that convention, it's way too late. >> you hand it over to hillary clinton if she's indeed the nominee. >> you can hand it over if you don't, i think you have to put the party back together. as john said, he needs every romney voter plus a whole lot more. >> john? >> i think what you have to understand is, for all practical purposes, donald trump is a third party candidate, because is he not running as a quintessential republican candidate, and that has great benefits if you can pull it off and still get the republican vote. that's the question to be seen, but this never trump, i think is never more at this point, because i think you're going to see a lot of people jumping onto the trump bandwagon, and it's already happened in the last two days. >> i want you to take at this. this is a new anti-trump add that hillary clinton is running. take a look at this. >> if you are to mo

let's talk with tom lowby ann co-and david gergen, who joins us from washington. he's been an adviser to five u.s. presidents. thank you both for coming on. i want to start with you, tom. just sort of set the stage. what's going on in indiana? who are the voters? what do the candidates need to do to appeal to them? you look at the polls. cruz was up, and now it seems trump is up 15 points according to the latest poll. >> if you're looking at indiana, what you need to realize is that this is a manufacturing state. this is part of the rust belt. there's a significant part of the south that stretches up into indiana and kind of meets in indianapolis where i am right now. and when trump goes out there and he talks about china, he talks about trade, he is nailing manufacturing economy. he's going right at those blue-collar voters, people he's been very strong with before and who could very easily carry him over the finish line here. >> so, david, if trump wins on tuesday hypothetically, would you expect republicans to finally rally around him as the nominee, or is it i

. >> let's bring in our cnn political panel, jeffrey lorn and david gergen, good to see all of you. >> how are you? >> pretty good. jeffrey, you first, is this at all concerning that the the presumptive nominee seems to change his wording and position and been doing so as it pertains to guns in a short amount of time? >> i don't think he has. i mean, when we use the phrase guns in classroom, my assumption was we're talking about students he's talking about selected cases of teachers. we've had gun violence in classrooms where it teachers or armed security guard -- take newtown, for example, would have had a weapon, things would have not gotten out of hand. hillary clinton talks about how dangerous things would be with donald trump. right this minute, for january 1st of this year until today, 1,285 people have been shot in the city of chicago run by former clinton and obama aid rahm emmanuel, president obama's hometown and president obama in the white house. there are no gunshots allowed in the city of chicago and had over 1200, almost 1300 shot. it doesn't sound like their policies ar

jason osborne and david gergen, who served as adviser to reagan. you see the polls, carl.ith donald trump win this? i think john king points out something crucial, writ? mitt romney had it tight in the national polls and got blown out. >> something we need to take into consideration. you have somebody so far outside the political spectrum. donald trump is a street fighter. hillary clinton will not be able to defend his blows. i think it's going to be over after the first debate. >> wendy, what about the polls, the surge we have seen for trump? you can say margin of error, but certainly 11 points in one poll, 8 points in another. that's dramatic. >> two points ago, you didn't see it, because we didn't have a republican nominee yet. now the party is uniting behind him. we're going to see the party unite behind hillary clinton, as well. and i agree, i can't wait for that first debate, because i think that's when it's going to be over, as well. hillary demonstrating her experience compared to his naivete and his inability even to articulate positions, i think is going to draw

john king, nia-malika henderson, david gergen and gloria borger, jeffrey lord, ana navarro, van jones and last but not least paul begala. thanks one and all. jeffrey, let's me start with you. what we heard from marco rubio, he is going to honor his pledge but beyond that, i didn't hear a lot of -- there wasn't a loss of love loss for donald trump. >> well, i hope he gets there. one of the things that i've talked about and calling for a conservative review, went back and took a look at barry goldwater losing the nomination in 1962. be somebody nominated will him from the floor. he had to withdraw and give his delegates to nixon. and he said let's grow up, conservatives. >> i actually think we have that clip. can we run that? >> we've had our chance. we fought our battles. now let's put our shoulders to the w450heel of dick nix on tha and put him across the line. let's grow up, conservatives.ond put him across the line. let's grow up, conservatives. let's get to work.that and put him across the line. let's grow up, conservatives. let's get to work. >> i think that applies across the boa

senior political analyst, david gergen, senior political report, nia-malika henderson, john king, political gloria borger and commentators, kaleigh mcenany, supports trump, amanda carpenter, jeffly record, also a trump supporter, donna brazile, not a trump supporter. gloria, start with you. the vitriol which has been tossing back and forth, ted cruz calling donald trump a narcissist, pathological liar. >> what does he really think? >> it's quite a change from his tweet months ago that donald trump is terrific and the media's trying to divide them. >> no more bromance here. look, donald trump attacked his father, and in an awful way, said that his father was in some photographs with lee harvey oswald. >> based on the "national enquirer." >> ridiculous. and stupid. and i think he just touched, you know, a cord with cruz who went off on him today. and i think, you know, a combination of responding to that and also he's throwing everything up against the wall that he possibly can because he needs to win the state of indiana. and he wants to remind those evangelical voters in the state of indian

. >> joining me now to discuss this, ron brownstein, senior editor for the atlantic, david gergen, former kayleigh mcenany. thank you for coming on this monday. a lot to discuss, the new polls out, the comments from paul ryan. as you heard him say, david, the party needs to unite for trump to be the next president but he has yet to come out and fully endorse him. what do you make of his comments? >> i think he's on the path to endorsing but he wants to encourage donald trump not only to embrace more of his agenda, but to change the tone of his campaign, to become, quote, more presidential. i think that's going to be one of the great tests for trump in the next few months is how does he become more presidential and bring in more independent voters, for example, and more women while at the same time retaining that kind of charismatic i don't give a damn, i'm going to say anything i please spirit that has attracted a lot of people to him? you know, can he have it both ways? >> well, and you hear what paul ryan kind of listed off. these are the things that need to happen for trump to win. kay