. >>> joining me for insight and analysis this morning are jeff greenfield, contributor to the daily beast, molly ball of the atlantic, kimberly strassel and eugene robinson of "the washington post." welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. when he first began talking about running for president, a lot of people dismissed him, including myself. but there's no denying that donald trump has completely shaken up the republican race. topping national and state polls, drawing 24 million people to the gop debate and simply dominating the coverage so far. i caught up with trump yesterday in des moines, iowa for his first face-to-face interview. i wanted it to be less about personality and more about substance. we touched on a lot of issues, furtherism, isis, immigration, ronald reagan and much more. let's get to it. starting with his standing of the conservative movement. some of the criticism on you from conservatives is you're not a real conservative. when you hear that, you know,

jeff greenfield, what did you learn? >> first i learned that he's moved to a slightly more subtle level than in the opening rounds. actually said, i have to think about that. that's not a sentence that easily comes to donald trump's mind. not sure about that. there was the first vague hint of nuance, which is another word i don't associate with. i must say the answer to the question about where he gets his military and defense advice, he watches shows. once again, i think for an ordinary political person that would have consequences. it's just that i've been so wrong about what was going to hurt donald trump for so long that maybe his supporters will say, that's a good place to figure out your military strategy. i'll watch television. >> here's the thing, a lot of his supporters do watch a lot of television, right, molly? >> they seem to. he is capable of seeming to give details while not -- while being very slippery. he didn't actually answer a lot of your questions. he said, well, it's this or that or say two contradic

jeff greenfield a contributor to politico and "daily beast."jeff, maybe you revised your opinion but don't ruin the premise of this segment. what if trump wins, why did you feel a need to write such a thing? >> i have to say that the piece was not so much what if he wins, but when and under what circumstances do voters do highly unusual unexpected things? and that's the point. when you look in the past, you can see certain parallels. when minnesota elected an ex-pro wrestler, jesse ventura as governor. when california put in arnold arnold schwarzenegger. why did they do that? they did it for a couple of reasons. there was a strong amount of discontent with things as usual. and they saw something unusual. they saw a power they didn't know they had. when ventura got enough money to put on ads, when he qualified for the debates they realized hey we can do this. when the recall of governor gray davis actually made the ballot thanks to a multimillionaire congressman who wanted to be governor voters said wait we don't like this governor, we're ticked

joining me for insight and analysis this morning are jeff greenfield, contributor to the daily beast, molly ball of the atlantic, kimberly strossel, and eugene robinson of "the washington post." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning. when he first began talking about running for president, a lot of people dismissed him, including myself. but there's no denying that donald trump is completely shaken up the republican race, topping national and state polls, drawing 24 million people to the gop debate and simply dominating the coverage so far. i caught up with trump yesterday in des moines, iowa, for his first face-to-face sunday morning interview as a had can. i wanted this interview to be less about personality and more about substance. we touched on a lot of issues. birtherism, abortion, isis, illegal immigration and much more. let's get right to it, starting with his standing with the conservative movement. >> some of the criticism on you from conservatives is you're not a real conservative. when you hear that, some of them will argue on social policies th

joining me for insight and analysis this morning are jeff greenfield, contributor to the daily beast,l of the atlantic, kimberly

joining me "outfront," gloria borger and political analyst and author jeff greenfield he helped moderate in 2000 and 2004. gloria he is not -- we're talking about trump. he is not known for giving specifics. how do you nail down a donald trump in a debate like this in. >> let me say the normal rules don't seem to apply to donald trump but they do apply to the other candidates. you attack donald trump at your own risk. what happened earlier this evening is very instructive. carly fiorina, who did very well as you have been saying in the first debate and rick perry decided when asked about donald trump that they would take him on from the right. that they -- carly fiorina made the point, he changed hisz edd his mind on healthcare on amnesty, on abortion. and so you know they are attacking him from the right saying he is not conservative enough. i guarantee you the moderators who are all good journalists are going to try and get into some of these questions about donald trump. i think it will be up to them once they do it some of the other candidates like rand paul as jeff's piece showed mi

joining me for insight and analysis this morning are jeff greenfield, contributor to the daily beast,l of the atlantic, kimberly strossel, and eugene robinson of "the washington post." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning. when he first began talking about running for president, a lot of people dismissed him, including myself. but there's no denying that donald trump is completely shaken up the republican race, topping national and state polls, drawing 24 million people to the gop debate and simply dominating the coverage so far. i caught up with trump yesterday in des moines, iowa, for his first face-to-face sunday morning interview as a had can. i wanted this interview to be less about personality and more about substance. we touched on a lot of issues. birtherism, abortion, isis, illegal immigration and much more. let's get right to it, starting with his standing with the conservative movement. >> some of the criticism on you from conservatives is you're not a real conservative. when you hear that, some of them will argue on social policies that you're

jeff greenfield, thank you as well. kennedy lived, the first and second terms of john f. kennedy in alter tat minate history." >>> up next, new jersey governor chris christie joins us next right here in the studio. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. remember pa. or obsess about security. she'll log in with her smile. he'll have his very own personal assistant. and this guy won't just surf the web. he'll touch it. scribble on it. and share it. because these kids will grow up with windows 10. get started today. windows 10. a more human way to do. no sixth grader's ever sat with but your jansport backpack is permission to park it wherever you please. hey. that's that new gear feeling. this week, these folders just one cent. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. i wish i was in school. [overlapping chatter] if only i had a math test today. i'll stay after class. i'll clean the chalkboard. i wish i was in school. man: school ends, but free lunches for your kids don't have to. find yo