joining me now are joan walsh from the nation, and clarence page from the chicago tribune. thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> pleasure, reverend. >> clarence, what's the gop argument here? >> well, they're saying that it -- there's -- not a precedent for an appointment during an election year. the -- argument -- and democrats are saying there is. this is something that, of course, is critical this year because the court is so evenly divided, without scalia there. so we can expect more of a fight in any case, and president obama's supporters are certainly in favor of him making a decision before he goes out of office. because the court is -- current court is getting older and older. the next president could have as many as four appointments, just rationally speaking. this came up in the debate last night, too. so this is not like one of those years where a liberal being replaced by a liberal president or a conservative by a conservative presence, we have really the future of the court could swing 180 degrees, depending on this decision. >> yeah, this is going to

. >> joining me now msnbc political analyst joan walsh. ben, let me start with you. i honestly, i mean, i feel divided because this is spectacle. it's entertaining. it's not the political coalition to which i feel personal affinity. it doesn't share my values, but it's also just mortifying. what is happening? sdp >> i think you're seeing change from existing and kind of a left right political paradigm to one that is being made into something different. maybe an up down. it's a dramatic change. it's a shift in language. you see the difference in the way that marco rubio was talking last night in that kind of way. that kind of trump imitating way which is designed to connect with certain people who want to see that from their political candidates as opposed to speaking in the measured tones that we're used to from republican politicians who are trying to become president. there's a certain attitude toward being presidential that is now going away and i think the other thing we're seeing chris is really a moment where i think republicans are waking up to the fact that t

the founder of blue nation review and msnbc political analyst and correspondent for "the nation" joan walshth you, joan, here with me in columbia. shall we put that map back up of where the democratic contenders are. i want you to look at that map. you wrote a book called "what's the matter with white people." it's very interesting and you started breaking down some of the issues of race and identity that sort of complicate things for democrats. one of the things i find fascinating about what's happening with bernie sanders right now is the map, is where he is strong and where he is weak. it does seem that what's happening is that he's starting to -- i think we have that map up, that are less minority. >> right. secretary clinton has really used south carolina as a proxy for the african-american vote nationwide. she's been very careful, she's been very attentive, she's come here a lot, she's coming back tonight, she's coming for a victory party, but i think she's also been trying to say, kristen used the word redemption. after '08 when there were a lot of bitter feelings and missteps on the

joan walsh and john fieri are still with me.g well here in nevada, and trying to get himself to super tuesday, with the delegate count that he talks about, what i have currently in front of me is he has five delegates as compared to trump, who's off the charts at 79 after four contests. can super tuesday help close that gap for him? >> well, we'll see. i mean, rubio and cruz don't have many more than kasich. i think that kasich's got -- >> true. >> -- ohio, a bunch of delegates for ohio. i think he'll do well in michigan. he's got to break out of the pack, obviously. i think for him to stay in, he's got to prove that he's going to do fairly well in the super tuesdays. you know, he doesn't have to win anything, but he's got to pick up some delegates. especially up north of the mason-dixon line. most of the delegates are not in the south. they're not in the s.e.c. primary. they're in the rest of the country. and i think kasich's got a really good record and he's got a lot of appeal. so i think for him to stay in, he's just got to

joining meç now from the liber tap room, columbia, south carolina, msnbc political analyst joan walshyou have some people saying the democrats now have an opening, for sure, if donald trump is the front-runner and is the nominee. >> oh, yeah. i thought they really took some solid hits at him. i don't know that it's going to hurt him in the republican primary, tamron, because very little has. nothing has so far. but i think they got in what's going to be a theme for democrats, which is he claims he's a successful businessman, but he's a businessman who has been sued a lot of times, that trump university thing is a big deal, there have been several allegations of fraud. he has been fined for his hiring practices. there's lots more where that came from. i don't know how much that will matter in the republican primary, but it's something we will see a lot of in november if he is the nominee. i thought it was a good night for democrats. i can't say it was a great night for the gop. >> some might say that was a softball because we pretty much predicted what you would sayç there. so now to