. >>> cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein joins me from los angeles also a senior editor at the atlantic. hello, ron, cpac mired in controversy. some conspicuous absences. is cpac still the place to be? >> not really, in the republican party. it has its internal problems with the person who runs it, the sexual misconduct by another republican but also seen as a trump subsidiary at this point. it is reflected in one way of an interesting kind of evolution and trump's appeal in the republican party when he won the first time it was surprisingly little differentiation in the support from very conservative voters to moderate voters. this time, if you look at the early polling about 2024, he is much more dependent on the conservative voices in the party and the conservative voters. you can see that reflected in the fact that he's dominant at cpac meanwhile most of the field in his backyard in south florida auditioning for the club for growth which is a conservative group that focuses on economic issues. >> meanwhile, ron desantis is visiting southern california and that of attending

ron brownstein, always good to see you, my friend. thank you. >> thanks for having me. >>> tonight on cnn prime time pamela brown takes a closer look at trump's legal woes from election interference to mishandling of classified documents to hush money payments. so what happens next inside the trump investigations airs live tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern. >>> in the meantime, the chinese and russian presidents are meeting behind closed doors. this is as russia's war on ukraine continues to heat up. the co-chair of the congressional ukraine caucus, congressman mike quigley, will be with us live. >>> plus, a fox producer now suing fox, claiming their lawyers coerced her to give misleading testimony in their defamation battle against dominion voting. the details of this these explosive investigations. >>> cnn has obtained video from inside the hospital where a man died in police custody. seven officers and three hospital security guards have been charged in his murder. what the video shows about their actions on that day. behold... all that ta

let's talk to ron brownstein, senior editor at the atlantic.nd juliette kayyem, a national security analyst and a former assistant secretary in the department of homeland security. juliette, i want to start with security for you, there are serious questions about logistics here in donald trump is going to surrender to a manhattan courtroom, if he's ultimately indicted, it's not just a question of him getting there. there's enormous public interest in this case, obviously, he's a former president and he's called for protest. >> yeah. so, let's start with the first one which is just simply getting a body, that's all he is, from point a. to point b. we know how to do this, even if it involves the secret service. they certainly know how to do this, and they are viewing it as essentially just a transport. that they're not going to make a big deal out of it. yet, in new york, of course, they have to score the facility because of potential protests, because of the public interest. a lot of this is going to depend on trump because, of course, he can go

. >> and ron brownstein senior political analyst and senior editor for the atlantic, one of the bestn iowa in the caucuses. but if you're talking about a republican primary, jeff, where do you think and based on what you saw things stand for the former president in the hawkeye state? >> there's no question many republicans are open to an alturn. . really every conversation begins with they like trump's policies but they don't like his personality or behavior. we've heard that for years and years. that doesn't mean they wouldn't vote for him in a general election, but the primary caucuses come first. there are also many waiting in line right now in davenport who are eager to support the former president once again. so the party is divide. there's no doubt about that. but there is a sense of fatigue that hangs over virtually every conversation with republicans both in iowa and new hampshire, early states, and acrass the country they are ready to turn the page because they're ready to win back the white house. however, someone has to defeat president trump. he's not going to be defeated

ron brownstein, thank you so much. good to see you. >> thanks, fred. >>> still ahead, more winter weather alerts for residents in california who are already buried under snowfall from last storm, the latest forecast next. >>> plus, chris rock finally addressing the oscar slap, and all that seemed to make history and got everybody's notice. it took place in netflix's first live global streaming event. what he had to say about will smith and the infamous moment, straight ahead. supply fuel for immune cells and sustaiain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals,s, and enensure complete with thirty grams of protein. hi, i'm jill and i've lost 56 pounds on golo. hi, i'm barry and i've lost 42 pounds. jill and i are a team. if she tells me to do something, i usually jump on board. golo was doable, it's realistic, and it's something we can the rest of our lives. i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's mea

ron brownstein, seung min kim, thanks so much. >> does it feel familiar? why. please do check out ron's analysis on cnn.com about the divide inside the republican party. >>> still ahead this hour, have lawmakers found an issue that republicans and democrats can agree on? up next how how a new bipartisan bill could ban tiktok in all of the u.s. in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control®. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels anand contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and supppport muscle health. try boost® today. >> does it feel familiar? up next how how a new bipartisan ♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are yoready♪ ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or vi

. >>> let's discuss this with cnn's senior political analyst, ron brownstein. former president urged his supporters to go back to the streets. how do you interpret this message? >> well, you know, what makes this message so striking is that it comes after january 6th and after the clear effect of his words on that day. you know, if you are the most sympathetic to trump observer possible and you go through ton contortions and backflips, you can come to the conclusion in the most generous possible interpretation that he did not know on january 6th that what he was saying would lead to violence. even with those backflips, you cannot reach that conclusion today. i mean, he knows what he said on january 6th, he knows the reaction to it, and yet here he is delivering similar messages. it is reckless. it is dropping matches in gasoline. and what is so striking is that as so many points in his presidency, once again in this period, you do not see any mainstream republican leaders condemning him for this rhetoric, and in fact, you see them rallying around his argument t

so this guy, ron brownstein, had this observation. >> the dividing lines is not so much about economicsbout how the country is changing. it's the fault line in the politics and the energy in the republican party are those that express resistance from that for what is happening. >> laura: dan, the response here is that people who are against dei are essentially racist, insular. >> it's the opposite. when i speak to people of black and brown, they don't like the crt or the dei either. they want their children and they did in their lives. they want things through merit, not the color of their skin. that they get this opportunity. we want everyone again to have an equal opportunity but we cannot get away from merit. the best should be able to get into our colleges, the best should be able to be hired. laura, a part of this started very quickly at the university of texas here up the street behind me. they came out early and said they were teaching critical race theory in college. we banned it in k-12 last session. i said in a tweet, we banned it in k-12, we'll ban it in higher ed. they said

. >> ron brownstein is a cnn senior political analyst and editor for the atlantic.ns me now from los angeles, great to have you with us, at the cpac gathering donald trump attacks president biden and many vowing retribution, and establishment republicans and what became clear at that gathering is that trump remains king for now at least, and that is reflected in polls showing had my far ahead in the field although ron desantis has a chance of threatening trump's position but only if it becomes a two-man race. where do you see the republican nomination for the presidential race going from here? >> you know, it's interesting because as you point out, donald trump has reestablished a lead in polling, there have been more polls showing desantis ahead including some key states like new hampshire the last few weeks. but trump showed over the weekend i think both his strength and limitations, the strength is that he has an iron grip on a portion of the party, particularly the most conserve elements of the party, and particularly voters without a college degree in the repub

trump to go back to what brownstein said a minute ago, ron, i think he is exactly right.y correct. desantis on college educated is correct and i have an easier time believing desantis can cut into the noncollege than i think trump could cut into desantis' existing college educated base. that is why i've always thought even in the polls that show trump ahead desantis har more room to grow than trump because i'm not sure where he'll find the extra coalition out of college educated voters. >> at some time i think if you think back to mccain, right, and how he would make sure to speak up and push back on maybe something that a voter would say or he would be very vociferous. and this is something you used to hear more from republicans that if there was another republican who was saying something that they thought was bigoted, and they didn't think should represent the party, they would come out against it. right? i mean, sometimes you'll see that they don't come out as vociferously as they used to. i wonder if when you're looking at voters trending in that direction, if that i

joining me to discuss all of this, ron brownstein is a senior political analyst and a senior editor for the atlantic. jonathan wackrow is a former secret service agent. gentlemen, good to see you both. so ron, let me begin with you. and your reaction to trump's claim that he will be arrested tuesday, he has called for protests and, by the way, the manhattan d.a. confirming that there is an arrest or indictment scheduled for tuesday. >> that is part of the story that he's putting a specific date on it the d.a. is not. the largest point is the one that you mentioned. if you are the most sympathetic observer possible to donald trump and you do double back flips, you could find some credence in his argument that on january 6 he did not know that his language would lead to violence. but january 6 has now happened. he knows the effect of the language that he used that day and how it led to violence. and here he is, coming very close to that language again. it makes it very hard to avoid the conclusion that he is willing to use the threat of violence as part of his political strategy and that

. >> yes, he made his -- we'll see what happens, ron brownstein, always a pleasure.ng us live from los angeles. many thanks. >> thanks for having me. >> and, still to come, the meeting in moscow, the leaders of russia and china to help their close ties as the west keeps a close eye on any developments. the latest on the talks, just ahead. mm. ...a "chow down" day... a "take a big bite" day... a "perfectly delicious" " day.. - mm. [ chuckles ] - ...a "love my new teteeth" da. because your clearchoice day is the day everything is back on the menu. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. ♪ this feels so right... ♪ adt systems now feature google products like the nest cam with floodlight, with intelligent alerts when a person or famiar face is detected. sam. sophie's not here tonight. so you have a home with no worrs. brought to you by adt. get refunds.com powered by innovation refunds can help your business get a payroll tax refund, even if you got ppp and it only takes eight minutes to qualify. i went on their website, uploaded everything, an

joining me now to discuss is ron brownstein, a senior political analyst and senior editor for "the atlantic so the florida governor making steps in iowa and nevada as part of his national book tour. are his messages resinating? >> we are seeing a sharp contrast. people have not appreciated the extent to which pooud is moving aggressively to try to shape the terms of debate. ron desantis and donald trump are leaning very heavily into culture war messages. talking about restricting what teachers can say about race and gender, sexual orientation and eliminating requirements for firearms and the roing back rights and this whole agenda that's advancing across the red states. by contrast, biden is very not discussing those cultural issues and he's stressing kitchen table economics. he's talking about his blue collar rebuild america, jobs that be created, defending medicare, lower drug prices and the question among democrats is he skillfully shape ing the battlefield or ducking that they have to have confronting some of what's going on in the red states. >> in fact, you wrote that while some fwrks

. >> let's talk about this with political tom at a timer ana navarro with us, and ron brownstein.sting to hear what these members are saying. what do you make of it as they keep their dance from touch. >> everything old is news again. in 2016 he had extraordinary support, fewer than a dozen house members endorsed him. he was out-raised by people like jeb bush, marco rubio, and ted cruz, and the network of donors all -- he's been president in the middle, but largely in the same position, the club for growth is having a retreat where they pointedly excluded trump from the list. the question is, whether we'll have any more impact this time than last time. one is that argue that you heard from some of those members there, more do you see about whether trump can win than in 2016, and the po templeal that ron desantis could unify the forces in the parties opposed to trump more effectively. >> ana, they did worry if he could win in 2016 as well. i wonder, when you're listening to them and listening to the dynamics, is this like 2016 all over again, or do you see differences here? >> look

ron brownstein is a cnn senior political analyst and senior editor for "the atlantic."f law at loyal that law school and host of "the passing adjustment" podcast. they both join me from los angeles. a pleasure to have you with us. >> hi, rosemary. >> so let's start with the historic failure of the silicon valley bank. ron, the biden administration moved very quickly to stop a potential banking crisis, assuring depositors they will be able to access funds monday. will this be enough, though? and what challenges lie ahead with this? >> well, you know, whether it's going to be enough, we're going to see when the markets respond to it tomorrow. but the fact that they went beyond the $250,000 statutory limit and said depositors are going to be kept whole, you know, is a -- is both a sign of how concerned they are that this could spread, but also how difficult it is, really, to draw that line. whatever the law says, you hear the argument that unless we cover all the losses for depositors, that there is the risk of this becoming a kind of domino effect in the economy. in some

discuss, alyssa fair griffin, cnn political commentator and former trump white house director, and ron brownsteincans who disagree with i would say 2023 ron desantis because 2015 ron desantis said something very different. let's listen. courtesy of the k-file, a radio interview. >> we in the congress have been urging the president, i have been, to provide arms to ukraine. they want to fight their good fight. they're not asking us to fight it for them. and the president has steadfastly refused. and i think that's a mistake. >> so that's eight years ago. why the flip? >> i think this was a terrible political miscalculation by governor desantis because it was precisely that. as recently as 2015 after the invasion of crimea, he was in favor of armor ukraine to the teeth and criticizing the obama administration for not doing more. this was clearly an effort to cater to the maga anti-interventionist wing of the gop. what i think he's going to be surprised to learn is that's a vast minority in the republican party. the language i think really resonates in a negative way with republicans like myself is t

. >> right, so ron brownstein has been describing the divide in the republican party in terms of justmiliar to everyone who remembers the oas election, white check and beard check. donald trump is the beer truck candidate. the guy does not drink, obviously. he represents an has brought in all these blue collar voters. he brought in these low propensity voters that don't necessarily turn out. they have reshaped the republican base even more. someone like ron desantis, these other candidates, really to represent the more traditional college educated hire republican voter. for as much as they are trying to very clearly trying to appeal to the trump voter, i still don't think they really got it, especially true on questions of social insurance, questions on government programs, even medicaid. these are voters who may benefit from medicaid expansion, and republican politicians, and elites especially, are so incredibly hostile to these things. i don't think they quite figured out how to triangulate these things. and every time, as he just demonstrated. trump is going to be hitting on this c

we have ron brownstein, senior editor for the atlantic. okay so ron when asked if an indictment in the hush money case could help trump politically. west virginia moderate senator joe manchin said. it just emboldens him. he's the type of person that sometimes it's sometimes emboldened by more outrageous things. there's many reasons not to be for him, and i think that when the court system is perceived to be be used for something different. it could have a completely reverse effect . what do you think about that? and what do you think about politically what this does for trump? well, i think there are issues about what this is for trump and also what it does for the party thinking about the republican primary. i think it furthers the divide that we see. i talked to a number of republican strategist this week. there's no question that for a portion of trump's base, this will be a galvanizing event. this will be proof of his frequent argument that they the establishment are going after me because they really want to silence you. but there was

. >> van, the senior editor for "the atlantic," ron brownstein, today says that leading gop candidatesgnite a procession of culture war firefights. he writes, "biden by contrast is working to downplay or defuse almost all cultural issues. instead biden is targeting his communication with the public almost exclusively on delivering tangible economic benefits to working-class families such as lower costs for insulin, the protection of social security and medicare, and the creation of more manufacturing jobs." there is another view of this strategy, although agreeing it is a strategy. here's how bill maher put it. we're going to rerun our special with him tomorrow night. and here's something -- i don't think this made the final cut but it's relevant to this point. >> joe biden does -- i think his default setting for this is just i don't argue with the far left on those issues that are important to them. i mean, for some reason gen z thinks of trans as the civil rights issue of their time. and joe's just not going to fight them on that. >> how do you interpret biden's hands-off approach on

elliot williams, a former boston police commissioner, ed davis and cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein. thank you so much for being with us on this historic day as we're covering a former president who has been indicted elliott as we're breaking down, and still there's a lot we don't know. this indictment is under seal. sources say there about 30 charges affiliated with it, given that what do you make of what trump's attorney said this morning that he expects grounds for dismissal at any moment. grounds for dismissal on what basis he like. everybody else should wait and see what actually appears in the indictment now look based on what he appeared to be saying that the idea of stacking one crime into another, it's a relatively straightforward new york state statute that allows for the charging of a misdemeanor and possibly elevating that to a felony. if that misdemeanor were used to aid in the commission of a crime , no one has seen what any misdemeanor er zor felonies being talked about the context of the president. maybe are so you know, i think it's a little premature to even be tal

y diversity is threatening american culturetening america., so this guy, ron brownstein, has been around forever. had this trench observation dividing lines between the partiewnstein, hads is not h economic as it is how you feelns about the way the countrybout how th is changing. that is the fundamental fault line in our politics.nging. it's the fault line in the and it is clear the energy in the republican party is for candidates who express the ene resistance to that in all sorts of ways, from classroom censorship to bookman's ofat for what's happening on lgbtq rights in the red states . yes. re okay, so the response here is that that people who are against d.c.i are essentially racist, insular and don't want others in their community, like georgetown, brentwood and all the other fancy neighborhoods around the country that are all liberal by the it's it's just the opposite. and when i speak to people ofk color, black and brown ,don' they don't like the crt, they don't like the dti either.e they want to their childrenr as they did in their lives. they they want to achieve things through

. >>> i spoke last hour with cnn political analyst ron br brownstein, how he would hold up in the blistering attacks. >> he plans on offering republican voters trumpism without trump. he will fight all of the cultural wars that trump does but not trail that baggage. he goes after what republicans would call woke or liberal prosecutors, and also reminds people of the personal baggage that trump brings paying hush money to a porn star is symbol of all of the scandals trailing him. and you see donald trump sc scorched earth attack on anyone, who stands in his way, as we saw in 2016. and any republican who is operating under any illusion that trump will not do everything he can to tear down desantis, through any means necessary, and referring to allegations about his behavior, when he was a teacher, it's just the beginning of what will be just, you know, an extraordinary turn in the blast furnace, for ron desantis, beyond anything he has faced. >>> still to come, the meeting in moscow. the leaders of russia and china tout their close ties as the west keeps a close eye on any developments. the la