you guys listened to that discussion with ron nehring. your reaction?le have this conversation like transgender people don't exist. this whole conversation is being had as though their interests don't matter. ted cruz is out there demonizing them. i think it's disgusting. it's also not working. the ad that says donald trump is just another of the pc police. does anybody believe that? i think donald trump -- he's not above demonizing people. he's looked at this and made if judgment that people are not really squacared of transgender people. people don't think there's a big issue in bathrooms requiring new laws restricting them and imposing penalties of transgender people. i think he realizes it's not a good issue for scare mongering. >> i want you to listen who what charles koch said about trump and cruz's anti-muslim rhetoric. >> what's worse is we'll have them all registered. that's reminiscent of nazi germany. that's monstrous. >> when you hear another top presidential candidate talking about making the sand glow and carpet bombing in the middle east?

from the cruz camp, national spokesman, ron nehring. and former representative pete hoekstra who supports ohio governor john kasich. this is "risk & reward." i'm deirdre bolton. it's a pivotal election cycle. up for grabs, 42 delegates on the republican side. perhaps a potential change in narrative. for the past 30 years wisconsin has always gone with the front-runner from both parties but tonight may break that pattern. as one analyst says, wisconsin is cruising and feeling the bern jeff flock is in wisconsin. this is open primary. if they want one they throw out the one they don't want to use. what does this mean for tonight? the. reporter: makes it awfully hard to handicap it but as you report, i think, deirdre, possible these voters behind me at this milwaukee voting place could hold the future of this campaign in their hands. first to the front-runner, gop front-runner that is, donald trump. he was behind by 10 points in the latest state poll. another one came out showing him ahead. he stayed in the state this morning. he was in wa

also ron nehring for ted cruz campaign. thank you for joining us. ron, trump wasted little time bringing up the senator's earlier remarks about so-called new york values. listen to what trump said. >> i've got this guy standing over there, looking at me, talking about new york values with scorn on his face, with hatred -- hatred of new york. so folks, i think you can forget about him. >> does senator cruz regret making those comments? >> well, you know, donald trump gets really defensive whenever senator cruz challenges new york liberalism and new york liberals. because donald trump has been funding and bank rolling so many new york liberal democratic politicians and the new york democratic party for so long. look, wolf, everybody knows that senator cruz, what he was referring to with that and that he's challenging the liberal status quo in new york city and new york state that has produced some of the highest taxes in the country. so many people who are forced to leave new york state because of those high taxes and the economic opportunities that ar

liz: senator cruz's campaign national spokesperson ron nehring is here.ay kasich is 100% wrong? >> he is in no pathway to become the republican nominee. he loses in state after state after state, he's lost over 30 times now. clearly as we go forward we can have donald trump as the republican nominee who loses to hillary clinton or have senator cruz with positive optimistic reform oriented message, continuing to focus on jobs and the economy and reigniting this economy in the wake of the disaster we've had coming out of the obama administration in terms of high taxes, regulation and obamacare. that's what our choice is going forward. john kasich can continue to say what he's going to say but not going to be the republican nominee for president. liz: tell me why your candidate campaign in california when we have the new york primary so soon, next tuesday. he's trending third behind cruz and donald trump. this time around, anything could change. >> this is a long ball game. it's a nine-inning game, we're at the bottom of the fifth. we have california, new je

deirdre: cruz campaign national spokesperson ron nehring with me now. ron, welcome back. strategically, why did senatator cruz spend time in new york? >> well, think that's a great question because it stands in contrast what we've seen in some campaigns of the past people say, well, new york, that is just a bunch liberals there. no need to go but senator cruz has been determined from the very beginning to wage a 50-state campaign to earn vos of republins in primary contests from all 50 states. why we organized in iowa from the beginning of process, california, new jersey, vote at end of the process and new york being somewhere in between. senator cruz will be in the state repeatedly. he had a great event in upstate new york today and came back down to new york city for another event. so we're working hard to earn support of new yorkers at every opportunity. we know it is donald trump's home state. we know he has the home ste advantage. we know he is expected to do well but -- deirdre: ron, let me interrupt you if you don't mind. >> sure. >> did the senator regret comi her

cruz national spokesperson ron nehring is with me now. ron, welcome back. we are glad for you to be here. >> thank you. deirdre: i want to ask you about cruz's comment in a minute, but just mathematically focusing on the number it is impossible for senator cruz to get more than 100% of the available delegates up for grabs. when he says we're going to a contested convention, on what grounds? >> well, that is that based on upon the projection that no candidate is going to get to the necessary majority of the delegates in advance of the convention. and that means we go to a first pool lot and then, most of the delegates, big chunk of the delegates at that point are free to vote their conscience. we know at that point, many of those delegates will coalesce behind senator cruz because they identified senator cruz as champion on issues that bring them to politics in the first place. we may have slightly longer series of balloting than happened any convention in 20 years but at the end of that process i think senator cruz will most likely be the nominee. deirdre:

deirdre: all right, ron nehring, thank you so much as always for the time. >> my pleasure. deirdre: cruz campaign national spokesperson with me there. speaking of the rules, donald trump says the rnc is overseeing a rigged system. >> the republican national committee, they should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen. i can tell you that they should be ashamed of themselves. deirdre: my next guest is a member of rnc rules committee. he will be joining me to explain how the rules are made. stay with us. ram trucks are reaching new heights when it comes to capability and efficiency. the ram heavy duty is the most capable full-sized pickup on the road today. and, the ram 1500 is the most fuel-efficient, full-size pickup. ever. so what does that mean? it means ram trucks give you the best of both worlds. so go big. and go far. because the best never rest. we believe in the power of active management. anagement, we actively manage with expertise and conviction. so you can invest with more certainty. mfs. that's the power of active management. burning

let's discuss this and what today means with ron nehring with the ted cruz campaign and craig dunne, a republican party chairman in indiana, the great state of indiana. great to see you craig and ron. thank you so much for joining us. so, ron, first to you. john kasich yesterday, he was asked about this alliance and specifically asked what is your message to indiana voters? what should they do, and he says i never said they shouldn't vote for me. they ought to vote for me. what does that mean for your deal? >> it's nothing unusual at all. the arrangement that we worked out with the kasich campaign is a resource allocation strategy, and that is that we're going to concentrate our time, energy, and effort in indiana. he's going to concentrate his effort in oregon and new mexico, and that's it. nobody said we would ask anybody to vote for any other candidate and the like. so this is perfectly consistent with what's been worked out and what we already announced. >> remain calm, all going acc d according to plan. ron, last week on this show you called john kasich insufferable. is he still

ron nehring, thank you so much. always a pleasure having you on. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> and a quick programming note. a big night of politics tomorrow here on msnbc. it starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. that's when chris matthews moderates an exclusive town hall with governor john kasich. then, right after that, chuck todd will host a discussion with voters and texas senator ted cruz. again, those back-to-back exclusives begin tomorrow night, only on msnbc. we'll be right back. >>> oh, and when we return, our coverage continues live from brooklyn. the gop's battle over delegates. reports are surfacing this morning that ted cruz is working to stump trump, of course, in contested conventions. this as indiana's gop party works to finalize its delegate slate. could it all add to trump's ongoing complaints about the system being rigged? ari melber will join us with some new developments on the delegates. and our coverage of the sanders campaign continues with our sanders embed danny freeman. he's with the sanders motorcade on their way to verizon's workers, they

let's hear it straight from the cruz camp's mouth, ron nehring joins us.t talk to me about conventions. you cannot deny the will of the people. and now this. how do you justify this action? >> i had a fupny feeling you would bring this up. >> yes. >> political campaigns are dynamic. we have a 19-week long process. the nature of that contest has changed from our original win in iowa, super tuesday to now where we are today, looking forward to john -- june 7th. donald trump being the nominee would be a disaster, turning the white house over to hillary clinton and congress over to chuck shuchumer, nancy pelosi a the like. we have to meet the strategic realities of the time, involving competing very strongly in the state of indiana, coming up. gathering as many delegates. >> i get the theory of the case now but pragmatism aside, what about principle? forget about the convention. that's not how these things are supposed to be done. that's the insiders, the bad, bad, bad. now he has both his arms wrapped around it like his favorite teddy bear at night. how do yo

here to talk about the battle is ron nehring andrew boucher. ron, we're going to start with you.ruz's new york values comment is haunting him. has he had any success turning that around? >> ted cruz, you've seen the events in upstate new york and back down for some outreach events with the orthodox jewish community in new york city. if you saw the footage of the event, particularly the one in upstate new york, there was a line wrapped around the block. so that's pretty good turnout for -- particularly in the context of this media narrative that nobody in new york likes senator cruz, which is obviously not true. we're waging a 50-state campaign, we're going to ask for the votes of the republicans, including in the state of new york. there's some opportunities for us there but obviously it's donald trump's home turf and he is expected to do very well there. >> to that point, barry, new york is donald trump's home turf. he's put a lot of effort into campaigning here. is trump confident he's going to have a sweeping victory in new york? >> we're not taking anything for granted. but i

ron nehring national spokesman for ted cruz for president campaign. welcome to you. heck after charge. how do you back it up? >> we've seen evidence over and over and over again people acting as agents of donald trump campaign engaging in brazen acts of intimidation. roger stone who is henchman for donald trump said in interview said they would give out hotel names and room numbers of delegates at the cleveland convention who didn't do what the trump team wants. that is pretty amazing that is the type of th in some third world country somewhere but something not should be allowed. bill: but specifically -- >> will be a very dark day for our democracy will be allowed to continue. bill: specifically on allegation senator alleges where is the proof. >> speak to the chairman of the colorado republican party. this is no mystery what is going on there. colorado had system in place since 1912. our campaign read the rules and respected wishes of the voters of the republican party who ultimately adopted this system. we played by those rules. donald trump played by those rules

katrina pierson and national spokesman for ted cruz, ron nehring.o pc that caitlyn jenner should be able to use which ever bathroom she wants. explain to me what the position is here that individuals like caitlyn jenner should be forced to use the men's room? >> no. i think the issue is what happens at our high schools and our elementary schools and the like across the country, particularly in the case with north carolina which exercises its rights to enact legislation aimed at clarifying this particular issue. this has been an issue in my state as well. people are concerned about having the prospect of having grown adult men in a bathroom at school and the like. that's something that many people find offensive and inappropriate. >> has this ever happened, that you know of, in california, or anywhere that you know of, a tra transgender in a bathroom harassing a girl? >> difficult laws are being phrased in different ways. part of the issue in my state where it has been debated in california,an anybody walk into any restroom of any gender at all, the

[cering] dedre:ruz campaignational spokesperson ron nehrings wi now. n, welcome back. collusiomeans seet. so, i'm just curious as toto yor intereretation of donald trump's comments? >> well, you know donald trump, who fashshions himself as mr. unpredictable and mr. exexible and the great nenegotiator and the like, certainly rereacted in very ededictable way. the guy has been the most predictable peonon in this campaigno o r. he flips out. ststarts throwing insults arou.. he iacacting like a confident peperson? isomomeone really on track to the nomination like hehe claimse isis, would he really behave ttt way? or wouould he pivot to be more presidenti, , a little calmer, a little more ratialal and like? that is what he would dodo. that is whatat he was trying too for a coupuple of days last wee, be morore presidential and less insulting and the likeke. true to form h he reverts back o bebeing insulting and petty and small because he knows h he is n real troububle. he knows he is not on trtrack to get marityty of the delegas he eds. on a second ballot you w will se a mam

back with me jeffrey lord, ron nehring and matt lewis.for the obama administration. >> our rivals no longer respect us. they're just as confused as our allies. but an even bigger problem is they don't take us seriously anymore. truth is they don't respect us. >> how would president trump go about regaining that respect? >> well, look, i think it would be about doing what you say that you're going to do. so no redlines. i think it would be about building up the military as trump talked about. so, look, i think that trump is clearly identifying an area where most republicans are going to agree with him on. the question is it gets a little confusing. and even some of the things that i said are almost contradictory. i said it would be doing what you're say you're going to do. but, on the other hand, we have to keep people -- doesn't telegraph what you're going to do, we have to keep them guessing. i think that speech had elements of brilliance in it, things i really liked but it's almost like there's a final draft that needed to be written, l

here is kayleigh mcenany and ron nehring and matt lewis, senior contributor to the daily caller and authorb to fail." ted cruz picks carly fiorina for a running mate. is this a hail mary, you think? >> carly fiorina is tremendous. i got to know her when i was state republican party chairman in california, she ran for the u.s. senate there. she won a republican primary, a hotly contested republican primary. she energizes people, she's knowledgeable about the issues. >> she's very qualified but is this a hail mary? >> no, it's not. senator cruz arrived at his decision as to who he would like to see as his running mate. why sit on it until the convention? she's a very, very powerful campaigner, a great addition to the team. now she can go out and campaign with senator cruz and american people can know this is who the ticket is. if we nominate ted cruz, we'll have carly fiorina be a great vice president. it's a total winner. >> we heard donald trump say cruz doesn't have a pathway to the nominated. at what point should he quit? >> donald trump is going to get mathematically eliminated by the 1

. >> let me bring in now from houston, texas, ron nehring to follow up on the reporting from hallie. thanks, ron, for joining me. >> you bet. >> let's talk about some of the strategic campaigning from senator cruz. he's already on to pennsylvania. did the campaign play to the evangelicals too long and too much and now you have this pivot of trying to broaden the potential people who have said in polling they don't like donald trump but they have not gone to senator cruz? >> well, a couple of things on this. first is that there were 17 republican candidates for president. five have consolidated behind senator cruz. we're seeing that being reflected not only nationally but locally as well. the state of california we released the list of 50 state and local republican officials who were consolidating behind senator cruz. exactly what we said would happen is happening in terms of as this field has narrowed down to effectively a two-person race, we've seen that consolidation on our part on the part of senator cruz going forward. so we're well organized and prepared for the states that are n

bringing in political commentator and trump supporter jeffrey lord as well as ron's nehring, for tedght of what i said, a new strategy seeing from a quieter donald trump following a rough week? >> i think all of these campaigns pivot to some degree as they make progress, and i think with the hiring of paul manafort and concentration on delegates are you going to see in essence the next stage of the campaign. i'm sure salutely different than before, but this is what happens in campaigns, they evolve. this is the evolution for the trump campaign. >> so why isn't trump in colorado, like ted cruz is? you would think he would be there wanting to pull in those delegates? >> in all candor, decided to put his focus on new york. a good thing. never take your home state for granted, as marco rubio found out the hard way. so i think he's probably intending to concentrate on new york and that's where his concentration should be at the moment. >> you mentioned paul manafort, the new convention manager. in fact, he said he is confident that there will be only one round of voting at the republican

let's bring in ron nehring, national spokesman for the ted cruz campaign. >> look at that smile. >> doctory lap there, ron? >> ever since carly fiorina's joined the campaign, it's just been a tremendous bolt of lightning and we'll see what happens today in the great state of indiana. we're here in indianapolis for an event, packed house at the indiana war museum right now and we'll see what governor pence has to say on the radio. >> we know what governor pence is going to say on the radio. sources say the governor is going to endorse ted cruz. why don't you talk about the significance of that endorsement to the campaign. >> i think if governor pence would make an endorsement in the campaign, we'll let the governor speak for himself, he's well respected as a conservative leader, a strong record in the united states congress before becoming governor of indiana, and i think that as we go forward, you know, indiana is going to play a very, very important role in this race. you know, donald trump had a good week last week. we won five races and now we're heading out to the west in more favo

i want to talk about this with barry bennett and ron nehring for the cruz campaign. interesting stuff happening today. barry, to you first. trump needs a win in indiana. let's talk some more about what the indianapolis star just put out. they are blasting donald trump and say, "is that going to be the road block to trump taking the hoosier state?" . "a president trump would be a danger to the united states and to the world". what do you think? a road block? >> they haven't persuaded too many indiana voters against voting for republican voters who they have always opposed. >> so you're not concerned about that at all? >> no. no. >> ron, here's what the former speaker john boehner -- he's making news today and not holding back. take a look at this. [ laughter ] >> lucifer in the flesh. i have as many democrat friends as i have republican friends and i have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life. >> lucifer in the flesh and he's never worked with a more miserable s.o.b.? >> i want to say that over and over again. the more that senator cruz is recog

back with me now, jeffrey lord, ron nehring and matt lewis.got another question for you. trump's big foreign policy speech today. he had some pretty harsh words for the obama administration. listen. >> our rivals no longer respect us. in fact, they're just as confused as our allies but in an even bigger problem is that they don't take us seriously anymore. truth is they don't respect us. >> so how would president trump go about regaining that respect? >> look, i think it would be about doing what you say that you're going to do. so, you know, no red lines. i think it would be about building up the military as trump talked about. so, look, i think that trump is clearly identifying an area where most republicans are going to agree with him on. the question is it gets a little confusing and, you know, even some of the things i've said are almost contradictory. i said it would be doing what you say you're going to do. on the other hand, trump says, well, we have to keep people -- don't telegraph what we're going to do and we have to keep them gues

we talkedto the cruz team last hour and ron nehring said he was not on board at this time .knows what the truth is. at one point we will find out. speed. martha: so the chairwoman of the dnc saying the investigation into hillary clinton's email is a waste of time according to her. justin napolitano says there's got to be something there because those fbi agents are not on this case for fun. he joins us live coming up next. bill: running down a dream in zero gravity. this is an astronaut taking on a marathon. guess where he's doing it from?♪ ♪ running down a dream. bill: the governor still talking, leading his troops but no new indication as to the headline of the morningwith him teaming up with ted cruz to deny delegates for donald trump. we are keeping a close eye on it, let you know when there are headlines . martha: eating and talking to reporters is a delicate art. dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz dismissing the investigation into hillary clinton's handling of the state department emails. calling the whole thing nothing more than a quote, distraction. >> is ludicr

martha: ron nehring is a spokesman for the cruz campaign. good to have you back. >> you bet. so that's not according to the trump campaign. they've been saying over the past couple of days that they do see the path to 1237, so if that happens, will ted cruz withdraw? >> donald trump's not going to get to that number. we've gone through state by state very carefully with very conservative estimates as to what's likely to occur, and we're well organized in all of the states that will vote between now and the time we wrap this thing up with california on june the 7th so ultimately, at the end of the day i think we're going to have an exciting convention, one we haven't seen in quite some time. not unprecedented, you know, it's happened before. i think that's what's going to occur. martha: when you look at the exit polls, you had 70% of those who answered saying they believe that the person who has the majority of the votes -- not the delegates -- is the one who should carry that party's nomination. and then you combine this with, you know, some of the ground that appears to be s

, eric trump will be with us as well as the five cohost juan williams and national spokesperson ron nehring will be here. all of that straight ahead. turning back to politics, missouri's presidentially republican front-runner at a total of 755 delegates. one step closer to the magic number of 1237 delegates to secure the republican nomination. trump continues to speak out against the primary process. yesterday claimed in the process raked in upstate new york rally. >> the rnc, the republican national committee should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. i can tell you that. they should be ashamed of themselves. because it has nothing to do with democracy. they took the votes away from the people of colorado. people are burning up republican cards because they want to go. you've got to see what to see would have been a myth out there. it's a thing of beauty if you want to know the truth. maria: to republican national chairman defended the process. he spoke us in the nomination process has been known for more than a year. it is the responsibility of the campaigns to understan

let's discuss with national spokesman for ted cruz, ron nehring, and new york city councilman, co-chair> good morning. congratulations. >> thank you. >> so trump snagged almost all delegates. >> at least. >> at least, right. i know it's early still. which means, you know, mathematically, cruz cannot get to that magic number of 1,237. i know you would like to and avoid this whole contested convention chaos altogether. what's the plan? how do you do it? >> right, the chief take away from last night is ted cruz is now math mattly unable to come up with 1,237 delegates. from what we've been seeing over the past couple of weeks, i don't think the cruz team's message ought to be the voters be wear. it doesn't matter. we're still going to compete, try to siphon off in the convention. donald trump won in almost demographic and geographic in the region, and we're well poised to take on super tuesday neck week. >> ron, to you, is it possible to clinch for your candidate ahead of cleveland? you want the contested convention, you really wanted the second ballot. what is your strategy? it's all abou