Transcripts For KNTV Meet The Press 20160124

Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are with this morning. And if you thought this campaign could not get any more unpredictable, look whos considering jumping in, former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg. Joining us are nbcs Kristen Welker, also from nbc kasie hunt and david brooks of the New York Times. Trump versus cruz, clinton versus sanders, eight days to iowa. Welcome to sunday, its meet the press. Weve dug out so good sunday morning and welcome to the Blizzard Edition of meet the press. With one week to go to iowa, both parties are in a bit of a panic mode. The republicans are fractured. With the establishment thinking the unthinkable. The best way to stop ted cruz might be to back donald trump. Mr. Trump will join me on that issue. But well start with the democrats where a more traditional split has developed, think carter kennedy, gore bradlee, even clinton obama. If the clinton folks think theyve seen this all before, perhaps they have, in 2008, again, clintons big lead in iowa and a big lead in New Hampshire seem to have vanished. Again, clintons big lead in iowa and New Hampshire seem to have vanished. Again she appears to face an Enthusiasm Gap and again the hand wringing among her supporters has begun over whats going wrong. If that werent enough, the New York Times is reporting Michael Bloomberg is considering a run at the white house in part because of clintons troubles. This morning, there is good news for clinton. She won the endorsement of the Des Moines Register, as did marco rubio on the republican side but one would argue the Des Moines Register would probably is a greater impact among democratic caucusgoers. Joining me from iowa is Hillary Clinton. Madam secretary, welcome back. Thank you, chuck. Its good to talk with you this morning. You got it. Let me start with this. Your opponent 74 years old, calls himself a socialist, you started this campaign with next to zero name recognition. You have 12 of 18 democratic governors supporting you. He has zero. What happened . Whats gone wrong . Save me the we always knew this was going to be a close race answer. I think its actually good for the debate that were having that there is so much interest i feel on my side and i know so does senator sanders on his. We have a big choice to make. Its exciting. I had a great couple of events yesterday. Im pursuing the opportunity to reach every single voter in iowa and well see what happens. I feel good about where we are. Obviously, well find out a week from tomorrow. If you look at the differences between senator sanders and myself, we cant wait to make progress on the myriad of issues well be facing in the next administration. I want to build on the promise president obama has made and he has a different approach. Thats what voters are trying to determine, which they prefer. The caucuses sometimes are about passion, enthusiasm. Something in the New York Times from gayle collins. Nerlt nevertheless, you cant ignore the fact that Hillary Clinton is the candidate of the aging democratic establishment whose supporters pray for a low turnout on the election day. That might get her nominated in the long run but its not the kind of image that makes you go wh whistling into the election booth. By the way, she wrote that in 2008. By the way, she wrote that in 2008, madam secretary. Is there a deja vu happening here . No, there isnt. I can only react to what im doing, the responses we have from people. I feel great we have the level of enthusiasm that we do and we also have a really good team on the ground that has been working for months to make sure its not just here today, gone tomorrow. But people are involved. They are really reached out to and we believe theyre going to come caucus. The speculation and all the rest of it is entertaining, i admit that. But were going to keep moving forward and do the work we think is going to be successful on february 1st. Are you worried that experience, your long resume, is not an asset in this wild year . No, im really not. I think at the end of the day people take this vote seriously. They know theyre voting for who they prefer to be the next president and commander in chief, and i believe that when i am out there talking with people about what we have to go up against here at home, get economy working for everybody, not just those at the top, begin to raise incomes, which hasnt happened, deal with health care, going from 90 coverage, which is what we have under the Affordable Care act now, to 100 and i lay out what i intend to do to get there, i can only tell you they see people nodding, i know people are signing up as they leave my events. Thats what matters here. Its very personal, and people look and they think, can we imagine this person to be president and commander in chief . And because of my experience, particularly my years as secretary of state working with president obama, i think thats something that people really take into account. What are you willing to you know, its interesting, your husband used a lot of Political Capital you and your husband used a lot of Political Capital to do health care. President obama, arguably, used all of his Political Capital to get health care passed. What is it . What is the one issue you are going to be willing to use all your Political Capital to focus on . You and i both know you basically have one big shot at one big issue. What is it that youre willing to use all your Political Capital to do with . Well, chuck, first of all, i dont agree with you on that. I think there are several really important issues, health care being one of them. Weve got to get costs down. I met a man on friday who no longer can afford to pay for his hiv medication. I met a woman yesterday whose bill she has taken for 25 years has gone from a couple hundred for 14,000 for the same amount of the drug. That really hits my heart. I know what people are going through. Ill use whatever tools i can to get us lower prices, cap Prescription Drug companies and take that on. But im also going to focus on the economy because unless we create more jobs and get incomes rising and fix the tax system so that it doesnt in so many ways tilt toward the wealthy, people are not going to get ahead, theyre not going to feel theyre getting ahead and theyre going to still believe the government is rigged against them which is bad for our democracy. As you know, your opponent senator sanders has been hitting you on wall street contributions and including some paid speeches you did for Goldman Sachs among other banks. Let me ask you this why do you think one of these big banks paid you over 200,000 for a speech . Well, look, i gave speeches to a wide array of groups from Health Care Groups to auto dealers and many, many more, and i think what they were interested in because what we talked about was the world coming off of four years as secretary of state in a complicated world, people were interested in what i saw, what i thought, they asked questions about matters that were on their minds. A lot of interest in the bin laden raid, how such a tough decision was made and what i advised the president. You know, i think americans who are doing business in every aspect of the economy want to know more about the world. I actually think its a good conversation for people to be having. You dont think they expect anything in return . Absolutely not. You know, first of all, i was a senator from new york. I took them on when i was senator. I took on the carried interest loophole. I took on what was happening in the mortgage markets. I was talking about that in 2006. They know exactly where i stand. And ill tell you, chuck, its really interesting to me that now karl rove has taken money from the financial interest to run an ad against me to influence democrats not to support me. Why . Ask yourself why. He knows number one i know what must be done and number two i know how to get it done to make sure that wall street writ large, not just the banks but the investment banks, hedge funds and everybody else, no longer can wreck our economy the way they did in 2008. Two more quick questions. The Des Moines Register editorial, in praising you and your experience, did bring up the email issue as one of those things that theyre frustrated with how you responded to it. Let me just ask you this question. Last week you were asked about the fbi investigation. Are you concerned . You said you havent been contacted by them. Are you concerned this investigation is taking too long . That its putting an extra cloud over your candidacy and until it gets behind you, youre going to have these issues and Michael Bloomberg even cited it as a reason why hes thinking about running. No, im not concerned because i know what the facts are. I never sent or received any material marked classified. I cannot control what the republicans leak and what they are contending. And i thought it was interesting, chuck youll as a political observer understand why back a couple months ago Kevin Mccarthy spilled the beans that the benghazi investigation was all about bringing me down, something that i suspected but i went ahead, testified for 11 hours, answered all their questions, and even they admitted there was nothing new. And now senator grassley shows up at a trump rally yesterday in iowa. Hes the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who has and his staff have been behind and pushing a lot of these stories, and announces hes there for the simple reason, to defeat me. I cant control what the republicans are doing. But i know what the facts are and i will just keep putting them out there. This is something that i think is very clear about what happened and i know it will be over and resolved at some point. But i cant control what the republicans and their allies do. But i think its important voters know what theyre doing. And Michael Bloomberg . Your reaction to his potential candidacy . Hes a good friend of mine, and im going to do the best i can to make sure that i get the nomination, and well go from there. So youre not worried about him getting in . Well, the way i read what he said was if i didnt get the nomination he might consider it. Well, im going to relieve him of that and get the nomination so he doesnt have to. Madam secretary, stay safe on the trail. Well catch up with you soon. Thank you, good to talk to you. Now lets turn to her chief opponent, senator Bernie Sanders, also on the campaign trail in dubuque, iowa. Senator, good morning to you. I want to start with getting your reaction. Ive not heard your reaction to this. Your colleague, senator claire mccaskell, said that republicans were licking their chops getting ready. Essentially they wont touch him right now because they cant wait to run an ad with a hammer and a sickle. What do you say to her . Well, what i say to her is that if she would look at the matchups taking place between Bernie Sanders and donald trump right now she would find that we were 15 points ahead of them nationally, that in states tossup states, battleground states like iowa and New Hampshire or even further ahead of them, that i would very much look forward to a race against donald trump, a guy who does not want to raise the minimum wage but wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top twotenths of one percent who thinks wages in america are too high and who thinks that Climate Change is a hoax invented by the chinese. Chuck, there would be nothing more in this world that i would like to take on donald trump. We would beat him and we would beat him badly. But as you know, a lot of democrats are concerned and not a single one of them has endorsed your candidacy, i just read through that. Not a single democratic senator has endorsed your candidacy. Not a single democratic governor has endorsed your candidacy. What does that tell you . It tells me that we are taking on the political establishment, were taking on the economic establishment, the financial interest in this country and were taking on the corporate establishment. That is what is unique about this race that, in fact, we are trying to make a Political Revolution bring millions of people into the political process that washington and all of these politicians have significantly turned their backs on. So yes we have the establishment supporting secretary clinton. Thats not a secret. But the reason that our campaign is generating so much interest and enthusiasm is people think its time that we take on the establishment. Take on wall street, take on big money interests. And thats why i believe were doing as well as we are. Well, you have been calling for Political Revolution and there have been some critiques over it, though, that youre sort of narrow in where you call for revolution. Tanehisi coates, one of the more respected thinkers in the Civil Rights Movement these days wrote in the the atlantic why arent you for reparations for having to because of slavery for africanamericans when youre calling for Economic Justice on so many other levels . Why do you stop short on that issue . Well, for the same reason that barack obama has, the same reason i believe that Hillary Clinton has. That is that its absolutely wrong and unacceptable that we have so much poverty in this country and it is even worse in the Africanamerican Community. That africanamerican kids between 17 and 20 who graduate high school have unemployment rates and underemployment rates of 51 . That 36 of africanamerican children are living in poverty. This is an issue that we have got to address. And my intention as president of the United States is to be very aggressive in dealing with those issues. To put our kids to work rather than see them go to jail. To improve our schools. Thats what we have to do and i think thats what the American People want. I understand that. But you didnt understand the question why you were why you werent in favor of reparations. Well, again, the same reason that the president is not and i think Hillary Clinton is not. What is that reason . We have got to invest in the future. What we have got to do is address poverty in america, something that very few people talk about and especially poverty in the Africanamerican Community and the latino community. If you look at my record, and if you look at my agenda, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, focusing on high rates of youth unemployment, i think our candidacy is the candidacy talking to the issues of the Africanamerican Community. Well, let me ask you, though, many africanamericans hear that and some will say okay, hes talking about major Economic Justice but an africanamerican raises his hand and says cant get that through congress, cant deal with this because its politically very difficult, a lot of your other plans will be politically difficult if not impossible. Well, look, this is what i think that is looking at Politics Today as a zerosum approach. And what i am try dog in this country is say, you know what . In the last election, 63 of the American People didnt vote. 80 of young people didnt vote in the midterm elections. That is why the rich get richer and that is why billionaires were able to buy elections. What we are trying to is do the say that in american democracy maybe its a radical idea but congress should represent working families and the middleclass rather than just wealthy campaign contributors. So, chuck, what i am trying to do now is change the dynamics of american politics, bring millions of young people, working class people into stand up and fight for their rights. When you that, yes, we can raise the minimum wage, we can create jobs. We can make public colleges and universities tuition free. That is what we have got to do. In 1988, you talked about a major difference between yourself and, at the time, the sort of insurgent candidate on the democratic party, Jesse Jackson. And you simply said jesse believes that serious social change is possible within the democratic party. I dont. Do you still believe that . Well, obviously not, im running for president of the United States in the democratic party. And, by the way, when you talk about my relationship to the Africanamerican Community, check out how many white public officials, elected officials, supported Jesse Jackson in 1988. I did. And he won my state of vermont, he came to vermont, Jesse Jackson is a friend of mine. I thought he ran a brilliant campaign. But what my view is right now and the decision that i made as the longestserving independent in the history of the United States congress, i said if we are going to win this race, we have to do it within the democratic primary process, thats what were doing. And if you win, apparently youre going to have a third candidate in the race. Michael bloomberg has vowed if you are on your way to the nomination, hes running as an independent. Whats your reaction . Well, my reaction is that there will be if donald trump wins and mr. Bloomberg gets in, youll have two multibillionaires running for president of the United States against me. And i think the American People dont want to see our nation move toward an oligarchy where billionaires control the political process. I think well win that election. Bernie sanders, ill leave it there. From dubuque, iowa, well see you next week, i imagine, as we head to iowa to find out what happens. Thank you, sir, stay safe on the trail. Thank you. When we come back, trump versus cruz, each guy knows the other is the obstacle to the nomination. Donald trump joins me next. You can fly across welcome town in minutes16, or across the globe in under an hour. Whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. In less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. And if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. One of many pieces in my life. So when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my longterm control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. Oncedaily breo prevents asthma symptoms. Breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Breo wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. Breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. Breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Do not take breo more than prescribed. See your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. Ask your doctor if 24hour breo could be a missing piece for you. See if youre eligible for 12 months free at mybreo. Com. Welcome back, as tight as the democratic contest is, its the republican race thats become to resemble the end of a Quentin Tarantino movie, think reservoir dogs where everybody winds up shooting everybody else. Jeb bush spent millions attacking marco rubio. Rubio has blasted Chris Christie with super pac adds. Christie has questioned rubios work ethic saying dude, show up to work. Donald trump ridiculed bush for being low energy. Bush called trump a jerk. And then the nonaggression pact between trump and ted cruz crashed with each attacking the other. In fact, heres the latest trump ad going after cruz on immigration. Sounded like you wanted the bill to pass . Of course i wanted the bill to pass. What my amendment to pass. What my amendment did you said the bill. Is take citizenship off the table but it doesnt mean it doesnt mean i supported the other aspects of the bill. And heres a cruz ad hitting trump on greed. I think imminent domain is wonderful. It made him rich, like when trump colluded with Atlantic City insiders to bulldoze the home of an elderly widow. Trump wont change the system, hes whats wrong with it. Joining me on the phone right now is donald trump. Mr. Trump, welcome back to meet the press. Good morning, and i have to tell you, his ad is wrong because i never knocked down that house. I wanted to get the house to build a major building that would have employed tremendous numbers of people but when the woman didnt want to sell ultimately i said forget about it. So hes got me bulldozing down a house, i never bulldozed it down. Its false advertising. All right, i think the accusation was thats what you wanted to do no, the accusation was i wanted to and did do it. You know, if you didnt have eminent domain, you would havent highways, the Keystone Pipeline because they need it if its going to be built. You wouldnt have roads, schools, hospitals, i mean, i dont love imminent domain but you need it or you dont have a country. This race between you and ted cruz, he wants to make it about whos the real conservative. Heres what he said yesterday when it comes to you and conservatism. I want to get you to react to it. Here he is. Perhaps one of the reasons that the washington establishment is rushing so quickly behind donald trump is that donald has been an active supporter. He gave 100,000 to the clinton foundation. Hes actively supported Hillary Clinton as a political candidate. He supported chuck schumer, he supported andrew cuomo, he supported emanu eed rahm emanue know he will cut a deal. I know youve embraced the idea of cutting a deal but some conservatives fear youre not a conservative, that 60 years you werent a conservative, youve only been one the last eight or nine. Most conservatives love me or i wouldnt be having the poll numbers fox just came out, their numbers are through the roof. I would havent the poll numbers i have that. I am a conservative but i get along with people. Ted cannot get along with people at all. The biggest problem he has, hes a nasty guy, nobody likes him. Not one republican senator. He works with them everyday. Not one republican senator endorsed ted cruz. When you think of it, thats impossible to believe. Not one. Im curious. Youve been theying into cruz the last ten days on this issue. For six months you talked about how much you liked ted cruz. He was very nice to me and i kept saying when is it going to happen, ted . I was waiting because i want to counterpunch. I dont want to be the first one. And during the debate which everyone said i won he got nasty and started hitting me and i hit him back. Anything i said was okay to him. Anything i said and he was really look i had people that have been terrific on the stand. I like the candidates on a personal basis. During that period of time i said come on, ted, when is it going to happen . I understand ted, ted is a nasty guy who is not a very wellliked person. It sounded like you said you wouldnt vote for him if hes the nominee. Is that true . I talked about the fact that im not sure that i can vote for him because as you know, he has a major issue. In fact, illinois is looking at it seriously. I dont know if hes going to be okay to run in illinois in the state of illinois. He was born in canada, he was born on canadian soil, he was a citizen of canada can you sign a pledge . Chuck, chuck can you sign a pledge that you will support the republican nominee . That was relating to canada. The question was that and relating to canada. The question is whether or not he can run. I tell you something, from the standpoint of voters in iowa and New Hampshire and all these places that have to vote, how can you vote for a candidate how can you do it when you dont even know if that candidate is able to run. Laurence tribe from harvard said its totally unsettled law. A number of top constitutional lawyers have come out recently over the last few days and said hes not allowed to run, he was born in canada, he cant run. So theres a real question and i said he should get a declaratory judgment. He has to do something because how can you have a campaign when its very possible you are not allowed to run. Let me ask you about National Review, ive seen your tweets, i know how you feel about the magazine and how you feel about this issue. Let me get you to respond to one quote from erick erickson. He writes this like the angels in heaven who rejoice for every new believer, we should rejoice for Donald Trumps conversion to conservatism, but we should not put a new conservative in charge of conservatism or the country. What do you tell conservatives that will make them believe you wont leave the ideology if its convenient or unpopular. Well, thats not an insulting quote. It really is. I was going to hit him hard. It wasnt an insulting quote. The National Review is a failing magazine and you get that. They did it because ill get nice publicity. Ill say this, Ronald Reagan, he was a somewhat liberal democrat and over the years he evolved and became a fairly conservative not overly but fairly conservative republicans. He became a great president also and ive evolved and a lot of people changed positions on things over the years and by the way, ted cruz has changed his position. He was a very, very he was very weak on illegal immigration. And now all of a sudden because of my stance he got strong but cruz was weak on immigration now he got stronger. So lets see what happens. But i use the term Ronald Reagan, i use the name Ronald Reagan and thats pretty good to me. You know, just about well, about 15, 20 minutes ago mitt romney put out a tweet saying four years ago today he put out his tax returns and he believes that every 2016 candidate should release their returns before the first contest. Just so you know, every nominee, mr. Trump, has released their tax returns going back to 1980, but clinton, by the way, Hillary Clinton, we have every tax return that her name has been on since 1977 in the public domain. Will you release any of your tax returns for the public to scrutinized but . Well, were working on that now. I have very big returns and i have everything all approved and very beautiful and were working on that over the next period of time, chuck. Absolutely. Whats the period of time . Before the voting begins . I dont know, this is not like a normal tax return, this is a big tax return and i will say this and im very proud to say it, i think the country is run horribly, i hate what they do with our money and unlike everybody else, i try and pay as little tax as possible because i hate what they do with my tax money. I hate the way they spend our money, the way they give it to iraq, the way they give it to iran, the way they give it to everything. They give it to everybody. You are going to release it . I hate the way our politicians spend our money. I hate the way they give it away to everybody but us. We have to rebuild our country. But you will release it . And i say it and a reporter said thats the most refreshing answer ive ever heard on taxes. Because everyone tries to build it up, like mitt romney, he built it up, tries to build up how much he pays. It doesnt work that way. At the appropriate time youll be satisfied. Finally i have to ask you about bloomberg. What do you make of the idea that if youre the nominee, if sanders is the nominee, that would inspire mr. Boomberg to go third party. Michael has been a friend of mine over the years. I dont know if were friends anymore. I would love to have him run. I would love that competition. Id do very well against it. I would love to see Michael Bloomberg run. All right, you embrace its. Mr. Trump, ill leave it there. Stay safe on the trail, see you next week in iowa. Thank you very much. You got it. Back in a moment, folks, with more on the republican race and the Republican Partys bank shot strategy of late. Support donald trump now to defeat cruz then hope somehow you can defeat trump later. Good luck with that. Well be back. Jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive i accept i do a shorter i set these days. 22. I even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. But i wont play anything less than my best. So if theres Something Better than warfarin, im going for it. Eliquis. Eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus it had significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis had both. Thats what i wanted to hear. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. I accept i dont play. Quite like i used to. But im still bringing my best. And going for eliquis. Reduced risk of stroke plus less major bleeding. Ask your doctor. If switching. To eliquis is right for you. Its possible the republican field can be narrowed down to two candidates. Both camps are making the electability argument. Whos right . Lets look at cruz. According to our latest nbc news wall street journal poll, among these five groups the Republican Party has struggled to win, cruz is underwater across the board. More people have an unfavorable view than a favorable one. Thats bad news for the republicans, right . But now here is how trumps numbers look among the same groups. The negatives are much worse. Look at where he is among africanamericans. His net negative rating is 72 points in the wrong direction. In fact, trumps best numbers in these groups of voters, independents, suburban voters and latinos, his worst numbers are still better than cruzs worst numbers excuse me cruzs worst numbers are better than trumps worst numbers. So looking at it by the data at least suggests trump would start a general Election Campaign in a much deeper hole than ted cruz. When we come back, the Republican Partys double bank shot plan to support donald trump now in order to beat him later. And can you explain why you recommend synthetic over cedar . Super food . Is that a real thing . Its a great school, but is it the right one for her . Is this really any better than the one you got last year . If we consolidate suppliers, whats the savings there . So should we go with the 467 horsepower . Or is a 423 enough . Good question. You ask a lot of good questions. I think we should move you into our new fund. Sure. Ok. But are you asking enough about how your wealth is managed . Wealth management at charles schwab. We broabout this new car. To get your honest opinion to keep things unbiased, we removed all the logos. Feels like a bmw. Reminds me a little bit of like an audi. So, this car supports apple carplay. Siri, open maps. She gets me. Wow. It also has teen driver technology. It even mutes the radio until the seat belts are buckled. Im very curious what it is. This is the 2016 chevy malibu. And it sells for . It starts at twentytwo five. What . Oh wow. I mean with all this technology. Thats a game changer. Welcome back. While the democrats are experiencing the traditional mainstream versus insurgent split, the Republican Party is in a much different place. It appears totally talk from which you ared. The establishment is willing to back trump, at least temporarily, in order to beat ted cruz now. Then theyll worry about how to beat trump later. Let me bring in the panel, mr. Fix, political reporter for the washington post, two of our campaign reporters, i got them to stay here for the blizzard, Kristen Welker who has been covering the Clinton Campaign a lot and kasie hunt, weve had you all over the place, most recently with mr. Sanders and david brooks, columnist in for the New York Times. Welcome to you all. Before we get things started, we have this great little trump versus cruz this week. Its nasty and personal. Take a look. Right now the washington establishment is is abandoning marco rubio. They made the assessment marco cant win this race and the washington establishment is rushing over to support donald trump. His new line of attack is that ive become establishment. Give me a break. [ laughter ] because bob dole is a terrific guy and said trump will do better than cruz which i believe me, i will do better than cruz. If, as a voter, you think what we need is more republicans in washington to cut a deal with harry reid and nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, i guess donald trump is your guy. Guys like ted cruz will never make a deal because hes a strident guy. No, you cannot have that. As our poll numbers have surged, as donalds numbers keep dropping, hes getting more and more rattled. Hes a very tstrident person nobody likes him. David brooks, before National Review came out, you came out earlier in the week beggings by clay all of the the governing wing of the Republican Party you called thism to revolt against both. This is going to go on for a long time. This is the iran iraq war, i want them both to lose. I think thats going to happen. Im the last person in america. This is not trump cruz. This is going to go on for months and months and months. If you have a attacking b and b attacking a whos c . Itm telling you, it will be rubio. Right now you have the conflict between the philosophical conservative wing, which is the National Review crowd, and the rogue wing, which is talk radio and trump. So its interesting to see how that breaks down. Right now trump has the advantage in that because the conservative movement is less than it was 10 years ago. The financial crisis has hit people hard and they want a government on the side of the liberal guy as long as its not filled with liberal values but trump in the short term. Do not panic. There will be months of this. Wait for rubio. If you are part of the republican establishment, you should not go through this scenario that you just talked about, chuck, this triple bank shot. What you want is in my opinion trump versus cruz for an extended period of time. This idea that well, okay, well get rid of cruz and handle trump, if trump wins, iowa, New Hampshire, south carolina, there is no handling. The race is effectively over. I think you want cruz to win iowa, then trump wins New Hampshire, then its a muddle. Thats the way that a rubio emerges. This idea that trump will win the first four or five states, well get rid of cruz and insert our candidate, that doesnt seem to be likely. Kasie, youve been covering the republican side for a while. David i feel like he is the last man standing. I am starting to question whether the establishment can even find a candidate. I think thats why youre seeing so many of them turn and focus on trying to figure out, okay, would i be okay with donald trump . Most of them feel that trump and he said this again in his interview, trumps attack, that cruz is a nasty guy, is ultimately right. They all feel like hes a nasty guy and they feel like while some of those numbers you schroedshowed showed trumps egg in tifrs overwhelmingly, they feel that it could be worse. I think ha whats interesting in my conversation with republican members of the establishment, they have shifted their own when they talk about trump. Theyre now saying hes the best person to make deals, hes someone who we can work with whereas cruz is not. And hes also thats panic thats establishment panic. That makes no we have such a sum establishment. By the way, you will get universal agreement. Conservatives love to go after you, on that they will. That is just embrace ago poison. I mean there will be an inauguration in january, 2017 and a man or woman will be standing up there, thats where Abraham Lincoln stood. Thats where fdr stood. Thats where Ronald Reagan stood. Donald trump is going to stand there . I do not believe that. You sound like the new yorker cover. I should put it up. It was quite cute. It has all these former president s watching donald trump on television with fdr with the remote and theyre all like aghast at this. So theres i talked to a smart republican consultant who worked for a president ial candidate not one in this race but in past races and he said, look, yes, this trump thing is real, its going to go on, the one question i have and i think this is interesting there the a can i imagine this person being president in a hurricane, in a blizzard, being the empathizer in chief after a mass shooting and that trump its impossible for the majority of america to conceptualize donald trump in that role and at some point, though it wont be on february 1 and it probably wont be on february 9 and might not be until march or april or may, that reckoning will happen at some point and the goal is to have someone who looks the role of the president , whether its rubio or jeb, which is unlikely. But someone else other than him. Thats the argument the republican establishment has been making ever since donald trump got into this race. June 16, yes. And here we are. And the reality is, the challenge for these establishment candidates is that you still have to prove to the voters that you are big enough to run for the presidency before you get to the point where youre handling hurricanes and none of these guys marco rubio, jeb bush none of them have been able to stand up in a way that makes them seem bigger than donald trump. If he gets an electoral victory under his belt if trump were to win iowa i think that perceptions but starts to change. And based on my reporting his ground game is more robust than initially thought. Im just wondering, david, earlystate voters, they dont vote with their head. Theyve been conditioned to vote idealistically. Either on the left or right. So this is where i think the establishment both Hillary Clinton and the establishment are suffering. Well, at some point but then you get to later states. At some point these early states vote identity more than whos going to make the change, who will deliver. Because theyve been fed this. This is like a big cultural event in these early states. In the later states i think emotions are lower and they are more pragmatic, second something will happen in the middle east. Events will happen and third cruz and trump going after each other week after week, that will start to look ugly. Well, that a buy and then the question is is there a candidacy left . Thats the question. Lets take a pause. Well be back in a moment and talk about the democratic race with my fine quartet here and how Hillary Clintons 2016 run has some wondering if its the 2008 model all over again. U do allon a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. Your Insurance Company raises your rates. Maybe you shouldve done more research on them. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. After a dvt blood clot. Mind when i got out of the hospital what about my family . My lil buddy . And what if this happened again . I was given warfarin in the hospital but i wondered if this was the right treatment for me. Then my doctor told me about eliquis. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. Not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots, but eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Knowing eliquis had both. Turned around my thinking. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. 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What is it you wish voters would use as a test to decide who to support . I think its the question of who can lead the country and equally who can run the government. Government is different and especially the federal government is different in many ways than running a business or anything else and people who have never run a government often have no idea how complicated it is and how difficu difficult. If youre a ceo, you dont have 535 members on your board of directors. You may have 12 or 15. Youre here, we should talk about isis. I wont tell you which candidate is saying these things, i just want you to assess the different ideas. One candidate we wont weaken them, we will utterly destroy them, we will carpet bomb them into oblivion. Another candidate says you take away their wealth, knock the hell out of the oil, take away their oil. Another says they want a nofly zone. Another Coalition Says you have to bring together a muslim coalition, sunni and shia fighting side by side. Whats realistic . I think bringing in some kind of Arab Coalition to try and help, creating some kind of humanitarian corridor or safe haven. Theyre both tough but you could do them. The first alternatives, i think, are completely unrealistic. And further more wouldnt accomplish the job and i cant figure out whether those who are arguing that really believe they can do that or whether theyre being cynical or opportunistic. The first two you were cruz and trump, the second to two that you say are realistic are clinton and sanders. Voters are told they can find a coalition to do this but are they cynical and think nothing ever changes in the middle east . Is that why voters are more susceptible to bold or brash . Or simple. And the problem is most of these problems are not simple and it requires first of all building coalitions in washington. It will be useful in terms of Foreign Policy and National Security to have coalitions in washington where washington speaks with relatively one voice, one sum unity before we form coalitions around the world. Only eisenhower, ford and bush 41 did not evoke deep animosity. The next president will be polarizing. Just due to the nature of our politics. But it doesnt need to be that. Okay, i hear it doesnt need to be but your examples, two of them couldnt even win one couldnt win a full term on their own and the other couldnt win reelection. Polarization helps these guys win. Thats part of the problem, isnt it . Well, i think the question is who can move country and that will require reaching out to the other side and we have had polarizing president s that nonetheless were able to reach out to the other side and move the country forward. After all harks very, harry tru of the most unpopular president s in American History yet established extraordinary things. You said until you were 10 you didnt know his first name. You thought it was gosh darn. So you should be on the Michael Bloomberg side of the aisle. He is a potential candidate that is saying he wants to create a campaign that would have people on both sides. Practically speaking, i dont see how a third candidate works. How a third candidate can be elected. But you must like the message. What im interested is a candidate for president who talks about how to bring us together as people, who says we have a common destiny and who can emphasize that we can Work Together to address problems in the country. Wise words from you. Well see if the voters will listen to your way of figuring out how to decide who can lead this country. Robert gates, congrats on the new book. Thanks, chuck. Thank you, sir. Well become be in a moment with our end game segment and one washington resident who thought the blizzard of 2016 was the best thing that could possibly happen. You can collect rainwater to shower with, but there are easier ways to go green. Like taking shorter showers, which conserves water and lowers your bill. Youll sing long ballads in the rain and short ditties in the shower. The more you know end game time, the panel is here. The democratic side, david brooks, what did you make of clinton v. Sanders this morning . If i didnt know anything about these t race until i saw these backtoback interviews today i would think sanders has honed his message and captured authenticity and joy and Hillary Clinton hasnt honed her message. Theres a lot of chinese menu stuff, a, b, c, d, so you can see why hes doing well. You have to pick that message, hone it, deliver it, velocity. I think they have a message but they dont they know it doesnt fire voters, which is experience counts. I was struck, chuck, when you asked her what her top priority was going to be, the number one thing she was going to spend Political Capital on, i dont feel like she had a clear answer about what it was she cared the most about. She in some ways backed into it, talked about health care. I was surprised she made it health care in an odd way. Really . Were going back to the 1990s. The whole argument is this is about the future not the past. When i was watching these interviews back to back, its remarkable that a 74yearold former mayor of burlington vermont, avowed socialist who on your show refused monthsing too say im not a socialist, hes the change and future candidate. Its the way that she has found herself in this race, its deja vu all over again. Her only benefit is Bernie Sanders does not equal barack obama in that Bernie Sanders at least doesnt have support in the black community anywhere near barack obama. So she may benefit from that. From her perspective. Who she is as a candidate is still the same, thats the problem. The primary calendar is her friend here. Theres a lot of states with large africanamerican voting blocks. She continues to invoke health care because she continues to hug president obama and his policies. It might not be as effective in a place like iowa and New Hampshire but it matters in a place like south carolina. Shes very focused on building up a fire ball that the south and in those supertuesday states in case she does lose in iowa. It feels like shes setting up a march message. Going to your point, the federal message is idealism and she doesnt have it. I think the same is on the republican side. Well get more pragmatic, both races will be long, some big terrorist blow up somewhere, shell look a lot better. But right now lacking the joy. I just i mean this with trump and hillary, this idea that you can simply lose to a socialist 74yearold who no one thought had any chance of being anywhere close to her. The idea that you can lose iowa and lose New Hampshire and people are go on their merry way. David may be right, that its an extended race with twists and turns that she eventually wins. Thats the only pass that she wins a race you know the last pull to pull that off . Their last name was clinton. Im just saying. Bill clinton has familiarity. Much lower expectations, though, chuck. He had his own Bernie Sanders. Jerry brown. Stay. Stayed in forever. And his own billionaire. Ross pro. Second round of the come back kid in New Hampshire. But, chuck, if youre a Hillary Clinton supporter, theyve been saying this from the beginning, this is the toughest part for her, the campaigning, the getting out there and selling her message. Connectivity. Being authentic. But they say she has built a ground game in iowa very much modeled after Barack Obamas ground game. They still think theyll get the people out. New york times paul krugman had a great piece, he said Bernie Sanders is thea aay theary athe arary heir to candidate obama, Hillary Clinton is the heir to president obama. If people want somebody who can manage, theyll go for her. Theres some part of the count dry that does want that. Well see where they are and if they live in iowa. We spent a lot of time talking about how politicians in washington cant agree on anything but here in this town we cant agree on how much snow fell this weekend. There was a mixup in the measuring process at Reagan National airport meaning the official numbers underestimated the amount of snow which had fallen. Some people think our deficit get s dealt with that way, too. But one thing we can agree on, its impossible not to smile of d. C. s most famous chinese resident, tian tian tian ti, th having a lot of fun in the show. Thats what i did on my way to work yesterday. Looks like my sixyearold, genuinely. With fur. Just a little bit more of this in our lives and wed be happier. Panda for president. Im going to leave it there. Next week well in in iowa. Everybody will be in iowa. I cant wait. See you then. If its sunday, its meet the press. Venture capitalist vin node keys las sits down for a rare interview to talk about what he sees in the year ahead. Plus, revolutions in big data ahead at 9 00. This morning legendary venture capitalist vin owed khosla in a rare interview. He sits down with me to talk about what he sees in the year ahead, and Big Data Company ayasdi, finding answers where others didnt each know to request the questions. Asking the questions this week, our reporters far rad man jaw of the New York Times and laura sidel of npr. This week on press here