Another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works. In one week. With the. Fastest retinol formula. To visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. It is wonderful to be here. Back in 1928, president coolidge came on a battleship. It took him three days to get here. It only took me three hours. [ laughter ] president obama flew the 747 over to cuba today and i dont
know if you heard this, it just came out an hour ago, he landed in cuba and raul castro, or fidel castro, raul castro, the head of cuba, wasnt there to greet him. [ laughter ] folks, what are we doing . What are we doing . What are we doing . Can you imagine if i were in that position and i landed and nobody was there . They would say donald trump must be incompetent to allow a thing like this to happen. The head of cuba, who was there for the pope and he was there for other dignitaries that come in but he wasnt there for the president of the United States. I mean, we are amateur hour, folks. Amateur hour. [ applause ] and honestly, obama should have turned the plane around and left. No, he should have. He should have turned it around. He should have said byebye. Well, there you have it. Good monday morning. Its march 21, mika and willie have the morning off. Were reaching out the joe who will be with on set in new york. We have managing editor of Bloomberg PoliticsMark Halperin. Veteran i hate saying that, can we change that . Legendary columnist in and msnbc contributor Mike Barnicle. Hello, mike. Hello, nicolle. Senior Political Editor and White House Correspondent for the Huffington Post fresh off his way too early success. Good to see you this morning. And msnbc political analyst and professor how did you get such a better intro than poor barnicle . Shock to me as well. Former democratic congressman harold ford. And in havana, cuba how often do you get to say that nbcs senior White House CorrespondentChris Jansing. Hello, chris. Good morning. Good morning. Got a lot of news to get to this morning. I know, go ahead, chris. About 100 Republican Convention delegates up for grabs tomorrow with a winner take all primary in arizona and a caucus in utah that has a proportional split but becomes winner take all if one candidate exceeds 50 . In arizona, a poll taken before last weeks contest found that trump had a significant 12point lead, 31 to cruz at 19 , Governor John Kasich tied with marco rubio at 10 . In utah, a postrubio poll puts cruz 593 . Kasich in second at 29 . Trump down at 11 . 2012 republican nominee mitt romney posted on facebook friday in the utah nominating caucus i will vote for senator ted cruz. Adding at this stage, the only way we can reach an open convention is for senator cruz to be successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections as possible. A vote for Governor John Kasich in future contests makes it extremely likely that trumpism
would prevail. So donald trump battled back with a jab at the former massachusetts governors faith while campaigning in romneys new backyard of Salt Lake City. I have many friends that live in salt lake. I have a lot of friends. I have a lot of friends. By the way, mitt romney is not one of them. The [ boos ] did he choke . Did this guy choke . Hes a choke artist. I cant believe are you sure hes a mormon . Are we sure . He choked. He choked. Yeah, wow. Okay, so Mark Halperin and nicolle, he has a lot of friends in salt lake. You knew he did. I mean, you knew coming around here that when we got past the early states that Salt Lake City was his kind of city. So very interesting, this battle between romney the and the establishment and trump seems to be getting hotter by the way. This weekend you couldnt go on
twitter and look at the influencers on the right and left where you didnt see every second or third tweet was just a vicious attack at trump and then countercharges from trump. It seems to be getting uglier out there instead of both sides making peace, right . I think so. And the big question is how does this end in any peaceful coalescing around anybody at our convention . Its difficult to put all of this back together and its becoming a hotter war not less bombastic. Its a big day with trump in washington meeting with some congressional officials, republicans, and having other private meetings and speaking to aipac, but its a big two weeks. We have contests tomorrow in arizona and utah but also two weeks from tomorrow is wisconsin. And i think if kasich and cruz cant figure out a way to stop trump in wisconsin he may be able to be on the path to a
majority and uniting some of the party but hell never unite all of it. Mike barnicle, though, it seems that the antitrump crowd is getting angrier by the moment. Its like time is not healing any wounds. Its stirring things up even more and theyre getting so dug in at this point that i dont see how they put this Party Together again over the next several months. I just dont. Joe, they seem to be heading down a path to a total destruction. You have a cabal meeting secretly. We get reports this weekend, tomorrow night 50, 100 members of the establishment. They could not beat donald trump, they missed donald trump for months and months and months when he was right in front of everyones face. Everyone was hearing his voice other than the small secret cabal of republicans, now theyre going to try and steal it from him because they couldnt beat him. This is really ludicrous. Chris jansing is . I want to pick up on both what he was saying and what Mark Halperin was saying, that Donald TrumpsUnconventional Campaign making conventional moves today. Trump is heading to capitol hill to meet with those two dozen influential republicans at a nearby law firm according to the Washington Post. The guest list is mostly unknown, though politico reports senator tom cotton of arkansas will be there along with senator Jeff Sessions of alabama who endorsed trump last month. Robert costa reports that antitrump super pacs will be staking out that meeting for footage of republicans who attend as republicans take part in the hundredday dash to halt trumps mart to the nomination and planning begins on an alternative ticket should they fail. Weekly standard big kristol is suggesting Third Party Candidates, under tom coburn and
rick perry. Coburn has privately considered a bid but said he doesnt expect to be the candidate. Meanwhile, perrys former Campaign Manager says the governor wants the gop to unite around senator ted cruz who he has endorsed. Joe . All right. So sam stein, theyre talking about bringing trackers toll follow people that would have the audacity to follow donald trump. This is at the point you can declare your party is at an all out civil war. This surprised me. Were talking about a republican operated antitrump super pac going after fellow republicans for meeting with the republican frontrunner. You have to step back and think to yourself, the partys kind of coming apart here at the seams and its interesting because the more Establishment Republicans
do actually go to donald trump such as Chris Christie, senator Jeff Sessions, the harder it becomes for them to take it away at the convention because trump will have more mainstream people complaining on his behalf saying no, no, he got the most votes, he got the most delegates, maybe he didnt reach the critical threshold but he deserves this. So as you get more and more Establishment Republicans, it becomes his nomination. In addition to that, what happens if he arrives at this convention somewhere w somewhere between 1125 and 1225 delegates, 112 to 75 shy, to his point. How do you stop him . I understand you go from a second vote and third vote, but from a practical standpoint and you see the momentum that hes i mean the thing that happened this week were very troubling. We watched on television with his Campaign Manager who didnt
try to defuse the situation, but lets pause that for a moment. I dont know how you stop him once he gets to the convention. Does he lead . Does our third party they talk about third Party Mainstream candidate. There could be a Third Party Trump candidate if he decides not to run. From marks standpoint, the reporting, what do you get . Do you hear neigh hexd launch a Third Party Candidate . It will be too late for him at that point to get on the ballot as anything but a writein. But the Republican Party has a hundred different ideas about how to try to stop donald trump. What are they . Its too late that the point. Does anyone in trumps camp get so angry this is happening. There are only four of them. But you tried to separate out the violence im not. No, no. Thats at the core of the discomfort. As an american, its deeply troubling to watch that. It concerns me he would not i
mean, he condoned his Campaign Manager and condoned im just saying, look at palm ry paul ryan having to go out and condemn these types of actions. At the core of the republican establishments opposition to trump is precisely what you described. Has a Campaign Manager ever served due w served dually as a crowd bouncer before . Im curious, youve been out there almost on a daily basis with these campaigns, specifically the Trump Campaign. How close do you think the Republican Party is to just saying we surrender, were going to have our gallipoli moment, well go out of the trenches and run to our deaths with donald trump in the lead. How close they to that as opposed to this ridiculous meetings theyre having with people trying to take the thing away from him snrj. Its hanging in the balance. You can see a largely unified party in cleveland and you could
see, joe, an absolutely divided Republican Party. I think it depends on how many more contests trump wins and also stylistically how much he reaches out. How many more Chris Christies can he find in the Republican Party . Well, that depends on two things. The first thing has to do with the violence. The violence has to be tamped down. It makes the republican establishment for good reason very uncomfortable. Of course there are protesters all over the place. Hes always being interrupted. You know what . They need to not respond and thats not his brand but the more incidents like this that happen the more uncomfortable the republican establishment is for good reason. The second thing has to do with the fact that were hearing it more and more, we saw in the the david brooks column yesterday, the unprepared nature of everything. The lack of depth on policy issues, the lack of experts around him. The inability to get up and dig a little bit deeper than just surface soundbites. Thats one thing Chris Jansing
that people are looking forward to date, an sproord extraordina important speech at aipac. Will donald trump sound president ial for the first time in his campaign . Some people close to him are letting reporters know this morning that they are going to see a new donald trump and this is where he makes a turn to the more president ial approach that hes been promising for a very long time weve heard it before, as you say, and this is an incredibly important day with all the remaining president ial candidates who are going to be speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs committee, commonly known as aipac. Hillary clinton, john kasich, ted cruz, and donald trump all in washington today. Addressing an expected crowd of about 18,000 people. Several groups are expected to protest trumps remark this is evening with a group of rabbis planning a walkout after he is introduced while others are advocating a less disruptive
boycott. Despite his typical offthecuff style politico is reporting that trump has taken input from a number of very significant jewish influencers who have reaffirmed to him the importance of this particular speech. Now, last month, trump said hed like to broker a deal between the israelis and the palestinians and got criticism for saying hed be neutral something which he says his speech is going to address. I think making a deal would be in israels interest. I dont know one jewish person that doesnt want to have a deal. A good deal. A proper deal, but a really good deal. Define a good deal. Well, ill define that tomorrow because ill be defining it tomorrow. Im not going to define it now. Im going to define it tomorrow. But we would like to see and everybody would like to see a real deal be made, not a deal that will be broken, a real deal that will be made. Something that can be lasting. Yeah, you know, mark, the question is whether he can discipline himself. Thats, again, what the republican establishment, a lot of people in the media have been wanting for a long time. Can donald trump discipline himself to deliver an indepth policy speech . If he tries to deliver an indepth policy speech will he make the same mistakes ben carson made talking about hummus as a dangerous, dangerous food. Will he actually be able to stand up and deliver . I think our questions about whether the republican establishment is going to get serious about donald trump or not depends on whether donald trump is going to get serious about being a president ial candidate and start acting like one and talking about policy and the way that a lot of americans expect from their president. Look, if you were scripting this in a fictional way, todays event would be right in your script because this is of all the things that president ial candidates are asked to do. Speaking to aipac is among the most difficult and substantive. Its complicated. You have to navigate a ton of different constituencies and it
involves nuance. So, mike, do you think trump will go in there and give nuance and depth and president ial demeanor or he going to wing it . First of all, well see a different donald trump. Are we going to see a donald trump reading a prepared text and sticking to prepared legitimate points on perhaps the most controversial aspect involving the world peace potential world peace. On the one hand, he has ba Bibi Netanyahu who continues to provide over a system where they increase housing allotments. And palestinians have never come to the table really in a sensible way and hes got to do that but, mike, i think he will do that. Its just 10 minutes later does he get on twitter and call his first twitter a jerk . I actually think he is capable of that. I think he can stand at a podium and read a tell prompter. But weve lowered the bar to a ridiculous level. Were asking if he can read a teleprompter when hes running
if president of the United States. Hes probably one candidate whos gone away from republican orthodoxies, not just on israel, about cuba, the iraq war, so on and so forth. And every time hes done it weve assumed he done, but he goes up in the polls. So will he do it . I dont know. Or stick to a prepared text . Im curious to see if theres a protester in the room or if the rabbis get up and leave how he reacts. Get the rabbis out get them out of here this will be remembered for a long time. To your point, sam, thats most important, where does he come down on policy . Because he wont be able to escape the statements he makes here Going Forward around Foreign Policy. Famous last words he wont be able to escape. Cant you see that, rabbis walks out on trump. Sad. Jerks, losers. Still ahead on morning joe, another weekend, another
scuffle at a trump event. Now hes speaking out. Well play his latest remarks. Plus, a world in disarray. Richard haass is back from overseas with a sobering assessment with the next commander in chief. First, bill karins. A snowy morning for some in eastern new england and hopefully this is it. You have snow this morning, three to four inchs on the ground most locations. Schools closed for kids in boston today. That snow is moving up to maine. Youre done with your snow, d. C. , philadelphia, new york is done. So additional snowfall, we may pick up one the two inches boston north wards. Portland, maine, to bangor, that may be the worst drive. Down east maine could pick up six to eight inches. Its not just new england. We have freeze warnings across much of the deep south, even northern louisiana. Its rare to get freeze this is far south this time of year. Were at 29 in oklahoma city, 38 in montgomery. Even atlanta is chilly at 38. This is one of the coldest mornings well see until next winter. This is a good time of year because the march sun is strong. Well have 68 in dallas, 60 in atlanta. New york city will be at 51 and that snow on the grass will be melted by the end of the day. For our friends in the northeast in new england with the snow, tomorrow looks better getting up near 50 in boston. New york city, youre done with your snowflakes. We got about a half inch in the park. The roads are just wet and it looks just fine for this afternoon. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. [alarm beeps]
the intelligent, allnew audi a4 is here. Aint got time to make no apologies. Trolling for a gig with cant blame you. Its a drone you control with your brain, which controls your thumbs, which control this joystick. No, im actually over at the ge booth. Were creating the Operating System for industry. Its called predix. Its gonna change the way the world works. Ok, im telling my brain to tell the drone to get you a copy of my resume. Umm, maybe keep your hands on the controller. Look out ohhhhhhhhhh. You know what, im just gonna email it to you. Yeah thats probably safer. Ok, cool. Shoshow me more like this. E. Show me previously watched. Whats recommended for me. X1 makes it easy to find what you love. Call or go online and switch to x1. Only with xfinity. Welcome back to morning joe. Chris jansing, a very, very busy weekend for Bernie Sanders. Tell us about it. It was, indeed. He was out west. Several states in that region, as you know, joe, hold votes tomorrow and this coming weekend. Ahead of tomorrows arizona primary, sanders visited the u. S. mexico border in that state before holding a rally in phoenix attended by more than 3,000 people. He then traveled to Washington State, which caucuses on saturday, and turned out more than 7,000 people. To an event yesterday in the city of vancouver. After that, he held a massive rally in seattle where he addressed a crowd of more than 10,000. So those crowds keep coming. His day ended in spokane where he spoke in front of another huge audience. This one between 7,000 and 9,000 people its estimated. Meanwhile, heres what he had to say about his opponent earlier in the day. We need real change in this country and, between you and me, i do not believe that real change is going to come from a candidate like secretary clinton who receives millions of dollars from wall street. Who receives who has a super pac that receives 15 million bucks from wall street, money from the fossil fuel industry, money from the drug companies. Mark halperin, 10,000person crowds packed in wherever he
goes. How does this not translate to votes . Its the crowds, its the fundraising, he raised in another month pretty substantially and the calendar coming up is good for him. There are a lot of caucus states and primaries where he could do well. People like to think about both these races as being over, the Washington Post has a front page story about trump versus clinton looking to the general election and thats certainly something on the mind of some clinton folks but she is going to have to figure out how to deal with Bernie Sanders in the coming days because of the crowds, because of the money, because of the credit rirhetori. Hes not done fighting. Hell go all the way to california. Harold ford, he keeps raising money, 43 million. Hes got extraordinary crowds. Hes got excitement behind him and the only thing that Hillary Clinton does is win. I like the latter more than the former if i were running. She just needs to keep winning. If Bernie Sanders im a clinton supporter, i would love if he would get out. But he has every right to stay in. I hope he continues to excite and get voters focused on the real differences that will voters i should say the real choice voters will have in the fall between either donald trump or whomever the republicans nominate and a democrat. Ty think mrs. Clinton has to stay on that track, sharpen her economic message and talk more specifically about how you will empower the middleclass Going Forward. She stays on that path, shell be able to excite Bernie Sanders voters come fall. The big question for bernie right now. Because the democratic system is proportional meaning even if you do well you only get a certain number of more delegates, hes got to not just win these states, hes got to blow her out. And while he is raising a lot of money, hes spending more than she is. So he has less cash on hand. What is he spending that money on . Staff, tv, all the stuff that comes with the Major Campaign apparatus, the question facing him is can he use his more limited resources even with grassroots fundraising he has to win a state like california
6040, which i dont know if hes capable of doing. And the second question is at what point does he actually tamp down the attacks against clinton because that stuff we saw was probably more personal than anything hes done in the campaign. A lot of party people are not happy with it. Big showdown in wisconsin for both parties two weeks from tomorrow, joe . Big showdown. We thought we had big showdown this is past week and hillary swept them all. Bernie sanders has to start wracking up very big wins very soon or people will be asking why does he stay in the race and further divide the Democratic Party . I certainly understand the logic of him staying in the race up to this point but hes got to start putting points on the board or his Campaign Just doesnt make any sense. So when we come back, very tough mustread opeds about donald trump. The toughest from david brooks, well read that. Plus maureen dowd weighs in on Donald Trumps strongman approach when we return. Its more than a network and the cloud. Its reliable uptime. And multilayered security. Its how you stay connected to each other and to your customers. With centurylink you get advanced technology solutions, including an industry leading broadband network, and cloud and hosting services all with dedicated, responsive support. With centurylink as your trusted technology partner, youre free to focus on growing your business. Centurylink. Your link to whats next. Youre all set to book a flight using your Airline Credit card miles. And surprise those seats sometimes cost a ridiculous number of miles, making it really hard to book the flight you want. Luckily, theres a better way. With the capital one venture card. With venture, youll earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, every day. And when youre ready to travel, just book the flight you want, on any airline, then use your miles to cover the cost. Now youre getting somewhere. Whats in your wallet . And to help you accelerate,ast. Weve created a new company. One totally focused on whats next for your business. A True Partnership where people, technology and ideas push everyone forward. Accelerating innovation. Accelerating transformation. Accelerating next. Hewlett packard enterprise. Watching tvs get sharper, oh remotes, youve had it tough. Bigger, smugger. And you . Rubbery buttons. Enter the x1 voice remote. Now when someone says. Show me funny movies. Watch discovery. Record this. Voila. Remotes you are back. The x1 voice remote is here. X1 customers get your voice remote by visiting xfinty. Com voiceremote. Welcome back to morning joe. Chris, this past weekend more violence at trump rallies, protests all over the place. Sometimes hes interrupted 10, 15, 20 times and once again trumps own team back in the news as we discussed earlier in ways thats sending shivers up the spines of members of the republican establishment. Get us up to date with what happened. Yeah, another long and
unsettling weekend on the campaign trail, joe, as you point out. Donald trump facing intense protests, including protesters in arizona blocking off the highway to one of his rallies, cabling themselves to cars and chanting shut it down. But the Trump Campaigns actions at the highest level also came under scrutiny this weekend. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez has this report. Reporter this weekend, the anger boiled over. Are you pushing me . In tucson a protester in a white hood escorted out by police. Another one behind him repeatedly punched and kicked by men in the crowd. That protester, brian sanders, spoke with nbcs jacob rascon. This Political Movement has got on the the point where you may get beat to death inside of a rally. I just got my [ bleep ] kicked. Its this video raising even more questions. Trumps Campaign ManagerCorey Lewandowski appears to grab the collar of another protester whos ranked away by a member of trumps private security. Trump strongly defending him. Security at the arena, the police were a little bit lax and he had signs, that i had signs up in that area that were horrendous. I will give him credit. Last week, a reporter from the conservative web site breitbart filed a Police Complaint accusing lewandowski of assault, but hes not been charged. The longtime gop operative once took a break from politics to work as a New Hampshire state police officer. Its very unusual, unprecedented for a Campaign Manager to be out in the crowd being involved in security. And trump had more to say yesterday, condemning his media coverage. We dont condone violence but why arent they showing the klan outfit walking up the stairs . Why arent they showing that . And you had this this is a real supporter. This was an africanamerican man and a family that were there to listen to me speak, they couldnt hear me speak because of the commotion that was being made by a very few people, you know, you talk about First Amendment rights and freedom of speech, you couldnt hear. And now theyre walking these two people out, the klan outfit is still on the one person and this man became incensed that somebody would wear a ku klux klan outfit and did some swinging. Okay, i say it for everybody, especially for the media, wedon. Why didnt it show that . I hear hes a very, very fine guy, all it showed is this wonderful africanamerican man swinging, swinging, swinging, and nobody knows why he did it and i think its very, very unfair. How come a group of people is allowed to use horrible language, hold up horrendous signs, scream at the top of their voice, close roadways, close an entrance to a facility that i rented so its my facility for the day, i mean, theyre not supposed to even be
in it, how come were the bad people all the time . Okay . What about the people using horrible profanity, horrible words and closing up highways . Why are they never the bad people . Its an incredible thing. Mark halperin, theres an awful lot to sort through here. I think one of the reasons why the Trump Campaign is obviously getting the bad publicity is because they have the guy running their campaign also in the middle of the fray. Now this is two times, we dont know how many times its happened but obviously thats unusual and might be a good move for them not to put him in the middle of the fray. But lets go to the second point and talk about what the Trump Campaign is going to see for the rest of this campaign and that is going to be protests at every speech. Massive protests, interruptions nonstop. I personally think that ends up and im sure they believe
it does as well helping them in the long run where you actually have this visual of a showdown of people in klan outfits using profanity, being aggressive and sort of this melee going on there. And, of course, the greatest challenge is for trump to prove to everybody that he condemns violence unambiguously and he certainly sounded like in the that clip. He has not sounded like in the the past so sort through all this for us, mark, and make this simple. Well, its not simple. In the short term it probably helps him because it secures his base and rallies his supporters. In the long term, its a logistical challenge. He wants to have events that are open to the public but its simply a logistical challenge because he can not have anybody come in and shout him down, he cant give his speech. So he needs to do a better job with the logistics and talking about the violence and it shows the divisions not just in the Republican Party but in the
country that donald trump inspires. Theres an oped from david brooks thats getting attention in the New York Times that he wrote over the weekend no, not trump, not ever. Reflecting the views of a lot of people within the conservative movement in the Republican Party. He wrote trump voters are a coalition of the dispossessed, in the media, especially me, did not understand how they would express their
and, sam, that represents the view mofrs in the Republican Party. Not the Chris Christie wing of the Republican Party but the mitt romney wing and the pete wehner wing. First of all, kudos to david brooks for acknowledging that he misunderstood and didnt mingle enough with the people who make up the trump he didnt leave the office. I think its a fair criticism for myself. Because trump is powered by his supporters. Always has been. I would make the case just to push this back to the rallies, you know, did trump not expect that this would happen . When you are saying to a Hispanic Community that were going to come in and rip your families apart. When you are saying to a Muslim Community that im demonizing you and not let any more muslims in. When you tell your audience that you would like the punch protesters in the face. Is it that much of a surprise that hispanics protest you, that muslim prose test you, that people get violence at your rallies . Of course not. This is silly that trump is now playing the victim. Its more than that. Joe, you and i have had this conversation on and off camera about why isnt he Getting Better . George w. Bush was president during an incredibly difficult and polarized time in this country. Wars brought out more protesters than any modern president had seen and we managed to deal with events where there were protesters but there was never any violence. We traveled around the world where, you know, the european protesters and south american protesters make american protesters look like kindergarteners. So there is plenty of history here. There were plenty of people for trump and his folks to call. Doesnt this go to how hes not improving as a candidate . It does. And the fact is why do we have so many protesters still able to storm into his rallies . Because he has no infrastructure yet. He hasnt built out an infrastructure so there wont be
the crowd control. Now david brooks point first of all, to say i wasnt socially sb intermingled enough is a great way to say im a snob. And thats about 99 of the people that have been covering donald trump. Theyve been snobs that have been too good to listen to people. I know nicolle you did. I know i did. I know mika did and we heard a lot of people whispering to us and we reported it six months back that they were going to vote for trump. That still continues and were still hearing that right now. David brooks, its not too late. You can actually continue in your efforts to leave your office and listen to people out there because as we are shocked and stunned as we have been for six to nine months by what weve been seeing on the air that has not changed, most trump voters, they are staying there with him. But i think and mark you alluded to this earlier, i think the
important part of david brooks column is the inability apparently of donald trump to grow. The lack of depth on issues. The refusal to pro pair. The refusal to put experts around him. The refusal to learn. A lot of that is whats driving the concern within the Republican Party. Every bit as much as the violence at trumps rallies. Thats why this aipac speech is so important today has donald trump really listened to jewish leaders across america . Has he had the discipline to put it into a speech with the help of some aides . We l he have the discipline to read from the teleprompter and not wing it anymore . The time for winging it is over. This is like, you know, youre not you are not across the table on Celebrity Apprentice from geraldo. You cant wing it anymore. You want to be president of the United States. And the question is will he be able to do that today at aipac . Its a huge test. Imagine him in the general election debates against a very wellprepared Hillary Clinton. Republicans want to know, are you prepared to win a general election and are you prepared to govern . For a lot of elite republicans and a lot of grassroots republicans theres still doubt about those questions. Understatement of the morning. Still to come, Chris Jansing takes us inside the last time a sitting american president set foot on cuban soil nearly 90 years ago. Plus, to do or not to do is one way of measuring the foreign policies of george w. Bush and president obama in the middle east. Richard haass is here to break down the dizzying array of decisions awaiting the next commanderinchief. Morning joe is coming right back. Why do so many businesses rely on the Us Postal Service . Because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. Thats why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Here, there, everywhere. United states Postal Service priority you atand that in a new house,tee a fyou probably dont sharece, the same tastes as the previous owner. [ dolphin chatters ] so when you need a little house painting or a complete remodel, well help you get the job done right, guaranteed. Get started today at angies list, because your home is where our heart is. We stop arthritis pain, so you dont have to stop. Because you believe in go. Onward. Todays the day. Carpe diem. Tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. The first is fast. The second lasts all day. We give you your day back. What you do with it is up to you. Tylenol®. [eerie music] i am the ghost of cookies past. Residue. Oh. So gross. Well, you didnt use pam. So it looks like youre stuwith me bargain brand cooking spray leaves annoying residue. Thats why theres pam. Lets bring in Richard Haass, the president on the council of foreign relations. Richard, i understand you came back from asia and the Obama Administration is talking about a possible pivot to asia, hows
that going . Oh, wait, that was in 2013. Whats going on in asia now, richard . You have real preoccupation with china, a slowing economy and what that means for everybody, its a blanket on everybody else. Is good news out there is a spent a couple days in taiwan and we all grew whereupon chinataiwan relationship is one of the most fraught in the world and now its interesting how calm and relatively normal it seems. What was interesting in hong kong is youre seeing the effects of the crackdown in china. And one of the big stories in the world is not simply the slowing of the chinese economy but the tightening grip of the chinese leadership on their society. And i would think, you know, coming back to what youve been talking about, one of the things the next president is going to have to think about is a more assertive Chinese Foreign policy against the backdrop of a Slower Economy and a more repressive political system and how well deal with that will be one of the tougher challenges facing the new president. How is the slowing of the chinese economy impacting the
confidence of all of asia . Its a drag because so many of them, such a big part of their economies are caught up with china. Places like taiwan, 40 of their economy is integrated with china. South korea, china is its biggest economic partner. So all of these countries are feeling it. As is the rest of the world. Japan is slowing, europe is slowing and its no surprise that youre seeing among other things a rise of populist parties all over the world simply because the economics arent as good. In some ways, similar to this country. Youre beginning to see the political consequences of economic slowdown here and around the world. Richard, your piece on the inbox of the next president obviously wherever you have a transition the new president wants to come in and do some continuity, some change. What are the big challenges for the next president , whoever it is. First thing to say is the list is really quite staggering. Its sobering. But among other things, how is it that you persuade a half
dozen countries in the middle east not to react to Irans Nuclear program and begin to go down that path themselves . How do you reassure countries around europe and asia dealing with russia and china without triggering a new cold war . What is it you do at home, say the apple fbi case, what is the right balance between privacy and collective security . Venezuela. Everyones focused on cuba, but venezuela could be a crisis in this hemisphere that country implodes. So you literally can go around the world, climate change, what just happened in paris, theres real questions about what it means. What if anything do you do about that . So Ground Forces in the middle east. Middle east is unraveling. Wheth what are we prepared to do . You can go hopscotching it around the world and its hard not to be struck by how tough it will be. Lets stick with that. Last week putin surprised the United States and the state department with his announcement that there was going to be a slow withdrawal of Russian Forces from syria. Is it because he has given up on
assad and, if so well, what do you think . Why do you think he did it . The emphasis is on slow rather than withdrawal. I think for russia, this was quite an accomplishment. Their goal was to shore up the syrian regime. Thats just what they did but they avoided trying to transform like syria. Unlike us, they dont care if they become jeffersonian democrats, they just wanted to keep these guys politically alive. Secondly their goal was to bolster the regime but not pacify the entire country. Its as if putin read colin powell and you had an application of the colin powell doctrine. Clear overwhelming force for limited achievable objectives. Its a very different Foreign Policy than ours. I have a quick question. You went through a list of obama foreign policies that are put on the next president s docket and if you talk to obama people, they basically make the case that the things theyve done arent going to be reversed. No one is going to come into the office and say no, the iran deal, lets get rid of it. No one is going to say cuban
relations, lets go back to more a adversarial relationships. Is that naive . Which do you think would be reversed . Some of the questions its not a question of reversing, its implementing. Dealing with the consequences. Particularly the iran deal. It doesnt solve the problem, in many cases it kicks the problem down the road 10 and 15 years and can we manage the Nuclear Behavior of some of irans neighbors as well as iran itself. But the big legacy is going to be an unraveling middle east, a europe thats less stable, less confident than its been at any time since well into the cold war, and an asia where youve got this dynamism but not security architecture. And the real question is how do you accommodate a rising china. So i wouldnt exaggerate the positives of the Foreign Policy legacy of this president. Chris jansing, weve seen several photoops of the president down in half thvana b
this trip is about more than photoops, right . Far more. Obviously an historic visit by the president , richard, arriving yesterday, first time in 88 years for a sitting president. But on the one hand you have announcements by sheraton, airbnb, by airlines about coming in here, how theyll expand business, job opportunities. Obviously american tourists are anxious to come here who have not been able to for so many decades. On the other hand, at the same time you have dozens of protesters who are arrested after a peaceful march following going to sunday mass. Some of them who are supposed to meet with the president on tuesday and its not clear whether theyre going to continue to be detained. You have this week another boat load of people who are coming over and nine people died. So president obama went into this knowing that this was going to be something that he was beginning but he would not be able to even come close to finishing. Where does this go . Where what does cuba look like
and what does the u. S. cuban relationship look like five years from now . Two things, chris. The other big speech besides Donald Trumps atoaipac is going to be Barack Obamas to cuba and how he really what kind of messages he sends. But taking a step back, this is one of the big bets of his presidency. What he essentially did was reject the Congressional Program that cuba has to reform politically before we would engage economically. And what barack obama said after 50 years, that wasnt working so lets reverse it. Lets us engage economically, in some ways unconditionally in the hopes it sets in Motion Dynamics within cuban society. Essentially we want to kill them with cocacola. Get the United States in, set them in motion. Is this the headline, richard, they would have wanted is as obama arrives cuba tightens grip on dissent. Clearly the government in cuba is worried about this and the real question is and this is a five or ten or 15 year issue, whether this sets in motion those dynamic which is cuba in 10 or 15 years postcastros
looks to be a more open, more normal society and i think the administration said now that the cold war is over, cuba is not a strategic threat the same way that it was, we have the luxury of experimenting. But this is as close as you get to a case study experiment in Foreign Policy. Do you think it works . I think its legitimate to try and you have to be prepared that it doesnt work but i think its legitimate to try to set in motion because the embargo after 50 years was not bringing about the more open cuba we wanted to see. I think its worth the experiment. Answer to your question, ten years. Give it time. See how this plays out. Kill them with cocacola. Wow, the Michael Bloomberg doctrine in effect in cuba. [ laughter ] richard, stay with us. We havent even talked about aipac yet and donald trump and Hillary Clinton going before there. That will be the big political news of the day. Well follow it and much, much more when morning joe returns. That is cybercrime
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Political Prisoners who are languish i languishing are left behind by this president. Well, ive got to say i havent agreed with ted cruz all the time in this campaign but he certainly is right there. All the people that are celebrating the opening of cuba like pope francis, ignoring the cuban dissidents, those being beaten, those being dragged away, those being tortured. Still tortured by the castro brothers. But were told we should celebrate it so i hope youre enjoying it and maybe one day a world leader will go to cuba and actually condemn the torture that continues there, the political imprisonment that still continue there. Welcome back to morning joe, mika and willie have the morning off. With us on set in new york, former Communications Director for president george w. Bush, nicolle wallace, senior
Political Editor and White House Correspondent for the Huffington Post, sam stein. President of the council on foreign relations, Richard Haass. Former democratic congressman harold ford, jr. Political writer for the New York Times, nicholas confessore. In washington, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist in and associate editor of the Washington Post and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. And in havana, cuba, senior White House CorrespondentChris Jansing. Nicolle, a big day ahead of us. We are already getting the Clinton Campaign putting out what Hillary Clinton is going to be saying in front of aipac and theres no doubt who shes targeting when she says her speech will say the United States must never be neutral about defending israel or consider our relationship with israel negotiable. Game on, donald trump. Shes not interested in deals in this aipac speech. Hes going to be interested in a fullthroated unambiguous
defense of the jewish state. And doesnt that perfectly set up the general election we could be in for as republicans where our opponent takes something, takes Donald Trumps own words and uses it against him viciously. This gets to the heart of the republican anxious and i wonder just on substance do you think donald trump has the capacity to get ahead of her on this . One of the questions joe raised is whether theres going to be growth, whether theres going to be the seriousness and depth. But i think Hillary Clinton is on to something. One of the most damaged relationships we have is the u. S. Israeli relationship. This president and the israeli Prime Minister are not going to require to ft. Lauderdale together. [ laughter ] and one of theyre not even going to play the shuffleboard game together. Ft. Lauderdale, wow. One of the things we have got to do is resurrect this relationship. Because its quite possible in the first year of the presidency you could have a major crisis in jordan, war in syria, saudi arabia could come under pressure from isis. The iran nuclear thing. The United States, the american president and this israeli Prime Minister have to be able to get
on the phone, be straight with each other and trust one another. So making this relationship work has got to be a priority. I think Hillary Clinton understands that and i think donald trump has to communicate Something Like that as well. Nick, i confess i read your piece last night but you do have this direct line into this donor class. Do you any this is sort of at the root of their anxiogst abou trump . I think donald trump is opposed to their entire world view on policy and politics. Is he opposed or does he seem unwilling to trade, entitlements, social security, immigration, the middle east, its everything. So what are they watching in the aipac speech . Hopefully finally it will make them so mad theyll write bigger checks . Theyre always looking if the implosi
implosion. But dont we think the donors arent going to hear anything today, i dont think, that will make them suddenly be like okay, i like donald trump, im fine with donald trump. It doesnt seem like thats something that will happen. If you like donald trump, joe, you like donald trump at this point. If you dont like that donald f looking for some alternative and coming up empty. A lot of us are on twitter and you can do two different streams on twitter. You can do verified which are the influencers you follow which have verified accounts and you can open it up and let everybody come into your twitter stream and its ugly a lot of times but its a tale of two cities. You go on the verified accounts and yesterday every second tweet was just bitter visceral hatred toward donald trump and not just from the left. From the left, from the center, from the right. Trump has no home. You open it up, and i open it up this morning to look at what
generally people are saying and its a civil war. An online civil war where one person will skew you for being unfair to donald trump, the next will say that youre in bed with his candidacy. And there is this Great Division among americans. There is not a Great Division, though, nick, as you said, among elites, among the donor class, we had mary kissel with the wall street journal here the other day and she kept fighting the obvious time and time again which is i said, mary, you keep attacking Hillary Clinton but the fact is, Hillary Clintons going to be much closer to the wall street journal editorial page come november than donald trump is thats right. On trade. Hillary clinton is going to be much closer to the wall street journal editorial page come november than donald trump on israel hillary clint
israel. Hillary clinton is going to be much closer on the wall street journal editorial page on intervention, military intervention, than donald trump come november. She swatted all three of those suggestions away and was shocked and stunned and deeply saddened but i can get to Richard Haass about this. When you talk about where she stood on iraq, where she too old on libya, where she stood on afghanistan, where she stood on syria, Hillary Clinton is far more of an interventionist along the lines of what the Republican Party has been since george w. Bush was president than donald trump will ever be. Im not convinced of that, joe. I think she has at least at a minimum its a compliment. It means republicans might be available to her. This is so funny. First of all, let me go to nick first then harold you can respond but im not trying to be cute or clever here. This is a matter you can take judicial notice of this. You can take their past statements over the past 30 years. This is not a debate. Its objective factually based, nick confessore, which brings up and this isnt a knock at hillary, this just shows, nick, how republican donors especially find themselves in this terrible position that come november they may think Hillary Clinton is their only choice. Very possible. The donors on wall street especially have no huge problem with Hillary Clinton in large part. I would say look back to may and june when the Republican Party was pushing a trade deal with president obama that their own base hated and thought was corrupt. You had Mitch Mcconnell and barack obama found something that they agreed on right at the moment when donald trump was about to pop and come out. Its a huge deal. There is a lot of anger at these trade deals and immigration as well. You can see theres anger and a policy of problems so i think the party can deal with trump but they have to deal with
trumpism and there is actually a policy content to it and they cant just run away from it forever and ever. I should have let you finish your point, i happen to align more than what youre saying than i thought at the beginning. But the reasoning for perhaps the wall street journal, the New York Times or any of these newspapers aligning themselves with her is because of the seriousness and depth she will bring to these issues. Thus far the most disappointing thing for people who have watched put aside the violence and craziness from trump and the histrionics around him, theres not only not a depth, theres no interest many being deeper. Hillary clinton has at least laid out what conditions will have to take place for her to intervene around the globe. Shes laid out what the iranian deal has to accomplish and what she expects from iranians Going Forward before america acts or asks others to act differently. Shes laid out her position on asia and how we make this pivot to asia in a way that not only will strengthen us but not weaken our allies in the region. Thats what most people and most editorial pages are looking for in a candidacy. Donald trump has come up woefully short. So nicolle lets talk about forget about the wall street journal editorial page or the gop donor class, lets just talk about the washington establishment that has run that city for 30 years. On the issue of immigration, Hillary Clinton is closer to the gop donor class and the washington establishment than is donald trump right now. Thats right. On military intervention, Hillary Clinton is closer to the gop donor class and establishment than is donald trump right now. On the issue of israel, Hillary Clinton is closer to the gop donor class and the washington establishment than is donald trump. And we can go issue after issue after issue where thats the case as well. Whether its breaking up the banks as populist economic policy, taxes the rich. You can go straight down the
line. Which may explain why the gop establishment and the donor class are so far against donald trump. But what it doesnt get to is exactly what nick said, beat donald trump if you wish this year, but trumpism, the rise of trumpism stays with this party well beyond november. How do they resolve it . Listen, i think its also it underscores the divide and the complete breakup between the establishment and our base. And it gives our voters all the proof proof point that they need that there was some sort of use whatever word you want, conspiracy, construction, that the Party Establishment stopped serving their interests. Tell me the last time our base felt satiated or satisfied by the republican orthodoxy on trade or Foreign Policy or immigration. But the conversations happening in private with republican consultants, one step removed from the establishment, is that if you are not a social conservative there is less and less rationale for hardened
opposition to Hillary Clinton. If youre a social conservative theres no way you get there. You get that bucket of social issues, pro life, what not. But if Foreign Policy is how you vote, if that is your central concern, if counterterrorism is what worries you, how do you not consider Hillary Clinton in november . Well said. That is a question. Richard haass, heres whats so frustrating to me as a republican. These fault lines have been there since the 1990s. They were there with Pat Buchanans rise in 1992, ross perots success in 1992. When i first got there in early 1995 we had the mexican bailout which, of course, k street, newt gingrich, the republican establishment said bail them out, its the only wise thing to do. We called it the Goldman Sachs bailout and we voted against it and it was very ugly early on
and shocked newt and the establishment. The bosnian there was a resolution that newt tried to pass on the bosnian war and, you know, we fought it and said we shouldnt be intervening and that battle continued and newt had to drag people in and extend the vote, lean on his leadership and people like john boehner. But the fault lines in the Republican Party have been there for a very long time. The republican establishment in the donor class, theyve just pushed it away and ignored it and theyre paying for 30 years of neglect. Joe, i think what you and nicolle are saying is right. The most interesting fault lines in american politics are less between the parties than within them. And in the Republican Party on virtually every issue youve got three groups, youve got the neoconservatives who want to role around and intervene and transform the world often unilaterally. You have to realists who are much more cautious in what we do, want to shape the foreign policies of others, often
multilaterally. But then donald trump in some ways is a reminder that there is this third group which is much more economically nationalist, has a much more limited sense of what americas role in the world is, much more skeptical of quote unquote freeloading allies and what were now seeing is the basic battle over the other yen station of republican Foreign Policy and with Hillary Clinton more broadly american Foreign Policy. And, again, it cuts across party lines. I want to bring in Chris Jansing because the faultlines on cuba policy are largely generational. Are you seeing that play out there on the ground . You see it tremendously. You see it with kids on the street huddled in groups who are trying to get internet access, most of the 11 Million People who live here dont have it. But before i get to cuba i want to just pick up on what you all were talking about which is aipac and let people know that msnbc will be covering all of these speeches that we hear today because they are so important. It starts at 9 30 this morning with Hillary Clinton so we will
have live coverage of those speeches at aipac all the way through donald trump. Here what well be watching is there will be statements by both president barack obama and raoul castro after their big meeting today. That will happen this morning. Yesterday, the president and first lady and their daughters and the president s motherinlaw hunched do etouch havana greeted by rain and top cuban officials. Noticeably absent, cuban president raoul castro. The official welcoming is later this morning. The two will greet each other at the palace of the revolution for that official state welcome and theyll discuss trade, political reform, and president obama will not meet with fidel castro who, by the way, came to power before barack obama was born. After touching down, the president s first stop was to the recently reopened u. S. Embassy where he thanked the staff for their service. Young american children, young cuban children by the time theyre adults ie o s our hope
by the time they are adults theyll think that its natural that a president visits cuba. Were working for their future and im grateful for you making it ham. Thank you very much. It has been nearly 90 years since an american president set foot on cuban soil even though the island nation is a meer 90 miles away. Much like president obama, the last commanderinchief to visit hope to improve what, for decades, had been tense relations. For the first time in nearly 09 years, an american president is on cuban soil. The last sitting president to set foot here, Calvin Coolidge in 1928. He took his wife grace to visit president injure rar dgerardo m. His only trip outside the country. Coolidge was received kwarmly. People were cheering, there was the idea that an american president was a great and noble
visitor. Reporter he was met by throngs of people jamming the streets, throwing flower petals on him as he passed. The New York Times wrote the cubans eyes shone and they smiled happily. It was the gayest and happiest welcome anyone ever received from this green island in the caribbean. There were always concerns about american meddling in the region but coolidge brought a message of Mutual Respect as a opposed to american domination. Reporter coolidge gave the opening address to the pan american congress, invoking the journey of Christopher Columbus and trying to usher in a new era of mutual trust and trade. But it wasnt always business. As legend has it, the trip later became known for its drunken debauchery. But not for the president. Not for silent cal. Because prohibition was in effect in the United States, having rough punch or a peina colada or something would be seen as a political problem so when waiters would walk up to coolidge with a platter of
drunks, he managed to always subtly turn around so he never actually had to refuse it but he never had to accept it, either. It was a great case of political pirouetting. And like Calvin Coolidge, president obama has gotten a warm welcome. People were outside the cathedral yesterday cheering for him and they are obviously, gene robinson, you dont have to go very far, you go to a restaurant here that now is not under the communist thumb, people are starting to have their own businesses but you hear from human rights activists that more than 500 people were detained or arrested in the first two weeks of march to you see how fraught this is for president obama the next couple days. Is it fraught. I spent a lot of time in cuba, i wrote a book about cuba and i think this move by president obama is one of the biggest no brainers in american foreign
policy. If you try a policy whose aim was indeed regime change, try it for 50 years or 55 years and it doesnt work, it really is time to try Something Else so hes trying Something Else. The president is meeting with dissidents during his trip. Hes expected to meet with some of the most prominent disside dissidents. Is hes obviously also meeting with raul castro but not with fidel. This is so important, i think. As you see the reactions of the cuban people i know a lot of people in cuba, including some of the bravest dissidents and almost all of them, not all, but almost all have been arguing for years that it was time to change u. S. Policy. That it was actually counterproductive. That it was helping keep the castro regime in power, providing them with their sort of false justification for a lot of the repression that goes on. And so this move will be celebrated not only by people who you could describe as today di toadies of the regime but people who want freedom for the cuban people. Gene, its sam. Were discussing this as a by the binary relationship, cuba and the u. S. , but it will open up a lot of latin america where a lot of governments were upset with how we were treating cuba and used it as a cudgel against us. What do you think this move will have what kind of impact will this move have throughout the region . It will have impact. It would have frankly, had more impact 20 years ago or 30 years ago when more of latin america was sort of enthralled to the castro mystique. You know, the castros, most
latin americans know fidel castro and raul castro only as old men who were having a very difficult time running their country and so some of that romance i think is gone now. It does for the aging latin american left remove one of the tools they use to help shape latin american policy toward the United States but i dont think its as big a deal as it could have been one day. The region has moved on. The brazilians are focused on a shrinking economy, argentina is excited about its future, so is mexico, so is columbia. Castro, that cuba is the past. How about the critique, though, the miami mayor in the paper this morning is saying we give a mile and the cubans, the castros didnt give an inch. Does this make us look stronger or weaker . I just think thats wrong. In fact, what we gave, what we
did with what we should have done years and years ago, it is counterproductive to maintain this policy. We hasten the day when the castro regime is a thing of history, i truly believe we hasten that day by opening up to cuba. And thats evidenced by the fact that over the years and over the decades wherever the United States approached this point and neared this point the castros would always do something to screw it up, do something to race tensions because they dont want this to happen. Theyre doing it now because theyre desperate. Im going to give the last word to my primary night seat mate eugene robinson, thank you. Richard haass, thanks to you as well. Still ahead on morning joe, he toured three states in 35 days to get to the bottom of what he calls an angry divided america. The Washington Post david mirandas joins us with his reporting and well ask whether it explains the rise of donald trump and Bernie Sanders. Plus, as aipac opens,
israels ambassador to the u. N. Joins us here. Youre watching morning joe. We will be right back. Why do so many businesses rely on the Us Postal Service . Because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. Thats why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Here, there, everywhere. United states Postal Service priority you [eerie music] i am the ghost of cookies past. Residue. Oh. So gross. Well, you didnt use pam. So it looks like youre stuwith me bargain brand cooking spray leaves annoying residue. Thats why theres pam. Out on the town or in for the night, at t helps keep everyone connected. Right now at at t, buy the new Samsung Galaxy s7 and get one free. Buy one water resistant Samsung Galaxy s7 and get one free. No, youre not yogonna watch it tch it we cant let you download on the goooooo youll just have to miss it yeah, youll just have to miss it we cant let you download. Uh, no thanks. I have x1 from xfinity so. Dont fall for directv. Xfinity lets you download your shows from anywhere. I used to like that song. I have many friends that live in salt lake. I have a lot of friends. No, i have a lot of friends. By the way, mitt romney is not one of them. Did he choke . S be bo [ boos ] did this guy choke . Hes a choke artist. I cant believe. Are you sure hes a mormon . Are we sure . He choked, he choked. That was donald trump taking a jab at the former massachusetts governors faith. He said he was joking. He was campaigning in romneys new backyard of Salt Lake City. There are about a hundred Republican Convention delegates up for grabs tomorrow. Winner take allcontests. The primary in arizona that trump is favored in, the caucus in u. S. Thought has a proportional split, but it becomes winner take all if any of the candidates are able to get 50 , which ted cruz is trying for. In arizona, a poll taken before last weeks contest found trump with a significant 12point lead, 31 to cruz at 19 . John kasich tied with now absent marco rubio at 10 . And in utah, a poll taken after rubio left the race puts cruz at 53 , kasich at 29 and donald trump in third at 11 . So joe if trump wins arizona, gets the delegates but cruz gets over 50, thats a split decision that gives trumps romneys position that you should support cruz a bit of a boost. It certainly does. I wanted to ask you though. Yesterday we heard donald trump complaining about the delegates process, the 1237 he needs to get over the top suggesting it may not be fair. Is there starting to be more concerned in trump world that they may not reach the 1237 . Whats behind that, mark . Theyre as unsure as anybody else what the dynamics of this threeway race will be like. You have states coming up after tomorrow like wisconsin, like these northeastern states where trump cant be sure of dominance. His folks are dismissing the
chances of cruz and john kasich certainly to win but not to necessarily stop trump for the majority. Thats a real challenge for them. Joining us now, former advisor to senator rand paul and a contributor to Time Magazine and an msnbc political analyst elise jordan. Elise, welcome. Thanks for having me. In washington, best selling author, associate editor of the Washington Post and wisconsin editor david marius. Whose name i botched. Sorry. Im going to read from your article. David, youve watched all of this stuff over the course of your career. Is this about the moment in the electorate or is it more about the just the rise of donald trump as a person . Well, i think that the electorate can be influenced to its better instincts or its worst instincts by demagogueoral politicians so to that extent its trump himself but there are deeper structural things going on here which are more important and what Robert Samuels and i were interested in. This is not a series about the candidates per se although trumpism and the rise of Bernie Sanders are factors in what we are writing about. But its about why this moment. Why are people why are they going in these directions . What is this splintering about . What does it say about this division in the country about really a definition of what it means to be an american. David maraniss, Jeff Scarborough here. Its very easy for people to focus on donald trump, to focus on Bernie Sanders. But, you know, theyll be gone six months from now, nine months from now unless one of them becomes elected president and the underlying instincts that are driving voters to go out there and vote for these two candidates, antitrade, antiengage me antiengagement. Still going to be with us. A distrust of the banks and traditional media. Distrust of every institution in washington, d. C. Talk about on a much larger scale what we are all in for over the next 30 years. Not just the next six months
with sanders and trump on the Political Landscape be but what you are seeing, where this is taking us. Joe, i cant answer 30 years from now, none of us can. Youre right that weve concentrated so much on these two candidates but i think there is a splintering in america. Things can change in four years. Im so hesitant to say 30 years from now. I do say these very divergent streams that seem to be going further and further apart. Ill give you an example of one little thing. In michigan i went up to mccomb county where it was the home of the reagan democrats and now the trump democrats and personal after person i talked to there sort of defined why they were for trump, because they want to focus on america again. You know, sort of that isolationist but also inwardlooking. And yet when you look at some of the most active liberals in the country, thats what theyre trying to do is focus on america. I talked to fatima salman, a
muslim american in detroit who is just working on the neighborhoods there and shes trying to focus on america, too. So you have these two different groups talking about in the largest sense the same thing and yet theyre so, so far apart. David first of all on the series ive got to say that it points to what great newspapers do, have always done and continue to do it great newspapers will always exist. The point you just referenced, lets go to Donald Trumps principae principle slogan lets make America Great again. If you read these slogans and walk around any city in the country or any state or any primary state and talk to people you get a real sense that most people think america is great today. Theres a piece of it they want to retain or come back and strengthen. But did you find that in this entire series . Well, in many ways we did. There is this divide. Think about it, grow to any city in this country, just about even detroit which i knfocussed on a lot over the last year and you find a revival, an optimism of people looking at america. Flint is the worst example of whats gone wrong but detroit which went through many of the same problems is reviving so you find that sense of hope. Our series looks at so much more than that in so many different ways. And elise you touch on this, too. Ive been aware of this. We have these conversations at 7 30 in the morning, talking about the racial undertones to trumps candidacy but if you talk to trump voters, thats not what draws them to him. They like him despite those issues. What are you what point are
you what larger point are you getting at in your piece . I have a piece today in time where im talking about how i think that focusing on the racial undertones of what trump is saying, were ignoring the policy behind or rather nonexistent policy but the policy that trump has, that hes pushing forth that differs so dramatically with the republican establishment. Antifree trade. Hes saying, you know, he doesnt want to be involved everywhere in the world. He wants to cut back the u. S. Military presence around the world. He is saying that the system benefits the wealthy, wall street, et cetera. And thats whats resonating with republican primary voters and just the fact, the main fact that they think the system is rigged in washington. They vote politicians into power and go along with the democrats on a 1. 8 omnibus obama spending bill. So what do republicans stand for . Thats something trump is forcing the party to define. And to put policy forward instead of just demonizing
opposition. Thank you so much, elise, stay with us. David maraniss, thank you so much. Like Mike Barnicle said, an extraordinary series. This is what great newspapers do. We thank you for coming on the show and talking to us about it. Much more straight ahead on morning joe. Woman its been a journey to get where i am. And i didnt get here alone. There were people who listened along the way. People who gave me options. Kept me on track. And through it all, my retirement never got left behind. So today, im prepared for anything we may want tomorrow to be. Every someday needs a plan. Lets talk about your old 401 k today. Rheumatoid arthritis like me,e and youre talking to a rheumatologist about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. This is humira helping me reach for more. Doctors have been prescribing humira for more than ten years. Humira works for many adults. It targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Talk to your doctor and visit humira. Com. This is humira at work. Companies must adapt. Changing environment, but one thing should remain constant a financial relationship with someone that understands and cares about your business. Pnc corporate and Institutional Banking offers strategies tailored to your companys needs. Know that our dedicated teams of local experts offer insight to help you achieve your business objectives. See how working with pnc can help your company grow at pnc. Com ideas
im a negotiator, like you folks. Some of us. Is there anybody that doesnt renegotiate deals in this room . This room negotiates deals. I want to renegotiate this room [ laughter ] perhaps more than any room ive ever spoken to. Youre not going to support me even you know im the best thing that could ever happen to israel and ill be that. I know why youre not going to support me. Youre not going to support me because i dont want your money. Well, that was donald trump back in december with some shall we say interesting comments to the republican jewish coalition. Will he actually have a script and stick to it today when he speaks to aipac . We are getting reports that, in fact, he will and this will be unlike any address that hes delivered so far in the campaign. But well be bringing in israels ambassador the United Nations next on morning joe and get his take when we return. Todays the day oh look creepy gloves for my feet. See when i was a kid there was a handle. And a face. This is nice. And does it come in a california king . Getting roid rage. Hemorrhoid. These are the worst, right . Im gonna buy them. Boom. Ill take them. Impulse buy. Ommmmmmmmmmm. American express presents the blue cash everyday card with no annual fee. Its all happening. Cash back on purchases. Here we go backed by the service and security of american express. Here we go i have an orcogram we for an owen. E. Thats me. You should hire stacy drew. She wants to change the world with you. She can program jet engines to talk and such. Her biggest weakness is she cares too much. Thank you. My friend really wants a job at ge. Mine too. Im a wise elf from a far off shire. And sanjay patel is who you should hire. Thank you. Seriously though, stacy went to a great school and shes really loyal. You should give her a shot. Sanjays a team player and uh. Youre an at t Small Business expert . Sure am. My staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. At t can help you stay connected. Am i seeing double . No maam. Our at t buy one get one free makes it easier for your staff to send appointment reminders to your customers. And share promotions on social media . You know it now im seeing dollar signs. You should probably get your eyes checked. Good one babe. Optometry humor. Right now get up to 650 in credits to help you switch to at t. Another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works. In one week. With the. Fastest retinol formula. To visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. Wrely on the Us Postal Service . Because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. Thats why we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Here, there, everywhere. United states Postal Service priority you
whose fault . The israelis or the palestinians . I dont want to get into it far different reason, joe. If i do win, there has to be a certain amount of surprise, unpredictability. Our country has no unpredictability. If i win, i dont want to be in a position where im saying to you and the other side let me be a neutral guy. Lets see what im going to give it a shot. I would be so proud if i could do that. I dont know if its doable. I have friends of mine that are tremendous Business People that are great negotiators, they say its not doable. You understand a lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal so i dont want to say whose fault it is. I dont think it helps. That was donald trump speaking with mika and me during our town hall meeting in South Carolina last month and i have to say, at the time he said that i was shocked because you dont running for office and mika and i mentioned it right after that we thought that was pretty big news and it is news that he
repeated and that followed him around and that hes going to have to explain now when he goes before aipac. With us in washington to talk about that, israels permanent representative for the United Nations, ambassador danny dahl danon. Mark halperin has a question. Mr. Ambassador, is neutrality acceptable . Good morning, we are happy to see the issue of israel is so important to all of the candidates and we see bipartisan support, most of them will come to speak to attack today in the morning, in the afternoon and then last night we saw the support from Vice President biden who is a real friend of israel. We expect to hear all of them talking about the peace negotiate but we have known in the last few years that the unfortunately we dont see any
viable partner. So it doesnt matter who will be the candidate or who will be the president , we need a partner in the middle east. We have a partner in washington, a strong ally so thats why we care more about what will happen with the palestinians in the future rather than who will be in the white house. Im sorry mr. Ambassador yeah, go ahead. But ill is you to focus on my professed neutrality a wide position for an american president to have . We learn from history we need a partner to direct negotiations. It can be a partner who will support us or not support us but the palestinians are not willing to sit down and negotiate with us so for that we dont want to give grades to any candidate, we do not intervene in the political system in the u. S. But basically i think any president will find out it doesnt matter what he want achieve, you need to get the palestinians back in
the negotiation room and it wont happen in the near future. Ill ask you one more time if youll answer. Is it an acceptable position to be neutral or does israel reject that . You dont have to answer if you dont want to . Well, i think i said it twice and i can say it again and again that we wont get involved in the political system but we dont have expectations and it doesnt matter what will be the policy of the next president because the palestinians are not willing to negotiate no matter who will be in the white house. Mr. Ambassador, lets taken a off ramp on marks question and try this route. Do you think it would be pre preferable to have an independent arbitor sit and discuss the issues of the settlements that seems to be a huge obstacle to any Peace ProcessGetting Started in israel with the israelis and the palestinians . Do you think an independent arbitor would have a better chance of getting something done . I sit at the u. N. And almost
every week theres a new initiative regarding the peace talks with israel, an initiative from new zealand, an initiative from france, some would say they are neutral but the fact its not helping anyone, the only way to promote negotiations is by getting into the room and speaking with the palestinians. By the way, we did in the the past with egypt and with jordan and yes the American Administration were very helpful. But the progress came from direct negotiations. Mr. Ambassador, let me take a wider sweep of history here. I know the israeli people are paying very close attention to this election, my husband was there last week and people stop him on the street and asked him about mr. Trump. Can you talk about the stakes for your public in the outcome of the American Election next november . First of all, i came for israeli politics. I thought we had a complex system but following whats happening here with the new era here in the u. S. Well said. I have to admit we admire it. We are a strong democracy. We should appreciate that. Maybe we dont like everything, but when we look at whats happening in the u. N. Msnbc will have complete live coverage as Chris Jansing said of all the candidates speeches to apec starting with Hillary Clinton at 9 35 eastern this morning. Still to come, its being called the middle finger vote. The good old boy system. Wow, i think i like that. Thats how one person explained whats going on this year. Well dig into elises new piece for Time Magazine. More morning joe in a second. We can help guide your retirement savings. For over 75 years, investors have relied on our disciplined approach to find long term value. So wherever your Retirement Journey takes you, we can help you reach your goals. Call a t. Rowe price retirement specialist or your advisor. To see how we can help make the most of your retirement savings. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. And to help you accelerate,ast. Weve created a new company. One totally focused on whats next for your business. A True Partnership where people, technology and ideas push everyone forward. Accelerating innovation. Accelerating transformation. Accelerating next. Hewlett packard enterprise. [engines revving] you cant have a hero, if you dont have a villain. The world needs villains
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oh, boy. There it is. Ohh. Ooh. [ gags ] so when you need a house cleaner or an exterminator, we can help you get the job done right, guaranteed. Get started today at angies list, because your home is where our heart is. You have a disarming selfdeprecating sense of humor. Where does that come from . I think both my parents. Dad is a funny man. The public image doesnt convey that. Of course mother is one of the great quipsters of all time. But theres an honesty to it. Now you have to be politicalally correct. She did so in the 84 president ial race where she
rhymed Geraldine Ferraro with rich then apologized immediately. I sent an interesting signal when i said wed get bin laden dead or alive, it just came right out. Somebody said you represent the country, dont you think your language ought to be better . I said, yeah, youre right, it should be better but the military understood me. That was an exclusive look at president george w. Bushs interview with the golf channels david fair way feherty. The former president weighs in tonight on political correctness, the ugliness of campaigning and what hes learned from the golf course. The all new feherty airs tonight at 9 00 eastern on the golf channel, a fascinating interview, make sure you catch it. But right now lets bring in nbcs sports soccer analyst and cohost of men in blazers which airs at 11 00 p. M. On Nbc Sports Network roger bennett. Roj, yesterday morning i was already just counting the money for the fenway sports group, counting the pounds that were
going to pour in as liverpool was making its poor to the top four, playing in europe and then, poof, it disappears. It just absolutely absolutely folded like id like to say i feel your pain, joe. I know thats why it was hard to get out of bed this morning. The liverpool game a crushing loss for bostons finest but the big game taking place in manchester, the 171st manchester derby. Abu dhabi, petro dollar fuelled, Manchester City taking on cross town rival s manchester owned b the tampa bay glazer family and by owned i mean run aground. Overpaid players having terrible seasons. There was an 18yearold child who scored the winner, Marcus Rashford you know how life is. One minute youve got your bar mitzvah, the next youre scoring a winner. In america you call that failure, in england we say, that was agonizingly close. Manchester citys season reminiscent now of jeb bushs political campaign. All that money squandered and for what . Hashtag please clap. The big story, though, Leicester City. This time last year bottom of the league, known only for the birthplace of humperdink whatever his name is. Just spirit, collective ability and they are top of the league with seven games to go. Truly is like watching the red sea part. Like watching water turn into wine watching this team. Its a biblical miracle. It really is, roger. Youve shocked me with the information you bring every week to our show. Are you actually telling me that
engelburt humperdink . Thats big news were breaking on morning joe this morning. Do you have the winning goal in the newcastle game, joe . Its a thing of beauty. America loves it. These two teams hate each other, newcastle sunderland, two bald men fighting over a comb. Ive had that fight before. He runs around like hulk hogan after winning a legal suit. A fan runs on to the field. If you have that, lets see it. Its gorgeous. It turns into a fight between him and the fan. You may not have it. Youve seen it before, america, it looks like a trump rally. Joe, here he goes. Watch this, a fan runs on to the field you edit it out. We love you. Were making english football great again, joe. All right, well, so roger, really is though Leicester City, its shocking, because you really do have an epl, the top
four, its always a team thats gotten just billions of dollars behind it. But this year tiny Leicester City looks like they may just pull this out. Its an unbelievable story. To win march madness you win six games, you get a hot streak. This team has to run a marathon of 38 games. Its like the karate kid, its like rudy but its real. Karate kid wasnt neal have. Thank you so much, roger bennett. Stick around, coming up, well review all the polls in the western primaries coming up this week and donald trump for the first time expresses concern on whether hell get enough delegates to lock down the Gop Convention this summer. Well ask Mark Halperin why when morning joe returns. Audi pilotless vehicles have conquered highways, mountains, and racetracks. And now much of that same advanced technology is found in the new audi a4. With one notable difference. The allnew audi a4, with available traffic jam assist. mui love being able to touch the screen. Umm, you can do things on the fly, if youre trying to teach a kid about a proboscis, just sketch it on there and youve got it immediately. Yeah, i like that. I dont have a touch screen on my mac. Arent moving in the right direction,bers it can be a burden. But what if you could wake up to lower blood sugar . Imagine loving your numbers. Discover oncedaily invokana®. With over 6 million prescriptions and counting, its the 1 prescribed sglt2 inhibitor that works to lower a1c. Invokana® is used along with diet and exercise to significantly lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. Its a oncedaily pill that works around the clock. Heres how invokana® reduces the amount of sugar allowed back in to the body through the kidneys and sends some sugar out through the process of urination. And while its not for weight loss, it may help you lose weight. Invokana® can cause important side effects, including dehydration, which may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, lightheaded, or weak, especially when you stand up. Other side effects may include kidney problems, genital yeast infections, urinary tract infections, changes in urination, high potassium in the blood, increases in cholesterol, or risk of bone fracture. Do not take invokana® if you have severe kidney problems or are on dialysis. Stop taking and call your doctor right away if you experience symptoms such as rash, swelling, or difficulty breathing or swallowing. Tell your doctor about any medical conditions, medications you are taking,
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convention delegates up for grabs tomorrow with a winner take all priel mamary in arizon a proportional split in utah but becomes winner take all if they get more than 50 . Trump has a significant lead in arizona, 31 to ted cruz at 19 . Governor john kasich tied with marco rubio at 10 . In utah, a postrubio poll puts cruz at 53 , kasich in second at 29 , trump down at 11 . 2012 republican nominee mitt romney posted on facebook friday, in the utah nominating caucusly vote for senator ted cruz. At this stage the only we can reach an Opening Convention is for senator cruz to be as successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections as possible. A vote for john kasich makes it extremely likely that trumpism would prevail. So donald trump battled back
with a jab at the former massachusetts governors face while campaigning in romneys new backyard of Salt Lake City. I have many friends that live in salt lake. I have a lot of friends. No, i have a lot of friends. By the way, mitt romney is not one of them. Did he choke . [ boos ] did this guy choke . Hes a choke artist. I cant believe. Are you sure hes a mormon . Are we sure . He choked. He choked. Yeah, wow. Okay, so Mark Halperin and nicolle, he has a lot of friends in salt lake. You knew he did. I mean, you knew coming around here that when this when we got past all the early states that Salt Lake City was his kind of city. So, you know, very interesting this battle between romney and the establishment and trump seems to be getting hotter by the day. This weekend you really couldnt go on twitter and look at the influencers on the right and the
left where you didnt see every second or third tweet was just a vicious attack at trump and then countercharges from trump. It seems to be getting uglier out there instead of both sides making peace, right . I think so. And i think the big question now is how does this end in any sort of peaceful coalescing around anybody at our convention . Its very difficult to put all this back together when it goes on this long and as you said is becoming a hotter war, not a less bombastic one. Look, its a big day today with trump in washington meeting with some congressional officials, republicans. And having some other private meetings and speaking to aipac. But its a big two weeks. We have contests tomorrow in arizona and utah but two weeks from tomorrow is wisconsin and i think if kasich and cruz cant figure out a way to stop trump in wisconsin he may be able to be on the path to a majority and to uniting some of the party,
but hell never unite all of it. But Mike Barnicle, it seems that the antitrump crowd is getting angrier by the moment. Its like time is not healing any wounds. In fact, its stirring things up even more and theyve been getting so dug in at this point that i dont see how they put this Party Back Together again over the next several months. I just dont. Joe, they seem to be heading down a path to a total destruction. You have a cabal meeting secretly. We keep getting reports, this weekend, tomorrow night, 50, 100 members of the establishment. They could not beat donald trump, they missed donald trump for months and months and months when he was right in front of everyones face, everyone was hearing his voice other than the small secret cabal of republicans, now theyre going to try and steal it from him because they couldnt beat him. This is really ludicrous. Chris jansing . I want to pick up on what he was saying and what Mark Halperin was saying, that Donald TrumpsUnconventional Campaign now making some i guess youd call them conventional moves today. Trump is heading to capitol hill to meet with those two dozen influential republicans at a nearby law firm according to the Washington Post. The guest list is mostly unknown, though politico reports senator tom cotton of arkansas will be there along with senator Jeff Sessions of alabama who endorsed trump last month. Robert costa reports that antitrump super pacs will be staking out that meeting for footage of republicans who attend as republicans take part in that hundredday dash to halt trumps march to the nomination and as planning begins on an alternative ticket should they fail. Weekly standard editor bill kristol is circulating a memo suggesting potential thirdparty candidates, including former u. S. Senator tom coburn and expresident ial candidate rick perry. Coburn, according to the New York Times, has privately considered a bid but says he
doesnt expect to be the candidate. Meanwhile, perrys former Campaign Manager says the governor wants the gop to unite around senator ted cruz, whom he has endorsed. Joe . All right. So, sam stein, theyre actually talking about bringing trackers to follow people that would have the audacity to support donald trump. I suspect just looking from 30,000 feet, this is the point in which you can declare that your party is in an all out civil war . This one surprised me. Were talking about a republicanoperated antitrump super pac going after fellow republicans for meeting with the republican frontrunner. You just to step back and this to yourself the partys kind of coming apart here at the seams. And, you know, this its interesting to see it because the more Establishment Republicans do actually go to donald trump such as chris
christie, senator Jeff Sessions the harder it then becomes for them to take it away from him at the convention because trump will have more mainstream people complaining on his behalf saying no, no, he got the most votes, the most delegates, maybe he didnt reach the critical threshold but he deserves this. Thats the big thing, as you get more Establishment Republicans, it becomes more and more his nomination. I think negotiation that, what happens if he arrives at this convention with somewhere between 1125 or 1225 delegates, 112 to 75 shy, to his point. How do you stop him . I understand the rules state you go to a second and third vote but from a practical standpoint if youre watching this and see the momentum hes developed the things that happened over the weekend were deeply troubling. That people should show up at his events, that he would condone his Campaign Manager, we watched it on television, his Campaign Manager escalated the situation, but thats lets pause that for a moment. I dont know how you stop him once he gets to the convention. Does he lead . They talk about a third Party Mainstream candidate, there could be a Third Party Trump candidate. Im curious from marks stand point, the reporting here, what do you get from that . Do you hear that he could launch a Third Party Candidate . It will be too late for him at that point to get on the ballot as anything but a writein. But the Republican Party has sa what are they . Im saying does trump its too late at that point. I hear you, but does anyone in trumps camp get so angry this is happening well, there are only like thing. You tried to separate the violence im not. Im not. Thats at the core with the discomfort with trump. As an american it was deeply troubling. It concerns me he would not he condoned his Campaign Manager andanyone
can run and if someone gets the nomination he can run against him. He condoned his Campaign Manager, condoned im just saying you look at paul ryan having to sort of go out about every ten days and condemn these types of actions. At the core of the republican establishments opposition to trump, it is precisely has the Campaign Manager ever served duly as a crowd bouncer before . I feel like were in uncharted territory here. Im curious with being mark. Youve been out there daily with specifically the Trump Campaign. How close do you think the Republican Party is to just saying we surrender, were going to go up together out of the trenches and run to our deaths with donald trump in the lead. How close are they as opposed to this it is hanging in the balance. You could see a largely unified party largely, not wholly
unified party at the convention in cleveland. You could see, joe, an absolutely divided Republican Party in cleveland. I think to some extent it depends on how many more contests trump wins and also stylistically how much he reaches out. How many more Chris Christies can he find in the Republican Party. Right. Well, that depends on two things. The first thing has to do with the violence. The violence has to be tamped down. There are protesters all over the place. Hes always being interrupted. You know what . Maybe he cannot respond. Thats not his brand but the more incidents like this ha happen the more uncomfortable the republican establishment is for very good reason. The second thing has to do with the fact that were hearing it more and more. We saw it in david brooks column yesterday. Just the unfreepd natuprepared everything. The lack of depth on policy experts. The lack of experts surrounding. The inability to get out and dig a little bit deeper than just
surface sound bites. Thats one thing that a lot of people are looking for today in an extraordinarily important speech at apac. Will donald trump rise to the occasion. Will he actually sound president ial for the first time of this campaign . Some of it is some people close to him are letting a lot of reporters know this morning that they are going to see a new donald trump. This is where he makes a turn to the more president ial approach that hes been promising for a very long time. Yeah, weve heard it before. This is in fact an incredibly important day with nearly all the remaining president ial candidates who are going to be speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs committee commonly known as apac. Hillary clinton, john kasich, ted cruz and donald trump all in washington today addressing an expected crowd of about 18,000 people. Selfgroups are expected to protest trumps remarks this evening with a group of rabbis planning o walkout after he is
introduced, while others advocate a less disruptive boycott. Politico is reporting that trump has k has taken input from a number of very significant jewish influencers who have reaffirm to him the sporns of this particular speech. Last month trump said hed like to broker a deal between the israelis and palestinians and got a lot of criticism for saying hed be neutral in it all which is something he says his speech is going to address. I think making a deal would be in the u. S. Interest. I dont know one jewish person that doesnt want to have a deal. A good deal, a proper deal, but a really good deal. Define a good deal. Well, ill define that tomorrow because im going to be defining it tomorrow. Im not going to define it now but im going to define it tomorrow. Everybody would like to see a real deal be made, not a deal thats going to be broken. A real deal thats going to be made, something thats going to be lasting. You know, mark, the question really is whether he can
discipline himself. Thats again what the republican establishment, a lot of people in the media have been wanting for some time. Can donald trump discipline himself to deliver an indepth policy speech . If he tries to deliver an indepth policy speech will he make the same mistakes that ben carson made talking about hummus as a dangerous, dangerous food group will he actually be able to stand up and deliver. I think a lot of our questions about whether the republican establishment is going to get serious about trump or not depends on whether donald trump is going to get serious about being a president ial candidate. And start acting like one and Start Talking about policy in the way that a lot of americans expect from their president. Look, if you were scripting this in a fictional way, todays event would be writing your script. Because this is, of all the things president ial candidates are asked to do, speaking to apac is among the most difficult
and substantive. It is conapplicanted. Have you a navigate a ton difficult constituencies, it requires some nuance. Do you think trump is going to go in and give president ial demeanor or is he going to wing it . Are we going to see a different donald trump, are we going to see a donald trump reading to prepared text and sticking to prepared legitimate points, one perhaps the most controversial aspect involving the world peace, potential world peace. Bebe netanyahu continues to preside over a system where they increase housing allotments on the west yeah. And palestinians have never come to the table really in the sensible way. Hes got to do that. I think he will do that. It is just ten minutes later does he get on twitter and call his first critic a jerk. I think he is capable of that. I think he can stand at a podium. Hes lowered the bar to a ridiculous level. Hes running for president of the United States and were
asking can you read a teleprompter . Trumps probably the one candidate whos totally gone away from republican orthodoxy. On 9 11. The iraq war. So on, so forth. Every time hes done it we all say thats going to hurt him in the polls, republicans dont like it. Im curious to see if he actually sticks with this notion of neutrality which is completely against what the Republican Party wants to see. Still ahead on morning joe, the crowds are big, the fundraising hall is even bigger for Bernie Sanders. But how does he get from giant turnouts at event to giant turnouts at the polls . Plus, special delivery. A cuban woman gets a personal letter from president obama in the first shipment of mail sent there in decades. Chris jansing has that report. But first, heres bill karins with a check on a worm dumping snow on the east coast in the first days of spring. How happy is that . Bill . This is it, joe. I hope this is it, i should say. It is exiting quickly now. Just watching heavy snow north of providence and a little bit on the rail on the 495 loop around boston. Three to four inches on the ground from providence to boston. And we may add another one to two. Oun east may add a little more than that. The big story is the cold. Not just in the east and the snow. It was a cold weekend and freeze warnings are still up in tulsa, nashville, tupelo, even shreveport, louisiana. 37 in dallas. Very cold for this time of year. 29 in oklahoma city. Only spot colder, kansas city at 26. Thats not even taking into account any windchills. This is the actual temperatures. Down to 33 in birmingham. The thing about march, once the sun gets up we start to warm things up. High sun angle. 68 in atlanta and dallas. Snow exits by noon in boston. It is raining in many areas of theest. Northern california, up i95 to portland, seattle, eugene
included. This storm moves into the rockies tomorrow. Out ahead of it, a lot of warm air. The warm air, the storm system, we will deal with Severe Weather starting wednesday. On the north side, looking for another snowstorm. Iowa look out. Wis a wisconsin and michigan we will have Severe Weather in the middle of the country. D. C. , new york, philadelphia, a nonevent for those areas. Well wait for our warmup in the middle of the week. New york city, quarter to halfinch in central park. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. This is the allnew 20wow, its nice. Lets check it out. Do any of you have kids . I do yes. This car has a feature built in called teen driver technology, which lets parents see how their teens are driving. Oh, thats smart. It even mutes the radio until the seat belt is fastened. Will it keep track of how many boys get it in the car . laughter cause that could be useful. This is ahead of what my audi has for sure. Wish my beamer had that. I didnt even know that technology existed. Im not in the market for a car but now i may be. And to help you accelerate,ast. Weve created a new company. One totally focused on whats next for your business. A True Partnership where people, technology and ideas push everyone forward. Accelerating innovation. Accelerating transformation. Accelerating next. Hewlett packard enterprise. I am a First Responder tor and iemergencies 24 hours a day, everyday of the year. My children and my family are on my mind when im working all the time. My neighbors are here, my friends and family live here, so its important for me to respond as quickly as possible and get the power back on. Its an amazing feeling turning those lights back on. Be informed about outages in your area. Sign up for outage alerts at pge. Com outagealerts. Together, were building a better california. Good morning. Chris jansing, a very, very busy weekend for Bernie Sanders. Tell us about it. It was indeed. He was out west. Several states in that region, as you know, joe, hold votes tomorrow and this coming weekend. Ahead of tomorrows arizona primary, sanders visited the u. S. mexico border in that state before holding a rally in phoenix attended by more than 3,000 people. He then traveled to Washington State which caucuses on saturday and turned out more than 7,000 people. To an event yesterday in the city of vancouver. After that he held a massive rally in seattle where he addressed a crowd of more than 10,000. Those crowds just keep coming. His day ended in spokane where he spoke in front of another huge audience, this one between 7,000 and 9,000 people it is estimated. Meanwhile, heres what he had to say about his opponent earlier in the day. We need real change in this country, and between you and me, i do not believe that real change is going to come from a candidate like secretary clinton who receives millions of dollars
from wall street, who receives who has a super pac that receives 15 million from wall street, money from the fossil fuel industry, money from the drug companies. Mark halperin, 10,000person crowds packed in wherever he goes. How does this not translate to votes . Well, the calendar coming up is pretty good for him. There are a lot of caucus states, a lot of primaries where he can do well. People like to think about both these races as many over. Front page stories are about trump versus clinton lookinged to general election but she is going to have to figure out how to deal with Bernie Sanders in the coming days because of the money, because of the rhetoric. He is not done fighting. Hes going to go all the way to california. Harold ford, he just keeps
raisinging money. 43 million. Hes got extraordinary crowds. Hes got excitement behind him. Only thing that Hillary Clinton does is win. Id like the latter more than the former. To marks point and your point, she just needs to keep winning. Bernie sanders im a clinton supporter. I would love if he would get out, but the fact he stays in, he has every right to. I hope he continues to excite and get voters focused on the real differences that real choice voters will have in the fall between donald trump and whoever the republicans nominate, and Hillary Clinton. She needs to sharpen her economic message and talk more specifically about how you will empower the middle class Going Forward. If she stays on that task, she will be able to excite Bernie Sanders voters. Because the democratic system is proportional, meaning even if you do well and win a state, you
only get a certain number of more delegates. He cant just win these states, he has to blow her out of these states. While he is raising a lot of money, hes spend a lot more. Whats he spending all that money on . Staff, tv, all the things that come with a Major Campaign apparatus. The question is can he use his more limited resources with the grassroots fundraising that he has to win a state like california. The second question is at what point does he actually tamp the attacks on Hillary Clinton. That stuff we saw there was probably more personal than anything hes done in the campaign. A lot of party people are not happy with it. Big showdown between the parties in wisconsin two weeks from tomorrow. Big showdown. We thought we had some big showdowns this past week and hlhl hillary swept them all. Bernie sanders has to rack up some big wins very soon or people will be asking why does
he stay in the race to divide the Democratic Party. He has to start putting points up on the board or his Campaign Just doesnt make any sense. Coming up on morning joe, any given tuesday, another week, another make or break for republicans who are deadset on stopping donald trump. Weve got Hallie Jackson joining us live from the campaign trail coming up next. Thats weird. You want to work for ge too. Hahaha, what . Well were always looking for developers who are up for big world changing challenges like making planes, trains and hospitals run better. Why dont you check your new watch and tell me what time i should be there. Oh, i dont hire people. Im a developer. Im gonna need monday off. Again, not my call. Turns out lemon juice doesnt cure pink eye. Hi. How are you doing today . Thats how i am. Red head fred. Ultra rare. I collect these too. Nah, these are for my dog because he can never decide which one he wants until he gets home, so. American express presents the blue cash everyday card with no annual fee. Cash back on purchases. My only concern is that this is where we put food. A dogs foot is cleaner than a humans mouth. Thats what they say. Is it . Cleaner than my mouth. Backed by the service and security of american express. Cleaner than my mouth. Watching tvs get sharper, oh remotes, youve had it tough. Bigger, smugger. And you . Rubbery buttons. Enter the x1 voice remote. Now when someone says. Show me funny movies. Watch discovery. Record this. Voila. Remotes you are back. The x1 voice remote is here. X1 customers get your voice remote by visiting xfinty. Com voiceremote. We dont condone violence,
but why arent they showing the klan outfit walking up the stairs . Why arent they showing that . You had this this was a real supporter. This was a program man and family that were there to listen to me speak. They couldnt hear me speak because of the commotion that was being made by a very few people. You talk about First Amendment rights and freedom of speech, you couldnt hear. And now theyre walking these two people out. The klan outfit is still on the one person, and this man became incensed that somebody would wear a ku klux klan outfit and did some swinging. Again, i say it to everybody, especially the media, we dont condone violence. Why didnt they show that . All it showed was this because i hear he is a very, very fine guy. This wonderful africanamerican man swinging, swinging, swinging and nobody knows why he did it. And i think its very, very unfair. Welcome back to morning joe. That was donald trump defiant over a weekend that saw a series of scuffles at his campaign events. Im nicolle wallace, along with sam stein, Mike Barnicle is here, and contributor to Time Magazine and msnbc, all back at the table, along with Chris Jansing in havana. Were also going to bring in nbc news correspondent Hallie Jackson, the intrepid Hallie Jackson on the road with ted cruz, who is preparing for tomorrows arizonas and utah primaries. How is that looking from their perspective, hallie . Lets break it down state by state. Utah is place where we saw ted cruz spending time this weekend. The campaign expects to do well in utah. The question is will they do well enough to get over that 50 threshold so cruz can take all delegates. Thats real goal for ted cruz. With john kasich campaigning there, that could take some of those delegates away but the
campaign is acknowledging how much is at stake in utah. Someone in the Campaign Said if they lose there, everybodys going to jump off the train. Arizona, a little less so. There is so much early voting that happens in arizona so a lot of the voting has been decided on the republican side. 50 delegates, winner takes all there. Current polling shows trump prepared to take that state. But there is a sign that cruz is at least making the case hes playing in arizona a little bit. Heres what he had to say about that state. Weve had a number of weeks of early voting. Right now in the early voting, donald trump is ahead in arizona. But let me tell ayou where we ae as well. Right on election day, were in. So the entire question of what happens in arizona determines on
turnout. That seems like some talk from ted cruz about the importance of arizona. But ill tell you guys, it is really utah the campaign is focusing on. Romneys support will be a boost likely in that state even if it is not a boost nationally. Weve been questioning how much romneys influence is nationally. The other place where the campaign will play hard is wisconsin in a couple of weeks. Thats a huge state for them, really important. It is where you are seeing the establishment and some of these folks who are part of that antitrump movement looking to really make a battleground and cruz is right in the mix of that, too. Hallie, i want to ask you how comfortable ted cruz is with what looks to be a little bit of an establishment swarm around him. Its interesting. Right . Because hes made his whole Campaign Around hitting the washington cartel. They hit him right back. Right. Its interesting. I found this very interesting. A campaign aide, senior advisor,
telling me that cruz is not really working the phones the way that you might think another senator or congressional member would because who would he call . They dont like him. It is difficult for him. They didnt even know that nikki laically wy lically lically going to come out in support ted cruz. We were down by the Mexican Border in arizona, i said to ted cruz, you hate washington, you talk about hating washington and now you need their support to be able to get the nomination. He said, well, we welcome everybody, basically. He made a point to say that he still fights for what he believes in and has come to washington to what that he says he will do. But it is sort of a way that cruz has to thread the needle here because as much as his supporters love that he goes to washington and kind of rails against his colleagues, at this point given where trump is, he also needs those colleagues to be able to succeed in what he wants to do which is get the nomination. One of the other things we love about him is his har lid l
on cuba. Its very chic, its she vs for leftists to celebrate vicious communist dictators. My father fought in the cuban revolution. My father was imprisoned and tortured as a teenager. My aunt, my thea sonya, was imprisoned and tortured by castros goons. Now when president obama is in cuba, you know who he a he not going to meet . Hes not going to meet the dissidents being tortured right now by raul and fidel castro. Who are being silenced for daring to stand up. Hes not going to meet the ladies in white. So when president obama is there are hollywood celebrities and rock musicians drinking m ining, the Political Prisoners languishing are left behind by this president. Hallie jackson, that gets to
the heart of what the critics have said why he doesnt come here, hes essentially giving credence to a totalitarian regime and he speaks about it very personally as many cubanamericans do. I am curious about how you have seen this playing out on the campaign trail, the kind of reaction it gets, how much time he spends talking about it. How is this resonating . Is this going to be something that people are talking about as this Campaign Goes on . I think hell be talking about it over next couple of days. Frankly, it is not something that ted cruz brings up often on the campaign trail. It is not a standard part of his trump speech. Youre right in that it is personal to him. You hear him talk about his father, his aunt that came over from cuba. Youll hear it over these next couple of days particularly with the president in havana and with so much attention focused on cuba. Cruz just came out with an oped in politico in which he puts this all in writing. He talks about in his words legitimatizing the corrupt dictatorship, the corrupt regime in cuba. So hes taking this moment and
this opportunity to push his policies and his positions on cuba. Well see how long it lasts, chris. Its not something you hear from supporters on the campaign trail. Its not something thats top of mind at least for them right now. This is the first time ive seen hallie without a bus or a stage behind her. You write today in Time Magazine about the state of the Republican Party. Trump republicans are learning all the wrong lessons by foc focusing on the inpaflaner to showman instead of the failings of our platform and our party. To dismiss trumps ascendancy by caricaturing him as his followers as racist simple tons ignores the real lesson of the 2016 grassroots voters that lost faith in elected officials and a government that isnt living up to the promises theyve made. Trump is the culmination of a massive systemic problem of a party that asked what donors wanted, not its voters. That has been an amazing phenomenon for the past several months. The piece in Washington Post alludes to a similar thing that too many people look at trumps crowds, the crowds that he gathers, and say, oh, well, theyre all this or theyre all that. But, no, theyre all different. Theyre there for the reason you cited. I think that that disconnect between what the perception has been focusing on the racism, focusing on the drama behind trumps rise has confused us a bit and we havent focused on what the actual substance is that he is pushing. Thats, you know, the antitrade, the what hes saying about entitlement reform. His main overarching message, too, is just that, listen, these elected leaders have failed. We need to take washington back. So you have people who feel disenfranchised from washington and they feel like they vote these politicians into office and they dont live up to the promises. His language fits the mood. Exactly. Are these people who are backing trump, are they republicans that are big on defense . Are they political in the sense that we are around this table . Or do they have a different relationship with politics . A lot of trump voters that ive spoken to, it is not even that theyre such diehard republican, that theyre going to always vote with the party or necessarily consider themselves voting across party lines. Its just theyre really responding to trump and they feel like he brings something different. Hes an outsider and hes coming in to take on the system. So he might come with a ton of baggage and they might not necessarily like how he talks about women, language he uses at rallies. But the overarching message they do support i find it funny though. Because i do agree, a lot of this resentment is because
politicians came in and said were going to do x, y and z, and they didnt do x, y or z. But donald trump is promising them totally unrealist policies that will never happen. Period. Not going to be a wall on the Mexican Border paid for by mexico. Just not going to happen. If theyre disappointed in this politicians now, the level of disappoint they have with President Trump is going to be much larger than anything weve had to live with. Hallie jackson, thank you so much for being with us. You do look great whether youre in front of a bus or at the border or on a set. Thank you for being with us. Still ahead, the bidding war to form the Worlds LargestHotel Company and the merger involving marriott. Business before the bell is coming up. The top leaders on the senate clash over what to do with the president S Supreme Court nominee. Stay with us. How fast is it . Plenty fast. But its not how fast you mow, its how well you mow fast. Its not how fast you mow, its how well you mow fast. Its not how fast you mow, its how well you mow fast. Its how well you mow fast . Its how well you mow fast. Even if it doesnt catch on, doesnt mean its not true. The John Deere Ztrak z535m with our reengineered deck to mow faster better. To find out more about the accel deep mower deck, go to johndeere. Com mowwellfast my wife and i are now participating in your mutual fund. We invested in your fund to help us pay for a College Education for our son. Weve enclosed a picture of our son
so that you can get a sense there are real people out here trusting you with their hardearned money. At fidelity, we dont just manage money, we manage peoples money. The possibility of a flare was almost always on my mind. Thinking about what to avoid, where to go. And how to deal with my uc. To me, that was normal. Until i talked to my doctor. She told me that humira helps people like me get uc under control and keep it under control when certain medications havent worked well enough. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where
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that. We saw pretty quickly some of the craft in this but where is this going . Let me just say this. This is a story with monumental importance and stakes involved. It is also the lamest, most frustrating story to come to journalists. Because reids concern for republican senators is so laughable . Literally all were doing is pointing out everyones past statements. Mcconnells taken out a position thats a little bit untenable here saying you will never mee with the guy wasnt the little bit savvyist. Maybe hold perfunctory hearings, then vote it down. Time for business before the bell with cnbcs sara eisen. What are you looking at today . Good morning. Ive got a deal to report. Marriott it looks like it set to win the bidding war to buy starwood hotels. This is a 13. 6 billion deal and it tops a deal to buy starwood by a Chinese Company last week. The Chinese Company owns the waldorfastoria and some other u. S. Hotels. Marrio marriottstarwood combination would be the Largest Hotel company in the world. More than 5,500 hotels also would bring the owner of sheraton, w, st. Regis under the same umbrella. It still has to be approved by shareholders. Big question is what it means for the loyalty rewards points, those diehard stg starwood holders. Which get more bang for the buck than marriott rewards. Marriotts ceo is with president obama in cuba today. A number of ceos went to try to establish Better Business and economic ties in cuba. This comes after it was announced this week a starwood, the company that was just bought, actually became the first u. S. Hotel company to offer a cuban hotel in decades. It is going to take over about three of them and we expect many more deals to follow even though the trade embargo has not passed congress yet and theyre still some skepticism on the part of the Cuban Administration towards capitalist, profit, Enterprises Like the u. S. , two big swing factors in this whole economic relationship. Thank you. I will be waiting for that news about my starwood points. Now back to regular programming. Up next, wait a minute, mr. President. A special delivery to havana from the white house. Well tell you what was among the first batch of mail from the u. S. To cuba in over 50 years. Keep it on morning joe. son pa, i know we settle for cable. But directv has been number one in Customer Satisfaction over cable for 15 years. father how bout over 15 satisfying years with that woman over there boiling your clothes. Her layers and layers of. Layers. Hair that ive rarely seen because its always under that bonnet. And how she fought off that grizzly and made him into these slippers. Thats satisfaction son. vo dont be a settler, get a 100 reward card when you switch to directv. Every Auto Insurance policy has a number. But not every Insurance Company understands the life behind it. Those who have served our nation have earned the very best service in return. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. Get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. It is wonderful to be here. Back in 1928, president coolidge came on a battleship. It took him three days to get here. It only took me three hours. President obama arriving in cuba the first time in 88 years a sitting u. S. President has set foot on cuban soil. Piece by piece we are seeing the
u. S. Is normalizing relations with cuba 15 months after the president first announced his plans. The arrival of the u. S. President is something a lot of people on this island, frankly, never thought theyd live to see. One woman in particular now finds herself, in a way, in the middle of making history. In the well used kitchen of her havana home, she honors cuban tradition. Sugar or no sugar . Reporter by making a strong rich cup of coffee for visitors. A practice she has in case her dream guests ever come. How many letters have you written to him . Five. Reporter starting in 2008 when barack obama was first running for president , she sat down at her computer to write. I just want to ask you to please lift the embargo. Reporter then on election night, 2008, a real rarity in cuba. Iliana was able to watch the results on television and report
back to her family. I heard you opened a very expensive bottle of many shah pain. Is it true . It is. Reporter and she wrote more letters. Mr. President , i heard last night reporter in her last one, a thank you for opening the diplomatic door to cuba and an invitation to open her own. Please, please, come visit mere. Give this 76yearold lady the pleasure of meeting you personally. Reporter like the other letters, she never expected president obama to read it. But he did. Oh, my god, i cant believe it. Reporter a response came, hand delivered and as the official White House Photo shows it was signed by the president himself. He wrote, i hope this note which will reach you by way of the first direct mail flight from the u. S. To cuba in over 50 years serves as a bright new chapter in the relationship between our two nations. No mention of ileanas other request. And if he does come, hell find her coffee is a lot like she is,
delightful and sweet and good. Reporter oh, wow. Oh, wow. Thats good coffee. Thats good coffee. Reporter by the way with be she says he should bring his family. My heart is always very uplifting. Reporter we havent seen any secret Service Activity around her house so we dont know if shes going to get that visit but for her and a lot of people here it is about economic opportunity. We are seeing direct flights are going to start from the United States to havana. Hotels are going to be opening up. Airbnb is going to open up as Many Properties here to americans. Still, very difficult to use credit cards so people who are coming need to bring a wad of cash. On the other hand, the president s going to be dealing with the reality later today when hes meeting with raul castro who still tries to keep a very tight control over this country and with dissidents, more than 500 of them, protesters arrested in just the first couple of weeks this
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oh, my. Now to talk about what weve learned endured, i mean, today. What did we learn, mike . Well, i just learned that its criminal to take one of the great songs of all time. I also learned how deeply angry i still am about not being in havana this sounds like a personal problem, mike. I learned that we still have absolutely no idea what donald is going to come out with at apac today. And it should be very interesting. Exactly. I learned that ted cruz is struggling with this new sensation where people in the mainstream Republican Party are flocking to him are now running away. Chris. I can bring you up here, barnicle, but what you really want is cafe cubano. Good morning, im Thomas Roberts in new york. The stage is set for a really unique day on the president ial trail. Weve got 4 of the 5 remaining candidates all going to be showing up in the same room today. It starts this hour. Everybody is going to be there except for Bernie Sanders addressing the powerful proisrael lobbying group known as apac. Hillary clinton speaking at the bottom of the hour. First, another chaotic weekend on the campaign trail. Protesters and supporters clashing once again at rallies with gop frontrunner donald trump. There was at least one incident on saturday where a member of trumps final security and his Campaign Manager personally got involved to make physical contact and should down a demonstrator. We all want to make sure that trump knows hes not like here and we dont welcome his hate here at all. It was a little intense. There were a couple times of friction where fights started. Just had to get out of the way. Sucker punched on the left. And then you