Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20160222

Is now the clear frontrunner to win the republican nomination for president of the United States. Can you believe that . And the Bernie Sanders revolution, well, it came up short in nevada over the weekend. And that puts Hillary Clinton in total control of the democratic race heading into South Carolina this saturday. And all of those primaries on super tuesday on march 1st. And right now, we are barreling toward a general election matchup that would pit donald trump and Hillary Clinton clinton. Let that sink in for just a minute. Well get the early handicap on what that matchup would look like later in the show. But first, begin with the seemingly Unstoppable Force in the republican party. Donald trump is on the precipice of amassing an overpowering coalition of voters and potentially delegates. This is what trumps opponents would call a nightmare scenario for the republican establishment. Its something far worse for them. Right now, it is reality. Trump has jumped out to the early lead in the delegate count. This after steam rolling the field in South Carolina, winning every single Congressional District and sweeping all 50 delegates that were up for grabs on saturday night. He steamrolled the field in New Hampshire before that and he is the heavy favorite to win tomorrow here in nevada. And look at this. Trump also has the clear advantage heading into the delegaterich super tuesday contest, just a week from tomorrow. And his strength is all over the map. A couple of these are robo polls, but theyre worth showing to get a sense of perceptions in each of those super tuesday states. And you can get trump himself will probably be mentioning most of those polls. Hes up 42 states in massachusetts. A blue state filled with moderate republicans. He is up 19 in Bernie Sanders backyard in vermont. Hes up 9 in georgia. A deep red state with evangelical christian voters. He is up 6 in virginia, a purple state. Hes got the lead in oklahoma and in alaska. And in texas, ted cruzs home state, trump trails by just 5 points. He also lags behind a little bit in arkansas and minnesota, but not by much. And then theres the state of trumps establishment competition, jeb bush, marco rubio, john kasich. Jeb bush now officially bushed. Hes out of the race. Rubio has locked horns with cruz. They appear to be more concerned with hitting each other at the moment than diving into the muck with trump. Its incredibly disturbing. I mean, you guys have to be saying this. Its every single day that something come out of the Cruz Campaign thats deceptive and untrue. They dont believe theyre going to win here in nevada. Apparently, they dont believe theyre going to win any states on super tuesday. And the rubio cruz drama hit a fever pitch today. Cruz has just asked for the resignation of his communications director, rick tyler. This after tyler shared a video on social media, that appeared to show rubio saying something derogatory about the bible, but it turns out that that video completely misrepresented what rubio was saying. Tyler quickly apologized for his error, but not before the Rubio Campaign pounds on him for it. Here is cruz attempting to clean up the mess. Yesterday, a staffer from our campaign sent out a tweet, that tweeted a news story that purported to indicate marco saying something negative about the bible. The news story was false. Ive spent this morning investigating what happened. And this morning, i asked for rick tylers resignation. And trump also wasted no time jumping on cruz, tweeting, wow, ted cruz falsely suggested marco rubio mocked the bible and was just forced to fire his communications director. More dirty tricks. And then theres also kasich, the long shot in this field now, hes now beating back criticism after on the stump today, crediting women who, quote, came out of the kitchen to support him when he first got elected to office back in the 1970s. Kasich also threw cold water on the idea that the establishment should rally around rubio in order to take out trump. What do you make of the suggestion from the Rubio Campaign that you dont have a path to the nomination and that you should clear the way for him . I think its funny. I think its funny. I think its ridiculous. For a year, you ignored me. And now all of a sudden, people are beginning to hear me. And im going to continue to talk. So, how do you like that . Add all of this together, and its a dire place to be if youre an establishment republican, trying to not going off donald trump, which leads us to another related headline today that you cant overlook. Heres what the second most powerful republican in Congress Said this morning. I think theres more than a 50 chance hes the nominee. And i think thats whats setting in for a lot of people. Could they get their heads around trump. In trump were the nominee, you think he can work with donald trump . Oh, yeah, i think he can work with donald trump. And im joined now by a powerhouse trio of Campaign Surrogates and advisers, Ken Cuccinelli was Virginia Attorney general. He is a supporter of ted cruz. Katrina pearson is his spokesperson for the trump campaign. And jason row is Senior Adviser to the Rubio Campaign. So, ken, let me start with you. And we have this issue with rick tyler in this video. I want to read this. This is the statement were getting from the Rubio Campaign. They are saying, quote, there is a culture in the Cruz Campaign, from top to bottom, that no lie is too big and no trick too dirty. Thats from alex cohen within the last hour from the Rubio Campaign, talking about this video and also making reference to some of the other complaints theyve had about the Cruz Campaigns conduct. What do you say to that . A lot of this is, you know, youre making mountains out of mole hills, because they cant go toetotoe on the issues. Ted is the only consistent conservative in this race. And marco came in on very similar terms to the u. S. Senate, and went a different path. He joined the establishment, ted fought the establishment, while donald trump has funded the accomplishment. But in terms of this saying a culture of corruption within a campaign. We had the whole dispute over what happened in iowa, about the alerts going out, saying ben carson was leaving the race, a lot of heat for ted cruz and his campaign over that. Now you have this with rick tyler, with his video that misrepresented what marco rubio was saying about the bible. Is there a pattern here or the appearance of a pattern that hurts the cain . No, thats part of why the top staff was changed. To the extent, two times make a pattern, that pattern end there had today. So, you know, and were trying to get back to the substance that Americans Care about the people in nevada, care about, ive been on the phones in nevada here, for the last couple of days. People are interested in why ted is the only candidate that has come out to give them their lands back. Theres a big libertarian streak that plays well for ted cruz in the absence of rand paul. Hes the biggest defender of civil liberties. Can you win this state tomorrow . We can win nevada. Nevada is, of course, the least predictable of all the states in the early part of the calendar. But, the feedback weve been getting this weekend has been very positive. So well see who shows up. Its a very low turnout, relative to, say, iowa, a similarsized state, but probably only about a quarter of the number of voters. It also took 2 1 2 days four years ago to cover it. Jason row, supporter of marco rubio. I want to bring you in on this. And we were playing video of ted cruz there saying, look, from marco rubios standpoint, he has no claim to being Donald Trumps main challenger right now, because he hasnt won a state yet, and ted cruz says he cant point to a single state hes going to win on that super tuesday slate of contests we just ran through on march 1st. Can you point to a state down there that marco rubio is going to win . You know, using ted cruzs math, the new England Patriots are the super bowl champions. We also go through a process of primaries and caucuses, through the 54 states and territories, in order to find out who is best prepared to go run a national campaign. And were only three states into this, 4 of the delegates cast, and ted cruz, last i saw, only won one, and that was the first one, and he has progressively done worse in each one. But say jojason, i just want say, the response the that hes won one. Thats one more than youve won, and no one ever in the modern era has won a republican president ial nomination, without putting a win on the board in one of these first states. So he had to do something weve never seen before. Where, specifically, can you say youre going to win on march 1st . Steve, i think theres a lot of things about this president ial election process that weve never seen before. I would say conventional wisdom has been turned on its head. So were three states. Weve got 51 states and territories yet to go. And we will see. I mean, these things change with each election. And i have a feeling that were going to do incredibly well in nevada, and that is going to shape how our strength looks in the other states, that will come super tuesday. Youve got guys like john kasich that are basically fighting to win one state out of the 14 states well deal with in the next week. Ted cruz, virtually guaranteed that he was going to win in South Carolina, bragging about the investment in troops and how long theyve had people on the ground. And he didnt win a single county in South Carolina. So, you know, we have to go through this process to find out who is best prepared to win a national campaign. And only marco rubio is positioned to take on Hillary Clinton, and actually win against her in november. How much, though, you mentioned john kasich. He is staying in this race. He says hes staling well until march, but how much is his continued presence this this race hurting your ability. This is what marco rubio says he wants to do. Unite the party thats not for donald trump right now. How much is his presence hurting your ability to do that . I dont think its hurting very much at all. He was in Single Digits in South Carolina. How far the 13 states on super tuesday, he seems to be keeping for one of them. So i just dont know how you can continue to maintain you are a serious candidate if you cant actually put anything on the board. And youre not even competing in any of these important states. And so, i dont think hes a threat right now. I think in terms of uniting folks that are not Trump Supporters behind the best conservative candidate to win in november, you know, to a small degree, its an impediment there, but i think that over the next week, thats going to take care of itself. And katrina pearson, from the trump campaign, let me bring you in. Yes, you guys have won two of the first three. You guys are leading in the polls out here in nevada for tomorrows contest. But let me give you the skeptical, the knock on your candidacy, people say, look, donald trump is the first choice of a lot of Republican Voters and the second choice of none. Hes getting 30 to 35 right now, but the minute you winnow this race down to donald trump versus somebody else, 60 are going to be against him. What do you say to that . You think the pinnacle of mr. Trumps campaign is proving the candidates wrong. We saw that mr. Trump picked up some of that support. And as we get down to it. When someones number one is out, they are reconsidering all the other candidates. And at the end of the day, people dont want amnesty, they want to secure the border, they want to protect the homeland. And they want to fix the economy. And when you ask those same people who is best positioned to do all of the above . They always say donald trump. But when is he going to we asked the question to the Rubio Campaign, when are you going to start winning states . Let me ask you this, though. When are we going to start seeing donald trump people say theres a ceiling there, when are we going to start seeing him getting 35, 40, 50 . We may actually see that in nevada. And moving the through the s. E. C. , theres a ton of support for mr. Trump out there, and a lot of people were on the fence, because they werent quite sure if he could do it. Now that weve been through New Hampshire and South Carolina, a state where he wasnt supposed to do very well, a state where senator cruz did not win a single county speaks volumes to the broad base of spectrum of support that mr. Trump has. Whether its every faction of the republican conservative side, even reagan democrats and young people, and we just havent seen that in the republican primary before, which puts mr. Trump in the best position to win also in the general. Kent, let me bring you back in. Ted cruz won iowa, won the evangelical vote in iowa, in South Carolina, he spent so much time in the upstate, a very evangelicalrich part of the state. He didnt win in upstate, he didnt win South Carolina. If youre ted cruz and youre going after the evangelical vote and you cant win South Carolina, and you cant win the evangelical vote in South Carolina, how can you go across the south next week and expect to win there . First, lets be very clear. Were going after each sector of the republican vote. Ted has done well against young voters, the future of our party, people might have expected other candidates to do that. He has done that in part with his liberty message. And we expect to continue expanding that. Ted has invested a lot of personal time in the super tuesday states, so over the next week, nevada and super tuesday are areas that were well positioned in terms of grassroots support and time invested by our candidate to perform well. What do you think, though what do you think it is . When you look at evangelical voters, were talking three quarters of the electorate in South Carolina on saturday, they chose trump over ted cruz. What do you think theyre seeing in what are they not seeing one thing we immediate to realize, as much as television likes to simplify things, a lot of things in life are a lot more complicated. For instance, evangelical voters vote on a lot of different issues. For instance, ted winning young voters. That isnt the focus of an evangelicaltype question. And hes doing it with issues. And as we continue to get across the country and we have more time to play out the issues and more debates, teds consistent, conservative record is holding him in good instead. And yes, theres ups and downs to this race, and donald trump is 21, were 12, everyone else is 03. And youve got to win. Youve got to be able to win states. And we are able to win states and we can load ahead to super tuesday and point to states that we think we can win and do well in all the others. And you know, thats a challenge for many of the other campaigns. And jason, let me just bring you back in quickly on this. Weve seen a lot of endorsements coming in today. Well talk about this more in a little bit, but a lot of Republican Office holders getting off the sidelines, endorsing marco rubio, especially since jeb bush got out there, theres been an uptick in that. But if marco rubio does have the majority of endorsements behind him, if thats where this goes in the next couple days, if you look at the mood of this party, look at donald trump in first place, look at ted cruz, look at the antiestablishment message thats playing so well, do you want to be the candidate thats getting all the endorsements . Listen, elections are won by addition, not by subtraction. And so we welcome the support of anyone, republican, democrat, or independent, between now and when marco is elected president in november of this year. I mean, the reality here is people are getting on board because they see marco is the best candidate for conservatives to win in november. And not to secondguess here, but weve got to think about what the risks that we have here. Its not just about the presidency, its about control of the u. S. Senate. And i believe that donald trump and ted cruz will put control of the u. S. Senate in severe jeopardy, whereas marco rubio could actually have coattails that could help us. I havent seen a poll yet that have shown ted cruz or donald trump beating Hillary Clinton. Only marco rubio seems to be able to consolidate the conservative movement. And anyone who says hes establishment is ignoring reality and ignoring history. He ran against the personification of the establishment in charlie crist. Hes got a 98 voting record. He is our best cans to not only win the conservativesy. I have seen polls that put cruz ahead of Hillary Clinton. Ive seen polls that put donald trump ive seen polls that put rubio ahead of her as well. And ive seen polls that put Hillary Clinton ahead of all of them. There are polls all over the place right now, i want to make sure we mention every campaign can point to at least one at this point. Thank you, ken, katrina, and jason. Appreciate the time. And next, well take a look at Bernie Sanders toughest challenge yet. Can his revolution regain momentum ahead of South Carolina this saturday . Plus, dominating the delicate race. What the numbers really say about Hillary Clintons ground game. Well check in with both campaigns after this. 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. Late this afternoon, senator Claire Mccaskill of missouri revealed shes been diagnosed with breast cancer. Shell take a leave from congress for three weeks for treatment. Mccaskill says the doctors found the cancer during a routine screening. In a Statement Released on social media, she writes, its a little scary, but my prognosis is good and i expect a full recovery. Senator mccaskill also assured her constituents that shell continue her senator responsibilities by submitting questions for any missed hearings in recording official comments on all missed votes. Well be right back. Ure talkina 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. Secretary clinton, month after month after month seems to be adopting more and more of the positions that we have advoca advocated. Thats good. And in fact is going to use a lot of the language and phraseology that we have used. In fact, i think i saw a tv ad, i thought it was me. Back now with more mtp daily live from las vegas. That was senator Bernie Sanders in boston today. He says theres something familiar about Hillary Clintons talking points lately. Sanders loss in nevada zapped away valuable momentum his campaign hoped to have heading into South Carolina. Now sanders is trying to gain footing with an electorate that is still uneasy or unfamiliar with them. Sanders is combatting the slump by going on offense. He cautioned voters not to get confused by the similara aglange of the two candidates, emphasizing he and clinton are actually very different. Secretary clinton and her people are saying, yes, we have super pacs, but that money is going to be used against republicans. Well, guess what, turns out not to be the case. Millions of dollars in super pac money is now being used against me. She supported nafta. She supported permanent normal trade relations with china. Whose life work is about standing up to the billionaire class. Sanders is hoping to make up ground in massachusetts, not far from his home state of vermont. And his first big win in New Hampshire, as well as the industrial midwest, where trade deals hit communities hard. But today the delegate count dominates the trail count. As for the National Delegate count, clinton leads sanders 6752 right now. This is by nbcs numbers. 16 of those are superdelegates for Hillary Clinton. Theyve been apportioned from those early states. One of those superdelegates from sanders with 823 to seal the nomination. The road ahead is long. But for sanders, that road is uphill and potentially very steep, depending on the 712 superdelegates, many of them have already aligned themselves with clinton, include them in the count and the gap between the two candidates widens significantly. Jeff weaver, Sanders Campaign manager joins me now. So, jeff, look thank you. Im measuring the Sanders Campaign against two different standards here. Fair or not. I think a year ago, when this race started, the expectations from the political world, from the Bernie Sanders campaign, were zero. And the fact yes. The fact that you won New Hampshire, you came so close in iowa, you were five points short in nevada. That is an amazing achievement viewed from that angle. But in terms of winning this nomination, beating Hillary Clinton for this nomination, didnt you need that win in nevada on saturday . Didnt you need to go into a state that she was claiming as part of her firewall and show you could beat her there . No, look, steve. From the getgo, winning nevada was never part of our strategy for winning this nominating process. The fact of the matter is five weeks ago, we were 25 points down in nevada. We came within five. We certainly, looks like we won the latino vote there. Or did very well. So, i think the whole firewall thing is really just a myth and its been exploded by the fact that he did so well in nevada. I mean, nobody, nobody, nobody thought that he would come within five points in nevada. In fact, he came closer to secretary clinton in nevada than barack obama did in 2008. Well, i have to i just should point out, you mentioned the latino vote in nevada. This is a very contested issue. The entrance poll that was conducted said that Bernie Sanders had won the latino vote by eight points. If you look at the precincts in nevada, where the latino population is, the largest, she was winning the delegates in those places. Both sides are making claims that they won the latino vote. Its something we may never know the answer to, but there was Something Else in the entrance poll that i want to ask you about, and that was heifer performance among africanamerican voters. The entrance poll finding that nevada, she beat Bernie Sanders by 55 points, among africanamerican voters. And when you look ahead, this saturday in South Carolina, where Bernie Sanders is trailing by big margins to Hillary Clinton and look ahead to super tuesday next week, states with large africanamerican populations, is nevada a sign that you guys, for all the effort weve been making the last six months have not made the kinds of inroads you need to make with africanamerican voters . I think it will vary from state to state, steve. The africanamerican population is not monoloathic. And its going to vary from state to state. Both in the south and between the south and the north. And so, you know, obviously, were behind in South Carolina, were fighting very hard there. We have a great ground game there. Were hoping to close in South Carolina. And as you know, this whole thing is about proportional allocation of delegates. So we dont need to win everywhere. And were not going to win in every single state. By march 1st, besides southern states, theres massachusetts, vermont, minnesota, colorado, oklahoma. So there are, you know, and were also going to get a lot of delegates out of texas, frankly. So what is a good day for you march 1st . You know, i think were on tv in those five states i just mentioned. Were competing hard there. You know, if we could do well in most of those, i think that would be a good day for us. Because, after that, look, after that, we go into the industrial midwest. And i have to tell you that senator sanders message on trade, on economics. On whats on how middle income and working class families have been destroyed by the billionaire class in this country, who were supporting secretary clinton, that message is going to resonate very strongly in the industrial midwest, which has been gutted by bad trade deals. Jeff weaver, the Campaign Manager for Bernie Sanders, thanks for the time. Appreciate that. Thank you. And we turn now to congress Manning Gregory meeks of new york. Hes a Hillary Clinton supporter. So congressman meeks, let me ask you where you think this race stands right now. Hillary clinton has won two nailbiters and shes gotten blown out in New Hampshire. Where would you say this race stands right now . This race stands in very good shape for Hillary Clinton. You know, if there were two states that Bernie Sanders would want to initiate or to start, it would be iowa and New Hampshire. So he did, you know, New Hampshire is his neighboring state and iowa is a state that does not have the kind of diversity as the rest of america. So, those would be the best states that he would start with. Now, the primary season has really begun. Youll see diverse states, as you did in nevada, and youll see in South Carolina, and you move to various other states, where folks will look at the record and the life of Hillary Clinton and her commitment over that life period of time and her accomplishments, look at the debates and the issues, because, clearly, anyone that has seen the debates have stayed right after, when youre talking about issues, that theres no one better than Hillary Clinton. And so the American People will be more focused and hillary is right where she should be and right where she wants to be. Let me try this with you. If we stipulate that Hillary Clinton, after winning nevada and looking at her position in South Carolina in some of these super tuesday states is in a fairly good position in terms of actually winning the democratic nomination, let me ask you a Bigger Picture question. And it relates to what i was just talking to jeff weaver about. If you look at all of the advantages that Hillary Clinton wrought to this race, the 17 million votes she won in 2008, a former secretary of state, a former first lady, a former United States senator, running against a 74yearold socialist from vermont, the fact that shes already lost New Hampshire by 20 points and she may lose a number of other states before this is over, that she barely won iowa and nevada, what does that say . Look, it says that, number one, when i look at the makeup of the electorate in New Hampshire, there are a lot of things. Look at the details. 41 of the electorate in New Hampshire was independents. Bernie sanders, by his own admission, hes a socialist democrat, but hillary, theyre not democrats. You look at iowa, 46 identify themselves, of the democrats, as socialists. Those are the best states for Bernie Sanders. When we move forward into, as we did in nevada, into South Carolina, moving into some of the other southern states, et cetera, folks are going to focus on what have you done and what can you accomplish . And is one issue the solution to all of americas problems . Mr. Sanders only talks about one issue. He believes if you get rid of wall street or new york, i guess, that that will solve all of the issues of america. Hillary clinton believes that theres many, many issues that we have to confront. Many battles that we still have to fight here in the United States. And she has been in the forefront of fighting them for over for just about her entire adult life and will continue to fight them, and thats why the American People will rally around first democrats would rally around her to win the democratic nomination and then americans will to make her the 45th president of the United States of america. All right. Congressman greg meeks, democrat from new york, Hillary Clinton supporter, thanks for your time. And still ahead, a frontrunner faceoff. What would a donald trump Hillary Clinton general election actually look like . Were going to dive into that. And later, new details in the fight to replace the late justice Antonin Scalia. Were going to look at how the democrats are setting up a fullcourt press and how the republicans plan to stop it. Welcome to opportunitys knocking, where selfproclaimed financial superstars pitch you investment opportunities. Ive got a fantastic deal for you gold with the right pool of investors, theres a lot of money to be made. But first, investors must ask the right questions and use the smartcheck challenge to make the right decisions. Youre not even registered; im done with you i can. I can. Savvy investors check their financial pros background by visiting smartcheck. Gov but cigna is there for you. Health isnt easy. Literally. Just download our free coach by cigna app. For personalized programs from a team of Health Coaches to help you achieve your wellness goals. Cigna. Together, all the way. Or building the best houses in town. Or becoming the next highlyunlikely dotcom superstar. And us, well be right there with you, helping with the questions you need answered to get your brand new business started. Were legalzoom and weve already partnered with over a million new Business Owners to do just that. Check us out today to see how you can become one of them. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. Thsometimes you cant evento graimagine. H. Thats the job. And shes the one whos proven she can get it done. Securing a massive reduction in nuclear weapons. Standing up against the abuse of women. Protecting social security. Expanding benefits for the national guard. And Winning Health care for 8 million children. The presidency is the toughest job in the world and shes the one wholl make a real difference for you. Im Hillary Clinton and i approved this message. A. Weve said it before, money cant buy you love, and the 120 million spent by jeb bush and the super pac supporting him couldnt get him past the first three nominating contests. That could be a challenge for Bernie Sanders and for many of the republican candidates. Sanders is still raising a lot of money. He took in more than 21 million just in january, compared to just about 15 million for Hillary Clinton, but sanders is also spending that cash very quickly, to the tune of 35 million bucks in january. And that amounts to a burn rate of 164 . Thats why clinton has so much more cash on hand than Bernie Sanders does right now, more than twice the amount. Both clinton and sanders have more money in the bank right now than any of the republican candidates, though. Ted cruz is leading the republican pac with over 13 million on hand. He also outraised his republican on tpponents in janu, but cruzs burn rate is even higher than sanders hi. In fact, all of the republicans except for ben carson are spending just as quickly and perhaps just as problematically as sanders is. No one is burning money faster than marco rubio. He took in about 5 million in january and spent more than 10 million in that same time. We have got much more ahead on m mtp daily, but first susan li has the cnbc market wrap. Stocks began the week with rally, the dow climbing 228 points, the nasdaq jumping 66. Shares of Lumber Liquidators plunging. The cdc saying that people exposed to certain kinds of laminate flooring that contains formaldehyde are now at a higher risk of cancer than previously thought. Also, gas prices and gasoline falling 5 cents over the last two weeks, according to lundberg research and regular gasoline now down to 1. 77 a gallon. That is the lowest in more than seven years. Thats it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. Know your Financial Plan wont keep you up at night. 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Donald trump and Hillary Clinton are in firm control of their nomination fights, which raises the question, what kind of a slug fest could we be in store for if these two frontrunners collide in the general election . One things for sure, it could very well be one of the ugliest and nastiest and most interesting contests ever in american politics. Now, its very early, still, but the headtohead matchups paint a portrait of a tight race. Clinton leads trump by five points according to the most recent fox news poll, but trump leads clinton by two, according to the most recent usa today polls. So pick your poll there. Joined now by three of msnbcs finest, nbc political analyst, john ralston and nbcs Chris Jansing and nbcs kate snow. Let me start with you, kate. We put the poll numbers up there, but ive heard the comment a lot over the last six months or so, as this donald trump thing has become more real. Democrats saying, hes the guy we dream of running against. The same logic that says that trump couldnt win a general election is the same logic that says he could never win the nomination. Right, i think youre on to something. I think it would be a tough, tough battle. You know, you look at those two candidates, they have such distinct appeals, i think. I think Hillary Clinton is so measured, shes been trying, lately, to be more personable and really get in there and talk to voters, one on one happen but, you know, the criticism of her is she doesnt do great in huge rally settings. He sometimes sounds a little forced when she tries to yell and make a point. Hes the opposite. Hes the showman. I think it could be a crazy race to cover if it turns out to be those two. And trumps ideology, theres still a lot we dont know and its very flexible. We cant quite grasp it yet. Heres an example. This was meet the press just yesterday talking about planned parenthood. This is an issue that got republicans in the general election into a lot of trouble four years ago. But listen to trump talk about planned parenthood. Do you think that it should be a law that anybody who can afford Health Insurance has to have it . Were not going to let people die in some in squalor, because we are republicans, okay . Thats part of the problem with the republicans, where somehow they got fed into this horrible position. Were going to take care of people. I have many, many friends who are women, who understand planned parenthood better than you or i will ever understood it. And they do some very good work. Cervical cancer, lots of womens issues, Womens Health issues are taken care of. Planned parenthood does a lot of good a really good job in a lot of different areas. You know, we focus so much on immigration with donald trump, but when you look at healthcare, planned parenthood, he could be more moderate, maybe more electable than any republican i talked to his son, eric, and he said, look at the broad appeal this is going to have. But the crazy thing about this whole campaign is, what we hear from a lot of democrats, if they did get into a general, shes going to wipe him up. Shes going to wipe him up in the debate, wipe him up on policy. Policy doesnt it matter. Did you go to a rally by jeb bush . This is a guy who wanted to reform education policy and went to 254 different schools by himself. It didnt matter. I dont know what to think of the matchup because none of those rules apply. It doesnt matter. There are two extremes that are not going to go one way or another. But i think that the net effect of this race, besides all of us who are journalists, heads exploding, because it was going to be the most crazy race weve ever seen before, is that there will be a larger middle, i think. When you talk one of the most fascinating conversations ive had is with the folks at the white house who really did the deep dive on what happened in 2008 and 2012, and the number of true undecided is a speck. You know, they had it down so microtargeted, not just to the district, but the block, that these people lived on. But if you nominate a trump against hillary . I think that that middle and the people who are torn between antiestablishment and worried about the same old same old, really broadens. And john, thats something i wonder about too. And maybe nevada is a good example of this. We emerged from the 2012 election and people said, its very simple going forward. If the republicans dont increase their appeal to latinos, dont increase their appeal to africanamericans, they cant win a national election. But that assumes all the other voters keep voting the way they been voting. I look at donald trump and say, he might pull in bluecollar white voters who have been with the democrats. They may come over to the republican side. I dont think donald trump was the nominee they had in mind when they wrote that report. But youve seen these numbers and delved into them. Donald trumps support is broader than people think. Somewhat conservative, moderate, very conservative. And so if he can broaden the coalition in the general election, thats a real problem for Hillary Clinton. But the other thing people forget is that Hillary Clinton has this huge trust problems with all voters. So she and theres i think theres very few people in the world who have not made up their mind about Hillary Clinton. And so, theres a sliver of voters that are going to make up the decision of whos the next president , in seven to ten states. I already knew this. Whoever the republican nominee is, shell have to demonize that person, drive up that persons negatives. Is there any human being who would relish that kind of campaign more than donald trump, and what he would try to do back to her. And weve already started to see that. And you see the conversation again, you have to go back to the conversation at the beginning of this campaign, which was, its always a fine line you walk when you attack a woman. A woman has never been the nominee for president. Whats it going to be like . Donald trump doesnt care that shes a woman. He talked about her bathroom breaks during the debate. There is no line. The lines that we think are there, he blows right past them, but doesnt pay a price for them. And remember, he has already gone after bill clinton. He has already raised issues that most candidates probably would quietly raise, and he said them right out loud. And it felt like the clintons backed off when he did that. And thats going to happen in the general, too, steve. I think what he would do with that issue is try to get hillary to defend bills behavior and then to try to pull women away from hillary by showing how she behaved towards some of those women. It would be incredibly ugly and trump as i said, ill use the same word, he would relish that is that something we can have as they look ahead to donald trump, they would think a gender gap would benefit them. Theyll get an even larger number of women than democrats usually get. But what john is saying have some validity . Could donald trump make inroads into that . I suppose like chris said, anything could happen this year, right . But also on the flip side, im thinking back to over the weekend, i think Kerry Sanders was talking to a bush supporter, a mother with children, and now that bush is out of the race, she said, im going to go for Hillary Clinton because i cant stand donald trump. So the on the flip side of what you were saying, there are voters who cant stand the politics of donald trump, who may switch parties to vote for Hillary Clinton. And earlier this week, this Clinton Campaign hired a Rapid Response spokesperson, someone who used to work for david brocks super pac. Is there a worse job in the world if youre going up against donald trump and your job is Rapid Response. Youve got to monitor twitter 24 7. Its going to be coming fast and furious. So maybe theres republicans who flip over, i cant do trump, im going to go hillary. And i wonder if there are going to be democrats like Bernie Sanders who are just so mad at the system and think, hillary is the system and donald trump is blowing up the system. Youve seen that in interviews, first choice, donald trump, second choice, sanders. We could all be wrong. I know its a shocking thought. But we done know whats going to happen. And the fact is, because its that unpredictable, we dont know what these coalitions are that theyre going to form. Thats why i love this year, everything we thought we knew about politics, we know nothing. Its great. Stay with us. Well be right back. Red lobsters lobsterfest is back. So come try the largest variety of lobster dishes of the year, like lobster lovers dream or new dueling lobster tails. Its a party on every plate, and youre invited. So come in while it lasts. patrick 2 pretty great. Ke to be the boss of you . patrick 1 how about a 10 raise . patrick 2 how about 20 . patrick 1 how about done . patrick 2 thats the kind of control i like. And thats what they give me at national car rental. I can choose any car in the aisle i want without having to ask anyone. Who better to be the boss of you. patrick 1 than me. I mean, you. Us. vo go national. Go like a pro. Today the u. S. Supreme court returned to work, beginning the day with a tribute to the late justice, Antonin Scalia. A draped memorial will remain at scalias place on the bench for 30 days. And this morning, chief Justice John Roberts noted that scalia authored 282 majority opinions. In echoing scalias own sarcastic humor, roberts drew laughter in the court when he said his colleague was known, occasionally, to dissent. Hell be remembered as one of the court east most vocal justices. Well have much more on the fight over the future of the high court, thats ahead. 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Well be right back with more with my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, 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 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. Raise your expectations. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible. Frodoers dont stop. Wake up, every day is a chance to do something great. And for the ones they love, theyd do anything. Sears optical has glasses made for doing. Right now, buy one pair and get another free. Quality eyewear for doers. Sears optical. On top of your health . Ay ahh. Ahh. Cigna customers have plan choices and tools to take control. So theyre more engaged, with fewer high health risks and lower medical costs. Take control of your health at cigna dot com slash take control. 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. Were always looking for ways to speed up your Car Insurance search. Heres the latest. Problem is, we havent figured out how to reverse it. For now, just log on to compare. Com. Plug in some simple info and get up to 50 free quotes. Choose the lowest and hit purchase. Now. If youll excuse me, im late for an important function. Compare. Com. Saving humanity from high insurance rates. It appears that Republican Leaders are calling no intention of filling this important vacancy. They declared themselves the Crown Guardian of gridlock, thats a quote. Hes lived up to that moniker. Senate minority leader harry reid on the clash already brewing over the successor to Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. It is back in session today after its president s day break. The first time the body has met since scalias death. It is time for the panel to come back. I just got to start, you heard from harry reid, what we heard from the white house and from the democrats. It doesnt matter its an election year. Theres an opening on the Supreme Court, the president should pick someone, the senate should confirm someone. Okay. This comes out today. Joe biden, the current Vice President , a u. S. Senator and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee back in 1992, a president ial election year, talking about what would happen if there was a vacancy on the Supreme Court that year. This is what he said. It is my view that if a Supreme Court justice resigns tomorrow or within the next several weeks, or resigns at the end of the summer, president bush would consider the practice of the majority of his predecessors and not and not name a nominee until after the november election is completed. Now, we should note later in the same speech biden said, well, look, maybe if the Republican Administration put up a more moderate candidate, i might consider it. But john ralston, you know a thing or two about harry reid as well. The democrats are now saying the operation of what they would have said before. This is shocking, steve. Just shocking. Can you imagine harry reid giving that speech if the president were a republican . Or the senate were controlled by democrats . Of course not. Everything is situational. You wonder why congress has a 10 Approval Rating because theyll change what they say depending on what the situation is. So of course we all know whats going on here. Its very unfortunate, right . You have this vacancy on the court. Its a president ial election where everything is sub assumed by the politics surrounding the president ial race. If you took the quote we just played and said a republican senator had said it today, you would have outrage from democrats. They would say, this senate yet that was the democratic posture back in 1992. The democrats trying to tell republicans they are under an absolute obligation to do this. That seems like a pretty devastating let me channel the white house. Steve, that was in june. Were in february now. No, im kidding. I have actually heard that today. The difference between unprecedented obstruction and the retired justices are saying get on with it. I think thats the feeling around the court a lot. They have a lot of business to take care of. Were in a silly season. We always say that about the president. But this is like the silly season on steroids, on steroids. The chances of this, the other thing we heard from joe biden, as you know, was signaling what the president s going to do. Hes going to pick somebody whos moderate, somebody whos gotten before a unanimous confirmation with republicans. I dont see the path for how we end up with heres what im struck by. Imagine being a person who gets the phone call from the obama white house. Wed love to consider you, wed love to put your name out there, have you go through a confirmation process where youre probably never going to get the seat. Youre not going to be the justice but will you go through that. A judicial cam kamikaze mission. Well be back tomorrow with more. With all due respect starts right now. Im mark halperin. With all due respect to t the improvement turn off the lights turn them off happy National Margarita day, sports fans. Surviving the weekend. You know the