Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20181024

America. Were here on our midterm road trip. We are following the story we have been covering all day, heres what we know so far, a device similar to a pipe bomb was intercepted at bill and Hillary Clintons house in chap what, new york, obama former attorney general eric holder ended up being marked returned to sender, and were told the return address on all of these was democratic congresswoman Debbie Wasserman schultzs office. So the decide that was meant for eric holder was then sent to her office in florida where it was intercepted i be the secret service. All this happened after the first incident on monday, when a bomb was place tsd in the mailbox of george soros. A suspicious package addressed to Maxine Waters, was intercepted in a facility for mail that goes to the white house. Were frantically trying to piece all this together. Whos doing this and why are they doing it . But lets be realistic, lets state the obvious, last year, a republican congressman Steve Scalise was shot by somebody from the left politically. Everybody i just mentioned thats been targeted in this incident has been singled out by the president or his defenders and its prompted some conspiracy theories in our echo chamber. A lot of people blame in current president for the political divide. At times hes cheered political acts of violence. I it all put him in an awkward spot today with a plea for unity. I just want to tell you that in these times we have to unify, we have to come together. And send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of Political Violence of any kind have no place in the United States of america. [ applause ] hes going to do a political rally tonight, well obviously check out the tone for that. We have all the angles of this breaking news story covered. Jim cavanaugh is an msnbc contributor, former special agent, and clint vanzant is an msnbc contributor and former fbi profiler. Whos taking the lead on this investigation, is it the secret service, is it the fbi, or is it the nypd . I say that because there does seem to be a new york pattern more than anything else. The answer to your question is yes, its going to be all those agencies, at some point if theyre able to find this individual, theyre going to want to bring this person forward and prosecute this person, it would be a federal case if it crossed a state lines, and it appears that it has and then it became a federal case and the type of case that it is, involving bombs, that makes it federal. Primarily its going to be the new York Joint Terrorism Task force, theres over 100 nypd detectives on that task force, theres a full compliment or fbi agents on that task force. Not all those detectives are going to be working on this investigation, but theyre going to have a lot of manpower at their disposal. In addition to that, just in the last several minutes as you were getting ready to come on the air here, chuck, the fbi released a Public Statement about the events that occurred today. And it occurred on monday, the device has been sent to the fbis labs in quantico, the fbi detectives will take a look at these. This is not the first time we have had bombing or attempted bombing incidents. Theyre going to actually take the time to pull apart these devices, theyre going to look at every single little bit of evidence that they can get and they will get to a point where they try to reconstruct the bomb and to figure out why these didnt go off and to figure out where these might have come from today. Obviously the type of components can lead them to where certain things may have been purchased and from there, that could lead them to a suspect, if they dont have somebody in mind already. Thats where this investigation is going to go to next. Theres going to be a lot of on the ground work, but its going to be up to the bomb network to draw them closer to the circle of where this person may be. One other piece of evidence that im curious about from this morning, before news spread about the clinton, obama and holder potential attacks, i was reading an update about the investigation into the incident with george soros, at his house. And there was, it seemed that they had concluded that it did not go through the Postal Service, that they thought the person hand delivered it, but it was made to seem as if it went to the Postal Service. Do we know for sure these were all sent through the Postal Service or are they sort of backtracking now on that part of the soros investigation . Right, chuck, so at this point its not clear at all that they all went through the Postal Service. Its certainly possible that somebody could buy stamps, the fbi made it clear that the packages had the forever stamps on them, but that doesnt mean they went through the mailing incident. And my colleague has been on the george soros incident since monday night, that was the thinking then, perhaps it had been hand delivered. But on the other hand maybe it didnt get the requisite po postmarking because of the size of the package or the shape of the package. Because obviously if you had somebody that hand delivered that package on monday night, they would like to know who hand delivered it. And if that person is a suspect, then they were in the Greater New York city area as recently as two days ago, so thats one of the key centers of the investigation at this point. And finally, have authorities sent out warnings of anybody else they think could be on a list like this . I know our network is taking certain precautions for obvious reasons. Frankly john brennan is somebody whos on our payroll, i know were taking precautions, but has the fed reached out to other folks urging extra precautions . First is the nypd has a program called nypd shield, its an event that members of the press are invited to and basically its a con sorsortium public and private agencies. Theres a tremendous amount of information thats been pushed out through that program today that they manage. And so that allows businesses here to be on the lookout for these type of packages, the fbi releasing another picture of them tonight, so people demo whdemo know what to look for, mail rooms know what to look out. We have seen from our colleagues on the hill and other Government Agencies where they have advised Congress People about these packages and other people about them. So anybody looking, says well, what are your targets . Somebody here clearly wants attention. Its all we have been talking about for the last eight or nine hours. And somebody here clearly wants to get to the media and get to the politician. So clearly we know what their circle of targets are. Let me bring in our two experts, jim cavanaugh, clint van zandt. Weve done this a lot with each other, whats the motivation of a shooter, clint, you did this for a living, profile this person for us . Yeah, well, the fbi, atf and others, youve got to take a twotrack investigation, although to you and me and most of america, say well its got to be obvious this is some right wing nut who did this, just like the guy who shot up the Congressional Ball team last year. But youve got to take that twotrack investigation on the offchance this is a red herring, this is someone whos giving you a head fake, theyre sending in one direction when theyre going the other. Theyll study both sides of the fence, and theyre also going to look at the tremendous wealth, of the forensic evidence. We look at the envelope, well, look how dumb this person is, they cant spell florida, they cant spell brennans name right. But sometimes the person is trying to look less intelligent. You and i can dumb down or writing, but we cant smart up. Theres multiple tracks that we can look at right now, but this is the type of individual, chuck, he doesnt just contain this in himself. This is someone who would have written, who would have told associates, letters to the editor, blogs, everything as he kind of built up his crescendo inside of him. And he its got a bomb factory in his basement, or somewhere elsewhere he was able to put all this together. That means he had to buy all this, where did you buy the caps, the wires, the battery, did he buy them all at one Hardware Store or different ones, theres going to be a lot of information thats going to lead us to this guy, but right now i think its too early to take any suspect off the table until we create this pool of people and then were going to start shrinking that pool down. And i would strongly suggest that within a few days, the authorities are going to have a couple of good suspects of who they think might have done this from the forensic, as well as the behavioral side. Jim, theres two names in my head, clint mentioned one of them, ted kaczynski, the unabomber. It took years to find these individuals, not days or weeks. Whats your sense of where this is headed . I worked extensively on both of those, i worked on the birmingham cop and the unabo unabomber. He would second a letter and say hey im going to send you a book in a couple of weeks, youre really going to like it. And so in a couple of weeks, the recipient was expecting it and its a bomb. And in the case of Debbie Wasserman schultz, they would go ahead and open it. The bomber is watching extensively today, all these networks, this is his day, hes watching it all and he may be making more bombs. I dont think well see another bomb exactly in that envelope like that, unless it was already in the mail stream. Because hes going to change. Thats what happens to these guys. They adapt, we call it a bombers progression, they get a bigger bomb, they adapt, they change, his targeting could change a little bit. His fusing and firing. We havent got that yet from the agents on exactly how this was. And it could be very well that theres explosive filler or electronics and its not rigged to detonate. And if thats the case, thats where clint and the guys at behavioral science, what did this guy want . But sometimes you would see a message come out, hey, this isnt real, but the next ones will be and i know how to do it and it could come in that same computerized type that we see on these envelopes. This guy could be making bombs right now and thats the critical thing. Ive got to say, clint, is it possible that these were designed not to go off . I think it is possible theres two Different Things to building a bomb. And im stepping into jims sandbox here, but number one, its building the actual pipe bomb itself, and number two is building the detonator and attaching the two. The pipe bomb is not that koch indicated. You take a pipe, you cap on both ends, youve got an igniter and youve got a detonator, is it ta attached to when you open it up. Or is this simply a shot across americas bow, is this somebody saying i could do this if i wanted to, therefore ive got your attention, now im a terrorist, im a domestic, political, whatever i am, i have stepped up on the stage, ive got your attention, now i have a statement to make. Jim and i would be the first ones out there saying, please, tell us the rest of your story, dont send anymore bombs. Just like when we were dealing with march of this year with the bombs in march in august tstin,. We said, what do wow want to tell us . What is your story . Whether theres other bombs to be built, i agree with bill, this guys channel surfing, going channel to channel, giving himself a highfive for what hes done, but is this enough . Is this the psychological heroin thats going to carry him today or does tomorrow does he need a bigger hit, stand up on that stage and tell us what its all about. Jim, clint brought this up earlier in our first back and forth, when jim said its possible this is a red herring. You know, it is a red herring and somebody international is messing around, you could come up with lots of plot twists if you were writing a drama here. What would you look for to see if it was a red herring. What was said here is major League Categories, just like clint described, we would set off major League Categories to rule stuff out. But one thing i always tell young agents, never throw away the obvious. If you throw away the obvious, thats a mistake. It could be a red herring, but is there some twisted way this could back, but we also want to be following the obvious leads, is this a guy thats into those crack pot conspiracies, is he buying into that george soros is sending caravans of people, Hillary Clinton is some kind of pedophile. These things are not new. There is there is a place where they keep threats phone calls, and the secret service has a lot of them. What youre saying is the Capitol Police probably has a database of kooks. The nsa has all the bombings that have happened since the 60s. Every wire splice, and the terrorist explosive device an lit tick center, after 9 11, atf and fbi joined in that. So we have centers that can correlate the bombings, correlate the kooks, but you really want to get down to the basic tax here, can you get to something simple, tracking that post office code, is there a camera there, can you get a picture of the bomber . Is can you get an id . Can you get dna, fingerprints, hair off of the device, or if you can get a search warrant of his house, all the bomb components, theyll all be there, all the tape and the wires and pipe and all. And it will change, the bomb will change. So you got to be alert for that. Jim and clint, i got 15 seconds, but it sounds like you both think hes going to try this again. Let me make a clear case. I dont think the guys done, i think hes got more to say, hes got more to do, and thats why were in this foot race to find him before he sets off a device. Jim cavanaugh and clint vanzant, you guys are always the best on stuff like this. Up ahead, my interview with senator ted cruz, how hes reacting to todays developments. So, that goal youve been saving for, you can do it. We can do this. At fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. Whoo my love has come along, applebees new neighborhood pastas. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Welcome back. Were of course here in dallas, on the final stop of our meet the midterms road trip. Earlier today i caught with senator ted cruz on his campaign bus in downtown dallas, as i caught up with him, the news was breaking about all these explosive devices. We talked more extensively about the current political environment. Take a listen. Well, listen, this has been a very divided time, a polarized time. Violence is never okay, and it doesnt matter where on the political spectrum it comes. These bombs that were apparently sent to soros and obama and clinton, is deeply troubling. On its face it appears to be a terrorist act. I hope the person is caught, is prosecuted and goes to jail for a long, long time. Ben howe tweeted, 25 years ago, everybody would have assumed its just a loan bomber. We also had a gunman come to congress and nearly kill Steve Scalise. Were in a bad spot. Were badly polarized and divided. And i wish everyone would just count to 10 and calm down, and it doesnt mean we have to agree on substance. The democratic process is all about debating and figuring out whats the best policy. High taxes or low taxes, thats an important debate to have. But we need to do it with civility, we need to do it in a way that respects each others decency and humanity. Last year i did three town hall debates on cnn with bernie sanders. They were 90 minutes each. Bernie and i disagree on almost everything, yet we were able to discuss the substance. Do you agree with the president . Chuck, its worth pointing out, and i think the media always focuses on the president. There are too many democratic politicians that are actively encouraging this. When Maxine Waters says go, harass, scream, yell, thats wrong. Cory booker is a friend of mine, but when he says go get into peoples faces and threaten them, thats not okay. What about the president body slamming. Is there any way to cool it down everywhere . I agree with that. I thoughts it was unfortunate when Hillary Clinton said we can be civil after the democrats win. Thats wrong. Look, look, and by the way, when people harass nancy pelosi, i spoke out and said thats wrong too. And i disagree with nancy, but we can treat each other with decency and respect. Dont you think its a social media culture, that everything can somehow go viral . People say things on social media they would never say in real life. I say always tweet like your mothers reading. On twitter, when im reading twitter, i dont let my daughters see what im seeing. Because every other record is an fbomb. I also think the rhetoric that is used, i remember when the Senate Passed the tax cut. Up in the gallery there were some protesters and one guy screamed stop killing people. And i looked up, i mean completely puzzled. I was tempted to go up and talk to the guy and say, we just cut your taxes. But it really isnt killing you, cutting taxes isnt killing you, and you embrace that rhetoric, your cutting taxes is killing me. Then it becomes ive got to defend my life by attacking you and thats not healthy for a republican. Let me bring in my washington, d. C. Analysts today. Michael steele, former rnc chairman and msnbc political analyst. Michael steel, the thing that caught me, by mild surprise from senator cruz, and hes not the only one, is the hesitance to say that the president needs to take a leave here. Yes, yes. What did you make of that . Again, it was just more of the same problem. It was so disappointing. And its within of those moments where when ted cruz says, you know, Everybody Needs to step back and count to ten, yes, starting with the president. We seem to want to absolve this administration, this presidency of the role that has been played by so many of his predecessors as a leading indicator for the country. We, believe it or not do follow what the president says, what the president does. We are connected to that white house in an intrinsic way. So when the president goes off on these wild tangents and this hot rhetoric, there are a lot of americans who listen to that. They come to believe that when its repeated over and over and over again, with no rebuke by his fellow leaders in the house and the senate. So what do you expect at a certain point. You cant tell everyone else, you cant look at democrats like Maxine Waters and Hillary Clinton, and say shame on you, pox on your house for this bad behavior and not look at your own house. We need to stop that and be honest about where this originates across the board, and begin to step into that space, uncomfortably and say enough is enough. It is uncomfortable. But we put together, this is the president and the various ways hes talked about violence. Knock the crap out of them, would you . Just knock the hell i promise you, i will pay the legal fees. You know what guys like that would be in a place like this . They would be carried out on a stretcher. I heard that he body slammed a reporter. Any guy that can do a body slam, hes my kind a hes my guy. And then here he is talking about the denton mob. Todays democrat party, the radical democrats is held hostage by left wing haters, angry mobs, angry mobs, angry mobs, the mobs, deep state radicals. You dont hand matches do an arsonist, and you dont give power to an angry left wing mob, and thats what they have become. Now matthew, i know immediate will what a trump supporter is going to say to me, theyre going to say, what about Steve Scalise, at the end of the day, hes at the sttop of the food chain here. He is and he should be less forceful about his domination about whats happening. He started that process today, and well look to the rally tonight scheduled in wisconsin to see if he continues that message. It is donald trump at the end of the day, you never really know what hes going to say. The bom him or her, or whether its a group or nruth, it has been one of those days where you sit there and its we need to wait and find out all the evidence, but at the same time, we have all been dreading this. When we say weve been dreading it. It keeps getting a little bit more violent, and a little bit more violent. And a little bit more violent. It keeps getting closer, we had the terrible shooting of Steve Scalise, we had the huge disaster at a pizza restaurant in northwest washington, d. C. After some ugly tweets and just outrageous suggestions. But i really do think that, i was so disappointed if not surprised by your interview with senator cruz. Because, yes, there is bad behavior on both sides, but what we have in this president is two things, a general willings to n incite and even praise violent in terms of beat them up, get them the hell out of there, this is how we would have dealt with it. And then individual targeting of the very people who were the subjects of these intended victims of these bombs today. And i know this is incredibly naive thing to say, but i really do hope that the president , while he issues his condemnations and its good that hes condemning it, just takes one step back and thinks, what have i contributed to this . How has my rhetoric contributed to this . Because you have to honestly say, its not that he hasnt forcefully condemned violence, but things like this are bound to happen even if theyre not intended. You know, michael, i was thinking today, michael feel, you know, the president has said, look, i know i get carried away at my own rallies, im never serious, this is all a campaign, its politicking, its not meant to be taken literally. Its a layup. I hate to be that crass about it, but its a layup, politically, no . Youre right, chuck, its the least you can do in that moment to sort of clarify your prior actions and rhetoric, if you will. Yeah, i think thats the opportunity that surprises me is continually missed. I know folks inside the white house put press on the president to go into that space, to make that shot, that layup, its just you, no one around you, take the shot, and the president throws the ball at the other end of the court. Its just amazing what must be going on in that moment in his head where he somehow sees if he does take that shot, if he makes that layup if you describe it, hes somehow weakened by that, hes less donald trump. And the expectation we have in this town, well, its donald trump, well, its donald trump, thats something thats much more important to adhere to than the fact that hes president and we see him in a way thats different than we do now. And its amazing that that doesnt resonate for him. You know, we actually polled the division in this country, how seriously people take it. We did this before these incidents. 80 said the country is divided, so one thing the country agrees on, they dont agree on much, but they dont agree on that, and if the president doesnt want to take on this role, theres not really a leader on the democratic side that has the same standing right now, the president s the president. It feels like theres a moment where you would all link hands and say post9 11 when everybody came together, were a long way away from a moment like that. I fe. I fear youre right, chuck, there seems to be a pattern here thats been established for the mast several years, and as senator cruz pointed out, there are examples of divisive rhetoric on the left as well as on the right. And there seems to be a cultural ferment, for people who are addicted to politics who are are sort of glued 24 7 on their cable news and they have entered into a process of radicalization that opens them up to conspiracy theories and these impulses. I think comics have a role to play in this too, to been a little bit less empirical, a little bit more modest, and also to fight the kind of conspiratorial thinking with the facts. So i think we all have a role to play and the fact that we dont know where it ends should be greatly disturbing to everybody. Were all coming up with these programs to figure out how do we figure out how to keep isis from radicalizing people online, but we need to keep ourselves from being radicalized in the usa. Next up, were going to speak with arizona senator jeff flake. He was on the field at the congressional baseball field last year, hell join me right after the break. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Get mentally prepared. Could listening to audible bring out your best . I want you to own it. Go after that goal. The most inspiring stories, fitness, wellness and more. Download audible and listen for a change. Whether its a big thing, small thing, or something unexpected, pnc will be right there when you need us. Because when it comes to your finances, if you focus on today, tomorrow has a way of working itself out. Welcome back. With me now from outside the Timewarner Center in new york, where the bomb that was addressed to john brennan was sent today, happens to be arizona senator jeff flake. And senator flake, you and i have had way too many of these conversations about rhetoric, about tone, about violence, you were on the baseball field during the attempted assassination of all of you out there. I had an interview earlier with senator cruz, theres a real reluctance among some republicans to ask the president to take a larger role here. It will likely matter tonight when he holds a rally and when people start chants, demeaning the press for example, if he will stand up at that time, when it will really mean something. Why do you think youve had a hard time getting your colleagues to join you in this condemnation in general . I mean i would argue youve kind of been a lone voice of sorts, saying wait a minute, this is getting out of hand, we have got to take a step back . I dont think anybody wants to be on the other end of trump criticism, particularly if youre standing for election. In a primary, a republican primary in particular, nobody wants to be criticized by the president and they will be if they stand up to the president. So i think thats been the reluctan reluctance, but its our responsibility as elected officials not to speak out with every tweet or every statement, because when the president goes far too far, referring to the press as the enemy of the people or celebrating a politician who assaults journalists, thats a time that we all need to stand up. I hear you, and yet it isnt if hes not going to play this role, then what do you do in a moment like this . Do you just wait for different leaders . I hope we dont have to do that. I hope that the president will decide, this is a time now when it matters. You saw senator mccain in his election, you know, to quiet the woman who was denigrating barack obama, we need that kind of action today, action that tones down the rhetoric. But thats far from where we are. I just hope that it will change. And as an elected official, we dont have as big a microphone as the president , but we can speak up and we should. What are some actions should i remember after Gabby Giffords was shot, there was an attempt to present some bipartisan opportunities. I had somebody out here in my audience who said, you know what . All of congress should sit alphabetically, youre not sitting dem republican, you may be sitting next to somebody you dont know or like but you have to. In watching the kavanagh hearings, you guys seemed to be as divided at times as the actual voters. I thought during the cavanaugh hearings, that all the rewards, all the political incentives were wrong, they force us to the extremes. Those who want to express perhaps some humility and they dont know all the answers that they may, you know, actually go to a hearing and be informed in that hearing about how they might vote, that means you might be criticized from both sides, so politicians instinctively now stick with the tribe, just go to one side or the other, that way youll only be criticized by one side. This has to stop, we have too big a problems in this country, we have too many real problems outside of the county than invent more at home against our political opponents. One of the things about todays incidents is assumed this was international terrorism. Think how bad things have gotten domestically, that our first instinct wasnt is this isis or al qaeda . Thats right, thats right. And i think i mean, everybody here bears some responsibility to actually be better. You know, the calls for civility after the election, not before, that isnt right. And for, you know, calls for some on the left to heckle politicians on the right, if they sit at restaurants or whatever, thats not right ether. But the president has the biggest microphone in the world like i said and the largest responsibility to set the tone and we would do a lot better i think if we were led in a better direction and thats the president s responsibility. Senator jeff flake, i appreciate you taking the time, youre one of the few elected officials that isnt afraid to talk about this, thank you, much appreciated you coming on and sharing your views, sir. Thank you. Were going to keep an eye on the breaking news, were going to bring you more as it develops, and were going to have much more ahead on the midterms. Ur life. Its time to get out of line with upmc. At upmc, livingdonor transplants put you first. So you dont die waiting. Upmc does more livingdonor liver transplants than any other center in the nation. Find out more and get out of line today. You may be learning about, medicare and supplemental insurance. Medicare is great, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medicare costs. A Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan may help cover some of the rest. Learn how an aarp Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company might be the right choice for you. A free decision guide is a great place to start. Call today to request yours. So what makes an aarp Medicare Supplement plan unique . These are the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp because they meet aarps high standards of quality and service. Youre also getting the great features that any Medicare Supplement plan provides. You may choose any doctor that accepts medicare patients. You can even visit a specialist. With this type of plan there are no networks or referrals needed. Also, a Medicare Supplement plan. Goes with you when you travel anywhere in the u. S. Call today for a free guide. Welcome back. As we said, the reason im here is to meet the midterms and were coming to you live from dallas. And abby livingston, Washington Bureau chief at the texas tribune, ruth martin and andrew are going to stick around for me. Well have a Little National in texas, although in texas, you are the national, right . As everybody in texas likes to remind me. Let me just start with texas. You heard senator cruz there, was that a confident senator cruz . Is that a guy that feels like hes going to get reelected . Or does he feel a real race . I think that senator cruz, whether hes confident or not is always going to run like the underdog. He has said that all along, hes basically said you cant take anything for granted and i think hes running a very, very strong, hard race right now. Hes doing two or three events a day. Beto has been traveling through texas for a long time now, ted cruz has a bus tour. Hes not running like he feels overconfident. A poll will show him ahead five, six, nine points. Abbey livingston, if 10 years ago, i dont think we would have expected an incumbent senator to be doing bus trips across the state in october. I dont think it was ten years ago, i think it was two years ago. I think donald trump has just reset the politics of the state of texas just like everywhere else. We saw the rural vote come out in 2016, and in 2016 in texas, we saw the citiy ies come out a go democratic. So this is new terrain for anyone following texas politics. The joke is he has a bigger National Following than a texas following. But he has a big texas following too. What representative orourk is inspected voters and the question is how many of those he can get out to vote. Because texas as you know, its a very red state, its a very conservative state so hes really got to have some cross over appeal. Are there swing voters or is this a margin race, or is it all about running up the margin where is hes going to be strong and hope they can tamp down the enthusiasm. These are people who either never vote or only vote in the president ial. So he has gotten them to come to the polls in the midterms for the first time. It is anyones guest who is turning out between now and election day. Heres something that has befuddled me about the o rourke campaign. All of them are tacking to the middle, and hugging the middle, almost running away from the left wing of the party. Beto isnt, which is what i think makes him so popular with the progressives, oh, look, hes willing to do that in a red state. Is that smart politically or not . I think what he has always said in his campaign is that he is going to be true to who he is. So at this point even if he wanted to go more toward the middle to get that independent voter, he really cant do that. This is who he says he is, and hes stuck to it through the campaign, will it hurt him with the midterm voter . It depends. Im watching florida and i would have said, no, Andrew Gillum is not going to be a strong state wide candidate, and hes turning out to be a strong state wide can dad. Cruz probably has a wide margin, but were seeing enthusiasm that is hard for polling to detect all over the state of texas. I think the biggest calculation for anyone in my position is to convey some sort of certainty about this race, it is the wildest thing i have ever seen in texas politics, and ive been a part of texas for a very long time. Let me go national, ruth and matthew. Ruth, i would say sometimes your publication enjoys having fun with betomania a little bit. The National Movement doesnt take it that seriously, even as the National Progressive movement sees him as very serious. Do you think theres a little bit of overconfidence on the right . It may be, i take a knock on exceptionali exceptionalism. Whats happening in texas is similar to the rest of the country. Texas has a few huge cities as well as suburbs which are trending in a liberal direction and separating from the Rural Counties that are much more republican leaning. Just to connect it to a earlier discussion, thats one of the causes of our political and cultural divide. This huge gap of people within 30 minutes of a downtown area and people who live beyond that. Texas isnt that special in that regard. I would say beto is not that special either. When conservatives look at him they see a myth making taking place. Similar to what happened with barack obama. For conservatives that should be a sign of caution because we made fun of the thinking about obama and it came back to haunt us in 2008. I was going to say on the left made fun of donald trump and guess who is president of the United States. Ruth, what do you make of beto . I think the obama comparison and im thinking about john mccains famous ad where he dismissed barack obama as a celebrity is a little bit of analogy here. I also think one thing thats striking when you look at texas, is whats happened with senator cruz visavis donald trump. I think about ted cruz who was not kowtowing to donald trump at his own convention. Now we have just seen the trumpfication of texas and ted cruz. You cannot run in it. We see it in texas, arizona. We see it every place. You cannot run in this Republican Party successfully and distance yourself very far from donald trump. Thats whats striking here with ted cruz in texas. Ruth, i ask ted cruz about that, about sort of how did he sort of get over the trump thing and matthew, one of the things he said to me is i had a choice to make. I got to represent my state. It was implied saying my voters went another direction and if i want to represent him, i got to go in that direction. That is an interesting answer in a representative democracy. It didnt sound like he was enthusiastic that he was having to move in that direction. Probably not. He probably wanted to be president himself. In the wall street journal they said the war for the old Republican Party has been fought. Its over and donald trump won. I think we see that in the latest journal nbc poll trump continuing to receive extraordinary ratings from among republicans. One other note about the texas politics. Theres three key house races in texas too that i dont think people should forget about. One part of trump going to texas and also cruz making these bus trips, its also to kind of generate enthusiasm for those down ticket house races that will be very important if republicans have any chance of keeping the majority. Matthew, its as if you work for us and you decide to tee up the next and final questions for my texas panel here. Thank you. That brings me to the other reason i came to dallas and why we picked dallas. We were going to do houston or dallas. That is the down the ballot effect here. In the dallas suburbs, how real is the threat to Pete Sessions . If a lot of people go out and vote for represent o rourke go out and vote that can affect collin alred. I find the dallas Political Community interesting. It reminds me of a bit of virginia. Its a real moderate republican streak and yes they will cross over and theres a real respect for incumbency. I get that. Dallas seems to be this very gentlemanly and gentlewomanly way of conducting politics. Its not accustomed to having competitive races like this on the federal level. Ill say orourke has given these down ballot candidates an umbrella or coat tail. There are 36 candidates running in all 36 districts on the democrat size. Every single Congressional District in texas has a democratic nominee . Yes. First time ever. I can do the research. I believe so. In decades. They are well funded. They might be helping orourke has much as he is helping them. Help us follow Election Night here in texas. I think youre going know a lot about 32 after early voting. The early voting has been an extremely high number. I think you will know a direction on that. Watch how Many Democrats run up the vote in harris county. Harris county, which is houston. Well be right back. 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We begin with breaking news with what is the largest mail bomb attack in over a decade. Theres a man hunt. They were sent to two