america. well, russia has been saying all along that s not true. so the immediate reaction coming from peskov, spokesperson for the president, he looks on that statement with distrust. so, you know, no surprise there, martin. but essentially if you look at russian media and coverage here, a lot of it is downplaying it, saying it is not a big deal. one tweet said it was a soap bubble and it is not going to have much effect. i mean, that s downplaying it quite a bit. the united states is clearly taking this very, very seriously. who is putin and the rest of his administration, who are they talking to? are they trying to convince the world or speaking to those in russia? reporter: it plays on a lot of different bases. essentially if you look at the approach, what they re saying, the enemies of donald trump are
fear that for democartcarat democrats that they underestimate his potential? absolutely. absolutely. actually i was part of the group saying this guy is a soap bubble. he is a snowflake, he will be done. i was 100% wrong. i think democrats have to look at this as a double threat. first of all he is he is bringing the debate to a place where certainly hillary clinton doesn t perform well. if he can just turn this whole contest to being about personality and authenticity and entertainment value, that hurts democrats as much as republicans. number one. then number two, you know you could wind up in a situation where a lot of people who don t ordinarily participate start to participate because they feel like this guy is interesting. he is entertaining. i think democrats have overplayed our hand in saying hey, great, more more more. i think it s bad for democracy to have somebody come up here. if tonight donald trump cannot literally answer a single
tonight. new polls showing donald trump surging ahead of his gop rivals just days before the first big debate on thursday night. back with me, our panel. van, you admitted i was right on national sneeflgs we were all saying this guy is going disappear, a snowflake, a soap bubble. you said from the beginning he is tapping into something that s real. we didn t agree with you. you have been proven correct. he is up double digits. but i think part of season that you are seeing this is that he has actually played this media game in a way that is masterful. he started saying negative stuff about the latinos and everybody got upset. then he switched over, threw some punches at republicans and switches back over. so unpredictable that he becomes arresting and he suffocates
good evening to all of you. i m glad to have you here. van, i want to start with you. what do you think the other candidates think about donald trump at this point? he is not losing any strength at all going into this debate. i think a lot of republicans were saying this is going to be a snowflake a soap bubble, he will have his happy moment and move away. a lot of democrats said that, too. i said it. and we were wrong this. guy is for real. he is a threat. he is going to be there. and i think if i were any of the serious accounts certainly if you are jeb bush you are look at thursday as an opportunity. can you do something that at least lets people know that there is a difference between someone who is a great media permit versus a great leader? but donald trump is for real. and when did you come to that realization, van? because i remember you saying oh, no. as usual, don, you got there first. you were trying to warn us. you were right. i i was wrong. i don t mind admit