dangerous storm barrels down on california, just as president biden prepares to survey damage on maui. as the climate crisis gets worse, is the u.s. ready? the fema administrator will be here. and donald trump will surrender to officials. now legal expert say that he is disqualified from being president again. taking the stage with trump set to skip the debate. will his republican rivals swipe at each other instead? >> it's time to put the negativity and drama behind us. able to david axelrod talks debate strategy. and republican candidate asa hutchinson on his progress towards making it to the stage. hello. the state of our union is bracing for impact. hurricane hilary is whirling toward the west coast of the united states and could dump or than a years worth of rain on southern california. the storm has forced evacuation, closed beaches and parks and prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency saturday. president biden said his team is monitoring the storms path as he prepares for his visit to the maui wildfires. joining me now is the fema administrator, deanne criswell . how dangerous will this storm be? >> hurricane hilary is going to be a serious impact and threat to southern california, so what i encourage everybody to do is take the storm seriously . listen to your local officials, if they are asking you to evacuate or stay in place, they will have the best information that you need to protect you and your family. we are in close coronation with the governor's team and we have staff that are in california all the time, embedded in th e office, we have staff that are working with them side-by-side, california is a very capable state with a lot of resources. but we have also moved in additional resources just in case it exceeds capability so we could quickly come in and support, if asked. i think the biggest thing is people need to take the storm serious, listen to their local officials and they need to make sure they are not putting themselves in harms way as the storm passes through. >> we really aren't used to seeing hurricanes on the side of the country. this is the first ever tropical storm watch for southern california. these warnings are about landslides, mudslides, what is driving this? i realize, this is the first time this has happened, you are saying your organization is ready but in the future going to be able to handle things like this, time and time and time again? >> this is what we are seeing, casey, we are seeing just this increase in the number of severe weather events but not just an increase in the number, it's an increase in the severity of these events. we knew with el niño coming in, the forecast was a more active season and that's what we are seeing right now. we have to also look at what is the change in the climate doing to the severe weather events? what is the risk going to look like into the future? work with our communities to understand how severe the storms are going to be and then invest in mitigation projects that are going to reduce the impact of the storms. we will continue to respond and support our local partners but we also have to support them right now and investing in mitigation projects so we can protect people so that as the storms occur, the impact is less and there's less people in harms way. >> you are traveling with the president to maui tomorrow and this is already the deadliest wildfire in more than a century. but the hawaii governor said this week that more than 1000 individuals are still unaccounted for. is it possible many of them were lost in the fires? how many are still unaccounted for right now? >> the actual number, i would refer you back to the governor and the local government in maui county for what that exact number is but what we are doing is making sure that we go through every bit of the area to make sure that we have identified and he remains that might be there. the report i got last night is that we are 78% complete with the surgeon our teams are continuing to go through, through the day, to go through every part of that and identify anybody who might still be missing. and we brought in additional teams. the department of defense along with hhs, to help identify and also reunify people that may be in shelters, may have gone somewhere else, and as we continue to identify those that have been lost by this tragic event, making sure that we link up all that information. >> you said we have to ask the hawaii officials for an account but you say you are working with them. think it's hard for people to understand, there are potentially 1000 people who have perished., how can we not know about this, days out? >> we take all of our numbers from the local officials. and we are supporting them with their teams to help better understand and the unaccounted peace is just making sure that we are accounting for everyone who was reported as missing and it could be that they are staying with family and friends and we haven't been able to contact them yet. there's a lot of different reasons on why people are unaccounted for. we have to just really work to this area as far as fema's role, and make sure that anybody who was lost in this event, that we are going through every inch of the space and identifying anybody that is still there. >> you and president biden are visiting maui. the president has faced criticism from republicans because he spent about five days not talking about this as the devastating images and numbers were coming. you think the republican criticisms are fair? >> you know, what i can tell you is the president directed me to go to maui, to assess the damage, meet with the governor, meet with the local officials, giving me the opportunity and the space to make sure that i can understand what's going on and then i report back to the president. i was in complete communication with him throughout this event, helping him understand what i was seeing and what resources needed to come in and he directed me to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help the people of maui and bring in all the federal resources, to help with this immediate response but also to begin thinking about what this long-term recovery and rebuilding is going to look like. >> what have you told the president that he needs to be aware of tomorrow when he's on the ground. >> i think the biggest thing is, he's really going to be able to see the impact, and just feel this devastation and this community, and how widespread it is across the community. and he's going to be able to talk to families that have been impacted. i think what he's going to be able to do is he's going to be able to reassure the people of maui that the federal government is there to support them and we are doing it in a way that's going to allow them to rebuild the way they want to rebuild. and that's the biggest message that he's going to be able to get across. we are here for them, and we are going to help them with their vision for how they want to rebuild lahaina. >> you said last month that fema's disaster relief could run out of money by the end of the month. congress is in a standstill in funding, we face a government shutdown, what are you going to do? >> one of the things we always take into consideration when we are doing our analysis of where we are at is incidents just like this. what we saw on maui is what we are seeing in california. we still anticipate that we will have a shortage of funding at our current spending levels by mid-september. and so what we will do is we will continue to push, we will push recovery projects into the next fiscal year, so we always have enough money to support any immediate s. take measures ensure there will be enough funding to support immediate responses to these types of severe weather offense. and the administration is working with congress on what we can do to help facilitate the recovery projects for the rest of this year but also going into next fiscal year. >> administrator deanne criswell , thank you for your time this morning. now we want to get to her other big story of the week, the first republican debate is this wednesday. and joining me now is presidential candidate and former arkansas governor asa hutchinson. governor, thanks for being here. the first republican presidential debate is about 72 hours away. are you going to be on the stage? >> the answer, casey is yes, i will be on the stage. i'm pleased to announce that we have met all the criteria that the rnc said to be on the debate stage. we met the polling criteria and now we've met the 40,000 individual donor criteria. we've submitted to the rnc, 42,000 individual donors and i'm delighted and i think everyone for helping me to make this threshold. the debate is going to be exciting and very important, as i've been and i will, people are waiting to make decisions and the debate will be an important part of how they factor in who's going to be the next nominee. >> a little bit of news there. but the other requirement for the stages you have to sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee and you and i both know donald trump is for an away the front runner, will you sign the pledge? >> i'll sign the pledge. i'm confident that donald trump is not going to be the nominee of the party and have always supported the nominee so i will sign the pledge and be on there. and it's fascinating -- >> but if he is the nominee, will you support him? >> i'm going to support the nominee of the party. i don't expect it to be donald trump and that question will come up in the debate to say for that, but what i want to point out is, i'm not even sure he's qualified to be the next president of the united states, and so, you can't be asking us to support someone who is perhaps not even qualified under the constitution. i'm referring to the 14th amendment that a number of legal scholars said that he is disqualified because of his actions on january 6th. >> what would you have officials in your state, any other state do, based on the 14th amendment, would you have them just leave trump off the ballot? >> no, there should be a court declaration, and s o there would have to be a separate lawsuit that would be filed in which there would be a finding that the former president engaged in insurrection and that would disqualify him. the other way would be that if a specific state made that determination on their own, that would put the burden of someone else challenging that, either way, it winds up in for in court but i expect those lawsuits to be filed, i expect some states to take that action but i think it's a serious jeopardy for donald trump under our constitution, not being qualified. >> let's talk about strategy on the stage. how much do you think this debate is going to matter without donald trump on the stage and what is your approach going to be to the elephant in the room, so to speak? >> i expect it would be even more important without donald trump on the stage because this is the first time voters are going to be able to contrast the candidates and their positions, you know, and i know we want it to be civil but it's going to be a vigorous exchange and it's important because there's a difference between the candidates. donald trump will be in the background because every candidate needs to state what their position is on donald trump, whether in his actions on january 6th, and talk about the differences for our future. he hasn't isolation of view of the united states of america, wanting to give russia a victory in ukraine. that's not where i am and that will be made clear on the debate stage as well. >> is this not, though, just an example of what we saw in 2016 were essentially, all of the candidates, one at a time, went up against trump, try to take him on and failed. it became a fight for second place and he won, is that what we are going to see on wednesday? >> i don't see that happening. first of all, it's really early. i mean i talked to voters in iowa and new hampshire and they will be late in deciding, and that's why you will see in iowa, where trump's numbers come down first, it will be here in iowa . in the meantime this debate is important. this is a reduced number from 2016 with 8 to 9 on the debate stage. we will see who else qualifies for it but the voters will be able to lock in on it and make decisions and they are not going to be in a hurry to move so everybody needs to be patient, including the media. to let this unfold over the next 3 to 4 months and the right alternative to donald trump will surface. >> fair enough. sir, congratulations on making the debate stage. we look forward to seeing what happens on wednesday night. >> great to be with you today. you've heard the fema administrator say that she needs more funding for congress while senator bill cassidy joins me to talk about his plan and the latest trump charges plus trump won't be on the stage so how should that change his rivals strategies? two strategists are coming up. somemes, the lows of bipolar depression feel darkest before dawn. with caplyta, there's a chance to let in the lyte. caplyta is proven to deliver significant relief across bipolar depression. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants may increase these risks in young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. caplyta can help you let in the lyte. ask your doctor about caplyta. find savings and support at caplyta.com. when nature and science get together... pretty sweet things can happen. like our senokot laxative gummies. to relieve occasional constipation, senokot starts with the natural senna plant that science transforms into a yummy gummy! sweet! senokot laxative gummies. welcome back to state of the union. you heard the fema director tell me that her department needs more funding as the u.s. faces more frequent and destructive natural disasters. i want to bring in a lawmaker, republican senator bill cassidy of louisiana. thanks for spending your sunday with us. >> thank you for having me. >> let's start with climate. for so many americans this was a taste, this past summer about the climate crisis is going to start to impact their lives. in the last few months, louisiana experienced sweltering heat, other extreme weather events. you are representing a state on the front lines of this crisis. at the last few months trying home the threat of time change for you and what are you doing about it? >> a couple of things about that. i am aware, my state has lost land about the size of delaware so we are no stranger to this issue. you have to have a rational response. people sometimes forget that emissions from the united states are lower than they were in 2005. lower. despite a bigger economy of many more people, et cetera, why? because natural gas has replaced coal. the drivers of co2 emissions, asia but principally china, if we're going to have a rational solution, we need to address china's pollutions. if china does not want to enforce international norms for the environment, the n we will put a little bit of a fee if you will, to pay back the united states for the harm that china is doing. so one, i want to continue to promote things like natural gas to replace coal worldwide and secondly try to specifically address china's particular role in driving increased air pollution. >> that could drive up prices a little bit. do you think you can get 60 votes? >> if i may, we already have tariffs on those chinese goods. and so what this would do is replace the tariff that we have right now with a tariff related to the pollution that they are not paying to reduce. by the way, i will point out, we are already paying for that pollution. about 25% of certain classes of pollutants in the western united states come from china. it blows over the pacific. we are paying now let's make the chinese pay instead of us. >> so you just heard the fema administrator worn the disaster relief fund will run out of money. we are not even in peak hurricane season yet and republicans are demanding spending cuts right now. this will bring us to the brink of a government shutdown. would a shutdown be acceptable to you? >> i would absolutely support more money for fema. absolutely. americans help fellow americans. and we in louisiana are so indebted to those fellow americans but everybody if you've not yet been hit by a disaster, sooner or later, one will it you. we are committed to helping hawaiians. i think the cajun maybe is there as a direct group from louisiana. for the government shutdown, it's always talked about but it rarely impacts the lives of regular americans. i think there will be eventually funding of the government. >> so let's talk about the presidential race. we are 72 hours from the first republican presidential debate. it'll be missing the front runner, donald trump, former president. he's facing federal charges over his efforts to overturn the election, and you did vote to convict him in his impeachment trial after january 6th you said, because he is guilty. the former attorney general says that the charges that have been brought against him are quote unquote, responsible, do you agree? >> well i'm not emmett an attorney, there's 91 charges. i think the charges seem almost like a slamdunk. the one related to mishandling of classified documents. so, i can't comment on the rest of them because apparently have to prove , you'll have attorneys after me, they can comment on that. but there's at least one, the mishandling of federal documents, which seems again, a very strong case. they have a tape recording of him speaking about it. if it's proven, we may have a candidate for president who's been convicted of a crime. i think joe biden needs to be replaced but i don't think americans would vote for someone who's been convicted, so i'm just very sorry about how all of this is playing out. >> do you think donald trump should jump out of the race? >> i think so. but obviously, that's up to him. just asking my opinion but he will lose to joe biden if you look at the current polls. i'm a republican. i think any republican on the stage in milwaukee will, if former president trump ends up getting the nomination but can't win a general, that means four more years of policies which have led to high inflation, to a loss of purchasing power for the average american equivalent to $10,000 and many other things that i think have been to the country's future. >> i'm going to vote for a republican but my threshold issue for any person who wants to be the leader of our country is will you take care of the issues before us? right in and trump have the same policy on social security which is to do nothing. unfortunately, social security is going insolvent and 8 to 9 years which means somebody watching this is getting social security is going to get a 24% cut. former president trump, president biden, are basically saying you get a 24% cut because i'm not going to do anything. my threshold issue if you want to be a leader is to lead and right now we need someone who will lead on that issue. >> who, on the debate stage of the other republican alternatives to donald trump, do you think could be a leader on this issue that you raised? social security. >> at least we are talking about it. i have a different approach than they but at least they are talking about it. the first thing is to acknowledge that there is an issue. the reason i hesitate on that, is the program i put forward and again, at seven republicans and seven democratic supporters was to create a fund, separate from social security, no social security dollars, to invest in the u.s. economy and allow it to grow over time. you do that and you can take care of 70% of the shortfall and you can make sure that there's no cuts for people receiving social, we put in work incentives, and we also put in poverty alleviation provisions. president biden could have endorsed it and instead he's decided to be political and make this an issue. it should be an issue of fixing it and so far he has not come up with a credible plan. >> one less question we know the former president donald trump is planning not to be there. was it a mistake and you think the debate is going to matter? >> i think the debate matters. governor hutchinson he's a great guy, just pointed out that some legalist scholars think you will be disqualified based on the 14th amendment. it means that the people you see on stage, one of them, quite likely, will be the presidential nominee. and i think any of them would be better than joe biden. if you are concerned about the future of our country, watch that debate, find your candidate. >> senator bill cassidy of louisiana, thank you for joining us today. very interesting conversation. >> witith trump on the sideline for the debate, will the other candidates attacking or will theyey turn on each other? so betty can be the... barcode beat conductor. let's be more than our allergi! and for fast, allergrelief with a powerful decongestant, try zyrtec-d. ♪inspiring music♪ ♪ start your day with nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. when migraine strikes, you're faced with a choice. ride it out with the tradeoffs of treating? or push through the pain and symptoms? with ubrelvy, there's another option. one dose works fast to eliminate migraine pain. treat it anytime, anywhere without worrying where you are or if it's too late. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. allergic reactions to ubrelvy can happen. most common side effects were nausea and sleepiness. migraine pain relief starts with u. ask about ubrelvy. learn how abbvie could help you save. (light acoustic music plays) (eagle screeches) (energetic music plays) there he is! it's right there! ♪ oh, he's straight ahead. he's straight ahead. straight ahead. go go go. ♪ cover more ground in the kia sportage turbo-hybrid. kia. movement that inspires. you love rich, delicious ice cream. but your stomach doesn't. that disagreement ends right now. lactaid ice cream is the creamy, real ice cream you love that will never mess with your stomach. lactaid ice cream. welcome back to state of the union. republican presidential candidates are in debate prep but with the front runner planning to skip the states, they are fighting for second place. joining me now to discuss, david axelrod and former republican governor of maryland, larry hogan. thank you for being here with us this morning, as we talked through what the strategy is, should be, so sources tell cnn that trump is planning to skip the debate and instead they are touting this interview that they will do with tucker carlson. what impact do you think trump's impact will have on the debate. doesn't mean it just will not matter? >> i think the debate still matters but obviously, it's a much different thing without the far and away front runner from being there. the counterprogramming is typical trump. he wants to suck all the oxygen out of the room. he wants all the attention on him and not the other candidates. and to some extent they will probably have success with that but i think there will be people tuning into this debate and i think it's a great opportunity for each of them to try and make their case. i think it would be a better debate with trump there, but i think it still going to be important to watch. >> is there any chance that it backfires on trump? is his ability to counterprogramming as strong as it once was? >> well he's got tucker's star power as well. there will be quite a few people watching, assuming, twitter doesn't collapse. i said from the beginning, that trump would be nuts to show up. he's got a gargantuan lead, you know, desantis said the other day, he implied that trump's followers were like vessels, but he's got quite an armada, he's 40 points ahead. no one with even half that lead at this point nationally has ever lost a nomination. now, no one has had four indictments going at the same time, either, so this is uncharted waters but his not being there means once everybody takes shots at him, chris christie most likely, they will turn to each other and i think desantis is the guy in most jeopardy here. he started off his whole candidacy was premised on the he was the alternative to trump, and you know, getting back to the vessel reference, he's been doing nothing but thinking since he became a candidate and now he's in jeopardy of losing that distinction of being trump's principal challenger. >> i'm glad you raise that. >> i agree with that. ask, i agree with that. i think it's a make or break moment for ron desantis who's been in freefall and dropped nearly 20 points. it's been going on for quite some time. i think he's really got to turn it around. the fact that trump is not there, i would imagine, not only chris christie but a number of others will be coming after desantis. you saw the memo where they told desantis to go after, he had better defend himself because there will be hits coming to him as well. >> what did you make of the act and forth with the super pac and the campaign. that came out of the desantis super pac and out lined all the things that they think that desantis should do, suggesting that the campaign couldn't handle the prep for it for him, the campaign came out with their own memo saying we're not going to follow any of that advice. what does the back and forth say about the campaign, governor hogan? >> the campaign is somewhat of a disaster. it's been one stumble after another since the failed launch of it on twitter when he first kicked off the campaign and it was just the latest in a series of things but they are trying to utilize the super pac in ways that really nobody has in the past, so the super pac is spending most of the money and their crossing over into territory where they can't share information with the campaign so they put it out there for the campaign to utilize but it was a dumb move. we now know what his strategy is and it came out publicly. i don't even know if it's a good strategy because i think people will be coming after desantis, and just defending trump will not be enough. he has to distinguish himself from trump and he's the number 2 guy at this point. it's going to be a tough night for him. >> it's an unbelievable case of malpractice because none of the things that they recommended he can now do or he will look like a trained seal act. so he can't do that but the interesting thing about that was the reference to ramaswamy. he started off as an unknown and has proven himself to be a much more effective culture warrior then desantis himself. and going after the woke and so on. he's just been much more compelling at it. and i think what will be interesting on the stage, to some degree is the interaction between ramaswamy and kristi. i imagine that kristi will continue to go after trump because that is the basic premise of his campaign and ramaswamy will appoint himself the number 1 defender of trump. and i think there will be some fireworks between them but the others have to have a way to break through, to convey a message and to do it in a way that will provide viral hits because most people won't be watching this debate because they need to provide viral hits that give people a sense of why they should be for them. it's a tough task. >> i won't disagree with you but that's where we are. >> i think chris christie is going to be the guy to watch. he's the most skilled debater. he's coming after trump, desantis and ramaswamy. it'll be entertaining. >> it's rarely dull when chris christie is on the stage. but governor i have to ask you, your group know legals is appearing a break glass in case of emergency option basically to run a third-party ticket in 2024 and you argue that voters are dissatisfied with trump and the president biden. if trump does get the nomination here, is no labels going to go through with this plan to run a third-party candidate and would you serve on that ticket if they asked you to? >> well i think we are at a point that we've never been in this country where two thirds of the people are not interested in voting for the republican or democrat nominees. and an overwhelming majority of people are completely fed up with politics, they think washington is broken and so, even though this normally is not something that we would consider and talk about seriously because it hasn't happened in the past, this is something that could happen. we have to see how the campaign plays out. i don't know that trump and biden are going to do it but if trump and biden are the nominees, it's likely that no labels will offer an alternative. and most of the voters don't want a or b, we have an obligation to give them c. >> does not potentially just, and i'll give you the last word, but doesn't that give honestly, doesn't that pave the way for trump, doesn't that siphon votes from joe biden and elect the person you criticized so happily? >> actually, no, that's the democratic talking points because they are scared about this potential opportunity but no, they would only be in it to win it and they would pull just as many votes from trump adds biden. >> i love larry hogan but that is just not true. i think the broken glass will be the jagged edge that cuts the throat of the biden campaign. history shows that. trump has a high floor and a low ceiling. if you lower the ceiling to where his high floor is good enough to win, he will win and he benefited from third parties in 2016. this would be a dreadful mistake if the goal is to deprive donald trump of the presidency. this is his hope, this is his prayer. >> david axelrod larry hogan, i'm so grateful for this conversation. go to cnn.com to sign up for new episodes of david's podcast, the ax files. >> thank you. does the constitution bar donald trump from being president again? a top conservative and eight constitutional scholars say yes. i will explain why, coming up next. i' m tom. noom helped him use psychology to lose weight. the mindful aspect made me feel more conscious about what i was eating and why i was eating it. it'actually working. lose weight and make it last wi noom weight. why didn't we do this last year? before you were preventing migraine with qulipta®? remember the pain? cancelled plans? the worry? that was then. and look at me now. you'll never truly forget migraine. but qulipta® reduces attacks, making zero-migraine days possible. it's the only pill of its kind that blocks cgrp - and is approved to prevent migraine of any frequency. to help give you that forget-you-get migraine feeling. don't take if allergic to qulipta®. most common side effects are nausea, constipation, and sleepiness. learn how abbvie could help you save. qulipta®. the forget-you-get migraine medicine™. when nature and science get together... pretty sweet things can happen. like our senokot laxative gummies. to relieve occasional constipation, senokot starts with the natural senna plant that science transforms into a yummy gummy! sweet! senokot laxative gummies. at the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's, this is why we walk. ♪ they're why we walk. ♪ we walk in the alzheimer's association walk to end alzhiemer's because we're getting closer to beating this disease. join us. you can save money by spending less of it. makes sense! oh, i see what you did there! - what? - what? i don't get it. hehe. i'm a bear. i'm coming out of hibernation after the best nap of my life... and papa is hungry. and while you're hittin' the trail, i'm hitting your cooler. oh, cheddar! i've got hot dog buns! and your cut-rate car insurance might not pay for all this. so get allstate, and be better protected from mayhem, like me. roar. (sfx: family screams in background) (jack) we're standing up for our right to be lazy. (jan) by sitting down. (ronald) and reclining back (lyn) we work full-time and parent full-time. (lyn's husband) we will be reclined until further notice. (andi) it's our right to let the dishes soak overnight. (rob) and to mow the lawn... tomorrow-ish. (ben) we proudly declare that yes, we are still watching that. (ariel) and no, we won't be cooking tonight. (damon) we, the lazy, are taking back lazy... (doreen) ...by getting comfy on our la-z-boy furniture. (vo) la-z-boy. long live the lazy. the people who wrote the 14th amendment were not fools. they realized if those people who tried to overturn the country, who tried to get rid of our peaceful transitions of power are again, put in power, that would be the end of democracy. >> all officials, federal and state, who have a responsibility to put on the ballot, candidates for the presidents to give the united states are obligated to determine whether donald trump qualifies to be put on the ballot. >> it's a constitutional legal scholar and a former federal judge on whether donald trump can be president or not. former attorney general kenny, do you buy this? >> i don't, as a practical matter. the 14th amendment was written after the civil war, obvious historic landmark for the united states and we are debating as a country what the consequences of donald trump's actions were and that is especially in the midst of a campaign, that's best to be left to the voters. this invites additional weaponization of the justice system and now the access for candidates and that's not appropriate and the american people should decide this. >> i want to bring in former lieutenant governor duncan of georgia, the former mayor, your state is again going to be at the center of so much of what unfolds in this political season . jeff, if trump is convicted in your state, should he be on the ballot in georgia? >> i'm not a constitutional scholar, i'm looking through the lens of an average american and it's hard to believe that someone who is like this many times, who has 91 indictments deserve to be the president of the united states. i sat in front of a grand jury who is laser focused on the facts, on exactly what happened and he has a tough road ahead of him. 19 indicted, 30 named co- conspirators trying to fight for their freedom and nobody cares about being in donald trump's cool kids club anymore. >> matta mayor, what is your view? >> it's difficult to predict because no matter what decision the secretary of state makes as to whether or not he should be on the ballot, we know this will ultimately be decided by the courts, and it's been difficult to predict what the courts and how the courts will rule. it will likely go through the 11th circuit and then to the supreme court. and i think at the end of the day, whether or not donald trump is the republican nominee, it's really up to those who will vote in the republican primary. so, you know, we are going to have to stay tuned on this one. >> so far they don't be seem to moving there. that's a good segue to the next main topic. we are headed into the debate season and you have been in many a room where you have prepared a candidate for the presidency for one of these offense. i think we can all agree , this is a major test for ron desantis. what do you think that he needs to do on that stage? some of my sources thought it was pretty embarrassing, the back and forth between the super pac and the campaign and telling him what to do and what not to do. where does it stand going into this? >> he's got to show why ron desantis and not donald trump. he's the elephant in the room. he said he's going to do, he's with some fired cable host on the field platform, i think the next debate he will be on bill o'reilly on myspace. >> does myspace still exist? >> that's my point. twitter doesn't, either. i wouldn't send trump either but if i worked for desantis, i would say you have to say why me and not him. i think desantis has been far too careful and pussyfooting around about why we should get rid of trump but that's his job. >> just a reminder, attorney general, you're also the founder of the never back down super pac. was it a mistake to put those talking points out? >> but to paul's point, the key here is in the introduction. if history is any guide, this will be the the only direct observations of the candidates, including ron desantis who will be at the stern of the stage, been in his grill five years, he hasn't made a mistake with them yet. that's pretty good darn preparation for what's going to happen on wednesday and why he has very high name i.d. in the public electorate and very high favorables, interthere isn't a of knowing him yet like people feel they know donald trump, good or ill. he's going to get the opportunity, having been the number one attacked candidate in either party to introduce himself personally to voters. i think he does have to make the case but he's shown a great ability to make that case. i disagree a little bit with paul that he has taken on trump on issues from the minute he's got in this race. what he's not doing is the name calling, that kind of trump juvenile level of fighting. >> let me stop you. i get you on engaging the issues. but there was a time when desantis talked about trump supporters, he used listless vev vessels. i'm going to play it for you. >> if all we are is listless vessels that you're supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on truth social, that's not going to be a durable moment. >> you cut from that quote the listless vessels. everyone, understand. go read the transcript. >> you summarize for us, what was it he was trying to say? >> his first point was about this should be about america and not -- >> how do we get from there to listless vessel. there was a pretty big gap in your cut. he's talking about some of d.c. that has endorsed trump and we can't just sit back and be listless vessels, we have to go ahead with vision. folks, go read the transcript. you don't have to take it from me. >> i've been a contrarian suns ho since hours after the 2020 election. most of the candidates have been aiming at the wrong audience of republicans. there's this 35% group who are in love with donald trump. those are the ones that he talked about when he said he would walk down the street and shoot someone and they would still vote for him. they want someone who is able to step up to the mic. this debate should be an opportunity to step up to the make and see the haves and the have notes. here's my vision to tackle the border, to beat joe biden, to talk about inflation, national security, public safety. but we have to reframe this conversation as republicans. if we're sitting here in 12 months and paul and mayor bottoms are still talking about donald trump and not defending joe biden's record, we're going to lose every day of the week and twice on sunday. >> mayor, do you agree? >> if this is about americans and not individuals, then why has the republican party allowed donald trump to hijack the republican party? it's donald trump all day every day. i think when you see desantis on the stage, you're going to see this glass jaw that we talk about. when he can't answer a question from a reporter without getting offended, what's going to happen when he's got all these people on the stage. i think what we need to look at is why is this about donald trump? there are real issues facing the american people that we're not talking about. we're talking about a former president who has been indicted multiple times. why will the republican party not take back its party? >> you just said -- you just said it's all donald trump all the time. why won't these folks talk about donald trump? well, which is it? desantis has rolled out an economic program, he's rolled out an effort for the military, the only veteran running for president. there's a lot of credibility there. these are things that matter at the national level. >> i want to show our viewers something new from cbs news this morning that goes to the point that you're making, which is a national poll that shows 62% of the republican party is with donald trump. that's why. >> yeahs are and i don't buy that. we're knocking doors. we've knocked over a million and a half doors with the super pac. the undecided is very, very high. in new hampshire and in iowa, over half of republicans don't want donald trump to be the next nominee. i talked to reporters this weekend who were at the iowa state fair. people are going up, getting pictures with donald trump, hey, this is great, this is the selfie they want but they come out and say, well, but i'm not voting for him. >> it's not a political party anymore. the most conservative person i know said it. they just said we're a cult personality. when is the last time donald trump talked about things even trump used to talk about, the border or immigration or -- it's all -- my joke has been he's like pavratti warming up for the opera, me, me, me, me, never you, you, you, you. >> thank you all for spending your sunday morning with us. fareed zakaria starts next. [music playing] subject 1: cancer is a long journey. it's overwhelming, but you just have to put your mind to it and fight. subject 2: idoesn't feel good because you can't play outside with other childn. subject as a parent, it is your job to protect your family. but here is something that i cannot do. i cannot fix this. i don't know if my daughter is going to be able to walk. i don't know if she's going to make it till tomorrow. [music playing] interviewer: you can join the battle to save lives by supporting st. jude children's research hospital. families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food so they can focus on helping their child live. subject 4: childhood cancer, there's no escaping it. but st. jude is doing the work, continually researching towards cures, giving more than just my child a chance at life. interviewer: please, call or go online right now and become a st. jude partner in hope for only $19 a month. subject 5: those donations really matter because we're not going to give up. and when you see other people not giving up on your child, it makes all the difference in the world. interviewer: when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt. you can wear to show your support to help st. jude save the lives of these children. subject 6: st. jude is hope. even today after losing a child, it's still about the hope of tomorrow, because. childhood cancer has to end. interviewer: please, call or go online right now. [music playing] feel darkest before dawn. with caplyta, there's a chance to let in the lyte™. caplyta is proven to deliver significant relief across bipolar depression. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta treats both bipolar i and ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants may increase these risks in young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. caplyta can help you let in the lyte™. ask your doctor about caplyta find savings and support at caplyta.com. after advil dual action back pain... yo! uh! ha! ha! [dog bark] what? my back feels better. before advil... new advil dual action back pain fights back pain two ways. for 8 hours of relief. in is gps,