of tonight's republican presidential debate, a debate that, again, was a republican debate but the candidates themselves came back to the topic of republicans losing. they kept bringing it up themselves, unprompted. >> we've lost 2018, 2020, 2022, no red wave that never came. we got trounced last night in 2023. >> i'm sick of republicans losing. >> look, people they are cheering for. losing in the republican party. >> we've become a party of losers at the end of the day. >> and yes, the man who has been the leader of the republican party in the period in question, through all of that losing, this is pretty much as closed as anyone got to outrun out criticizing former president and current presidential front runner donald trump, tonight. >> i can talk about president trump. i can tell you that i think he was the right president at the right time. i don't think he's right president now. i think that he put us eight trillion dollars in debt, and our kids are never gonna forgive us for that. i think the fact that he used to be right on ukraine and foreign issues, now he's getting weak in the knees and trying to be friendly again. i think we've got to go back to the fact that we can't live in the past. we can't live in other headlines. we have to focus on what's going to make america strong and proud. that's what i'm focused on doing. >> that's much of criticism that we saw against donald trump tonight. he, again, is ahead of these candidates by 30, 40, 50 points in the polls. i'm rachel maddow, i'm here with joy reid and nicole wallace and stephanie ruhle and lawrence o'donnell and chris hayes. we've been talking about the fact that the polling here precludes any of us describing describing any importance to the performative competence of these candidates. i think ron desantis is getting better. i thought that he was the worst supposedly potentially viable candidate i had ever seen in a presidential debate, intubate one, and now i feel like this new beta version of his software is turning out some new things. he spoke in a way that i actually think reflects the fact that he has been working on it. and he talked in ways that were sort of human. and he got what seemed to be legitimate applause. that means that he's a candidate who can change. there, that's my positive thing. >> if you are suggesting that he has gone from an f to a c minus, i think i'm with you. >> his problem isn't that he's awkward. i think most people have awkward people in their lives in they have the most enduring people in their lives. the problem is that he is peddling hate and doing it in a less compelling way that donald trump, not in my opinion, in the opinion of the republican primary. he's peddling this very extreme agenda in a way that republican primary voters, even the ones living in florida, view as far inferior to the way trump does the same thing. >> and also because no one wants to buy his substitute when they get the real thing. to me he was the biggest loser because he's on his home turf. everything that he has done to get to this place has been to pass and force through legislation that have made republicans in tallahassee resent him. they are now stuck with a six -week abortion ban that is deeply unpopular. he has picked fights with decently that have left to lawsuit. picked fights with the cruise industry. picked fights essentially pushed labor, latino workers out of the state, which is hurting the construction industry and the agricultural industry. they are screaming in pain because the workers are leaving because of his immigration bill. he stuck all of them, all of the state with that. he's not even getting anywhere in the polls. so i think there are a lot of republicans who will tell you in florida who resent him. so there really isn't a future for him if he doesn't, and he doesn't get a nomination again and that's the cheeseburger thing happens. >> to me the two winners are nikki haley and chris christie. so the real question is to no labels. no labels for anyone out there for months, raising money, pending the idea that we've got to have somebody other than trump, other than biden. chris christie and nikki haley made all the arguments tonight that you hear no labels make. so my question tomorrow morning when i pick the phone and say hey nancy jacobson, do you want to come on tv and her answer, again, is going to be no, why do you guys exist? because you've got two people on that stage right now who could challenge donald trump with all your dollars behind them. what exactly are you doing? >> the whole no labels thing is by people who are hoping that trump is going to get elected and that they can peel off seemingly moderate voters from voting for a democratic incumbent president by instead saying it is this magic third way. that's all it is. because the sort of magic third way that you're talking about is completely embodied by those two who are not gonna win anything. >> can i take the debate seriously for just one minute. it's one thing that desantis said. and what is serious about it is it's an injection of poison into the body politic and into american society, and it is a breathtaking insult to the intelligence of republican voters and their human decency. and that is that ron desantis is going to shoot and kill drug smugglers at the southern border, and my question is, when? when will you determine that that's a drug smuggler who you're going to shoot and kill? is it going to be someone who has a backpack, who is swimming across the river? do you shoot and kill him or her then? do you wait find out what's in the backpack? how do you do this? and of course to do it, you would have to pass a new federal law that legalizes that particular murder, which you can't do because it's going to be 60 votes. but this very concept that is how we will handle it, and no one has had the courage to do this before, for no good reason, but i, ron desantis will set up the machine gun turrets along that border and i will have them shot. there won't be trials. there won't be apprehensions. there won't be anything. they'll be shot and they will be dead and then we will find out what was in the backpack. that's his insult to the intelligence and the decency of republican voters in the country at large. >> we had ron desantis and vivek ramaswamy both talk about using military force inside mexico. we also saw tim scott so he was going to literally declare war on iran. >> a less grim partner to that, but my favorite moment was vivek ramaswamy describing building a border on the totality of the northern border as, quote, skating to where the puck is going, which i thought was a nice play for the canadian vote, i guess, in some weird way. but i guess equal opportunity insane paranoia and -- >> he's also said he; s the only candidate brave enough to go to the northern border. >> without a jacket on? >> i think to your point, lawrence, it is a symptom of ron desantis other core problem, which is because he had a super majority in the state house, he gave them a list and they did everything on the list and he is now trying to convince voters, republican voters, that he can work the same magic in washington, which a completely different system, in which, as nikki haley keeps pointing out, you need 60 votes in the senate to do anything. if anyone really truly believes that he can do any of the things he is saying based on what he did in florida, which he keep citing, they're not paying attention to the world because it doesn't work that way in washington at all. >> he also literally said aside from the widely reckless and morally indefensible glib talk about basically starting war with mexico, which is heinous in every way and heinous in the casualness in which they all talk about it, he literally said, i'm gonna build the wall and make mexico pay for it tonight. why am i gonna go with you instead of the last guy that said he was gonna do that? literally, what's the point? we all know that's his line. why would i vote for you? he's the one that said he would do that and obviously didn't. why would i vote for another person who said he would do it and obviously didn't? >> the things that we've been talking about what level of criticism trump came in from. that was kind of the one thing, trump added a lot of debt, that's one thing they criticized him for. the other specific thing he was criticized for was not getting mexico to build a wall. so ron desantis, as if you could look at the four years of the trump administration and say, that was the problem, that was the one thing that really went wrong and we can all agree, let's bring america together, make mexico pay for it, one pay, so so clearly that's the unfinished business we should use to put hell the republican party back in the white house but. the >> 1 million americans dead from covid. >> foot, no one reason mexico did not pay for the wall is we didn't build the wall. >> correct. >> [laughter] >> there's that. and there's also the water, there's the water that makes the wall. because there's the water. >> but again, this is so ludicrous to us. i think the big thing watching this is that republican primary voters don't like any of that. like trump is ahead, again, 30 to 50 points more popular than everyone on the stage. -- >> and he's running to take down a trusted institutions. he's running for revenge. he gets on the podium and says i'm your retribution. >> one of the core driving aspects that produced 2016 and trump was genuine and unbridled contempt on the part of republican voters for the republican party. ramaswamy has tried to channel that in certain ways. we have seen again and again with how it is manifested. trump being, like, all these people are losers, which was his schtick in 2016, really worked with them. and i think it just remains the case that for a variety of complicated reasons, like republican voters still kind of hate the republican party and don't put trump in the same category. >> and by the way, i would say the person closest to making this point is nikki haley, where she did say republicans need a new generation, trump was right for that right time. >> but we need a new generation. no one is really talking about it. people talk about it with biden. but trump thinks that he ran against barack obama. trump is not always sure where he is. >> it's where he has that might make us into world war ii. >> world war ii might have. and >> it's not clear he might be non corpus mentors and nobody says anything. there is this sort of, the biden conversation about his age isn't had about trump, trump is only three years younger. trump is arguably not all there. not there the way he was even in 2016. his lack of ability to get through a sentence, he slurs his words. there's a lot there. if one of these candidates wanted to try to take him down, if they had the political skill, i don't know if any of them have the political skill, there's so much there that it actually is political malpractice that they're not even trying. >> the biden harris campaign put out the press release calling out the media for not covering a lot of these gaffes, and i think it's good that his rallies aren't taken lightly, but you do miss a lot of the gaffes. you have to go looking for them. he was on the stage, he didn't know where he was. someone came up and told him where he was and corrected him. this is happening. -- >> in court this week, the judge was asking him question about his business. and he said i was busy running the country. and they were like, sir, you weren't in office that year. [laughter] that happened three days ago. >> there's a good faith criticism to be made that like, oh, we shouldn't elect somebody who's 80 to be president. there is nothing inherently wrong with making that kind of an argument categorically. but the answer to that cannot be, you're right, we should definitely put it at 77. that's what we need a 77-year-old. >> who would be 80 during his presidency. there is a way in which these candidacies, particularly the christie candidacy, might actually, in the end, do trump in. when i look at that board, i'm wondering, that steve had up there, how many of those christie voters, how many of those nikki haley voters, will not vote for donald trump in a general election? they have had plenty of time to make up, everyone who's not voting for trump, 30%, whatever it is, everyone who's not voting for him in the republican primary, has thought about him a lot. and they have decided, as of today, no, i don't want to vote for donald trump. he will surely, if he's the nominee, get most of them going into a general election against joe biden. but he is unlikely to get all of them because there must be some pretty strong feelings to define themselves against donald trump at this stage of this election. and donald trump needs every single one of them. he cannot lose a single republican vote. he's on his way to. >> let's just be real about this, as well. freed of the need to run in a democratic primary, joe biden does not have to run to the left ahead of the general election in a way that's going to be staking out positions that he's gonna find hard to defend in a general election. he can run as bipartisan joe biden from now all the way through next november in a way that is going to provide him maximum opportunity for peeling off any persuadable independent voters, independently leaning, republican-leaning independents and anyone else in the republican party that can can't stomach trump. biden is perfectly positioned to do that because he has governed in a bipartisan way. he does have a legislative record of accomplishment. he's not a partisan bomb thrower. and he doesn't have to run in the primary. >> by the way, robert f. kennedy junior, who nobody talks a lot about him, because he's odd, but he is running. and the polls that i've seen show that the bigger risk is to trump, because the people who love rfk junior the most are anti-vaxxers. >> yes, the covid stuff. >> exactly, so that's not taking from biden voters. potentially, rfk junior is a bigger threat to trump. so trump really does need every single voter. >> and raisa, to be your point, the first people that joe biden can look for and that effort are the plus 20 who voted to enshrine abortion in the constitution in ohio. there is a 20% cushion for joe biden to say, i see this the way you see it. that guy over there, he's the reason roe is overturned. >> he's the reason roe was overturned and you've got a new speaker the house, who's an opponent of the federal abortion ban and lifelong antiabortion activist. you sure you want to give the republicans the white house right now? >> nikki haley and chris christie's fundraising dollars in the next week off of this debate, think about the point that lawrence just made. the people who write her big checks tonight, and chris christie, are they really two months from now going to say well, i guess i'm gonna go for trump? they are not. >> they've had every opportunity. much more to see tonight. jen psaki's gonna be joining us in just a moment. stay with us. liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. with the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. i was a bit nervous at first but then i figured it's just walking, right? 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( ♪♪ ) rsv can be a dangerous virus [sneeze] for those 60 and older. it's not just a cold. and if you're 60 or older... you may be at increased risk of hospitalization from this highly contagious virus. not all dangers come with warning labels. talk to your pharmacist or doctor about getting vaccinated against rsv today. rsv vaccines, including pfizer's, are now available. the first time you made a sale online with godaddy was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. we just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. start for free at godaddy.com you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers that for your business.rst. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? have we piqued your interest? you can get two unlimited lines for just $30 each a month. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. >> welcome back to msnbc's wireless that works for you. it's not just possible. special coverage of the third republican primary debate. i'm jen psaki, alongside some of my absolute favorite people to talk politics with, especially late at night. >> joining me here at the table her are former democratic senator from missouri, claire mccaskill, also the co-host of the podcast how to win in 2024. a great podcast. former rnc chairman michael steele, who always holds back, so we're looking forward to bringing him bring him out of his shell tonight. former spokesperson for kamala harris and host of symone at msnbc, symone sanders-townsend, and former senior advisor for mitt romney, kevin madden. this is a wild towed crazy night, but very substantive on foreign policy and other issues. i want to start with you, michael. what's your big take away from tonight? >> as one said, it was a typical night in the jungle, all the animals breed at the moon and try to mark their territory. i still say this was nikki haley's night after last units have been. she showed poise in the face of the craziness of vivek ramaswamy. she could the kind of determination and steely strength that needs to go up against foreign adversaries like putin. and she laid out, i thought, a very reasonable, cogent conservative discussion, if you will, around abortion. i know people were likely disagree with that because it's sort of a hot issue, but within the republican ecosystem, what she said probably hurt her with some folks, but she took that risk in putting out this. i thought it was a good night for her. >> i won't even get into vivek. >> we will get into vivek, don't worry. i did think she had a good night, but i don't think she said nothing on abortion. clare, what do you think? >> i'm kind of with you. i listened really carefully to what nikki haley actually said about abortion. i came away with the conclusion that she succeeded in talking for about three or four minutes and said absolutely nothing. she didn't say what she was for, which he was against. she said we all have to get along, we have to have 60 votes. this is a difficult issue. and soun