Donald trump is now the Presumptive Republican nominee for president. His only opponent in this race, former governor nikki haley, had vowed to stay in the race through super tuesday. And this morning after only winning the state of vermont and the city of washington, d. C. , nikki haley dropped out. Now, if there was anything truly significant about haleys campaign, it was the degree to which it was a symbol of the dissatisfaction for donald trump. Yes, nikki haley advocated about Theal Deficit but really the whe point of the project was to offer republicans an alternative to the guy with the orange blow out. So when nikki haley dropped out this morning the big question was who was she going to endorse . You might think this would be a moment the last Person Standing between donald trump and the take over of the gop wouldnt just tupitulate to donald trump. Maybe she wouldnt endorse joe biden, but couldnt she, wouldnt shet suggest her supporters didnt have to vote for trump, that there were other alternatives, that the haley People Mighthe put country over party in times like these. As it turns out that is not what nikki haley did. In all likelihood donald trump will be the republican nominee when our Party Convention meet in july. I congratulate him and wish him well. It is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and i hope he does that. At its best politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing. Nikki haley offered up her supporters on a silver platter to donald trump. Not to joe biden or even rfk jr. , jason palmer, the guy who won the American Samoa primary last night, not even that guy. She offered them up to donald trump. Sheem entreated trump to woo he people, to make them his In The Name Of the conservative cause. And that is because if you look at what nikki haleys campaign was actuallyle about, it was ner about taking on donald trump, not really. It was about, yes, courting voters who are dissatisfied with trump, but it was also about courting trump voters,so too. I believe President Trump was the right president at the right time, and ihe agree with a lot his policies, but the truth is rightly or wrongly chaos follows him. I personally think President Trump was the right president at the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies, but the reality is rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. I agree with a lot of trumps policies, i think he was the right president at the right time. Chaos follows him. Fo is it chaos follows him or does he create the chaos . That sounds so passive, chaos follows him. Rightly or wrongly, you call it whatever you want to call it, but whenwa you feel it, its chaos. Nikki haley wanted toits be alternative to donald trump, but she alsoto wanted to stay in th good graces of the people who supported donald trump. And that meant her candidacy was sort of indecipherable. Haley was the alarnative to someone she really couldnt bring herself to criticize, so what was the point . Well, if there was any certainty in the nikki haley campaign, it was that president ey biden was o old, that he was very bad at his job, and that he had put america in peril. I want to make it clear, im not being disrespectful when i say that. We all know people over 75 who can run circles around us, and then wes, know joe biden. We cant afford four more years of bidens failures. Every time he opens his mouth he sounds like his mind is closing up shop. We cantos afford to put americs at torisk, and thats what joe bidens doing everyat day. It sounds like if in the end we have a choice between trump and biden, youre choosing trump, is that correct . I think bidens more dangerous. Nikki haley thoughts nikki haley thinks that President Biden is more dangerous for this country than donald trump. Donald trump, thetr man with 91 Felony Counts to his name who has said he will be a dictator on day one, who intends to round up Tens Of Thousands of people into camps, the man who wants to essentially destroy the geopolitical order, but joe biden is more dangerous. At every juncture where she might have said otherwise, given every opportunity nikki haley has madepo clear she is a republican, she ishe a conservative before she isan anything else. Is it any wonder that she is offering her supporters to donald trump . There was never any other possibility, not really. And so what we are witnessing here is the final capitulation. The men and women who have been credited however questionably with being resistant to trumpism are finally showing their hand. Mitchg mcconnell formally endorsed donald trump for president. There was a moment right after january 6th mcconnell said explicitly donald trump is practically and morally responsible for the insurrection, but that did not stop Mitch Mcconnell enabling Trump Beforeon and after either directly or indirectly by carrying out trumps bidding when it was convenient or avoiding comment when it was not convenient. And by the way, when a comment was very much needed and a critical one at that. Are you concerned at all with your party embracing the former president who you said was morally responsible for the january 6th attack . Well, i do think we need to be talking about the future and not the past. E do you think Oats Approprie the way the former president wap storing those top secret and classified documents at his estate at maralago . I dont really have any comment on this whole investigation. Former President Donald Trump ridiculed mcconnell saying he had a wish, and he also went after mcconnells wife with a personal andel Racist Attack. What did mcconnell have to say about nethat . He said he had no comment, then i pressed him about that Racist Attack against his wife. I said is its acceptable to ha thatit Racist Attack against elaine chou who of course is of taiwanese descent, and he said i dont have anything to say about that. For years a theyve been toud as holdouts, Resistance Agents Against Trump and the maga movement. Nikki haley and Mitch Mcconnell never actually did anything to stop trump because all along this whole time they knew they needed trump. Haley wanted to win over trumps voters, and mcconnell needed the support ofel trumps allies in congress. And what makes today so utterly disappointing is Thatut Neitherf them actually needs trump anymore. Em nikki haley has left the race. She says shes off to life as a private citizen. Mitch mcconnell has announced the retirement at the conclusion of his current. Theyre still looking to him as the future of their party. The fantasy here of a different Republican Party, of something other than the Darkness Trump Represents is officially over. Yes, you may still know plenty of people who are republicans and dont like donald trump. But as far as republicans in power,s the people who could he tried to stop trump from the inside, they didnt. And now theyre gone. Joining mew now are brenden bu, msnbc political analyst, and charlie sykes, msnbc contributor and columnist. Thanks both of you guys for being here tonight. Brenden, i know you have some thoughts which youve written eloquently about today about what nikki haleys candidacy actually was all about. Ac refresh people who are not familiar with your writings . Thank you. Yeah, look, nikki haley i think was really excited to be the last Person Standing in case donald trump were to somehow implode. You know, its not necessarily crazy to think that would happen, someone as you said was indicted 91 times, someone found liable for Sexual Assault during the campaign. Put you have to understand what Republican Voterso want. That sort of chaos as she talks about ista not a bug, its a feature. And if your, plan is to be the as the savior when donald trump implodes, you know nothing about the Republican Party. Donald trump would have imploded many times if that was going to happen. It never happens. Republican voters like the chaos that comes with him. She was very happy to sit there for many, many months and really draw no contrast. To her credit towards the end of the racet she certainly did, s took a lot of swipes at him. But he was 50 points ahead of her at that point and there was never a real chance. Ne it was a confusing strategy to pivot there atfu the end and ma yourself unpopular with a lot ow Republican Voters, when it could have made a difference earlier on when donald trump looked indictable, maybe dodged some debates, but she didnt. She waited until the end when he was very much clearly going to be the nominee. And as we have seen time and timee again, that implosion ev happened and it was foolish to think it ever would. It charlie, i wonder if you think its too harsh to suggest when people ask the questions what happened to the Republican Party, of course they point to donald trump. But thef enablers, the people o knew better i feel like are the ones that deserve special credit for that. People like nikki haley who for so long refused to call donald trump out and was his only opponent in this race. Or Mitch Mcconnell who certainly knew better and was his great enabler in the senate. Yeah, they never fail to disappoint, do they . No, this is whats extraordinary about whats happening and i hope people understand it that this is apl long it feels li the old story of Republicans Caving into donald trump, but itsng not the same old same ol. You think about how different 2024 is from 2020. Not just the fact that donald trump sincehe 2020 incited a violent attack on the on the capitol, tried to overturn the election,o embraced the Big Li Stopped Thehe First Peaceful Transfer Of for the first time stopped the peaceful transfer of power, called for the termination of the constitution. As brenden mentioned, has been found liable for raping a woman and faces 91 Felony Counts includingco charges of racketeering and violating theg espionage act, t and i havent even gotten to the massive fraud judgments against him. And yet republicans are rolling over and embracing him. And nikki haley neither nikki haley or any other republican couldy figure out how could th possibly run against this guy. What issues might work against him, because this party has become so supine. So youre right, donald trump is donald trump. And i think we see the man in full, but the story here has been the absolute serial failure of responsible republican to stand up against him. And as brenden noted Republican Voters dont want to return to normalcy, they like it. I l do wonder, brenden, Beina Creature of congress what you thought of Mitch Mcconnell predicating his announcement saying it should come as no surprise. This is person who with stood withering personal attacks on him and his wife from donald trump. And the public humiliation of Mitch Mcconnell by donald trump was so embarrassing even for people who werent republicans, and yet it should not be surprising in the words of Mitch Mcconnell hes endorsing donald trump. What did yous make of that . So when Mitch Mcconnell went to the senate floor last week and announced hes going to be stepping down, he had a great line. He said i have many faults but misunderstanding politics not one of them. I think that is absolutely trueo Mitch Mcconnell cares about one thing right now, that is winning back the senate. And he understands a divided party isan bad, and therefore endorsing donald trump is good. He knows it would be a huge distraction, that hed have to bedi asked about it all the tim and he would rather just get that out of the way. He understands this is what not onlys Republican Voters want, t it is what the rest of his republican conference is doing. Heis understands if he were to stage a i fight in the conferen, a, he would lose because voters are clearly with donald trump. But alsodo it would distract hi from his one only goal at this point. I think he can go either way on who the president is. But if it gets in the way of taking back the sept and making that his last legacy item, hes going toga do whatever it takes. Its erpolitics, and thats wha Mitch Mcconnell knows best and cares most about. As trump says they always bend the knee. Charlie, what did you make of nikki haley gets credit for taking swipes at donald trump in the closing s hours of her campaign, but i was remarkably unimpressed by her appetite on actually taking him on on Anythingon Substantive and suggesting repeatedly through the course of the campaign that biden was the greater Existential Threat to america. As far as a formal endorsement, do you expect her to formally endorse donald trump at any point . Well, i think that hasdo to the defaultha setting, right, t assume these people will bow the knee. Because they all do if she wants a future in republican politics. What were seeing, though, is this embrace of the sick political logic that does put party and power ahead of the country. She was disappointing, but lets stick with Mitch Mcconnell for a moment. Mitch mcconnellcc knows what donald trump did on january 6tha he came very close, i think, to vote to convict him, to disparage this particular moment. Theo attacks on his wife, the attacks on him. He decided this is what he has to do in order to win the senate. At some point you would hope there would be other republicans who would follow the example of liz cheney and say there are some things more important than winning an election, there are some things more important than holding onto the seat. Mitch mcconnell is over 80 years old. 80 hes not running for reelection. He has nothing to lose. If theres ever a moment you say this is eright, this is wrong, this man poses a danger to the republic, i have watched him and know what he will do, this would be the moment. The fact Mitch Mcconnell is so immersed in this political cynicism, this Endless Loop Of Search for power, it is really a rather pathetic commentary. Iti mean its not new in americ history, in history people would do this, but if you want example of what profiles in courage would be is, this is it. Trumps lackeys will be installed as cochairs at the Republican National committee and more than aat majority of t rnc members want to use the money they have to offset the bills they have from Donald Trumps lawyers. That is the State Of Play on the right sidest of the aisle. Brenden buck, charlie sykes, thank you both for your time tonight. Lots more ahead this evening. An actual Election Conspiracy aboutti mules stuffing ballot boxes turns out to be true, only it was republican mules. Ub were going to have more on the wild crop of maga candidates coming to a town near you. But first the Supreme Court has finally set a key date in the Coming Trump Immunity Claim hearings. Law professor and Supreme Court expert joins me here on set right after the break. Joins me right after the break. This week was supposed to be the start of Donald Trumps federal election interference trial in washington, d. C. But instead of proceedings in judge tanya chutkans courtroom on monday what we got was an expedited ruling by the Supreme Court saying states cannot remove donald trump from their ballots for engaging in insurrection under the 14th Amendment. And today the Court Announced it will hear oral arguments over trumps president ial Immunity Claim seven weeks from now on april 25th, which is the very last day of the courts term. Joining me now is the chair of civil rights at howard university. I should also note she filed an amicus brief in the trump case which was of course recently decided by the court. Its great to see you. Thank you for being here in new york. Im not going to ask you to tell me the good news because i think its truly bad news here. The very last day of the courts term is when theyre going to hear this Immunity Claim contrasted with the relatively quick time frame with the 14th Amendment ruling. How do you interpret that decision . Its very much consistent with this courts refusal to be moved from the narrative as it has tried to create that we are somehow impervious to the politics of whats happening around us, and this is one