Was clear it was super clear that frontrunner donald trump was on his mind. These are tough times. And i understand that americans are angry and frustrated. But we do not need someone in the oval office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration. Strength is not empty rhetoric. It is not bluster. It is not theatrics. Real strength, strength of purpose, comes from integrity and character. And in my experience the strongest person usually isnt the loudest one in the room. Well, this feud between donald trump and jeb bush boiled over on saturday when the real estate mogul slammed george w. Bushs decision to go to war in iraq. And in later comments he bashed the former president s Overall Record on National Security. Ive heard for years he kept the country safe after 9 11. What does that mean after . What about during 9 11 . I was there. I lost a lot of friends that were killed in that building. The worst attack ever in this country . It was during his presidency. I mean, we had the worst attack ever. By the way, after that we did okay. Thats meaning the team scored 19 runs in the first inning but after that we played well. I dont think so. This president ial campaign seems to be going into uncharted territory. We have never seen anything like this before. So to try to make sense of all of this were joined by republican strategist john thomas. Hes also president of thomas partners. Also joining Us Democratic strategist dave jacobson. Two of our favorite men two, of our favorite wise men who join us regularly. So welcome. Welcome. Thanks for having us. George w. Bush on the campaign trail, back on the campaign trail, not naming trump, clearly drawing contrast with him, however. Did he say enough to reinvigorate his brothers campaign, john . Its not a bad play to bring up president bush. Hes very popular in South Carolina. Its a good move for jeb. Im not sure its going to be enough to get him over the hump because that state, while the bushes are very popular, National Security is very popular, it is trump nation right now in that state. I dont know that it will be enough i dont think to overcome trump. Really what jebs doing is vying for a second place. And ted cruz might have a strong showing as well. George bush has an 84 Approval Rating in South Carolina. I just dont know that that translates to jeb bush unfortunately. Okay. This stuff, bush lied, people died essentially what trump is going on about, this is heresy. This is straight oust Nancy Pelosis playbook. She wouldnt go there. This is democratic conspiracy stuff. The only reason i can think trump might be doing this, its an open primary and anyone can vote, which means democrats can vote for trump. Does that make any sense . Hes trying to atrablth the independent vote. This is a guy with a 20point lead. Others a magnet when it comes to making headlines and media attention. Hes continuing to try to amplify his message and be that insurgent antiestablishment candidate. Hes exacerbating that sort of narrative with this new attack against the bush family. At first blush you go what is this guy thinking . 55 of the gop electorate nationally say they think going to iraq was a good decision. But you say okay, hes giving up the veteran contingency. But remember, donald trump is a guy who didnt attend one of the major debates so he could go raise money for vets. Hes holding big rallies on battleships. This guy, vets love him and i dont think hes going to lose them over this one. Taking on gop orthodoxy and challenging george w. Bushs record so directly, surely it must carry some risks, though, for trump down the line if he was indeed to become the nominee. It does. But hes not running as an establishment anything. So the further he can run from the establishment i think the better off he is. It was a bold move. Were talking about it today. Voters arent voting for donald trump because of his stance on the issues. I know that sounds crazy. Theyre voting for donald trump because he tells it like it is and he isnt beholden to the establishment. Looking at that campaign in South Carolina a few hours ago i kept thinking make america bush again. There they all were. Laura bush was up there. George w. Bush. And ive got to say, for jeb bush he had a really Good Campaign rally. He was energized. 3,000 people there. Lost his glasses. He lost his glasses. Lets listen to what he had to say, at least some of it. The only way a republican and a conservative wins is by campaigning with their arms wide open, with a hopeful optimistic message. Campaigning in every nook and cranny of this country. Making sure Everybody Knows we want them on our team. The only way we win is doing what republicans always do, Campaign Like george w. Did, like Ronald Reagan did. We have to get back to that. Clearly hes enjoying the fact that his familys behind him. Hes got their support. But just because trump insulted his brother, who remains very popular in South Carolina, doesnt mean that those Trump Supporters will rally around him, does it . I dont think so. And i think, look, jeb bush is doing everything that he can to sort of attach himself to his brother at the hip. George bush has an 84 Approval Rating. This is a state dominated by vetera veterans, military employees. I think hes sort of doing everything he can to appeal to those voters. I just dont know that its going to be enough. Its kind of too little too late. Doesnt this make him look weak, the fact he has to bring out his family you know, its bizarre because jeb bushs campaign, theyre like a drunk campaign in the sense of they launched with the word jeb as his campaign logo, excluding the bush last name because the gop electorate is so scared of running a bush, you know, third term. And now hes bringing back the bush. Hes ditching the jeb and hes going with the bush. This campaign is just is just trying whatever it can to grasp at straws. Quite frankly its difficult for bush. Hes got to have a very good showing in South Carolina. I dont think were going to see him drop out no matter what happens. But its all of these establishment candidates that are going to keep going that are essentially handing the nomination to donald trump. The one thing i will say is jeb bush probably had his best debate performance last saturday. He had his most forceful performance. And had he done this earlier in every consecutive debate he might be in a different position than he is right now. I do think it is resonating more as you see cruz almost come late to the game of taking on trump, of saying ive been taking him on the whole time, where were you guys . I wonder whether that counts for anything with the voters. The problem is anytime jeb makes an exchange with donald trump i think donald trump wins most of those exchanges. Although jebs trying to be the antitrump guy, if youre going to go up against trump youd better damn well win. And a lot of those, i mean, trump just outyells him and says youre a liar, youre a wimp, youre bringing out your mommy. You know. He just cant win. What was interesting was that ted cruz was given the opportunity to defend george w. Bush and he really didnt go there. Marco rubio did. Got a lot of cheers for that. But we now have this feud, which is going between ted cruz and donald trump. And we now have some of the sharpest attacks from trump which are being directed toward ted cruz. I havent been doing this long. Ive been in it since june 16th. But i will tell you, ive never, ever met a person that lies more than ted cruz. Truth matters. And were not in grade school where you just get to say liar liar pants on fire and not respond to the substance. So what happened here . These two on the stage, cruz wouldnt take him on and all of a sudden hes like bring it . Whats going on . Cruz doesnt seem to be great at these debates when hes right the heat is on. Afterward you noticed his logo on screen was trust ted, right . His whole Campaign Essence is that he is the trusted conservative. Sorry to interrupt. But did you see what trump did . Cannot be. Or cant be trusted. I think he knows his number one opponent in South Carolina especially going after the evangelical vote, hes right to attack cruz, and its really fun to watch these back and forths. But ted cruz has to be consistent when he attacks. He cant just show up one day and attack and not the other. I think the other thing ted cruz is trying to pull from the iowa playbook is hes going on the attack with sharp attacks against donald trump. Why . Because it worked in iowa. Got him in first place and domd trump in second place. We now have trump threatening legal action. This is a little convoluted but trump is saying take down knows nasty ads, stop telling lies about me, you dirty liar, otherwise im going to sue you because youre not eligible to run because you were born in canada. Donald trump is known to be litigious. He was incredibly litigious as a real estate developer. So this is right in his playbook. But the fact is he doesnt care whether he wins this lawsuit. Hes winning because were talking about it and questioning teds authenticity and his credibility. Donald trump also says theres a role for the rnc to play here to get involved. Is there a role for them to play as the rhetoric heats up and this gets nastier . I think the rncs done a pretty good job of staying neutral in this process. They could have easily trashed donald trump. They started at the beginning by putting out memos to all of the candidates of what hans if trump wins. I think the rnc should play neutral in this process. What this underscores is the fact that donald trump is extremely thinskinned and really a rambunctious candidate. He cant take these hard hits without pivoting and hitting right back. Youre saying the rncs neutral. I think a lot of people may disagree with that saying if you look at that audience with that debate it was stacked against donald trump. I dont know that that the tickets were distributed amongst youre right. So the rnc, i dont know that it was them being biased. Its just thats how they sell tickets. They give them away to donors. But in a strange sense every time they booed i thought donald trump is loving, this his supporters are loving, it hes running against the establishment and thert audience. The donor class. Lets get the democratic side. Hillary clinton is trying to stop Bernie Sanders momentum before the voting begins in the nevada caucus later this week. Shes trying to make him out to be this onetrick pony, this single issue guy, and shes doing it with a new tv ad. Attacks on wall street speculation. The disastrous and illegal behavior on wall street. The wealthiest people, the top 1 1 2 . So dave, to bring you in here, what do you make of this line of attack from Hillary Clinton that Bernie Sanders is a onetrick pony if you will . And his trick is wall street. Is it a Winning Strategy for her to go down to galvanize her supporters . Well, clearly shes seen the new polling in nevada that shows her in a dead heat with Bernie Sanders. Theyre tied at 45 points. And Bernie Sanders is starting to close the gap in South Carolina. Back in november he was down by 50 points. Now hes cut the lead by half, hes down by 25 points according to real clear politics. Clearly she sees shes got to figure out a way to sort of hold him accountable to his message, raise questions, raise issues when it comes to his vulnerability. The reality is his message is penetrating all across america. His poll numbers are surging because his message is breaking through. People want change, and he represents the change that voters perceive they need. Heres the problem the two campaigns have. Bernie sanders thinks theres no difference between economic inequality and racial inequality. Democratic minorities think there is a distinct difference and the candidate must talk about that. Hillary knows it. Hillarys talking about of course racial inequality and economic inequality. But the economic inequality argument falls flat because shes living a dual life. Shes saying one thing yet shes a multi, multimillionaire and voters know that. When does Hillary ClintonStart Talking about the cost of Bernie Sanderss vision, a 40 increase in Government Spending including the Government Spending on gop up to 20 the highest its been since world war ii. Not being able to get any of it through congress. She kind of touched on it last week but shes left it on the table. We definitely saw that line avenue tack at the debate last week. She didnt follow through and i think shes largely tried to run a positive campaign. But now hes creeping up in early states like nevada that were i supposed to be her firewall and were approaching super tuesday where 900 delegates are at stake i think increasingly youre going to see these lines avenue tack and see more ads like that. Theyre running a democratic primary, john. Were scared to attack. They arent. The general election argument. How do you take it down face to face, point on point without seeming as if youre crushing peoples dreams and being low on inspiration . Bernies saying were going to solve, it were going to pay little bit more and he pushes it aside and his base doesnt push back. My base would. His base doesnt. Your base definitely would. Thank you both for being with us. Thank you. We got through a lot. That was great. And join us this week for a twoday event. The cnn republican town hall moderated by sooanderson cooper. Yes two, days of town hall. 8 00 p. M. Eastern live from greenville, South Carolina. 5 00 p. M. Pacific, 9 00 a. M. In hong kong. I think you fooled the audience, they actually think youre excited. I am. Its two more days. Youre going to have to work on that excitement. Much more on the race for the white house ahead on newsroom l. A. What does Donald Trumps dintd family think of his president ial run . Well take you to his ancestral home in a medieval german village. Plus the white house hits back in the battle with republicans over who should fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. And later, musics biggest stars turned out for this years Grammy Awards. Well have a live a look, not a live look. Well have a look at the nights big performances and winners all coming up. Theres a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. Try phillips fiber good gummies plus energy support. 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Clippity clop. Clippity clop. Yo, i just whispererd all of yall too easy. Vo bai. 5 calories, antioxidants and taste amazing . None of this makes sense. Welcome back, everybody. White house sources say the Obama Administration is already working on a short list of nominees to replace the Late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans in the senate are digging in their heels, vowing to block any candidate. Michelle fransicsi reports. Reporter the white house today leveling its own blows at republicans. In the deep political standoff that started only hours after justice Antonin Scalias death. This is a Republican Congress that has a lot of practice saying no. But i also want to point out that this is not the first time that republicans have come out with a lot of bluster, only to have reality ultimately sink in. Reporter president obama vows to fill that Supreme Court seat by constitutional duty. There will be plenty of time for me to do so and for the senate to fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote. These are responsibilities that i take seriously, as should everyone. Theyre bigger than any one party. They are about our democracy. Reporter but a Defiant SenateMajority Leader Mitch Mcconnell seems unwilling to budge. The American People should have a voice. This vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. Tonight we honor his xroert service to our napgs. Reporter white house officials are discussing the process for vetting the president s potential picks. Names circulating include federal judges. Some senators, even attorney general Loretta Lynch who was approved by the Senate Last Year but only after a record monthslong delay. Senator Claire Mccaskill calling it then base politics at its ugliest. Reporter but this fight could be wors