Than any other brand. Were always rethinking whats possible in skincare. Thats just how we roll. Neutrogena®. See whats possible. If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, i believe you should only choose from a person who has actually participated in the primary. Count me out. I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee for our party, to be the president you should actually run for it. I chose not to do this, therefore i should not be considered. Period. End of story. Welcome to morning joe. Good morning, everyone. Count me out. Count me out. Doggone it. Yeah. Sounded a little hes not gonna do it. So Mark Halperin, remember i told you how in the golden era of New York Times reporting it was so much easier to write stories when people would, like, punch other people at trump events. That was easy, right. Layout. Seriously. And they always had a layout because trump was always out there. Hes pulled back and since hes pulled back a bit theyre stuck. They are stuck. So remember i told you they make up a new story everyday. Like three days ago it was trumps Foreign Policy inconsistencies a proven obstacle to his nomination. And the quote like barack obama making fun of him. They do a new one everyday. Well, certainly not today. I know, because were going to show some polls that show its like big wheels keep on rolling. So this is the New York Times headline today. Losing steam. I want us to Pay Attention to the first two words today, children. Losing steam, trump blames gop system. Hes doing what we say would be a smart thing to do, to say the systems rigged. The systems rigged. Now we turn to our daily ration of new york polls. And then we will introduce our guests. And remember the words, write them down in your grits if youre in the south. Losing steam. Through new polls show donald trump runningaway t away with t york primary. The quinnipiac poll shows him at 55 , the baruch poll shows him
at 60 . Even though that poll shows him at 60 , i really think hes only what everyone else is saying, hes 20 . 30 . And the siena poll puts him at 50 . 23 points ahead of john kasich. Losing steam, Mark Halperin . I know youre mocking the New York Times but he does have a delegate problem. Losing steam. Okay. Whats after that. After new york, five more states in the northeast and the new numbers. Im sure the steam being let out of the pot this will show you. I havent shown you the numbers yet. Wilted in these states. New numbers had trump well ahead as well. Trump is at 50 in connecticut. Well, that doesnt sound like hes losing steam. Kasich is at 26 and cruz is at 17 in connecticut. And a new nbc 4 marist poll in maryland has trump with a 12point lead over cruz 41 to 29 . John kasich at 24 . Losing steam. Yeah . Can i i think you sum it up best in the Washington Post. Lets let other people talk because im a little shy. Im a little shy right now. So with us we have the cohosts of with all due respect Mark Halperin. Columnist in for the Washington Post, david ignatius. Columnist in for Bloomberg View, al hunt, and political reporter for the Washington Post and msnbc political analyst robert costa. Robert costa, you report on the trail out there. Obviously a big delegate battle right now going on but certainly trump, whose demise has been predicted in many quarters since oshkosh went for ted cruz is now losing steam pretty well in the northeast, rolling over everybody. I mean, the calendar favors
trump. Northeast. You go to new york, he gets a bounce, he goes to pennsylvania perhaps. Pennsylvania is a tough state for trump. The philadelphia suburbs, kasich has been doing well in some pennsylvania polls but generally speaking, based on my reporting talking to strategists, trump the northeast is better for trump. He got maryland, pennsylvania and new york. And the problem is, al, once you get out of the early states and this has always been the case, you just the pace picks up so quick ly. You spend so much money. Then the northeast, this is where john mccain lock thinged down, it was more winner take all. But cruz and kasich and trump, they cant afford to spend the type of money on ads on these numbers. Its celebrity, its name i. D. , its momentum and it seems to be helping him. Well, right now advantage trump because he zrudoesnt havo spend that money. But, yes, april is the kindest
month for donald trump, less favorable in may, then you have june 7 california, thats massive. But he has to run up i go back to what mark said. He has to run up a big delegate advantage this month to be close to 1237. He has to win 85 delegates in new york, not 55 or 60, he has to sweep connecticut. He may well be able to do that based on those polls but its not just winning, its the size of the victories, particularly where you have winner take all. Those look great but in the end i suspect were all going to be looking at california which is pretty exciting because new york is relevant. After wisconsin, new york was relevant. But now i think even the trump people are admitting this is probably going to all come down to california. This is the best political story i can remember. Incredible, isnt it . It rolls from key primary to even more key primary all the way to the convention. The one thing i have that to say to your question of whether trump is losing steam, you know, the steam calibrator is a little
bit cloudy for me, but the question is, is he on track to get 1237 delegates by july in cleveland . And right now people i trust like al hunt and Mark Halperin who know these numbers say it looks difficult. So if thats so, joe, the precise daily steam calibration is less important than whats going to happen at that convention. But here is, though, where the steam does make sense. If trump stumbles in, lets say, you know, ted cruz is stumbling in right now with a lot of thirdplace victories, cuts him off at the knees to be able to say i am the only one who can beat donald trump. Hes the guy thats losing steam right now if you look at these polls. Kasich is beating him in most of these northeast states. Its going to be a cruel month for anymore the northeast. And we dont know how hell get clobbered in new york. Well see how reacts to that. On the other side of that, though, again, going with this, if trump is rolling up 50 wins
55 wins, 47 wins, and he goes into the convention a hundred down, its going to be really hard. With that momentum behind him. A lot of the people in the party say if he doesnt have 1237 theyll fight him on a second ballot. Thats the big divide. There is an argument to be made and trump people are making it that hell have the Political Capital if hes close to 1237. But people say look, if he doesnt have the number, the rules are set, he doesnt have it as a gift to him. If he goes in with 1150, how many are real trump them . Thats different. It may only be 950 will be real trump people then you go to a second ballot and most delegates are unbound. Dont underestimate the period between california and the convention. Those six weeks are where trump can try to get the delegates he needs if hes short through uncommitted delegates who he can have committed to him by the time of cleveland. And how much harder is it going to be if hes winning 33
to 30 to 27 versus 55 to 22 to 16 . You just heard paul ryan who is the conscience of the Republican Party right now saying, hey, its not going to be anybody thats elected that wasnt in this race, this didnt fight it out. I have a feeling if thats how paul ryan feels about it, since hes most everybodys knight in shining armor to rescue the party from itself, thats probably going to be what everybody else thinks. And if trump is trouncing ted cruz by 30 points in some of the biggest states in america, im just saying, that momentum is going to be hard to reject. So as the fight over the Convention Delegates drags on, donald trump is calling out the Republican NationalCommittee Chairman by name in an interview the hill. Trump said Reince Priebus should be ashamed of himself. He should be ashamed of himself
because he knows whats going on and he did not stop there. Our republican system our republican system is absolutely rigged. Its a knophony deal. These are dirty tricksters. This was a dirty trick and ill tell you what the rnc, the Republican National committee, they should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this kind of crap to happen. The rules are no good when you dont get democracy. The rules are no good when they dont count your vote. When they dont like in colorado. The rules are not no good when you have to play dirty tricks in order to pick up delegates, okay . The party is playing dirty and weve got to show our Republican Party youve been disenfranchised, everybody has. Youve got to show the Republican Party that they cant get away with this stuff any longer. Ooh. Very exciting. Bernie sanders is going to rome
and he was in rome last night. And it wasnt rome, new york. But he was in rome. Chairman priebus responded on twitter. Nomination process known for a year and bend. Its the responsibility of the campaigns to understand it. Complaints now . Give us all a break. But i want to say, didnt they create these rules a few months a ago. I we learned from Joe Scarborough growing up as a little boy that basically we believe when states know best when he was listening to radio. And Joe Scarborough talk me about devolution. Its the states that know better about these are powers not specifically given. Colorado set those rule. Reince priebus didnt set them. Theyre set by state. Im just asking when. Over the last several years. David said how exciting its been. Wait until we get to cleave land in no one has a majority and we
start seeing challenges to individual delegates. Its going to be great no, this is going to be like christmas eve. Smoking cigars and so listen, on whats happening there. Bob costa, i like reince so reince is a good guy. What are you about to say . Im just saying and what people need to understand is that that what trump is doing and what weve been saying on the past couple days thats what any smart candidate in this position would do. But will it get him the numbers . Bobby knight, when he was running up and down the court screaming and throwing chairs on to the court, he didnt do that to get the numbers, he got that to work the crowd and the crowd is getting into it behind him. Theres a cruz ad out in california that talks about whining not winning and i do think trump has to be careful about that. His consistent motivators reality tv is about winning and hes a winner. How many times in his speech did he say we dont win enough, i win. And i think its an effective challenge for cruz to say now that its going against you in colorado, youre whining. The thing is, though, hes doing this while hes 30, 40 points ahead in these polls. Theres a lot of intrigue behind these rnc comments with priebus because trump isnt raising money on his own. Hes gotten small dollar donations but hes not doing major fundraising. So if hes the nominee, hell have to rely on the Republican National committee. They have the victory fund, the grassroots organizing on the ground, the president ial trust which is the millions of dollars the rnc could report toward the president ial nominee. Theres a lot of concern among rnc members, allies of priebus that if trump gets the nomination, hell try to push priebus out and take control of the rnc apparatus. Theres jockeying right now. Heres the crisis for donald trump long run because i think
hes going to blow through these states in the northeast. He may not get to 1237, i think hes going to get the nomination, i just do. Theres nobody else out there that can get close to him. I think his real crisis is heres a guy selffunding his campaign, hes cheap about it, he said hes not going to take outside money, is hes fighting a war with the rnc. Ive talked to a lot of republican donors, a lot of republican donors who say not only have we not given this man money, hes going to be the first republican im not voting for in the general election and theyll whisper i cant believe im going to vote for hillary. So the problem is, al, that were going to get into the summer and unless things change in some pretty dramatic way, hillarys going to blow him out financially. Oh, well, he is an atm machine for her. Shes going to raise all kinds of money, even more than she would have raised because of the
specter of donald trump and i suspect youre right if he is the nominee. Hes got to somehow make peace of sorts because he needs the money. Im told im not a billionaire, joe, that will come as a shock to you. Really . The billionaire doesnt pay him a billion . He does not have hes not liquid enough to spend that kind of money and not generous enough hes just not going to spend the money. Al, you write in Bloomberg View this then i want to read from your piece in the Washington Post. Maybe next block or this block. The cruz people keep saying kasich ought to get out. If kasich got out, trump wins 95 delegates in new york. He may win them anyway. If john kasich gets out, trump sweeps connecticut, sweeps maryland. At some point, like in indiana, theyre all three going to go at it, but it is perfectly legal to divide up and there ought to be some kind of unofficial might be the only way. It is the only way. For instance, in california cruz will be able to carry more of those 53 districts than kasich can. Kasich can carry, though, some in Northern California or at least be competitive. And one on one against trump in new jersey the only one who has any shot would be kasich. But this calls for ted cruz to be selfaware about his chances. Okay, theres our ted cruz knock for the morning. Al is absolutely right in where we are today. If one of them got out, trump would win decisively because neither of them has shown the ability to engage trump. Kasich gave a great speech about the path forward and how hes different but the game is to stop him from getting a majority. Its hard to engage trump. Theres no debates left. Trump wont debate anymore. Theyre all in different states most days. Its very hard for them to create a public contrast which is what they need to do to slow them down. And look at again, for ted cruz, again, his argument, get out of the race. Hes in third place in all of these polls. Hes getting beaten by john kasich. They knew coming into the northeast it wouldnt be good for him. The key is indiana. Al is right, trump needs to not just win the northeast, he needs to get a lot of delegates but indiana is the battle. All three of them will fight. There its one state. Is that a key like wisconsin is a key . It is. Why is that . Because its on a day by itself where everybody is going to focus on it and all three of them today would say how many delegates do they have in indiana . Maybe 40 something. 46 i think. How many in new york . A lot more. New jersey, pennsylvania. But symbolic importance is if cruz or kasich can beat him there they go into so youre being like nate silver. One moment its about math but when the math doesnt add up it is all about math four years ago but now its the intangibles. The only way to stop is to slow him down in indiana, otherwise hell be the nominee. What does nate say the chances are that 37. 248 . That guy has lost in a landslide this year hasnt he . Hes not had the best year. 57 delegates we were at an event at the center for strategic studies yesterday. Do you know who everybody is talki ing about there . Who . David ignatius. Youre the man. My dad was, there gbob gates wa there. Brent scrowcroft. But you got a chance to talk to people there who work with countries around the world and leaders around the world and deals around the world. Oh, my gosh, the view from that theyre getting from other countries about whats the view . Its fear. Not just oh my gosh whats going on in a gossipy way but whats going on with wide open eyes but bob gates received the very first brzezinski award there and it was a lovely, lovely, lovely event. Your father is an
extraordinary man. It was really cool. My brother. John warner was there, great to see him. And bob gates. My dad proposed him as a crisis candidate for the Republican Party and the room went crazy. He is a vanishing vanishing breed. He is the rare person who says im interested in helping out and lets talk about the Party Affiliation issues, lets talk about which particular job it is. Hes somebody who you look at our National Life in the last 30 years and bob gates, bob gates. Id love to see the next president find somebody in this cabinet, i suggested in a column the other week, ernie moniz, somebody who would stay on and provide continuity. Remember when he had a neck brace on . He said he talked to his wife
about going into service and he woke up with a neck brace and she was standing next to him with a metal bar. This is how he responded to even run or be anybodys Vice President ial candidate. He used to open every speech i would travel with bob gates. He would say its great to be here in st. Louis. Actually, its great to be anywhere but washington, d. C. Thats the guy. He is an outsider. Never liked it there. Still ahead on morning joe, a word of warning to donald trump and perhaps Hillary Clinton. Dont underestimate ted cruz. Columnist in josh green explains why he says the republican senator has a lot going for him right now. Plus the editorinchief of the hill just sat down with trump, and later, Hillary Clinton supporter senator tim kaine of swing state virginia joins the conversation. I wonder if hell be her vp. Plus senator jeff merkley joins
us. Hes become the first sitting senator to endorse Bernie Sanders. Youre watching morning joe, well be right back. A my bladder leakage made me feel like i couldnt be the father that i wanted to