republican. i think it's a setup. i think he has taken the republican party so far to the right. there is no way 70 can come back to the center. he might be unstoppable, but he is handing the election to clinton. choice?o is your second caller: it's a sick and he won't have a chance. -- john kasich and he won't have a chance. there is no way i will vote for rubio or cruise. -- ted cruz. matchup in the general election between donald trump hillary clinton, you will vote for hillary clinton. caller: yes. host: have you ever voted for a democrat? caller: not since i became a u.s. citizen in 1989. i voted for ross perot in 1992. donald trump is often at odds with the orthodoxy of the republican party. host: that is inside the new york times this morning. greg is in indiana. you support donald trump. good morning to you. i think it's donald trump all the way. he is the only one who is going to do what is to be done. he can't he bought. he cannot be bought. he's got everything he's ever wanted. that th

primaries and republican debates. i don't think it's restricted by the way to mr. trump. i find it interesting that everybody's focused on trump because he says in more interesting ways what the other candidates are saying as well. he may up the ante in anti-muslim sentiment, but if you look at what the other republican candidates have said, that's pretty troubling too. he may express strong anti-immigration sentiment, but you've heard that from the other candidates as well. i'll leave it to you to speculate on how this race will go. i continue to believe mr. trump will not be president. the reason is because i have a lot of faith in the american people. i think they recognize that being president is a serious job. it's not hosting talk show or a reality show. it's not promotion. it's not marketing. it's hard. a lot of people count on us getting it right. the american person are pretty sensible. i think they'll make a sensible choice in the end. all right. thanks, everybody. thank you. >> president obama at a press co

kenny on the republican line. caller: i was trying to figure said- when reagan consensus doesn't matter, how can he be a conservative when that is your belief? republicans are fine with that. i don't understand how you can be a conservative and run in a deficit. guest: i will have to google that one. ronald reagan -- nobody is perfect. ronald reagan had a democrat controlled house and senate. the congress holds the purse string. solely blameo president reagan for the spending then went up during his era when congress has a large role in appropriate expending. -- appropriating spending. he won the cold war. when you have a nexus sent a threat like the soviet union -- it is easy for us to sit here today and forget what it was like to have nuclear bombs pointed at us. there were drills for little kids to get under their desks. the guy won the cold war and restored optimism and they believe in america. -- a belief in america. host: you mentioned in the excerpt we just showed them his 30 minute speech in 1964 as a defi

remember, republicans had a majority in 2014. the politics of this, with those senators that were just elected, even in very purple states, they are hearing from constituents who are saying -- we are a divided nation right now. we have seen it in this presidential race gripping both parties. given the split that we effectively have on the court, this should really be decided in the context of a national election where we can have a discussion about what types of nominee we want to see. steve: this might be a stretch, but is this position a little bit of payback for harry reid and the way that he ran the senate during his term there? >> harry reid, chuck schumer, you can go right down the line without democrats treated the george w. bush nominees, but i don't think so. when you look at the timing of this so close to a national election, we should be consistent with historical in 80 years we have never approved a new supreme court justice this close to an election. tom: except for justice kennedy. 1988. and if you're going to be a

on a republican, democrat, republican line and a special line for latino voters. marie is from minnesota on the democratic line. caller: hello? host: you're on the air. caller: thank you. i would like to ask you a very important question. stand ontly is your illegals coming to this country and they cross the border illegally. i am a mexican. i'm an american born mexican. my father and mother came from , and guest butre come i ended up being an orphan. i want your stand exactly. why is it we have to have illegals take to dent over illegal immigrants? -- take accident over illegal - dent over illegal aliens? why is it we cannot come together as a nation with mexico improving the mexican economy. come on, please. . want my culture back i want to know how the mexican people in mexico. i could care less about how the united states has handled it. i want my culture back. all, what's of is toant to emphasize illegal immigration to the united states but we want to ensure our legal immigration system works properly. that's an important concern. days, we allowed as many imm

>> we are the republican establishment in the sense we haven't usually gotten our way with the republican party. it isn't as conservative as we would like it to be. the republican party has been too eager to cut a deal on immigration in particular and we have been urging republicans to be more responsive. >> you reject me calling you the establishment. >> editors of two leading conservative magazines, i am proud of that from buckley, my father, ronald reagan, rudy giuliani, making new york liveable again in the '90s. donald trump isn't a conservative. we oppose donald trump, not because he is making republicans uncomfortable, because we have no assurance he would be a conservative president and tempermentally in terms of character shouldn't be president. >> do you think if he wins the nomination, he can win? >> he has been underestimated so far. i think it is a risky proposition for republicans. a lot of conservatives and republicans would not vote for donald trump. we have already heard senator sasse make his point that he is not voting for him. >> what do you say, too, when you hear rep

republican chuck grassley of iowa. and his office is telling me that he is making the point, in 80 years there has not been, a nomination or confirmation in a election year. small difference but a telling difference. republicans are not saying they didn't expect a nominee to be put forward. the question is will they confirm one? >> and this brand new sound, never been aired before, president clinton responding to this news today. here we go. >> first of all, my prayers are with his family and his friends. justice scalia, he would find it hard to believe that i would say this. i always kind of liked justice scalia. he never pretended to believe something he didn't. he never pretended to be anything he wasn't. and i think that's one reason by all accounts, he became good friends with justice ginsburg whom i appointed to the supreme court. they disagree on nearly everything. but they treated each other with respect and they sat down and have honest arguments. that's all you can ask of a man. nobody is right all the time.

the judges are the appointees of the republicans. and the judges are delivering for the corporations. it is being done in plain view. many chamber victories were significant, making employment discrimination harder to prove, letting manufacturers and distributors fix minimum prices for retail goods, letting mutual funds advisors include misstatements made by others in the documents they prepare for investors, and even hobby lobby, where the court put the religious rights of corporate entities over the rights of employees. big corporations hate being hauled into court and having to face juries, and the five republican appointees protected them, raising pleading standards for victims, letting companies push disputes into corporate corporate-favored arbitration, restricting americans' ability to press cases of large-scale wrongdoing in class actions, making it more difficult for workers to hold employers accountable for workplace harassment, and making it harder for consumers with serious side effects to sue the drug companies. right no

on the republican side, republicans rely less on younger voters. younger voters make up a smaller portion of the republican primary and caucus electorates. re talking about iowa and new hampshire, you' re seeing some candidates say, hey, it' s time for new leadership. marco rubio, for example, is one of the candidates in the republican -- fernando: well, i want to ask you about that, because he' s made that argument in a very clear way. yet, he has, at least seemingly, very little traction in the polling. what do you think is the disconnect there? steve: well, look, i think that because younger voters make up a very small portion of the republican primary electorate, that' s not an argument right now that' s well-served for him, when it comes to taking down ted cruz but once they move to a general election, and it comes to facing the democratic nominee, cutting into the advantage that barack obama has had in the past two elections among younger voters is going to be essential for the re going to compete in the general election. fernando: what would

well, on the republican primaries t doesn't matter which primary in texas. >> republicans say that the latino vote is consequently, that there are plenty of hispanics who are business owners and religiously conservative so there is an appeal am but boy on the democratic primary it's powerful. secretary clinton began her political ka year in 1972 registering south texas voters. so they are certainly coming back, they are reminding all of their old friends of these relationships. but i was down in south texas last week and i started to sense some tremors that the local college, some of the kids were starting to feel the bern and were loving bernie sanders. so it's much like what we are seeing playout in south carolina. you have these voting blocs that the clintons are trying to remind, hey, we've been there for you for decades. and the kids are just starting to revolt some. >> ifill: andy shain, are you probably getting ready for all these ads to go off the air but what are voters seeing and saying in their mail boxes, on their radio and on television? >> well, for the most part it's bee

but this is really a pivotal moment for the republican party and this republican senate. the republican party of abraham lincoln and theodore roosevelt is transforming before our eyes, abandoning its last vestiges of decency and unconditionally surrendering its moral compass to donald trump and ted cruz. gone are the days of levelheaded ness and compromise. the republican party turned bipartisan into a dirty word. behind closed doors my republican colleagues like to express disappointment at the direction the party has taken but never, ever would they say anything publicly because these extreme elements in their party who seem to be running the party would criticize them. republicans should think long and hard about this simple fact. if they follow the course set by the republican leader, every one of them will be responsible as trump and cruz for the debasement of the republican party. he will join them in what they've done to the party. it will be a new and a much worse republican party. clearly senator mcconnell's absolutely falling that lead of extremists trump and cr

it's standard that a republican congress and republican president will disagree or democratdem it does feel increasingly like decorum is being thrown completely out of the window and you have to wonder is it sort of the trump effect and does it end up serving the trump narrative that nothing gets done in washington and at the same time he gets stronger. let me bring in the panel on this one. jamal simmons, cofounder of crate.com and matthew, editor of the washington free beacon and contributing editor of the the weekly daily standard. i want to start with you on this. do you feel as if the republicans are drawing these tougher lines, that it's a response to sort of trumps out there feeling as if they have to get tougher? >> my first reaction to your intro there is, chuck, it's not like republicans have been particularly cooperative with obama over the last seven years. >> there's a line. >> i don't know. i'll blame donald trump for degradation in relations when paul ryan starts personally insulting the president. starts calling him a loser and things like the trump affect is less about

national republican consultant and former south carolina republican party chairman kate dawson and dana bash. the gloves are off when it comes to trump but avoiding his name is interesting. >> he didn't have to say his name. everybody knew who he was talking about, what he was talking about. he has kind of made it his life's work post-white house to not delve into politics. even going where he went tonight was way further than he has for years n years and years. in some ways it was more powerful and dare we say presidential for him to do it the way he did by talking about his traits without saying his name and comparing and contrasting the donald trump that we've all come to know with the jeb bush that we hear jeb bush explain. the fact he's a quiet leader and so on and so forth. the way he compared and contrasted that was pretty powerful. >> you know south carolina better than anyone. i heard some say it was interesting to hear jeb bush and his brother side by side. their styles are obviously very different. i wonder how you think this played in south carolina? >> i think it will play

any of the republican candidates. the interesting thing to me, if you look at our poll today in south carolina, the candidate overwhelmingly that republicans thought could bring about change, remember change, is donald trump. >> donald trump, right. >> reporter: 60% of them thought donald trump was a candidate of change. who was the candidate of change in 2008? barack obama was the candidate of change. who can change washington? donald trump. so that's really important to trump. people want change from obama. and when you talk about trump and obama being the exact opposite, that's what republicans want. they didn't -- they don't like obama. they've had enough and they want -- you know, we often elect presidents that are reaction to the president we had before. and that's the way republicans are thinking. >> i see douglas brinkley shaking his head. does this in some way help the republican message, like, you know, barack obama is coming out against us, he wants one of these guiys to be a third term for him. >> it defin

republicans vowing not to consider any candidate, even if it is a republican. joining me is alan dershowitz. i'm so interested to talk to but this. i wanted to ask you about the presidential race and your former student ted cruz. do you think he or others have any shot at wrestling this nomination away from donald trump? >> it's very difficult. it's getting harder and harder. i do think rubio has a better shot. if hypothetically cruz were to drop out and it would be a one against one, rubio against trump, i think it would be a very close race and rubio might win. i'm not sure that cruz can do that. he's a strong candidate but he's very extreme and might very well do to the republicans what barry goldwater did to them back many, many years ago, give them a devastating loss as a liberal democrat that would please me butch as but as a loyal american, i want to see very strong candidates run. i want to see when the two candidates run against each other that i would be satisfied if either of them one, even though i prefer one candidate over the other. it just doesn'

we've heard from a lot more republican surrogates. it was interesting to get the democratic view in south carolina. ism -- i know we still have robert costa here in the spin room. how are you doing, robert? >> doing good. we also have aaron and elise. starting with you, robert, the mood here generally about who won and what matters in south carolina? >> reporter: here in the spin room a lot of the establishment candidates, more of the mainstream republicans feel they had an opening tonight. their argument in the spin room was donald trump was running against the republican party, running against the policies and views, especially on foreign policy that that have become the center of the policy over the last decade. they say especially in a state like social security that gives a rubio or bush or anyone else like a john kasich to move forward and the trump people feel pretty confident, too. they think they established themselves as someone a little counter and -- >> gabe, i don't want to add to the urgency of the moment. but i understa

david, a republican there, hi. ex-democrat and we switched over to republican because we did not agree with the way that obama was running his campaign. left as far as we were concerned. he was really getting into socialism. once he -- once he started with choice and in favor of homosexual marriages and abortion and everything else, that was the drawing line for me. last night, i think marco rubio was right honest are as what he obama, that het is about dividing and conquering. there are two separate philosophies there we need to consider. also, he was attacked about being too young and ask. -- inexperienced. andident kennedy was young he had a heck of a successful presidency. i think he was just being a .ully and attacking he wanted to knock down rubio. but nevertheless, i guess that is politics. it is dirty politics, but. host: i appreciate your call. any thoughts? guest: clearly what happened last night was we had donald forp, a double-digit lead about 33 weeks now if you believe the polls. a double-digit lead w

the republicans similarly, do about the same as registered republicans. those people who could truly pick up a ballot from either party makeup a very small percentage of the overall electorate, somewhere in the 3%-7% range. it varies from election to election. it is nowhere near as large as the 44% that is thrown around as the big block of independents that will sway the election. host: andy smith has been the director of the university of new hampshire survey center since 1999. he also teaches political science at that university. the first call for him comes from kerry in simi valley, california. go ahead. caller: hello, and thank you for taking my call. i would like to ask you to what do you attribute the bernie sanders-trump phenomenon? i was raised to believe that we elect our officials if you are qualified for a job because of recommendations, experience, your proven records. yet in both of these men there is not much of that. my husband is a purple heart recipient from the korean war, and bernie sanders was on the committee for veterans administrat

it would divide republicans. but what would it do to the democratic base given he is a moderate republican and not a progressive? i just talked to republican senators and they are not willing to consider him. deb fischer of nebraska told me it is a not about the person it's about the president and the voters having a choice this november. >> a few things i find interesting about this pick if this is indeed the pick. we certainly don't know, and let's remember josh earnest said this week there is no short list. they are just going through them. but this is someone who was unanimously confirmed by the senate after being brought up by former president george bush 2005, unanimously confirmed by the senate for a district court judgeship, which shows you sort of a support on both sides. this is also someone, right, who is pro choice but not -- but opposed to late term abortion manu, one of the biggest cases that is about to be heard in front of the high court. >> that's what's going to be challenging for him going forw

now it's time for the republicans. i'm joined by the nevada communications director for the republican national commit eechlt thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >>ow do you preparations are going? do you feel the party is ready for all the mashinations of the caucus? >> yes. the campaigns and parties have been doing caucus training and getting voters registered. i think we've seen thousands registered in the past few days here. now they're out there telling people where to go i think they feel really ready for it. there's a lot of excitement on the ground, a lot of people really wanting to get involved where they never have before. i think we expect to have a really good caucus on tuesday. >> there was a report of long lines and computers crashing and all those things. those are probably the normal pains ever doing something like this. do you anticipate having some of those same problems the democrats had? >> i think we anticipate to have it run as smoothly as possible, get everyone through as long as t

this is where if you're in new hampshire and go to a republican event, you find the republican candidates if places like amhurst, places like bedford, places like merrimack and places all along the massachusetts border down here where you have nashua city here, hudson over here where chris christie spent a lot of time, the other republican candidates as well. as these fill in down here, wolf, i want to go back to time to mitt romney country, right? the coral color is ron paul. this is mitt romney country, establishment republican votes. donald trump is winning those places because of the splintering of the race. third and fourth could be hugely significant. one of the debates in the establishment is going to be if you're under ted cruz, how much strength do you have going forward? now, rubio if he stays he'll make the case i came in third in iowa, that makes me viable. that will be the conversation. this is not ted cruz's best state. he won iowa. if you're below him in new hampshire, you're going to face some pressure. >> we know trump is the winner but why is second place in new hampshir

that will motivate republicans. in fact, you saw mitch mcdonnell take the lead saying there won't be any hearings. there's not going to be a vote. and rob portman, kelly ayotte, ron johnson, pat toomey confirmed they will not confirm the nominee. he could nominate my friend john eastman -- >> you want the next president to get that, is that what you're saying? >> that's it. i want the election to focus on the court. the court deciding this. i think it's a great opportunity for americans to have a discussion about what the court means in their life. >> okay. yeah. let's do this. let's play this. >> i'm going to bring a lawsuit because in my opinion, based on what i have learned over the last two or threes days from top lawyers he doesn't have the right to serve as president or run as president. he was born in canada. i will bring that lawsuit if he doesn't apologize. >> that's not what i want to talk about. but let's do talk about that. trump is hitting cruz now. he's saying i think they should intervene. the republi

not the case on the republican side. there are far fewer contestants in this one as the voting as begun. >> all right. thank you, rich. >>> another bidder throwing his hat into the democratic race. michael bloomberg announcing he's considering running as an independent. he calls the current democrat race an outrage for voters. he's keeping an eye on today's primary and will start putting his name on ballots in march. >>> all right. it's been said new hampshire is the state that picks presidents, so how will today's results impact the rest of the election. let's ask lisa booth who is the president of high noon strategies. thank you so much for getting up so early. we appreciate it. a big day today in new hampshire. talk to us how new hampshire is different than iowa. you look at how this shakes out. 44% independent voters coming out of new hampshire that looks awfully different than iowa. >> you are right. typically what you'll find in iowa, not only is it a caucus, it's a different process than a primary state. you also

have you seen a republican on a republican debate stage defending taking federal tax par money and giving it to planned parenthood? he thinks they do terrific things. i don't think so. i don't think conservatives in south carolina think so either. on donald trump like you have in the last couple of minutes.% are you concernethat if he wins south carolina he can't be stopped? >> what i'm concerned about, george, is our country is in balance. i've devoted my entire life to fighting to defend the constitution andndhe bill of ririts. the heller decisisn, i represented 31 states. representing heller in defending the second amendment. we talked about abortion restrictions. i represented a coalition of states defending the ban of partial-birth abortion. we won that case, 5-4. i don't want to see our liberties taken away. my daughters, caroline and katherine are 7 and 5. i don't want to have to look at my daughters and say, the free comes to that america has had for two centuries, you don't get because we didn't step up and put back. justice scalia's passing changes the entire contours of the rac

the republicans should vote. any names swirling of potential replacements, particularly ones that would be cyntrust. >> the rest of the country was stunned by the death, and so was the white house. it's ready. it's been ready for months. it has files of all sorts of nominees that they've been watching and they've been keeping track of. and so it's really just depends upon how big a fight they want. like you said, one of the nominees who would be maybe easier to get through is sheree voisin. he was you nas mousily confirmed. he is an indian american, he was confirmed by ted cruz. garland, he is about 63 years old. he is considered a moderate. he might be in play. as well as another judge. jane kelly. she is out of iowa and that might have -- senator grassley. it's too early to know the names they're considering. in the next few days, we'll hear a lot more names being floated and leaked. >> no question. so let's imagine a situation where the vacancy is extended, because right now you have 4 and 4, really a divide i

the republicans aren't even going to hold hear osgood n it. the more interesting question is donald trump, the winner of the primary down in louisiana went after the republican ohio state and republican senate for having basically capitulated last year and for collaborating with obama and for not fighting, which means he's reaching into the ted cruz wing of the party, which is not necessarily his own. in order to broaden his base for the south carolina primary. loork the real battle here is not tren -- between the president and the republican congress. it's going to be inside the republican party between now and the end of the primaries. john: yell knorr? eleanor: that's right. this is a battle within the republican party about the president's budget. the budget is modeled on the october to atchplaushgs apparently and for all the talk about dead on arrival there are several initiatives if that budget that are likely to pass. one is more money for cyber security. another is more money for the cancer moon shot and also an expanded earned income

every action by president barack for the republican opposition. in an effort to keep a campaign promise, he announced a plan to close the guantanamo bay detention facility. president obama: this is about closing a chapter in our history. fernando: then, he agreed to a temporary truce with his russian counterpart, vladimir putin, to halt all hostilities in syria. >> it could save lives. fernando: the republican leadership in congress and gop presidential candidates were quick to reject the president' s initiatives. senior senator lindsey graham, who until recently was a presidential candidate himself, is a member of the armed services and judiciary committees. he joins me from capitol hill. senator graham, thank you for joining me. sen. graham: thank you. fernando: sir, the president has announced a new plan to close guantanamo. what' s your reaction? sen. graham: it' s not a plan, it doesn' t designate where they would go, what legal status they would have. fernando: and sir, do you have an alternative plan? what' s the vision of your party for gu

if republicans block a moderate, democrats will call them obstructionists. they could go outside of the judiciary or pick someone with a more liberal record, knowing that republicans would block it. camelia harris is california's attorney general, and considered both a rising star and a white house favorite. she's currently running for the senate seat vacked by barbara boxer, and most daring should the president choose her, sitting attorney general, loretta lynch, who lasted six months ago as republicans fought her for backing president obama's immigration policies. justice scalia, republicans are not likely to to lament his passion. >> his heart, he loved to laugh, to bring people together, he loved to argue, but at the end, he was living a life as big as anybody could have. because he was dedicated to improving the entire united states of america by taking care of things one little step at a time. >> mike viqueira, al aljazeera, washington. >> some of the gop leaders who said absolutely not on saturday may be softening their approach a few days later. majo

donald trump is not a republican republican. lot of american they want change from president obama but don't want to endorse things like the iraq war, donald trump offers an option. >> dickerson: naps trump does well here is that it, of to the races, it's done you? mentioned once he he gets further how much of a big thing would it be if he won? >> so much depends on how rapidly the rest of the field winnows as region as you have say kick, rubio, bush, competing, continuing to go on the more difficult it becomes for anybody to stop him. but i was talking to terry sullivan who is rubio's campaign manager in the spin room last night, they view, this is a delegate battle as he talked to you in the interview this morning. also basically a matter of survival. that you just keep going and keep going and eventually others will fall away that when you get into the later stages of this campaign when it is winner take all that's the time when the anti-trump faction becomes large enough to carry those states. >> dickerson: based on the stag

he is now the face of the republican party. i hear these guys desperately hoping that that's not going to be the case. but donald trump is now the face of the republican party. they've made their bed. they have to lie in it. >> but democrats need to be extremely worried. they're down% in terms of granted, you had more conditioneds candidates in 2008. so what they should be focusing on right now is yes, you have, stop complaining about bernie sanders being this the race. you need him in the race because you need media attention. you need a lot of folks paying attention. they should be driving hard. registration, registration, registration. i don't understand why they're not spending a massive amount of money in texas to register those 2.1 million eligible unregistered hispanics. georgia alone that are unregistered. african-american and latino. that's where they should be. it will be a turnout game for >> one of the things we learned yesterday. a couple of things we learned yesterday. the establishment force in the democratic par

i've been republican. i used to be a democrat. i've been a republican. i voted early the other they. as i was walking to the voting here in illinois at the courthouse i thought in my head is going to be the best person at the actual job. amazingly it was hillary clinton. now i never would have thought i would be saying that. have been a republican and i've tried to be independent. live, illinois where i you can't actually vote that way. it is kind of weird. but i voted for hillary. i actually do think she'll do the best job with the current congress. i think in a general election, i think she will win. watching this. i hope more people will support her as well. host: all right. ben from springfield, illinois. bristow marchant? bristow: i think you are seeing a trend in voters looking for a somebody with strong leadership abilities. talking specifically about donald trump. of his voters. they are concerned about their own and economic insecurity and concerned about national insecurity whether that's in of illegal immigration or terrorism. to donaldttracte

would he be willing to appoint a republican? mr. earnest: i think the president laid out in his post on the scotus blog today, some of my colleagues are joking it's the potus blog on the scotus log, but he made clear the qualities he's looking for for a nominee. there's no reference to a nominee's political affiliation or which candidates they have supported in the political process. there's no reference to the political party he or she has joined. the president is focused on criteria that frankly is more important and that is an individual's qualifications and their experience and their view of the law. that will take precedence over any sort of political consideration. reporter: so in theory, yes, he'd consider a republican for the job? mr. earnest: i think the accurate way to say it is, the president is not going to -- when the president gets to a stage where he's interviewing nominees or potential nominees, in a conversation, i'm confident that he's not going to ask them which party primary they vote n. reporter: he'd know befor

republican. but code pink territory. i'm not sure how that's going to play. i think we may be hearing a bit about it the next few days. second thing was, i know many people think that jeb bush seem strong in his sparks moments with donald trump. falls back on saying he's a 63-year-old man who is constantly saying, don't pick on my mom, my dad, my father is the best father in the world. there's something odd and unbecoming about it. we know he loves them and why that's wonderful. trump was talking abut serious issues, i think he should have >> dickerson: what is your take? >> i agree with what peggy said. this was debate for the ages, you must have felt the heat standing a few feet away. >> dickerson: i didn't realize i needed sun screen. >> it was remarkable. i think to peggy's point, donald trump is clearly not a pure conservative in any stretch of the imagination. and instead of trying to sugar coat that in some way that politician might, he went in the opposite direction last night. in the sho

vulnerable republicans. watch them. the ones who are up for reelection in key states in cht if they start to buckle and start to demand a vote, that could change the calculus. republicans also believe this works well politically, that it could rally the base and they could tell voters they're the fire wall against a liberal justice. both sides see a political win in the positions they're taking. >> okay. i have in my hand a list of possible replacements for antonin scalia. is there not one name on this list that would be acceptable to both parties? >> well, it's difficult to tell. it's a little bit early. there are lists. but what's interesting about it is while the political branches are debating about the future of the supreme court, the current court still has a ton of work to do. they've got these big cases in front of them, affirmative action, abortion, immigration, and now they've only got eight justices to deal with it, and all this political that could cause delay, that might cause them to either iss

republican nominee. that's pretty fair. i think it's pretty stashed and i i am not worried about this whatsoever. >> all right. the other night at the debate, there was some applause. and he made a remark that the crowd was stacked with donors. >> donors. well, just so we are clear how these tickets are allocated. i know it's not the most interesting topic in the world. >> it's interesting now. >> interesting formula for. this all the candidates. 1600 people in the audience. each candidate gets 107 tickets. so that's 642 tickets are there for the candidates. the rnc had a total of 10 donors in the audience from our ticket allocation. 10. so that's about a half of a percent of the entire audience were rnc donors. the fact is is, here's the relates. when you have 600 that are in the room that are guests of the candidates. guess what, they are going to be pretty excited to either be for their candidate or against otherr÷ candidates. that's pretty natural. that's what happens. that's what this is and it's p

if the republicans had been cagier. if they had played their cards closer to their vest about what they're going to do, the incentive to president obama would be to try to find someone he liked but that was also acceptable to the republicans. a kind of democratic david souter. to get -- slip somebody by the republicans and hope that maybe it would work. the republicans would know it was doomed. they're going to run out the clock. but the president might not know that. now look at the incentives facing the president. knowing that he does not have to worry about what kind of justice this person will be. that he can treat this nomination as a pure gimme, a chance to rally his base. he should from his point of view nominate loretta lynch because what an image of the republicans refusing to have a vote on a black woman with all of her qualifications. that would be very powerful for a democratic party that is worried about voter turnout and voter mobilization. and the result is we're going to have a much more ugly and content

even a republican governor who president obama floated this name of, a moderate republican governor in nevada, governor brian sandoval. that being said, everyone' s playing politics because look what is up for grabs in this confirmation battle. the white house, potentially the ideological swing in the supreme court, the senate. if things go either party' s way with this, you could end up having a trifecta of control of all three of those essentially, those chambers of government. so i think right now everyone is testing the other side to see how they' re going to respond and therefore how their bases respond, because when it comes down to voting in november it' s all about the bases. conflict and there' s this impasse, and this log jam again in washington, do you think that could actually help trump? in other words, by showing dysfunction in washington and disgust with both parties, could that motivate people for him? amber: yeah, i think you' re absolutely right. quite frankly, anything that happens in washington, politicians on the campaign trail, especially outside of washington

republican brand is infected when the front runner for the republican nomination will not renounce the kkk. the number andby that fact as anything else in politics today. debate,fore the last the day before the debate, every republican pundits and every meal personality was a tonight's the night. if review does not trump tonight, it is over. and review -- and rubio went , and they said it was too late. in the city is too tough on donald. the riley ali is they are adapting and going after trump in a way that was probably not part of the blueprint from the developed the plan early on. i'm not going to comment on individual jokes. i'm simply saying for the first time someone is eating a trump's grill, getting in his head. when he starts reading these tweets about donald trump's spelling last week, and donald is deleting these tweets. you see this is moving up. but that is not the rubio branscum and even a single rant. i do not think that one of the day will push you over. >> for the first time, the press carrying rubio's rally live. this ping-pong match is turning into a two-man race. joh

the republican nominee. the republican nominee, no matter who sit on the stage lrks be a better choice than bernie sanders or hillary clinton. >> thank you for joining us. >> thanks, george. >>> governor john kasich joins us now. thank you for joining us. quite a night last night. it doesn't sound like anybody will take your suggestion to bring down the negative ads. >> you know what, george. it was like a demolition derby. the good news is my car is still going around the circuit. i tell you what i found, george. i had a rally at a barbecue joint. about 500 people there. it was stunning. people were just -- coming up, taking pictures, grabbing on to me, wanting me to sign things. they said, please stay positive. please stay positive. i kind of get my fuel from ideas. i don't get my fuel from the negative side. i don't disagree with rubio. if you're going to be attacked, you have to defend yourself. but i want to climb o of that as quickly as i can and tell people what i'm for, rather than spend my time prol

, someone who the like but also a republican, someone the republicans would like. i don't know if the governor of nevada is such a person. i don't know of a lot of those people. what has been going on with the court is a little bit like what has been going on with congress. if you go back through the years, there were a lot of moderates in both parties. there were liberal moderate republicans and conservative democrats. there were a lot of people in the middle. the supreme court 30 years ago had a series of republican appointees who were very livable some of them, they had a , conservative democrat. there were people like lewis powell and sandra o'connor. there were two or three justices and it was hard to figure out how they would come up. increasingly, the presidents have done a better job from picking nominees who really reflect the mainstream views of their party. president bill clinton and president bush and president obama. so increasingly, you get a supreme court where there are not, other than justice kennedy, not people who are in the middle. you get peopl

republicans are very animated. i talked about our top three candidates really fulfilling all of the need and desires of the entire republican party. there is a traditional, pure, extremely conservative evangelical still in the race in ted cruz. there is an exciting unpredictable dangerous outsider in the race in donald trump. and there is a completely acceptable sort of mainstream conservative when you get to national security issues and you get to some of the other things facing this congress in 2016 in marco rubio. so i think the republican party is satisfied by this field. but it is still fractured as we keep seeing it. that will not be resolved tonight. >> absolutely. nicole wallace, thank you very much. i know we'll be checking in with you later. nicole joining us from new york tonight. that is becoming sort of the central strategy question among the republican candidates and among observers of the republican process, which is is it just because there's a lot of other people running besides donald trump that n

>> i am a republican, want to vote for the republican nominee. i expect it to be marco rubio. i would be happy and proud to vote for him. >> what if it is hillary clinton and mierkal bloomberg. >> he was an outstanding mayor. see what happens. >> you could see yourself not going with the republican, going with a third party candidate? >> right now, i am supporting marco rubio. i am saying i am supporting marco rubio. he is going to win, be the nominee. inaugurate rated as president next january. >> what would happen if trump is the leader of the republican party? >> at best, short term victory, bring in new people to the party, old reagan democrats. it is a terrible loss, puts a scar on the party that we won't recover from. >> you feel he would hurt republicans running for re-election like you and others? >> it definitely would. if we are branded as party of the klan, anti-disabled people or thinks john mccain is not a hero, go through the list, yeah, it would make us into some sort of party out of touch with the american people. >> say your candidate marco rubio doesn't win a

i am not doing it for the republican party. i am doing it for this this country. >> god be the glory. >> it is safe to say sults results of this political season have put enthe establishment on notice republican voters need to be heard. >> do you see this election as more important than others? >> no question. i believe there are people in washington that have the intent of changing our constitution and i think the ball game will be over with when that happens. i am just -- i think this may be the last opportunity we have if we don't take it and speak out. >> speak out he has. >> and it seems people are listening. >> i haven't registered in my life. >> we lost hope for humanity and the way things are going it is doom or bloom. >> do you see more anger in the country towards government than ever before? >> people are frustrated with washington. they are frustrated with both parties. i agree with them. i am frustrated. >> do you sense when you are traveling around that you are voting against government this election? >> i think i

this is not your father's republican party. the republican party has moved on from these policy debates. >> no, they haven't -- >> they have -- >> every candidate in the race, other than arguably ted cruz -- >> by elevating donald trump above everybody else running, there is a large swath of the republican party that has moved on. donald trump is the national front-runner. [ overlapping speakers ] >> he has a better idea of what's important to republican based voters right now than anybody. than any other candidate. he really does. yeah, you could say that he's -- you could theoretically expect an ad like that to have some effect on the margins. there's no indication it had any effect at all. >> this is a nationalized republican primary. donald trump is way out ahead and he holds positions on abortion, on equality, on gay rights, on health care mandates that are totally at odds with the republican base and they don't care. >> which would be -- you would expect to have the republican -- the rest of the republican field get more

you don't have one republican -- you don't have one republican senator, and you work with them every day of your life come although use get a lot of time. these are minor details. you don't have one republican senator backing you. not one. you don't have the endorsement of one republican senator and you work with these people. you should be ashamed of yourself. amy: that is donald trump responding to texas senator ted cruz, in an exchange moderated by cnn's wolf blitzer at last night's debate, which was hosted by cnn, telemundo, and the salem media group. book with the new york times" shows how donald trump's club in palm beach florida has hired hundreds of foreign workers re us-bornn hig workers. since 2010, nearly 300 is residents have applied for jobs at trump's exclusive club but instead, the club has sought more than 500 visas for foreign workers. to talk more about immigration and how the candidates addressed it last night in the oral issue in this country, we are joined by jose antonio vargas, pulitzer prize-winning journalist and filmmaker. he's the founder and editor of #eme

it's a fight within the republican party. we are seeing despite some people saying on the republican side we should live by the deal, we're seeing others that say we ought to cut below the deal. we are seeing others that say we ought to raise defense spending. so i think the question for the republican party is, where do they stand on this? are they going to be able to function in congress? that's really the question. it's going to be up to them whether this is -- we have done our part. it's up to them to see whether they can deliver on their promises to get back to regular order this year. >> angela? wait for the mike so everybody -- the dozens of people watching on camera here can hear you. >> we have dozens watching. question on the revenue projections for the u international tax reform proposals. they have more than doubled since last year. we're trying to figure out where that doubling comes from. it goes to $484 billion from 283 -- $238.3 billion last year, which is a sizable difference. one other question along the sam