Plus, who are the people who keep voting for donald trump . Did you vote for barack obama . Yeah, i sure did. Twice . Twice, absolutely. My report from the caucuses. Then, whats the clinton and sanders plan to beat trump . Ill ask both their Campaign Managers. And president obama vows to ignore the unprecedented Republican Supreme Court blockade. Lets see how the public responds to the nominee we put forward. Is the white house considering a surprise republican nominee . When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york city, im chris hayes. All right. Ever since Real Estate Developer reality tv personality prominent proponent of birther nonsense donald trump came down that escalator in june to announce he was running for president americans have grappled with an increasingly intense series of is this really happening moments . Last night with trumps Third Straight victory, an overwhelming 22point win in nevada, we experienced our most jarring such moment yet. If you listen to the pundits, we werent expected to win too much and now were winning, winning, winning the country. [ cheers ] and soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning. We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated. Trumps victory lap today included a trip to the Pat Robertson found Regent University in virginia where trump got cozy with another of americas greatest televangelists. We have tremendous support and we have amazing people in this country, and one of the most amazing people in the whole country is our great friend, pat. Will you come out here, pat . Look at him. One of the great people. Yes, sir. Thank you. After trumps win last night, the political and media world finally seemed to come to grips with the fact that this seemingly preposterous candidate who tosses off calls for war crimes and Human Rights Violations in the same showmans tone he assigned challenges on the apprentice appears to be pulling off in our midst a hostile takeover of one of americas two Major Political parties. Despite, or perhaps, in fact, partly because of a string of outrageous provocations that prompted pundits to predict his political demise over and over and over again. Theyre rapists. I like people that werent captured. I dont know what i said. Blood coming out of her wherever. How stupid are the people of iowa . Total and complete shutdown of musls entering the United States. I could stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot somebody and wouldnt lose votes. When you get these terrorists, have to take out their families. Id bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. Would like to punch him in the face, i tell you. That guy according to the influential conservative website the drudge report, that guy is, quote, the nominee for one of americas two parties, the one that elected abraham lincoln, in uninterrupted existence for over 150 years. Now, is it a done deal . It is not and trumps increasingly desperate rivals are making the case it is far too early for the race to be called, but lets be clear eyed about what the facts are. Trump has won three out of the four states by double digits. Took almost half the votes in nevada last night, winning among every category of republicans. Last night trump drove record turnout garnering more votes himself, nearly 35,000, than the total of number of votes cast in the entire gop caucuses in nevada four years ago. Trump won 33 of the popular votes cast in republican contests and as ted cruz and marco rubio point out, that means 2 3 of republicans arent voting for trump, at least not at the moment. Indeed if you combine the roughly 20 each of those candidates are getting, ty are beating trump together. But the notion that all the other votes are antitrump, that Republican Voters will rally behind anyone else is belied by a lot of the data. Last week nbc News Survey Monkey poll showed among ben carson supporters 22 chose trump, higher percentage that chose cruz and higher percentage that those rubio. On the ground in nevada last night i experienced the reality up close in the face of what is happening to the Republican Party firsthand as i walked from table to table at a gop caucus site. Trump was the dominant figure. His name ringing out over and over, his presence looming over the process like a enblazened over his last name. From voters, members of both Major Political parties need to get very serious about what they want to do about that. Joining me now jess mcintosh, spokesperson for emilys list. Sam cedar, host of the majority report. And nick. It was a wakeup moment last night. I dont know how many wakeup moments you need because theres been this entire time its not happening, its no happening. Last night it was kind of this, i dont know why it was, was it the margin of victory, was it the fact its three out of four, the fact its now threw in a row . It feet like this sort of apocyl thing happened. A congressman, a libertarian leaning republican congressman said, i believe were witnessing the beginning of the end of the current twoparty system in the United States. Does that stand to you . It does. It really does . No, i think its possible that if trump wins that the Republican Party reconstitutes itself as a genuinely populous conservative partyand not a weak marriage between wall street and rich people and that would be a fascinating thing in politics. It is possible. Like you could imagine a version of the Republican Party that embraces this kind of white identity politics, backlash politics combined with the, you know, skepticism toward trade, skepticism toward immigration, a desire for social security, expansion for the right deserving people, that sort of thing . Yes, a protection of entitlements for the right people, for the deserving middle class as they see it. Youre shaking your head now. Yeah, i think thats unlikely. Playing this out if trump becomes the nominee and loses, i think in a couple years were back to exactly where we are now. The big money comes back in, fills the vacuum and continues to exploit that sentiment that trump that goes toward trump. Continues to try and ride this sort of bull as it were and lose more and more control over it over time. I dont know that theres going to be an infrastructure around that. I mean other than i think, like, sort of the Cottage Industries that seem to grow up around it now. Jess, whats your take on this . I think nick could be right. I think that might be where the republican matter is heading. I dont think that that and the Republican Party being headed for oblivion are mutually exclusive. If they decide right. To take the tact where they are double down on being there for a small white male segment of the american population, thats not a sustainable tact for the National Matter to take. That will be the end of them. So i think were seeing the fruit of a lot of labor on the part of republicans, like, honestly i blame lee atwater for donald trump. This has been going on forever for republicans deciding to pander to the grossest, misogynistic element of their base and after many decades of telling them that they matter, guess what they do, and this is what they want. What they want is somebody whos not a part of the Republican Party and man, thats really got us smart for everybody who works really hard to make that a National Party. Yes. Let me interject for a moment, which is to say that you talk about the sort of most xenophobic. Ive been talking to trump voters, ive been corresponding with some. Theyre a Broader Group of people than you might initially think. Were going to talk about that in a little bit which is not to say the ideas that are being embraced, quoted by him are not those things. Theyre 100 those things. But to me, part of it is a total breakdown in the mechanism of the Republican Party. Ezra klein had this point the other day where he said a party literally exists to structure information. Thats why a modern party it signals people, says, yes, thats our guy, thats not our guy, thats our gal, thats not our gal. This is broken down. They are unable to signal properly to their people to listen to their stamp of approval. Right. You can also see it in terms of institutions. We have the Koch Brothers have a political apparatus that employs three times the amount of people as the Republican National committee. I mean, so you have a situation here where theres just other institutions that are moving in. I mean, im not convinced that what jess is saying is the future of the Republican Party. I think thats now. I think that were just not were going to realize in hindsight that this is where its been heading and were there now where they are not a National Party. You cannot have someone win their primary and then turn toward the American Public and be elected. It doesnt mean that they cant control congress, but i dont think that theyre a National Party. I dont think i would just point out, right, that they control statehouses in over 3 5 of the states. They control both houses of congress. They look like a National Matter to any. I dont think its possible, frankly, for a republican to win the presidency a National Party and a party that can win president ial elections which is the ultimate prize and also involves 120 million voters casting their vote on the same day. I think theres always going to be republicans who are going to win in states and win in congressional seats but i dont think that necessarily this smacks of a certain kind of triumphalism im not ready to buy into. There has been for a long time, i think, there as been an idea among liberals, democrats, people in the center left, Political Class of the democrats, that donald trump will be a disaster. I mean, it was the inverse of what john kasich said about Bernie Sanders. Right, john kasich of the debate says if Bernie Sanders wins, were winning 50 states, im not even going to there is a belief that i dont know if that, jess, i mean, youre someone whos gotten a lot of electoral experience. You know, youve been around races. I dont know if that confidence is earned at this point. No, i mean, i think its terrifying to run against somebody as unstable as donald trump is. And there is no playbook for that. I think, you know, when kasich made those comments, we have seen what happens with candidates in the mold of Bernie Sanders before. We have never seen what happens with candidates in the mold of donald trump before because nobody like donald trump has ever been a nominee for president. So its a little like running against a monkey with a gun, like, yeah, youre a person, so youre probably going to beat the monkey, but the monkeys got a gun and youhave no idea what its going to do with it. So i think any confidence that this is going to be easy by any stretch is definitely misplaced. That said, i think there could not possibly be a clearer and more compelling contrast between what democrats are saying for america and what Hillary Clinton is saying about breaking down barriers and donald trump wanting to build walls. Like, that is a contrast that i am okay with entering into the general election. Okay. I would just say i see it the on opposite, right . I see the republicans as a strong party and the democrats as a party that can only win the white house. Right. If they dont win it one year, thats it. Thats right. If you look at trump, you think about what states can trump win that mitt romney could not win . Think about the appeal that trump has to union workers, in the industrial midwest, in places like indiana and ohio, other places like that. I think democrats would be foolish to underestimate the appeal he could have in national election. A great piece was in the Huffington Post about that wisconsin, ohio, pennsylvania belt essentially and what that could mean for a national election. Before we get ahead of ourselves, lets just also consider the fact that mega donors have shied away from you talked about the koch organization. No one is going to drop you know, this is the empire, its like a this dude showed up outside the empires walls and people just resigned without firing a shot. They just decided, like, were going to get out of okay, ill get down from my throne, whine about it a little bit, okay, guess its all yours, that guy said some mean things. Like, hey, how feckless are you . If you actually care what you say you care about and if you believe this guy stands for all the things you say you dont stand for, then put some money and some effort in trying to stop him, but there has not been that in any concerted way. There has to be an alternative. That field is totally a disappointment. Jeb bush had 130 million, 150 million. If im a millionaire or billionaire, maybe a billionaire, im a little looser with it, im looking, saying he has 120 million. Right. If thats not going to work, why is mine going to work . Why throw good money after bad . All right. Jess mcintosh, sam seder, nick confessore. Still to come, who, who are the people voting if donald trump . I talked to his supporters at the nevada caucuses. A breakdown of the Trump Coalition next. Plus the pressing question on the democratic candidate, can you beat donald trump in the general election. Ill ask the Campaign Managers for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to make their case. Later, did president obama just call their bluff . His remarks and more ahead. Were always looking for ways to speed up your Car Insurance search. Heres the latest. Problem is, we havent figured out how to reverse it. For now, just log on to compare. Com. Plug in some simple info and get up to 50 free quotes. Choose the lowest and hit purchase. Now. If youll excuse me, im late for an important function. Compare. Com. Saving humanity from high insurance rates. Last night was rough for team ted cruz. Donald trump took more than twice as many votes as cruz in the nevada caucus, but his dominance was apparent long before any of the results were actually tallied. Take, for example, the video of cruz supporter and right wing icon glenn beck speaking at a las vegas caucus site. America is great because of two reasons [ inaudible ] all right. If you pause it there, you hear the whoops and the cheers and sounds like beck is getting ahold of the crowd, getting them geared up. Maybe, just maybe his stump speech for cruz is resonating, perhaps swaying caucusgoers. Or maybe not. At that moment, turns out donald j. Trump was walking into the caucus site. Backs started turning on glenn louder yelps and cheers and eventually allout pandemonium. Heres the birdseye view when trump arrived which we sped up. See the mob scene rushed to get a glimpse of the donald. As glenn beck stepped down from the stage, the message from the room was clear. Trump trump up next, what the heck are are these people thinking . My interviews with caucusgoers who chose trump, ahead. So we had a very exciting evening last night, and i went all around. The word, caucus, its a little complicated because you dont know how its going to work out and they say its hard to poll, but we polled fine and really won big last night, so we ended up getting 46 of the vote and, you know, during the day i was walking, i saw all these people saying donald, i love you, donald, i love you. You never know whats going to happen. The defining feature of trumps decisive victory last night is how well he performed more or less across the board with the various groups that make up the republican coalition. Thanks in part to recordsetting turnout in nevada, trump nabbed 46 of the vote, the highest share won by any republican in any state thus far in 2016. But since hes right now managing to win pluralties of so many different kinds of voters, the question is, what exactly do people who are voting for donald trump have in common . There are a few theories out there. c a political scientist examined recent polling data to better understand the trump voter and found, a significant part of the coalition of his voters are people who are responsive to religious, social, and racial intolerance. Meanwhile researcher mad you mcwilliams found a voters gender, education, age, ideology, party identification, had no bearing on who supported trump. Ones inclination toward authoritarian border. Protect social norms and are wary of outsiders. They support aggressive leaders and policies. Enter donald j. Trump. What do the voters, themselves, have to say . Last night i went to a caucus site in durango, and heard what some caucusgoers had to say. What brought you to trump . Business, actually. The i like him as a leader. I like him as a, you know, i know hes not a politician, thats actually what i prefer is a nonpolitician, point of view i feel like america is a business. We got a huge debt in this country and i feel like if anything he knows how to handle the budget better than anyone else. c im here supporting donald trump. You are . I make no bones about it because we have tried every way in the world to get a foothold in d. C. And stop some of the crap and, well, lets see, i was a cruz supporter. Cruz cheated and lied. Rubio, hes an establishment shill. Thats all he is. What is it about trump . You said youve basically been supporting him since the beginning. Right, right, right. Because hes aggressive and hes strong and hes bold. So you the thing that really pulls you to him are his personality qualities more than his, like, positions . Right. His position is a businessman. Right. I like businesspeople. I like businessmen. I like, you know, people that can negotiate. Do you understand why there are people who are scared of donald trump . I can totally understand it. You know, and i question myself also. I think, well, you know, is my judgment right . And then when i listen to everybody else and i listen to him, i think that im okay with it. I feel comfortable. c one of the things i hear from a bunch on people who are supporting him, they feel like some of the things he says that some people might find offensive or oh, definitely, but everybody says everything. But you just dont i go past it. Right. So you think he says stuff, he gets attention but youre not going to expect hes going to do that stuff. Right. Right. Yeah. Im past it. Thats his personality. Did you vote for barack obama . Oh, yeah, sure did. Twice . Twice, absolutely. I want to thank those caucusgoers last night at dur rango high school. Joining me, olivia, Political Correspondent for the daily beast. All right, olivia, this is the big question, right, because people look at these entrance polling and you think, oh, well soandso has the lock on evangelicals, soandso has the lock on very conservative or soandso has the lock. What has your experience been in reporting on the trump voter . My theory is this is a middlefinger vote. I think what defines these people, because thereses nothing, no race, no gender, no age that defines all of them. I think what does define them is this is more about an emotion than it is about the way that theyre thinking. c this is not an intellectual thing. This is an emotional thing. I think they really love trump personally. I mean, you were talking about with his voters last night, they support him because of how they feel about him, like his personality, like the things that he says. They dont necessarithy think he believes all of it, but they like he has the chutzpa to say it and i think thats really what its about. And i think its also, you know, they say they dont like politicians and i think a lot of it has to do with how politicians speak. Dont speak in a way that really means anything to them. Trump talks sort of a lower level. He talks in a way that a lot of people can understand. And when, you know, we listen to his speech, we might say, well, that doesnt mean anything, you know, thats not a policy position. And i think thats actually what these people like about it. You said something important there, first of all, the personality qualities. People mention his personal qualities more than anything else. They personally feel attached to the man, the individual. For people watching this unfold who finds is somewhat terrifying someone is calling casually while he calls into fox friends to murder the familiesc of terrorists and calling mexican rapists. The trump voters ive spoken to are much more reasonable about k that stuff than donald trump actually is. The point you make there about them discounting it, its like this certain idea that this is all shtick, this is just part of this great showmans show and i dont really care about that either way, i dont want i dont think mexicans are rapists but im sort of enjoying the show while it happens. Totally. Someone i talked to a few months ago when i called up trump donors told me this is just show business. They were able to compartmentalize and say this campaign is show business, i believe he feels differently as a person, that he has principles as a person, and i trust him. I think it really does boil down to trust. They see in trump someone whos never been screwed over in his life. Hes been able to become a successful businessman. Hes wealthy. He has a beautiful wife, has a beautiful family. He has all of these, you know, beautiful classy things to put it in words he might use. They trust he will do for them what hes done for himself, he will protect them from the establishment. c they will protect them from the politicians and people who seek to screw them over. I really think thats what its about at its core. Another big part of this, people talk about the fact hes a businessperson. You mentioned that. You know, in a country that constantly talks about government is bad and business is good, the free market is good, government is bad, free market is good and the market im reminded of the fact ross perot whos a man with 1 100th of the charisma and media savvy as donald trump i think thats fair to say, won 20 of the vote in 1992. Just this dude that no one had heard of who came out of nowhere. Here you have someone whos on television for almost a decade. In some ways when you think about it in the context of celebrity sort of attention and business, you get to you get to 35 pretty quickly. I think so, and i also i just have sort of a sympathetic view of a lot of these people. I talked to, i would estimate, a few hundred of them at this point and im sure youve talked to a lot of them, too. I think theyre not personally hateful people. Theyre very quick to point that out. I think theyre afraid of being tagged as such. Oh, yeah. But they feel like theyve been left behind. They feel like the country has just completely forgotten about them. I think ats really what it is about at the end of the day. Yeah. I want to reiterate, again, how sort of just impressive and kind and gracious and patient all the trump voters i talked to last night. I appreciate them talking to any. Olivia nuzzi, thanks for joining any. Still ahead with the South Carolina democratic primary this saturday, why is Bernie Sanders in oklahoma . Ill explain, ahead. Man 1 i came as fast as i could. Whats up . Man 2 this isnt public yet. Man 1 what isnt . Man 2 weve been attacked. Man 1 the network . Man 2 shhhh. Man 1 when did this happen . Man 2 over the last six months. Man 1 how did we miss it . Man 2 we caught it, just not in time. Man 1 who . How . Man 2 not sure, probably offshore, foreign, pros. Man 1 what did they get . Man 2 what didnt they get. Man 1 i need to call mike. Man 2 dont use your phone. Its not just security, its defense. Bae systems. [ rock music throughout ] [ engine starting ] [ tire screech ] [ car engines roar ] [ pit crew audio ] when youre a fan its never just one thing, its everything. Introducing nascar on xfinity x1, get live race stats right on your tv. Change the way you experience nascar with xfinity x1. We started this campaign 9 1 2 months ago. We were 3 in the polls. 3 . Today, in the last week, there have been three separate polls which nationally has us in the lead. [ cheers ] with three days until the democratic primary in South Carolina, Bernie Sanders is in oklahoma at this very moment. The senator was in South Carolina last night for a town hall and hung around for a press conference this morning, he spent the rest of the day in missouri and oklahoma and tomorrow sanders is scheduled to make a stop in ohio. The campaign seems to be making a strategic decision here after South Carolina. There are 11 states up for grabc on march 1st, super tuesday, and a whopping 880 delegates. Sanders Campaign Based on a reflection of where their candidate is spending much of his time and money is betting they have a better chance of winning a number of those states than they do South Carolina. The latest nbc news wall street journal marist poll has Hillary Clinton up by nearly 30 points in South Carolina where shes making her final push with several events planned for this week including a rally yesterday with the mothers of trayvon martin, sandra bland, and eric garner. Democratic primary so far has been characterized by a number of things, dueling domestic policy proposals, questions of who can speak better to the 21st century civil rights struggle, black voters. The influence of big money and the Foreign Policy experience. Now we have two more defining features heading into South Carolina and super tuesday. One, the possibility of a deadlocked Supreme Court being handed to the next president. And relatedly, who can beat donald trump . Next, im going to have a representative from both campaigns. Im going to ask them to make their case for their candidate on those terms. c all right. Joining me now, robby mook, hes the Campaign Manager for Hillary Clinton. All right. Your case. I think i talked to a bunch of democrats in my friends circle over the last, you know, 24 hours and theyre all like, okay, whos going to beat donald trump . This sort of idea hes going to be the nominee. What is the case that its clinton . Well, look, this is still a very competitive primary. We are very focused right now oc winning South Carolina, as you know. Very focused on super tuesday. Sanders is going to win some states in. Yep. Were going to win some states. Were focused on those delegates. Im going to hand this to you on a silver platter. Im talking to jeff weaver after you. Im telling you to make this case to a democratic voter whos going into the voting booth in South Carolina and what is on the topped of their mind and i dont think this is unrealistic. What is on the top of their mind is who is going to win . Yeah. Well, you mean the general election . Yes. Im not saying, oh, you have the nomination. What i am saying is if youre talking to that voter whos going to go in there and say i think both these people have great policy positions, i want to choose one that will win. Look, the middle class is hurting right now. Corporate profits are at a record level. Families are are not seeing their incomes rise. They need someone whos going to go in and break down those barriers so families can start to get ahead again after this if thats the argument if youre going to make from the general, why isnt Bernie Sanders, mr. Populist insurrection, low dollar, 27 donorwhy doesnt he draw the contrast with billionaire donald trump . The problem sanders is facing now, his plans dont line up. Sounds good. Free college. It doesnt add up. c hes proposing raises taxes on the middle class. I dont think this is if you think plans not adding up is a problem, i want to into douse you to the person theyre about to nominate on the republican side. Do you honestly think theres political gravity in plans not adding up in a general election . The issue on sand erssanders hes going to raise money on the middle class. They all want to cut taxes for the ultra wealthy at the exclusion of the middle class. They all want to overturn the president s executive orders on immigration, all have extreme social policies that are going to take us back. The contrast with the republicans could not be clearer. Donald trump if he comes out of this is going to come i dont what hes going to be, maybe hell be prochoice by june, maybe hell be antitrade deals, be more middle class tax cuts and he can get to your left if he wants to. Sure, hell try to whitewash his record. Hes on the record as clear as can be right now hes out to help the ultra wealthy like himself. Weve seen this throughout his entire career. c this is someone whos been bailed out a million times and keeps trying to make himself richer and richer and wants to take us back. Hes totally out of touch. A womans right to choose is at stake. The exective actions president obama took on immigration is at stake. Hes more focused on building a wall than helping the american middle class get ahead. Heres the last thing i want to ask you. The negatives, the Favorable Unfavorable view for Hillary Clinton are lower than donald trump but the worst negatives of anyone in the race nationally after donald trump. Why should that not worry democratic primary voters . Many look, the right wing has made it literally their business for the last few decades, particularly the last year to take Hillary Clinton down. We know that thats coming. As we discussed earlier, the case could not be clearer in this election. The question is who do you trust to stand up for the middle class, help break down barriers that are Holding People back, help get wages rising, help you afford college, help you bring down your Health Care Premiums . Trust Hillary Clinton to do this. She kept on fighting until we got Health Insurance for 6 million kids. Shes the one who stood up to deck tat dictatesers around the world. c this is someone voters can trust. Thank you very much. Joining me now, Campaign Manager, jeff weaver. Hey, chris. This idea you want to race taxes on the middle class. I remember that moment when senator sanders, to his great credit, let me say, in a moment of unpoliticianlike honesty, said, yeah, if we do medicare for all, taxes will go up. That clip playing with half a billion dollars of ads supporting behind it, you dont think that dooms Bernie Sanders in a general election . No, lets talk about it, chris. Lets talk about what that is for the typical American Family making 50,000 a year, thats a 45 a month increase in, for Health Care Premiums, but theyre going to save 5,000 a year in Health Care Costs because were not going to have any copayments, no deductibles, no private Health Insurance premiums and theyre going to have 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. I think for 45, people will pay 45 a month to get a 5,000 a year savings. Come on. Heres the problem you face with that particularly in a general election. Someone says, i dont believe you, dont believe you can make this happen. I believe youre going to raise my taxes but i do not believe c you can conjure this. Its not about conjuring it. You know, you raise taxes on the rich to pay for most of it, frankly. You know, the thing has been vetted by economists. You know, there are tons of economists who are supporting this. Others have looked at this who say its a great idea. Were going to save lots of money. Every other country does this. Somehow the clinton people and the republicans are both in the same camp in saying the United States uniquely cannot accomplish what every other major industrialized country has done. Its a ridiculous argument. Let me Say Something about trust in terms of the general election. I want to answer the question my good friend, robby mook, tried to dodge. Who would be the best candidate in the general election against donald trump . Lets be clear about that. Its Bernie Sanders. No doubt about it. If you look at the polling thats gone on, headtohead matchups are being conducted in polling across the country. In every case, bvs bst does better against not only donald trump but every other republican than does secretary clinton. Secretary clinton has some Serious Problems as a general election candidate. Rightly or wrongly. You know, robby can say its the right wing, what have you. This is the reality of it. The secretary is popular with democrats, no doubt about that. c shes not trusted by infept voters. Independent voters do not have a high level of trust in here. Heres the problem, jeff, heres the problem with that analysis. Sure. In terms of the headtohead polling, in terms of the trust numbers, im not disagreeing with what the numbers say right now but its not a static process. As they say in the army, the enemy gets a vote. Were Bernie Sanders to be the nominee, for the first time in his life a man who has represented a very small state of vermont, has never faced half a billion dollars of negative ads which is probably what he would be staring down. To the democratic vote e i dont know whats in the guys record, i dmoent how vulnerable he is. Illary clinton has been through three decades of it and survived it. Assure me Bernie Sanders can survive half a billion dollars in negative ads. Look at the polling, she has not survived it as a viable general election candidate. Thats the problem. The problem is democrats like her but other people, independents and republicans do not. What the polling is telling us three decades of problems have created so much baggage its going to be very, very difficult for her to win in a general election matchup. Thats the reality, what the polling is showing. When you look at the internals of these polls, ask independent i do. I think theres a case to be head that things are priced in in Hillary Clinton and a floatin price on senator sanders. No one is going to like her know. Shes a wellknown commodity. Nobody is going like her more than they like her today. Jeff weaver. Thank you. The latest move by Senate Republicans to halt any step toward a Supreme Court nomination. Ill talk to a member of the judiciary committee, ahead. Not only does president obama have to get a Supreme Court nominee for the senate he has to get the next librarian. Lets meet her. Im karla hayden, a nominee to be the 14th library of congress. People might not realize that the library of congress is americas library. Its the National Library and it holds all of the books that have ever been printed in the United States. The library in the congress is responsible for not only making sure that all of the resources are available and taken care of, but also that people realize that they have this treasure right there in washington, d. C. c all right. Now, running the library of congress, the nations library, seems like a pretty noncontroversial position, right . Wrong. Librarian of congress oversees the u. S. Copyright office and a big proponent of information being free and equally available to everyone. Not surprisingly, then, heres how the Recording Industry association of america responded to the news of her nomination. It is worth noting the library of congress and the u. S. Copyright office have been mutually respectful of each others area of expertise. We hope new librarian will continue that respect for the Copyrights Office expertise and recommendations to congress. In other words, stay in your own lane. Her predecessor has been described as a technophobe. Hayden was an outspoken opponent of the patriot act. Presumably much like president obamas eventual pick for the Supreme Court, her confirmation will only be the first in a series of battles. Well talk about that other battle, the one to fill the open position of the Supreme Court, ahead. In their latest bit of obstruction, Senate Republicans say theyll meet with president obama about the vacancy on the Supreme Court but only tell him in person a plan to refuse to consider any of his nominees. A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary committee, chairman Chuck Grassley releasing a statement which reads in part senator grassley reiterated hell talk to the president any time, welcomes the opportunity to explain the position of the majority to allow the American People to decide. c this evening the white house confirmed to nbc news the meeting will take place next week. The president spoke earlier today about how unprecedented the republican obstruction is. He even sympathized with the gops need to play to their face and indicated their posturing may very well collapse under pressure. I think it will be very difficult for mr. Mcconnell to explain how if the public concludes that this persons very well qualified, that the senate should stand in the way simply for political reasons. Well see what happens, and i think the situation may evolve over time. And by the way, theres not a lot of vigor when they defend the position that theyre taking that they wouldnt even meet, for example, with a Supreme Court nominee. Theyre pretty sheepish about it when they make those comments. Insufficient vigor. Now, theres good reason to think that the united front by republicans on the judiciary c committee is an attempt to make sure no nominee is ever named because as the president indicated once an actual candidate is named, things could get dicier for the obstructionists. For instance, what if the nominee were a popular republican governor of nevada, Brian Sandoval . Senate minority leader harry reid met with sandoval on monday. A source close to the process told nbc news the white house is considering the nevada governor for the post. Now, is this just advancedlevel youre an at t Small Business expert . Sure am. My staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. At t can help you stay connected. Am i seeing double . No maam. Our at t buy one get one free makes it easier for your staff to send appointment reminders to your customers. And share promotions on social media . You know it now im seeing dollar signs. You should probably get your eyes checked. Good one babe. Optometry humor. Right now get up to 650 in credits to help you switch to at t. Its my job and its i takealso my passion. Rises. But with my back pain i couldnt sleep. So i couldnt get up in time. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. And now. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. Dad, yoh no, ill take you up to me off rthe front of the school. Thats where your friends are. Seriously, its, its really fine. You dont want to be seen with your dad . No, its. No. Oh, theres tracy. What [ horn honking ] [ forward collision warning ] bye dad it brakes when you dont. The newly redesigned volkswagen passat. Right now you can get a 1,000 president s day bonus on new 2015 or 2016 passat, jetta, or tiguan models. Do something get on the floor oh im not a security guard, im a security monitor. I only notify people if there is a robbery. Theres a robbery. Why monitor a problem if you dont fix it . Thats why lifelock does more than free credit monitoring to protect you from identity theft. We not only alert you to identity threats, if you have a problem, well spend up to a Million Dollars on lawyers and experts to fix it. Lifelock. Join starting at 9. 99 a month. Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. Then quickly fell back to earth landing on the roof of a dutch colonial. Luckily geico recently helped the residents with homeowners insurance. They were able to get the roof repaired like new. They later sold the cow because they had all become lactose intolerant. Call geico and see how much you could save on homeowners insurance. Joining me now, senator Sheldon Whitehouse of rhode island whos a member of that Senate Judiciary committee. Senator, let me start with this. This sandoval news today, i cant decide if this is a thing i should take seriously, this is actually something, or this is just a pretty ingenious part of countertrolling by the white house saying you wont consider anyone, how about a very popular republican governor . You know, its a sort of tempting thought. Lindsay graham might be another person whod put the republicans in a real predicament. But none of this gets around the bizarreness of the underlying situation. c have you ever encountered anything like this . And if when you talk to your colleagues, are you in communication with them . I mean, are they honest about how unprecedented this is . Yeah, i think everybody knows. This is unheard of, and i suspect theyre a little bit worried because, you know, americans would be reassured by a sense of regular order again and the republicans took us through the explosion of the filibuster and basically rebooted the entire senate. They shut down the government to make their point and now theyre trying to reboot a whole new way of outside the constitution handling Supreme Court nominations. So i think it contributes to a real sense of unease. Well, they i mean, you cite the constitution there and it strikes me thats part of the problem. The constitution does allow for this. Its advise and consent. And in the letter sent by the committee, it was they intend to withhold their consent. This is constitutional even if its highly abnormal. Well, barely. For one thing, theyre telling the president not to appoint somebody, and the president is clearly instructed by the c constitution to appoint somebody. Once that somebody is appointed, then their advice and consent kicks in as to a named nominee. Nobody has ever read the constitution to say that the Senate Majority leader, Senate Republicans have to consent to the president having the power to appoint somebody in the first place. They get to review the appointee. And, you know, i think americans have a sense of fair play when youre saying youre a lousy appointee, were going to vote against you before we even know who you are, thats not a convincing argument. If i have to place a bet right now on whether the president s nominee will be confirmed to the Supreme Court before he exits his term in january 2017, convince me you have leverage on this and theyre not going to stonewall. What is your leverage . Well, it will be up to the public, Mitch Mcconnell more than anything else wants to stay as majority leader which means more than anything else, he wants to keep a majority of republicans in the senate and if this aberrational approach to the Supreme Court starts to hurt all of his senators who are up in close, close races in this cycle, hell back away from it like away from a hot potato. c let me ask you a personal question. I do this every day. I cover the news and politics. I have my own biases and beliefs and some stories get me worked up and some we cover a little more dispassionately. This one to me seems so black and white, its such a sort of hobsy in bit of pure power politics. Are you angry . Does this personally frustrate and anger you when you have to talk to your colleagues on the committee that they are doing this . If you really believe in the american system of government and the constitution, when you start departing from it, that creates a sense of unease in me as well as in the public. This is were in weird territory that we shouldnt be in. We should be following the constitution. And by the way, imagine if this president had another constitutional duty that he was not doing. The entire Republican Senate would be on fox news jumping upc and down hollering and screaming about this president not doing his constitutional duty. So theres something also very backwards and ironic about their desire to have the president fail to perform a clear directed constitutional duty. You know, the final thing here is i dont see a limiting principle on this. You have a 44 court, lets wait for the next president. If that next president were a democrat, i dont know why wouldnt do everything in their power to filibuster any reference to highmighted principle seems a little beside the point. Once youre in for a dime, you might as well be in for a dollar if youre trying to protect the court. If you look at the record of what that fiveman bloc delivered for the republicans, a record of helping them win elections, backers, helping the conservative agenda. Those five people have done more for the Republican Base than all the republicans in congress combined. c and so they watch the court turning into something they dont control any longer with a real sense of panic. All right. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Thanks for your time together. Appreciate it. Thank you. That is all in for this evening. Tomorrow night were on earlier, catch us at 7 00 p. M. Eastern instead of 8 00. At 8 00, chris matthews, my colleague, will host a special Hardball College Tour with the one and only Bernie Sanders. Tomorrow night, all in one hour earlier. Set the alarm on your iphone now. The Rachel Maddow show starts now in its regular hour. Good evening, rachel. Now. The Rachel Maddow show starts now in its regular hour. Good evening, rachel. Were trying to keep everybody on their toes this year. Skipping around. You might see us at any time. You never know. At some point were going to be broadcasting from under peoples beds. Hey, its time thanks, my friend. And thanks to you at home for joining us this particular hour. Its nice to see you. If marco rubio or ted cruz goes all the way this year, either of them would make history as the first ever latino president ial candidate for a Major Political party. That would be a huge deal. Had Carly Fiorina gone all the way this year, she and hillary cl[nton could each have been in contention to make history as the first female president ial candidate nominated by a Major Political party. You know, frankly, while were on this train of thought, if donald trump goes all the way this year, he would be the first trump nominated for president by a Major Political party