President obama right now, we know of no credible or specific intelligence of a plot on the homeland. Let me remind you what our coalition is doing to destroy these terrorists and defeat their ideology. So far our military and our partners have conducted more than 8,000 air strikes on isil strongholds and equipment. Those strikes, along with our partners on the ground, have taken out key leaders, taken back territory in both iraq and syria. John how did he do . Mark he did well. I thought it was important to reassure American Families that the country is safe, there are no credible threats, and that were surrounded by the Homeland Security threat. He talked about the coalition and whats being done to defeat isil. And i thought his tone was pretty good, and theres been comments here and elsewhere about that. I thought he did just fine. John he was crisp, on point, and there was an obligatory feel to this. E did what he had to do. I hate saying those words. It was perfectly competent and solid. Mark thanksgiving is not celebrated elsewhere, so in europe you will see the french president continue his travels around the globe. Germany and then russia. Its going to be interesting to see what kind of things transpire. Its not clear what the french want out of this. Seems like theyre pretty aligned with the United States and the president took advantage of that to talk about, again a coalition against isis. John this is a global moment, and the rest of the globe does not stop over this holiday. It will be interesting to see. Giving the prevailing sentiment, that will be flowing freely along with the beer, wine, bourbon and tequila tomorrow, we thought wed chat briefly about what some of this countrys leading political figures should be most thankful for on thanksgiving. Lets start with president obama. What should president obama be thankful for . Mark his loving family. Who hell be spending time on. On the political front the u. S. Economy, that all the turbulence in the world has not brought more economic problems. Gas prices are good, corporations are doing well. The fact that the economy has not tanked, the president should be thankful for. John i think he should be thankful for not having to run an election again. But this time in each of the previous political cycles, he was in the thick of a president ial election and then reelection. He did not enjoy that much. I think now four years later, he is able to be president and not worry about that. Mark lets move on to the democrats trying to replace him. Lets start with Hillary Clinton. What should she be thankful for . John she has to think about those 10 days in october when Kevin Mccarthy undercut the benghazi hearings, the first debate in las vegas, nobody talking about emails. When the benghazi hearing turned into a circus and nobody talking about the emails anymore. Those 0 days may be the 10 days she looks back on. Mark no one has had a better run. She should be darn thankful for that. John lets think about Bernie Sanders. What should the vermont senator be thankful for . Mark there is a poll showing Hillary Clinton beating him, but he should be thankful they start the nomination process in iowa and New Hampshire. If it started any place else, he wouldnt have a chance but because the electorate is tailor made for him and the media is focusing on iowa and New Hampshire. His only chance to beat her is to beat her in those two states. He has a chance to do it. John and the fact that he is better on most issues for the democratic base. Mark donald trump had a rally last night where he managed to shake things up. I have to do this. I have not done this yet. I brought my family. [applause] i brought my family. I just want to thank my family, and i have other members who are not here, but they have been so supportive. Its incredible. I just want to thank you. Mark what does donald trump have to be thankful for . John coated in teflon. No matter what he says, he is still on top of the polls. Says things that are arguably racist, arguably lies, hes still at the top of the polls. Mark he is a lucky man. John marco rubio, also in South Carolina this week. Today, a meet and greet with the voters. He has been taking hits from ted cruz lately. Including a video released by cruzs super p. A. C. That hit him on being a rhino, rubio, that is, and being weak. What do you think marco rubio has to be thankful for . Mark hes had a decent years but hes the de facto republican establishment favorite without doing much. He should be thankful for the fact that the other seemingly strong candidates have not caught on. He has become the defacto leader. Almost by default. Jeb bush is also someone spending time with his family. He has lost traction in the polls. He did a couple of tv shows this morning. Fox and cnn. What does he have to be thankful for . John that he still has a pulse. He has had a horrible year. Because no establishment candidate, even with rubio by default, there is no dominant establishment front runner, which means it is theoretically possible for him to become that erson. Mark also thankful that his family name and connections are allowing him to continue to raise money. John ted cruz, the Rubio Campaign has been going after him as ted cruz has been going after rubio. Theyregoing against him for his statements against n. S. A. Surveillance. The polls show that ted cruz is surging in iowa, so it appears to be all gravy. What should ted cruz be thankful for . Mark weeks or months without a lot of scrutiny. Ted cruz has built fundraising, support, and volunteer support. He is in a great position without much scrutiny. John he has been crowned by this new poll, the front runner in iowa at a time when you want to become the front runner. Mark ben carson. What should he be thankful for . John that americans have a short Attention Span so its possible that terrorism and Foreign Policy may not be the dominant issue a few weeks from now and will allow him to stop suffering from his weakness on those topics. Mark happy thanksgiving. John we will talk turkey with karl rove after these words from our sponsors. We will be back in exactly 60 seconds. For months, there has been a fierce competition between a bunch of turkeys trying to win their way into the white house. [laughter] some of you caught that. Mark a man who has met his share of pardoned turkeys. Former and perpetual Senior Advisor to george w. Bush, karl reeve. He has a new book out, the triumph of William Mckinley why the election of 1812 still matters. Thank you for coming here. A rare opportunity to talk to you about politics. Incidentally, i havegiven a permanent pardon to turkeys. , i go y allergic to it into anaphylactic shock. When is the last time you ate turkey . 1999. Thats a little overwrought isnt it . John would you prefer to have a big blossom up there . Mark you caught our ear on morning snow joe when you thought the three most likely nominees were jeb bush, Chris Christie and marco rubio were the most likely nominees. Why do you think those three guys over donald trump or anybody else . I was asked to put it down to a smaller number. I think 56 still have a shot at this. Lets put ourself in late october or early november of 2007 or 2011, which is a comparable point to today. Back then we were voting first of january, now were voting the first of february. In 2011, we were at the beginning of herman cain mania. We still had newt gingrich, Rick Santorum, and its not until february 28 that mitt romney takes command and holds it. At this point in 2007, romney was ahead in iowa and then got eclipsed by Mike Huckabee, who loses to the ultimate nominee. Who is running third or fourth in the national polls. Mark i agree with you that there are a lot of people who could end up as nominee. That suggests you think the cycle will turn out the way the cycle has turned out since at least president reagan, which is an establishment person is most likely to be the nominee . A somewhat conservative person can unite the party. I readily admit i could make a case on how donald trump could win or ben carson might win, but think it is unlikely. If you get down to it in reverse alphabetical order, rubio, kasich, ted cruz, Chris Christie john reverse alphabetical is ard. Mark what is the calendar path for jeb bush to be the nominee . What states he has to do well in an early state. He will not do well in iowa. Could he do well in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Mark could he be the establishment leader in iowa . That is a social conservative evangelical state. That is why robertson wins it, Mike Huckabee wins it why Rick Santorum nips romney in the state, despite romneys deep roots from the 2008 race. Its sui generis. Thats why bush wins it in 2000 then we have the debate, he was asked his favorite philosopher and he says jesus christ. If you were an evangelical conservative, that was better than socrates. John let me ask you about trump. You have imagined a way that he could be the nominee, so what stops him . Usually it is new information. We know everything about donald trump. He has had every selfinflected gaffe, but he continues to dominate. Whats the scenario that kills him . That behavior gives him a high floor but creates an increasingly difficult low ceiling. What happens is not that he blows up but that the other 70 to 75 of the party increasingly says, we cant accept him, and coalesces behind somebody. This makes the process longer. Given the republican calendar, it means this contest could go on and on. Think about this. 28 states, march 12 or earlier, and one of them grandfathered in as one of the february primaries, winner take all, take your pick, but they are proportional. All 24 march primaries, march 1 to march 12, are proportional. Out of the february ones, one is winner take all. All these delegates are proportionate. If you take the quinnipiac poll, split it out, you end up with trump in front, right behind him is cruz. The delegate totals are likely to be by the middle of march relatively close. John in terms of the way these contests work, if trump wins iowa, South Carolina, is he still viable . Is he stoppable . Yeah if he depends on if hes blowing everybody else out or if its a 20 to 30 win and we see consolidation among the others. Starting on the ides of march we have winner take all primaries in big states like florida, ohio, pennsylvania, and new york. This could go all the way to june where we have california and new jersey, winner take all primaries on june 6, to give somebody a majority of the delegates on the first ballot. Or not. Or get them close to it. I dont want to say theres a big chance but given the fact that some party laws, party rules and state laws require people to vote for somebody on the burst first ballot or until they withdraw or drop below a certain floor, we are likely to have somebody walking into the Convention Center saying, im voting for somebody who is not on the ballot but im orced to vote for him. Mark we will leave it there for a moment. We will talk about his new book and what it means for your Holiday Weekend plans after this commercial break. John we are back with karl rove. Your book is not an obvious topic in a political season. What compelled you to write t . It is a compelling election. Political scientists call it one of the five great realigning elections. But its the only election we describe in a certain way. We talk about jefferson in 1800, jackson in 1828, lincoln in 1860, f. D. R. In 193 2. But in 1896, we spend more time talking about the guy who loses, William Jennings bryant, a thnd eguy who follows him in office when he is assassinated by a terrorist, an anarchist. I stumble intod the story because i was interested in how did Theodore Roosevelt get from 1859 to 1897. Because 1896 is the bottom of Theodore Roosevelts career. Hes Police Commissioner in new york, hates the job, backs the wrong guy for president. The guy who wins the nomination is the only guy to rescue him from political oblivion and he doesnt think much of mckinley and mckinley doesnt think much f him. When i took on this project, a professor said you have to read the mckinley papers because he gets the election wrong. This is not a fore ordained conclusion. This is a battle that is decided by mistakes and brilliant insights offered by both campaigns, the most important of which come from the mind of William Mckinley. Hes an incredible person. Three battlefield promotions in the civil war. Enters as an 18yearold private. His own ertakes at decision, a Suicide Mission at ante tam. He undertakes that Suicide Mission and survived. Is ordered on a Suicide Mission in september of 1864 by hisbury gade commander, colonel rutherford b. Hayes a future president himself, and survives. And hes a man of enormous compassion. He loses his only two children at a young age. His wife turns into an invalid. Yet he becomes an exceptional statesman. One of my favorite comments about him is by Thomas Brackett reid, the aer is big speaker critics e, he said, my go after me tooth and nail but mckinleys critics apologize efore they insult him. If you had a close election and your party lost control of the house, you were routinely thrown out of congress by your challengers. Mckinley wins by seven votes. He is tossed out by a full vote of representatives, but seven democrats break party ranks to keep him in the congress, and they are among his most respected and fervent foes. On the issue of pr pro tected tariffs. They oppose him deeply but they break party ranks to say, this is wrong, we should keep him in. Mark he did two things, challenged for reform and reached out to his opponents. What are the lessons for republicans in those two things . He comes at a time when five residential campaigns have been held, and nobody is getting more than 50 . The Republican Party is being squeezed in the south. There are four black majority states in 1896. Blacks are voting overwhelmingly republicans and republicans get outvoted because the black vote is being disenfranchised by violence and fraud. Hes looking around saying the Republican Party is in grave difficulty he said, i need to grow my party. And there are people ready to vote for our message if we will reach out to them. They were mostly catholic, lots of new immigrants and mostly ndustrial workers. He aims his campaign at the emerging middle class and talks about Economic Issues in a personal way to them and sweeps the labor vote. He becomes the first republican president ial candidate to receive the endorsement of the catholic hierarchy. Which is unheard of because were the white, an glow saxson Protestant Party in the north, and we get the bishop of st. Aul endorsing him. One of the most dramatic moments occurs on october 9, the last Civil War Veteran to serve as president. The country still has a lot of tension in northsouth. Into canton, ohio, comes train load after train load of 2,000 men in butternut gray uniforms and their families, confederate veterans from the shenandoah valley, and they come as a sign of national reconciliation. And mckinley welcomes them, special badges are printed. No east, no west, no north, no south, but a common country. This is an emotional moment for the country. Mckinley ends the campaign on a moment of Great National unification by holding flag day parades and ceremonies all across the country on october 21 and unites the country and ignites a 36year dominance of the political system by republicans. John there are lots of echoes f things going on today. Wfrltjufrlings bruelingdks William Jennings bryant, i heard you reading from the cross of gold speech, Bernie Sanders could give that same speech. There is no candidate on the republican side like a mckinley. There are a number of them. You look at the campaigns. There is a recognition on the art of virtually all campaigns donald trump will win on the basis of his own great personality, its huge, its beautiful. Ted cruz has the belief in a lost cause, turn out more conservatives who routinely turned out for us but were turned off by romney and mccain because theyre liberals, thats not factually borne out but you see the coke eo echos of, we need to carry our message to the black, brown, asian, young. In 1896, mckinley does that. He organizes under the tutelage of not the campaign manager, under the tutelage of a 30yearold young man named charles g. Dawes, red hair, parts it in the middle, he organizes everybody. They organize women, college students. This is the College Republican league vote. They carry every College Campus mock election in the country except three in the south. They organize germans, scandinavians, 250 million pieces of Campaign Literature in 18 different languages. They organize traveling salesmen. They even organize young people in a new craze stwheeping country, bicycles. It is an amazing effort. Mark i could talk about the 1896 election all day long with karl rove. Never thought id say that. S new book the tribe of William Mckinley is in stores now in time to read for the holidays. John up next, our Bloomberg Politics correspondent. Mark with all the retail campaig