The author of the new jim crow. The really good news about the economy you probably havent heard and why this is a landmark day for this program. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hays. A remarkable symbol of this bizarreo world Police Season at an International NuclearSecurity Summit hosted by president obama where the biggest wild card might be the republican president ial frontrunner. During a press conference in the last hour, the president was asked about Donald Trumps recent comments on letting more countrys get Nuclear Weapons and refusing to rule out nuking europe. The president said hes had to reassure americas allies. They tell us the person who made the statements doesnt know much about Foreign Policy or Nuclear Policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally. It came up on the sidelines. Ive said before that people Pay Attention to american elections. What we do is really important to the rest of the world. President went onto describe how the International Community depends on the u. S. For seriousness and stability. Even in those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want a clarity in u. S. They understand the president wants to know whats going on around the world and has to put in place policies that lead not only to our security and prosperity but will have an impact on everybody elses security and prosperity. Joining me now coauthor of its even worse than it was. How the american constitutional system collided with the new politics of extremism. It is pretty remarkable having to watch the president conveing a Nuclear Summit to talk about deescalation, nonproliferation, et cetera and having to deal with a leading candidate not taking nuking europe off the table. And not giving Nuclear Weapons to korea and japan which has been an enormous issue since the end of the Second World War and korean war. Ive been watching president ial politics closely for five decades. Ive never seen a candidate, that includes pat paulson, the comedian, with less basic knowledge of Foreign Policy than donald trump. He could vamp and make it up as he went along for a while but as weve gotten closer focus on him, its starting to blow back. Does the precariousness with the underlying structural factors you describe in the back the way our constitutional system and the increasing partisan polarization on the right have collided. Do people around the world take note of that . Yes, they do. I found in my discussion with diplomats and travels abroad that what president obama said today is right. People follow american politics more closely during an Election Campaign than they do other countries. Theres a deep concern out there now. Its a concern, i have to say, that transcends the president ial race. Theres an acute focus because of trump and cruz to a significant degree. Its also the dysfunction in congress and its relations with the president. The inability to be sure when we make a commitment that were going to be able to follow through. The sense that this really is closer to gridlock than weve had this many decades. Thats of concern. Lets face it. Other countries are going through their own periods of dysfunction including in europe and asia. They want the u. S. To at least be a little more of a rock than we are. How close to some really kind of cataclysmic level of dysfunction do you really think we are . We have to put this into some context. The Economic News has been quite good including a jobs report that shows real incomes are starting to inch up a little bit and more people are coming back into the work force. Were doing better in many ways than the rest of the world. Im deeply concerned. What i see happening is something ive feared for several years. Tom mann and i were pretty much ahead of the curve on this. You have a Republican Party thats veered off the rails. It is to considerable extent a selfinflicted wound, and they dont know how to get out of it. They dont know how to get out of it with the Supreme Court nomination. They dont know how to get out of it with the budget. Paul ryan struggle. They dont know how to get out of a president ial race with mayhem on their hands. Its affecting governance in country. Its a very worrisome time. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you. With Donald Trumps polls hitting new lows. Power brokers are considering what had been the stuff of conspiracy whispers, chucking the current candidates and starting over. Here was carl rove yesterday. If we have somebody who we think has, has been battle tested, and has strong conservative principles and the ability to articulate them, and they are no, maam mated at this convention, there will be a lot of acrimony from the people seeking the nomination. Donald trump excites a lot of enthusiasm but he also exexcites a lot of anger within the Republican Party and outside the Republican Party. And a fresh face might be the thing that could give us chance to turn this election and win in november against hillary. Fresh face. Keep that phrase in mind. Right wing twitter promptly exploded and fox news was up in arms over the idea. Its hard for people that have such strongly felt opinions about the other candidates so say im going to go for him. The only thing that will be harder if someone gets this nomination thats not named trump or cruz. I think it will be a disaster. Trump supporter ben carson predicted apocalyptic results. Hopefully between now and then they will understand if they try to undermine the will of the people they will not only have destroyed their party but fundamentally change the United States of america. Now, if trump loses, tuesdays primary in wisconsin, he faces an uphill battle to reach the magic number of 1,237 needed to win the nomination on the first ballot at the Republican Convention this summer. Because trump is significantly trailing in the behind the scenes delegate wrangling and doesnt seem to understand how the nominating process works, its probably first ballot or bust for donald trump in cleveland. More than 100 of trumps own bound delegates are already poised to break with him if it goes to a second ballot when theyre free to vote their conscious. Trump and cruz now have a shared interest in making sure theyre the only two candidates in the running. You see at the 2012 convention, republicans adopted an obscure rule, 40b, requiring candidates who have received a majority of delegates in eight states to be formally submitted for the nomination. It was pushed by team romney in hopes of keeping ron paul out of mix. Right now donald trump is the only candidate who meets the rule. They could decide to rewrite it when they meet a week before the convention. Four members are eager to scrap it. Ted cruz is confident of like wise being able to qualify for that thresholds by july that hes arguing, along with trumps people, that rule 40 b should be left in place ensuring that he and trump are the only eligible candidates. I think that would be a terrible idea for the washington power brokers to change the rules because theyre unhappy with the candidates who the voters are voting for. They want to change the rules to try try to parachute in candidate who hasnt earned the votes of the people. That is nothing short of crazy. It would pave the way for carl roves fresh face to pave theservants. We should put the conference first. Theres something said for us to unite. We probably need a fresh face. That was Kevin Mccarthy dropping out of race for speaker after john boehner announced retirement. The fresh face was paul ryan. You may recall that when ryans name was first floated, he and his office repeatedly shot down the idea. Are you running for speaker . No. Why not . I dont want to be speaker. My statement stands. I havent changed anything. We all know how that one turned out. Now with the gop on the market for a white knight once again, ryan insists it will not be him. Someone might want to tell the speaker that betting markets rate him as the fourth likely to win the nomination right behind the three candidates running for president. Joining me now is conservative columnist and Ken Blackwell to the antitrump our principles pac. How concerned are you about essentially a plot at the convention to install someone like a paul ryan . Im not all that concerned about it actually happening because im confident mr. Trump will win the 1237 in the nomination out right. That said, i think weve always suspected these kind of power plays and plans were going on. You know that carl rove and his lot are planning to, as cruz said, parachute in mitt romney who has so desperately after all these years still wants the nomination even though hes wildly unpopular and the other option is paul ryan whose biggest platform has been open borders and amnesty. You couldnt be at bigger odds with the base thats shown this year thats our biggest issue. You have the two candidates that are nothing more than than the anti sis of what the base wants. The fresh face is donald trump. For the establishment to think they could go something akin to the super bowl, you ever the patriots and the giants, they dont score x amount of points, lets scrap everything and give the trophy to the miami dolphins. Thats what theyre talking about doing here. If the top two dont reach a certain thresholds, lets start over. Its absurd. The people will not stand for it. Not one bit. Mr. Blackwell, josh marshal said elections are more about legitimacy than the rules. It is true. Is there a real legitimacy if the person who arrives in cleveland with the most amount of delegates doesnt end up being the nominee . I think its going to be a contested primary. Let me say to a. J. , i think what were watching is folks letting some of the air out of trump tire. He has an inflated ego. He has an inflated net worth and exaggerated financial independence, and he has an inflated knowledge of world events and apparently, the republican platform. He would not been in trouble with Chris Matthews if he said i embrace the republican platform of 2012. The reality is i dont believe hes ready. Hes not been a republican for a very long time. He is not a conservative. I think the shake out of a contested primary will produce a winner from the two contesting front runners in this process. It happens to be cruz or mr. Trump. I dont think hes going to be able to last. I dont think hes going to be able to last. Let me follow up with you mr. Blackwell. Someone you say hasnt been a republican and doesnt know what hes talking about, according do you. He has a new comment about abortion that seems to make him sound prochoice. Thats the man who is kicked the butts of about 14 other candidates from the Republican Party, including numerous sitting governors and all sorts of other folks . I think the reason that ted cruz and donald trump have emerged as the front runners is because folks are frustrated with the inabilities of republican majorities in the house and the senate to deliver on their Campaign Promises and the agenda and platform that they embrace in 2012 and 2014. It created an opening. Clear and simple. A. J. , i want to ask you about the polling numbers. The headline today in the l. A. Times is donald trump is on track to be the least popular politician in 30 years. Hes hugely under water with women and with white men and millennials. Should it not concern you, Trump Supporters and the Republican Party, to inherit a nominee thats so wildly unpop yunpopula you know those poll numbers can be twisted. The polls that count are the ones of the primaries thats happened. For instance, you have the socalled polls showing donald trump is unpopular with women when its not true. Look at the primaries thats occurred. Hes won the female vote. He doesnt have a problem hes won them among the relatively small part of the electorate that shows up for the primaries. Once you decide between hillary and bernie and we decide between trump and cruz and then we with look once the American Public has poll question of who do you like between trump. Youre not concerned by numbers . No, not at all. I think hes doing great. Look at the national polling. Look at the different demographics. Hes fine right now on track for nomination and then once him or hillary or him versus bernie, then the polls can make since. Its silly to look at National Head to head polling. We dont know who they will be yet. Its silly hypothetical. Mr. Blackwell, let me ask you about it will be cruz or trump. Do you hope to see the rules left in place that will make it impossible for the carl rove fresh face scenario, the paul ryan to ride in. Do you think it will be illegitimate . It should be one of those two. Let me puncture the balloon. Paul ryan is a friend of mine, but paul ryan isnt a fresh face. Hes a veteran of washington and inside the beltway. That is true. Hes freshly shaved. The only reason we were playing paul ryan fan fiction. We were looking at his spokesperson denials about the speakership where he said its not going to happen. You are crazy. This is ridiculous. A week later hes the speaker. You never know. Thank you both. Thank you. Coming up, as wisconsin residents head to the polls on tuesday, a new voter id law would block 300,000 people from casting ballots. Well discuss scott walkers solution to a problem that never existed. Frustration from Hillary Clinton boils over on the trail. Im so sick of the Sanders Campaign lying about me. Im sick of it. Heres to breaking more glass ceilings in golf and everywhere else. Kpmg. Continuing our commitment to the next generation of women leaders. Couand i want to remind youel that no ones the same without the game. Like squirrelgirl52 who writes, no football on sundays has left me with a lot of free time. So ive constructed a small sanctuary for local squirrels. Its a safe haven where they can meet and fall in love and. Ok, im going to stop reading right now. You might have some issues that go beyond footballs help, but try watching the nfl draft. See if that helps. Maybe watch with a friend. Or doctor. Billions are spent to confuse and, dare i say it, flummox the American Public. Save 16 on car insurance. Switch now. Well at compare. Com, we say enoughs enough. So weve created this mind boggling facility. Where were constantly scrutinizing millions of rates. Answering the question who has the lowest. Go to compare. Com, plug in some simple info and get up to 50 free quotes. Choose the lowest, and hit purchase. Its fast and easy. Compare. Com saving humanity from high insurance rates. Working for the oil, gas and coal industry. Tonight Bernie Sanders is escalating a dispute with Hillary Clinton. Another sign his campaign shows no indications of letting up on the former secretary of state even though she has a pledge delegate lead thats mathematically difficult for sanders to overcome. The senator from vermont is leading in wisconsin, and his Campaign Just raised a truly astonishing 44 million this march alone. The enthusiasm for his candidacy showing no signs of letting up. He avoiding mentioning donald trump but focused on clinton and how she funds her campaign. Clinton was questioned at another event. I have money from people who work for fossil fuel. Im so sick of the Sanders Campaign lying about me. Im sick of it. Clinton world shot back with a statement saying we will not apologize for calling out these kinds of schemes for what that are, a desperate move for campaign that have decided a vote for victory is through misleading attacks. Michelle, it seems the clinton folks are in an interesting spot here because at one level i think the people will tell you this is the way the system works, and we want to win and the way we win is raise money from all sorts of people. Thats the center or the gist of the attacks on her from the left is she partakes of the system as it is and accepts the status quo and feels like she has to maneuver within it. Saying this is how things work, we raise money from all sorts of people. That is her argument but its not a particularly winning political argument. One of the people that shes being tarred for him raising money for her super pac is tony pedesta. The brother of the chairman of her campaign. So hes a lobbyist. He has a lot of different clients. I think its laft l little misleading. It could be coming because he does represent so many people. All sorts of industries. Some sinister, some not. Its not a defense. Its a hard thing to parse. I think whats coming from sanders is misleading. Its misleading but very difficult to defend against. No industries giving hard money donations to anyone because thats illegal. No company. Were talking about people that work for different industries. Theres two categories. It could be like im an oil engineer or could be exxon executives get together and they all write checks. Those things both happen. They show up in the recordings as like you got money from this industry. Bernie sanders is 50,000 from the oil, gas industry. Those are two different phenomenon and when were talking about lobbying bundling, thats when were talking about a nexus of influence thats problematic. The oil and gas industry is among the most partisan industries in the country. Its the hollywood of the right. Its almost all money at the federal level to republicans. Democratic candidates for president are not big favorites of oil and gas. Clinton raised over 300,000 from the fossil fuel industry. Hes raised 21 million from Securities Investment just to give people a sense of the scale. The corporate pacs that raise mon