Dignified way, the great Gary Shandling, he died today at the age of 66. Pioneer and star of the great Gary Shandling show. Hell be missed. Thanks for watching, sayonara. Coming up, hardball with Chris Matthews. Nuclear, lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington. Mark today, march 24th is the day the republican president ial fight went nuclear. First, literally, john helemann asked donald trump, trump refused to roll it out. Then on the domestic front, donald trump escalated his fight with ted cruz, retweeting an unflattering photograph of heidi cruz beside his wife, melania, a
former model. An ugly fight involving the two candidates involving their spouses, not a good idea. Late tuesday evening it began. Lyin ted cruz used a picture of melania in his ad. Be careful, lyin ted, or ill spill the beans on your wife. Circulated online by an an antitrump super pac, slowing Melania Trump posing for gq magazine. Meet melania your next first lady or you could support ted cruz on tuesday. Scathing critique of the frontrunner. Donald does seem to have an issue with women. Donald doesnt like strong women. Strong women scare donald. Let me be absolutely clear. Our spouses and children are off
bounds. It is not acceptable for a big, loud new york bully to attack my wife. Real men dont try to bully women. Thats not an action of strength. Thats an action of weakness. Action of fear. Its an action of a small and petty man. Who is intimidated by strong women. Its not easy to tick me off. I dont get angry often. But you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that will do it every time. Youre a coward and leave heidi the hell alone. Thats why nobody believes politicians, cheap theater. Susan page is a washington borrow chief for usa today, and jonathan, msnb contributor. I want you to react to what you just saw. Im skeptical who the good guy is in this piece, if there is one. Look, this is, i mean, all
p politics, but this is the theater of the absurd, the tweets, back and forth comments. Ted cruz, im sorry, its just not believable. You showed how many like three bites from the same, long comment. Why not just why cant ted cruz come out and say you know, leave my life alone, theater, leave it at that. Crocodile tears, when they put out the picture that was supporting him. The pac saying vote for cruz. He never complained about that. No heros here. You know who the winners are. The democratic party. Because one of these two guys are likely to be the nominee, right. Most likely trump, but possibly, possibly cruz. Who are the key voters in a general election, its several, but a lot of women. You mean most voters are women. Most voters are women. Im just kidding, because the
a ri arithmetic is to precise. More persuadable. We know they are an important voter group. This kind of stuff is offensive to women. The idea, matt, were both guys, but throwing pictures putting up sort of an Online Beauty contest, which trump is now set up between a very unflattering picture. She is a very attractive woman, but her yelling. Put that next to a very attractive picture of his wife, obviously trying to say trumping the argument with his lookism. I dont like anything about this. This is a bad moment for us. I think heidi cruz is a friend of mine. She a delightful human being. I think the super pac is garbage and i would like to move on from this moment and get back on the issues. Trump, i mean, cruz loves this. He loves this. This this. You can say anything about me, you dont deserve to be on the same stage as my wife. He looks like cruz is trying to do the bill clinton line. Of course, he is defending her and saying that she and the children, who actually havent been part of this. Consider did why did he brin children. Because they should be offlimits. They are. The kitchen sink. The other thing is, by doing what he did, senator cruz, ensures that he is apart of the news cycle that donald trump, since june 16th, has been very successful and adept, by saying im defenldsiding my wife. That allows him to be apart of the story, whereas otherwise, we wouldnt be talking about him. We would be talking about this
other thing. Any way you dont defend your wife. Thats absurd, too. Its a any ways, bloomberg, john helemann asked donald trump if he would rule out ever using Tactical Nuclear weapons against isis. Lets watch. You were asked about whether you would rule out using Tactical Nuclear weapons against isis. Have you ruled that out or is that something you contemplate. I think would be very, very late compared to my opponents that are running. So you would rule the possibility of using Nuclear Weapons against isis. Im never going to rule anything out. I wouldnt want to tell you that. Right. Because at a minimum, i want them to think maybe we would use it. Well, thats the question there. He asked the question, maybe none of us would have asked, but he asked the responsibility of the politician to answer the best way he can. His best answer would be no comment. No leader of a country should talking about using Nuclear Weapons. Yet he played the old bomber. Keep them guessing. That was a tactic he used. Which is freaking out the internation international community. I was in germany, and everyone was talking about trump. Theyre going to talk about this. Extremely concerned about this person, who could possibly become president of the United States. For a whole host of reasons, that clip there is not going to lend them any comfort whatsoever. A president of the United States should, or a candidate, should never even hint at the possibility of using a Nuclear Weapon on another group of people, especially against isis. Where is isis even located . There is no country. There are a whole host of questions that are now raised by that one suggestion by donald trump. When are you going to drop it . Who is going to pay for it . The long meeting at the with the editorial board, maybe its time to pull out of the nato a lie alliance in both parties. You know, this is a time when donald trump is pivoting from debates you talk for 60 seconds to extended interviews on discussions when youre a general election nominee if he is, to discuss some of these very serious issues. And were not seeing the kind of pivot i think a lot of republicans hope to see where he comes across as a little more tempered. I disagree with that. I think were seeing a pivot. What do you think he meant with this what is the standard answer that every consultant, all options are on the table. Not on nuclear. You dont go to that specific, to jonathans points, to say we would never use Nuclear Weapons, ever, thats not our policy, either. The question was specifically about isis. Not in general. Fair enough. Im not so sure there is aTactical Nuclear weapon. But look, the point is this. I think were seeing him pivot. Lets talk politics. Gary goldwater, i liked as a kid, the questions on the use of military, he was a little scary, he didnt quite get it. The difference between nuclear and conventional. You drop a bomb since hiroshima. And hope to never do it again. Thats what the umbrella is again. You dont say were going to use it occasionally or goldwaters mistake was worst by the way. Ill leave it up to the field commanders. Lets talk politics real fast. The fact is the American People are growingly more concerned that the terrorists dont fear us, and this obama policy towards isil, isis, whatever you want to call it, this acronym game, theyre winning, were
losing. Have you ever looked at a map in the middle east. You kill one ethnic group, you kill a lot of ethnic groups. You dont separate them. Everybody is near range in that situation. The American People are fr frightened enough to even contemplate the United States dropping a Nuclear Weapon. Nice try but pull back from that. Dont you think short of air Nuclear Weapon there should be things we should be doing. You can take it, have a position that we need to be tougher, we need to do more without saying im not going to rule out use of a Nuclear Weapon. I agree with that. Lets talk about something that is not so scary. Let moo ask you about this fight. Your party, ill let you do it this way. My party. Yeah, this new coalescing around cruz, it is really holding your nose sort of stuff, because people will even say things like that. I like lindsey graham, most
people do. Lindsey says im not a big fan, but im holding my nose, back him. Lets watch lindsey. Watch the elites lining up behind a guy they dont like. Would john kasich make a better president than ted cruz . I think so. How can you raise money for ted cruz when you dont believe he would be that good a president. I think he is a republican. I think he is conservative. I think donald trump is a con man. I think he would destroy the Republican Party. I have differences with ted cruz that are wellknown. But i think we share the same political dna. And at the end of the day, i think he is a reliable conservative, and donald trump is not. John kasich would be the best nominee but he doesnt have a chance. Can you imagine someone getting married, im not really a fan, but process of elimination. First of all, you should get plenty of sleep before you go on morning joe and you should have emergency talking point for
the trump movement. Trashing trump and cruz, telling people to vote for cruz. He is clearly in ohio, vote for kasich. He is pimping himself as a poe t potential candidate in cleveland. He is the phantom candidate. Its the truth. What is your Organization Called . American conservative union. You just said on hardball, this is a mitt romney trying to get it himself. It will not work. Even if there is an attempt to try to wire this to make this happen, were going to we will not recover from this in the for eeabeseeable future. Mitt romney as the republican nominee or wire it so someone but trump. No, he said romney. No, i think romney. Were going to have a set of rules going into cleveland, youre going have to get to the minimum of delegates to get that. Trump has to get there. He has the best chance to get there. By the way, he might get there before cleveland, but the rules will have be trans parent. If mitt romney can insert him selves in this proses, let me tell you, theyll trump gets 1,230, and not 1,237, no delegates in the second ballot, is it conceivable theyll nominate a guy who has done nothing with the American People, republican electorate and beats guite out there winning . The fact is this. Unlike the democrats, we actually are going to have rules and theyll be strictly followed. Youre going to so the democrats could argue, unlike the republicans every democratic i talk to, i say what about your convention. They say we dont worry about the rules so much. I like this guy namedcurly, go see him. Matt, thanks for making news tonight. Susan, thanks for laughing at some of this nonsense, jonathan. Fighting for the next big prize, wisconsin, april 5th, and the union vote that comes with it. Fico hasnt endorsed, he is coming here next. Isis trained radicals planning attacks on europe and how dire is the threat here at home. The hardball round table, the ugly fight over their spouses, or with their spouses, trump is picking on cruzs wife and cruz is calling trump a sniveling coward. Any way, let me finish with president obamas opening in cuba. This is hardball, the place for politics. Clears clear
i love to take pictures that engage people. And to connect us with the wonderment of nature. The detail on this surface book is amazing. With the tiger image, the saliva coming off and you got this turning. Thats why i need this kind of resolution and computing power. Being able to use a pen like this. On the screen directly with the image. It just gives me a different relationsh to it. And i cant do that on my mac. This is brilliant for me. As the gop establishment schemes ways to rip the
nomination away from donald trump, Republican Voters arent seeing eye to eye with their partys elites. According to a in you bloomberg poll, 63 of voters say the candidate who collects the most delegates before the convention should win the nomination. Only 33 think delegates at a contested convention should select the nominee. If trump does emerge from the nomination battle, his prospects to win the general look bleak, however. According to a new poll, Hillary Clinton crushes trump by 54 to 36 . Thats impressive. 51 to 42 crews. Only john kasich with a potential matchup, he wins at 47 to her 43 . Well be right back. Let me introduce you to our broker. How much does he charge . I dont know. Okay. Uh, do you get your fees back if youre not happy . dad laughs wow, youre laughing. Thats not the way the world works. Well, the worlds changing. Are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . Wealth management, at charles schwab. And clean and real and inside jokes and school night. Good, clean food pairs well with anything. Try the clean pairings menu. At panera. Food as it should be. Until one ofou clipsect da food truck. Then your rates go through the roof. Perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Were at a time in the primary season, every vote, delegate and
endorsement is prized more than ever in the democratic race, for example, Bernie Sanders is pitching for union support. By knocking Hillary Clinton on trade. We all know that. But here he is again yesterday. Another issue. Secretary clinton and i disagree on, and that is the issue of trade. Now, trade is not a sexy issue. Its not an issue that the media covers virtually at all. It is an enormously important issue. Secretary clinton has supported everyone of these trade agreements, after telling us how great the tpp was, she eventually under said no to it. So far, Hillary Clinton has received the largest share of union support. She is touting her Long Association with organized labor. Here she is. I was made an honorary machinist some years ago. So i feel a particular connection here to my brothers and sisters in the machinists and Aerospace Workers union. I have fought for the right to organize and bargain. I have fought for the middle class. I am no person knew new new to struggle. Im not the latest flavor of the month. Ive been doing this work day in and day out for years. Well, according to an article on vox, sanders has been more consistently aligned with labors political priorities. Fundamentally transaction, rather than ideological. Transpacific partnership, tax reform, back away from education reform, hike the minimum wage and most unions proclaim themselves happy with that on the grounds on whatever they
did, clinton was going to win, so they might as well be team players. Not all the labor leaders, largest, of course, the fico withheld an endorse after the council could not come to a consensus. They were unified, complete opposition to donald trump. A Digital Campaign against him for what they say is his antiunion stance as an employer. Joining me now is the president , richard trumpkin. What is that you see trump as an employer, businessman . Is he a union buster, what is he . Particularly antiunion. He is 100 in favor of right to work. Outsourcing is good. He believes our wages are too high. After 40 years of us having flat wages, he thinks theyre too high. A guy that wanted to destroy companies and pensions like carl icahn would make a great treasury secretary, and he has
been against us. His own employees, when they tried to organize, and they have organized, at a number of his plants, he fights us just like every other antiunion employer does. What do you make of the antitrade stance. Why is he so an tree traantitra. Even a Blind Squirrel finds an acorn once in a while. He has been able to tap into the anger and the frustration of 40 years of bad policies. But when you look at his policies, all he is doing is doubling down on the policies that got us here, and he is a house of cards. Once you explain that to people, the house collapses. Lets talk about thats what we have been doing. Lets talk about new kinds of politicians, left and right or whatever trump is. Bernie sanders is on the left. How would you contrast the appeal who have the real heavy jobs, the hardworking jobs . They seem to be drawn to bernie and trump for different ways. Alien nation fr ali aliennation from the center. I think theyve tapped into the frustration. 40 years of Economic Policy that has denied them chances, denied them raises, put them in a hole and nothing to hope for. What theyre looking for, because were at a crossroads, someone who will give us a path to shared prosperity. When you look at his policies, they dont match that. Bernie talks the lingo, but when you look at his policy, they look at what will help us with this mess. Bernie talks about the needs of people, older people for Social Security benefits to go up, big college debts, he talks about those needs. Trump talks about the country, talks about this nationalism, screw the mexicans, screw the
chinese. I didnt make a lot of money last year, because the country is getting screwed. That seems to be the trump argument on trade and a lot of things. Its masked in bigotry, and dangerous for the country. He masks it with im going to make it right and better. People are looking for hope. They want somebody to make it better. But when you look at his policies, they wont make it better. Theyll double down on what got us here in the first place. I shouldnt be so casual. Why dont you back hillary or bernie and make the best of it . Were in the process of doing that. We have a process. Here is what weve done. Weve encouraged our affiliates, give all the relevant information on every candidate to their memberer ship. What happens if it is a slit. It eventually wont be. T