Who do you like better, obama or trump . [ cheers and applause ] i dislike obamas policies more. I see. But Donald Donald is a unique individual. [ laughter ] i will say i was watching the early part of the show and if i were in my car and getting ready to reverse and saw donald in the backup camera [ laughter ] im not confident which pedal id push. All right. Wow. Willie, ted cruz getting laughs there. I was going to say, when ted cruz becomes the darling of the comedy late night circuit and
media, thats something. You know things are getting better. He was good on that show, though. That was relaxed ted cruz, he was funny, very good on kimmel. Hes been human for about two days in a row. Has he really . Yeah, he said a couple of actually fairly warm moments for ted cruz. Really . Hes funny in general, though, you know in gaggles with the press and on the stump hes got a sense of humor. So when youre talking to him on the stump, when hes talking to you, does he say nick does he do the shakespearean stuff or just kind of talk . Just kind of talks and makes star trek jokes he. Hes a fun guy. Said no one who ever knew him. Good morning, its thursday, march 31. Mika in the south of france. But with us on set, veteran columnist in, vets ra veteras he . Legendary. Also writer for the New York TimesNick Confessore whos
been called in the wall street journal disingenuous . And maligned. I think they nailed you. Im a very nice person. Also former advisor to senator rand paul and now a contributor to Time Magazine and msnbc political analyst elise jordan. In madison, wisconsin, managing editor of Bloomberg Politics, Mark Halperin and in milwaukee, senior White House Correspondent chris jansing. I want to start, though, willie, i spoke to its like hes got a crystal ball, right . You remember are you old enough to remember romper room. Sure, oh, yeah. They look through that crystal ball and they say i see will lif willie. Of course. In politics, 2016, thats Mark Halperin. Yes. And i talked to mark two or three days ago and he was getting that crystal ball thing and he goes i feel a
separation. [ laughter ] between cruz and trump. I said the polls say 31 31 . He goes i feel a separation. It felt like ted cruz was gaining momentum. Boom. The marquette poll. A lot of people know halperin was the fill in host on romper room from 78 to 81. The mr. Green jeans scandal took him off Childrens Television forever. I didnt think we were going to get into that. The statute of limitations. Lets talk about this poll. The marquette poll has ted cruz vaulting into the lead up 21 points since last month at 40 . That gives him a 10point lead over donald trump. John kasich up 13 points to 21 . So Mark Halperin, donald trump was at 30 points percent right there a month ago in the same poll. Ted cruz was down at 19 points
so when all those other people got out of the race it looks like that support swung not to donald trump but to ted cruz. Well, look, this state is unusual for a lot of reasons in terms of trumps ability to replicate what hes done elsewhere and as i drove around the state in a buick with a ouija with board talking to folks it became pretty clear that ted cruz has organized in this state and that youve got members of the establishment, the talk Radio Community and others who see this as a stop trump movement. This is the norm, right . Trump has not had an existential moment on his march to dominance in the nomination fight. This is a state where they understand they play a unique role. Theyre voting by themselves on tuesday and i think youre seeing an effort here with advertising from outside groups, local talk radio, and an electorate thats not, in many ways, made for trump with a lot of suburban women, thats setting up to be a real test for
him, a real challenge as he continues to fight to win the state, sending a lot of time here. Mike barnicle, hes been hammered with horrific news. Well get to last nights event. But the day before that he spent the day defending Campaign Manager from battery charges. Hes got that. Hes got Corey Lewandowski doing what . Allegedly grabbing a woman, a reporter. We were talking yesterday about how exactly the Corey Lewandowski situation would play out and said in some republican primaries it would be trump being trump, defending his man no problem. But i think it was Steve Kornacki that talked about the problem with women, the gender its not a gender gap,
its going turn into a jengende canyon. So add on top of that the story were getting to in a minute and insurmountable may soon be too big of a toward describe this relationship. I think the narrative has been set that donald trump is a misogynist and i dont think he can escape it. Its become too entrenched. This news cycle to date has been so damaging over the course of the past week. We didnt even get into heidi cruz and the allegations of the five mistresses, completely unsubstantiated with ted cruz and then Corey Lewandowski and now women who get abortions should be punished. So hes just donald trump has gone pretty medieval and people women certainly dont like what they are hearing. How does medieval play in peoria, thats the question this morning, nick . Which peoria . On the wrong side of the tracks . But he could not have picked a worse way to end a four, five, sixday run on this battle with women. And especially in wisconsin. Look, i think wisconsin is the state that keeps hope alive for the establishment that wants to beat him. If he wins wisconsin its game over but if he can be stopped it keeps alive the prospect of beating him and its not a traditional purple state. It has a strong left and strong right wing. So i think its just dumb to have gone into it with this clumsy attempt i think to reach out to conservatives by taking what seems like a liberals caricature of a conservatives place on abortion thampl. Thats whats painful about it. Donald trump hasnt spent enough time with prolifers and is pandering to what they hate the most. This was ripped by not just
democrats but prolifers and conservatives. Donald trump walked into a storm of criticism after this exchange with Chris Matthews on abortion. You say abortion is a crime or abortion is murder you have to deal with it under the law. Should abortion be punished . Well, people in certain parts of the Republican Party and conservative republicans would say yes, they should be punished. How about you . I would say that its a very serious problem and its a problem that we have to decide on. Is but youre for banning it. Are you going to say put them in jail . Im asking you. Because you say you want to ban it. What does that mean . I am pro life, yes. How do you ban abortion . How do you do it . You go back to a position like they had where people will perhaps to go to illegal places. Yeah. But you have to ban it. But the church makes their moral judgments. You running for president of the United States will be chief executive of the United States. Do you believe in punishment for abortion . Yes or no, as a principle . The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. For the woman . Yeah, there has to be some form. Ten cents . Ten years, what . That i dont know. Why not, you take positions on Everything Else. I do take positions on Everything Else. Its a complicated position. A fine, imprisonment for a young woman who finds herself pregnant . It will have to be determined and it hasnt been determined. Wahat about the guy who get hearse pregnant . Is she responsible for an abortion . It hasnt different feelings, different people. I would say no. Okay, were going to sift through that in just a second. But first some of the reaction to this that aired last night but it was shot in the afternoon. The clip went out and backlash was swift from all corners, including many president ial candidates. Should women who get abortions be punished . Of course not and donalds comments are the latest demonstration that he hasnt thought seriously about the problems facing this country that hes willing to say anything to try to get elected. Absolutely not. I do have exceptions for rape, insist, and life of the mother but of course women shouldnt be punished. I think donald trump will figure out a way to say he didnt say it or he was misquoted or whatever but i dont think so. What donald trump said today was outrageous and dangerous and, you know, im constantly just taken aback at the kinds of things that he advocates for. Maya angelou said when someone shows you who they are, believe them. He has showed us who he is. Women have the right to control their own bodies and they have the right to make those personal decisions themselves. But to punish a woman for having an abortion is beyond comprehension and i dont know what world this person lives in. Donald trump united both antiabortion rights advocates and abortion rights supporters. Groups like planned parenthood and march more life alike speaking out against trumps position. He did say he was going to
bring america together. He did. And he did in the this case. To give you a sample, march for life, which is against abortion said women who have chosen abortion need healing and compassion, not punishment. Shortly after donald trump made the comments, he issued a statement saying this two hours later he put out a second clarification saying its really great communicating when youre releasing statement after statement after statement to clarify what you said. Do you think he understands the pro life position . Not at all. I think hes trying to pander and doing it very poorly, as he
demonstrated yesterday. He doesnt know anything about any policy issue, from Foreign Affairs to anything domestic. Thats just what this campaign has established by this point. Well, you know, Mark Halperin, the fact is, for the first 60 years of his life donald trump is prochoice and he was very comfortable speaking about a womans right to choose when he was prochoice. I think what we have here is somebody that doesnt have the a all the angles of the prolife view point and, again, appears to have come to this decision late in life and some people would say that he is pandering to conservatives. But clearly doesnt understand what even prolife groups want. And im just wondering, you stack up everything that has happened over the past week, are
we as people who have always mocked the media for saying well, this time trump may have really done it. Are you and i, Mark Halperin, in a position here to say the last four or five days have been so bad for the Trump Campaign that we actually may be seeing something that could turn this tide against him in a very significant way . It may be. You know, in politics we talk about information flow, what people are hearing about donald trump now in the free media and the earned media. By the way, he didnt have a ouija board for that answer, he had magic 8 ball and it said maybe. [ laughter ] for maybe. Im hearing now from very smart republican operatives who have wanted donald trump to fail, who predicted for months that he would saying they feel this is different and theyre buttressed by the wisconsin poll that shows him down 10. If he lose this is state by 10 or more, which is possible now, it would be his worst loss since
iowa and it will come at a time when electability is at the forefront, when youre already seeing some republicans distancing themselves from him. And when the campaign is in some turmoil. A normal campaign, if the Campaign Manager were arrested for battery, would be in absolute disarray and its testament to trumps strength and this one man band that he is that he is soldiering on. Hes fighting to do well this this state. He does have the northeast coming up. You look at polls in new york and pennsylvania and elsewhere, trump has good contests coming up. But this is the low point of his campaign right now in many ways. This is the low point of his campaign but, again, willie, hes going to home territory and a lot of northeast states where hell be very strong and weve got a new poll that just crossed the wires speaking to that strength in the northeast. Just got one from Quinnipiac University a poll, new yorks primary is april 19, new numbers trump up huge, 56 . Ted cruz at 20 , john kasich at 19 in new york. On the democratic side, Hillary Clinton has a 12point lead over senator Bernie Sanders, 54 42 among likely voters. This poll was taken from march 22 until tuesday. Thats tighter than you might expect on the democratic side for a senator. So chris jansing, what can you report to us about what you are seeing and what you are hearing out of wisconsin . Well, i think what mark said is absolutely right. Theres longtime political operatives here who feel Something Different in the air. This is a state where Republican Voters are strongly pro life, its an act i have Prolife Movement here. And look at the poll. You have 10 points but also a lot of these events that were talking about happened since this poll was taken. Certainly the Corey Lewandowski stuff, the comments yesterday on abortion. He came into a state, he trash
talked the two most popular republicans in the state, the governor, who even though walkers, i think, approval in this marquette poll is at 42 , 43 , hes still very popular with the conservative base and paul ryan to go to his hometown and say the kinds of negative things he said about him. So the people im talking to here on the ground think that lead could grow for ted cruz and some see perhaps more of an opening with john kasich. Theyre looking at potentially record turnout here. Kasich could do very well in madison, could grow numbers here. And, remember, this is a Congressional District, apportionment of delegates so theyre looking at the possibility that kasich could even possibly and maybe this is a little pie in the sky for the antitrump forces but could even win more delegates. This is something thats very volatile right now and these events that were talking about happened after these poll numbers were taken where hes already down ten points. And thats obviously in wisconsin that also is in the
new york pool in we showed, the quinnipiac poll. Mike, as i heard the abortion comments yesterday, and it was very clear he had not thought through the abortion position and even when you talk about banning abortion, i dont hear that talk that much. What i hear is taking the issue back to the states from conservatives which is what they got three hours later but you and i have both seen bob at the rotary club and everybody likes bob and hes a good Small Businessman and people keep telling bob over 20 years, bob, you should run for congress. And finally bob decides he would be because hes a good old guy and he goes out there and talks about the importance of Small Business and less taxes and less regulations and then they always ask bob the rotarian a question. And because hes only been doing this for six months which
trump has been doing it for nine months on a much larger scale bob the rotarian says the most horrifying thing that makes you look in the paper and go oh, my god, how could bob the rotarian be that smart in so many other areas but so damn stupid in this area . And the reason why is because hes bob the rotarian and he picked this up as a hobby late in life. You cant pick up golf late in life. Your swing is going to stuck. Im sorry. You better have started swinging when you were eight or nine years old as a golfer. Tennis is hard to pick up late in life. Running for president of the United States, even tougher. Even tougher than if youre bob the rotarian in your 50s deciding youre going to congress. But you havent actually followed politics closely and there are these blind spots and they always come out and they came out yesterday for donald trump in the most horrible
national stage possible for him. Well, lets talk about bob trump bob trump decides to rub for the presidency of the United States and hes surrounded by people who have been doing it professionally, politicians, their entire lives. And he cleans their clock. And this adds to his already considerable ego, his already considerable sense of narcissism. Because let me say, donald trump is not bob the rotarian. Donald trump, as i think it was dan pfeiffer said, he has run both the greatest and the worst president ial campaign in modern american history. And its true. Donald trump has done things no other politician that we have ever seen can do. Heres what dan said trump is one of the best and absolute worst president ial candidates in modern political history. And donald has done it all in nine months. Its been a deathdefying act that nobody on the planet could do. So hes up there on the stage and then it dawns on him, slowly
but surely, physically its an exhausting process, running for president. Mentally its incredibly taxing. If you are a solo flight, which donald trump is its doubly troubling. Hes an inch deep on every issue. He threw out that maybe we should give Japan Nuclear weapons a couple days ago, maybe during the Chris Matthews things. He says so many things that are eventually, inevitably and finally boom. Its such an exhausting process and hes a solo act, Mark Halperin. Hes got hope hicks that does the press stuff but youve got Corey Lewandowski whos been his solo act. For this week hes been distracted. And i was just thinking general hayden was on yesterday and he
was talking about advising jeb b