Kornacki in new york in for chuck todd. Welcome to mtp daily. Its another manic monday here at the place for politics. In an actionpacked night coming up, look at this, backtoback town halls on msnbc, starting at 8 00 eastern. Chris hayes will host an msnbc president ial town hall with Bernie Sanders. Soon as thats done, 9 00 p. M. Eastern, Rachel Maddow hosts a town hall with frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Both democrats, backtoback, right here on msnbc starting at 8 00 tonight. But this hour, we begin this hour with the art of the deal on the republican side. This is between trumps two remaining rivals, ted cruz and john kasich. And donald trump has just wrapped up a rally in pennsylvania. This, part of a threestop blitz today of rhode island and pennsylvania. Those are two of the five states that are going to be holding primaries tomorrow. Trump has spent the day in fullon retaliation mode after cruz and kasich announced an alliance against him in several key battleground states. Trump fired up crowds in rhode island earlier today, slamming the cruzkasich partnership as a fraud. If you collude in the stock market, they put you in jail. But in politics, because its a rigged system, because its a corrupt enterprise, in politics, youre allowed to collude. So they colluded and actually i was happy. Because it shows how weak they are, it shows how pathetic they are. And if you remember all that recent talk from the Trump Campaign about trump maybe toning it down a little, well, not today. Trump today unleashed insult after insult against cruz and also kasich, reserving his nastiest and most personal attack for kasich. He has a News Conference all the time when hes eating. I have never seen a human being eat in such a disgusting fashion. Hes a stubborn guy, like if you have a child that just says i want it, mommy, i dont care, mommy i want it daddy i dont care, i want it thats all he is. Both candidates spoke to reporters about trumps criticism of what he calls collusion. I dont doubt that donald trump is going to scream and yell and curse and insult and probably cry and whine some as well. Donald trump is saying that you are colluding. We expect to hear that from him again and again on the campaign trail. I understand that donald will whine. Thats what he does. Donald is a sore loser. And heres what kasich told nbcs Peter Alexander today during a Campaign Stop in philadelphia. Is it collusion . Is it what does that even mean . Does he know what that means . The two of you are teaming up to compete against donald trump . No, the two of us are competing to win the nomination and to get and to make sure that we can steward our resources so that we can stop Hillary Clinton. The chaos and craziness were seeing on the campaign trail today speaks to the urgency of this moment in the republican primary. This is a lastditch effort, maybe the lastditch effort to stop donald trump. But for this pact to even have a chance of working, kasich and cruz have to be on the same page. And right now it doesnt look like they are. We are less than 24 hours since this agreement was sealed, and it already appears to be fraying. Day one of this alliance started with cruz taking a shot at kasich right out of the gate with reporters today. Cruz was hardly gracious about the deal. This is how he characterized the news of their partnership. It is big news today that john kasich has decided to pull out of indiana, to give us a headtohead contest with donald trump. That is good for the men and women of indiana, its good for the country. Were focusing our energy on the state of indiana. And governor kasich is focusing his energies elsewhere. Meanwhile, kasich downplayed the pact when talking about reporters today and insisted that his supporters should still vote for him, and not vote for cruz, in indiana. Are you gonna directly tell your voters in indiana to support ted cruz . No, no, im not going to tell anybody how to vote. I dont see this as any big deal, other than the fact that im not going to spend resources in indiana, hes not going to spend them in other places. So what . Whats the big deal . So who should your supporters vote for in indiana . Ive never told them not to vote for me. They ought to vote for me. At the same time kasich was saying that, his own cochair in indiana was saying something very different, telling a local newspaper in indiana that, quote, kasich is asking his supporters in indiana to vote for cruz, so trump does not win indiana. And cruz will do the same in oregon and new mexico. Now, all of this confusion is generating some rough headlines with the New York Times noting how quickly the cruzkasich partnership has begun to weaken and trump mocking both his opponents just moments ago. So they made a deal, but like every politician, they dont know how to make deals. So they make a deal and cruz is thinking that kasich doesnt want any votes from indiana. Kasich this morning said, what are you talking about . I want people in indiana to vote for me. In other words, he broke the deal. He broke the deal. And all of this chaos is falling on a rather curious day on the republican calendar. The day is exactly four years to the day from the moment that mitt romney was declared the presumptive nominee by the Republican National committee. Well take a deep dive inside the cruzkasich strategy in just a moment at the big board. But were going to kick things off with katy tur who is on the road with the Trump Campaign and joins us from wilkesbarre, pennsylvania. Donald trumps strategy in the face of this new strategy from his opponent is to say theyre ganging up on him, theyre teaming up, its unfair, its part of this rigged argument hes trying to make. Reporter yeah, i talked to a senior aide this morning and he said it was playing right into the Trump Campaigns hands. That the whole argument theyve been making for weeks now, that this is a rigged system, its unfair, its out to get an outsider like trump, and it works to the favor of the insiders, like cruz and kasich and that the party is doing everything it can to stop donald trump from getting the no nomination at the convention. So this alliance plays into that message and one that supporters have been receptive too, because theres a feeling among many Trump Supporters that washington has left them behind, that theyre not serving the voters best interest. And part of the reason why they like donald trump so much, they believe hes something so different and they trust the businessman over the politicians theyre seen in the past. But the word of the day is collusion. Donald trump hit it a number of times at his rally in rhode island earlier today, a number of times at his rally in pennsylvania. I want to play a few of the sound bites for you right now. Take a listen. Did you see the news today . Did you see where they banned together, its collusion. If you collude in the stock market or in business, they put you in jail. If you collude when they use collusion 15 times using the word collude or collusion. He also used it in his Statement Last night. Hes used it in tweets. Obviously collusion in business is collusion. In politics, its just business as normal. Its something that his supporters are agreeing with so far. Well see how this plays out in the polls in indiana. The northeast, as you know, looks really good for the donald Trump Campaign. All right, katy tur, yeah, its one of those words that sounds devious. I think youll hear it a lot from donald trump Going Forward. Katy tur, thank you. Lets turn to the big board to look more at the Practical Implications for the alliance between kasich and cruz. Indiana is more important to cruz in the entire stop Trump Movement than it is to trump. Remember, a couple weeks ago there was talk that cruz and the stop Trump Movement had momentum, cruz cut the delegate gap to less than 200. It ballooned to nearly 300 with new york last week. We could get a lot out of rhode island, everything out of delaware, most of maryland, if we wins pennsylvania, 17. The unbound, well talk about it another time. But donald trump tomorrow could take an additional hundred or more delegates. That lead over ted cruz could being back to 400 at the end of the day tomorrow and that is what sets up indiana. That is what makes it so critical, and thats where this deal came from, a recognition on the part of ted cruz and john kasich and every republican out there who does not want to see donald trump be the nominee. A recognition that if donald trump does what hes expected to do tomorrow, then rolls into indiana and wins there, there is probably no stopping him at that point. Why . Take a look at how they give out the delegates in indiana. 57 total. If you win the state of indiana, even by a vote, even by one vote, you get 30 of those 57. The others are given out by congressional district, theres nine of them. You see them colorcoded right here. Three per congressional district. So this is what has made the Cruz Campaign in particular nervous. Theyve seen the polls in indiana that show donald trump leading, ted cruz second, but trump is short of 50 , well short of 50 , and they see the possibility there, can kasich looming, getting 15, 20, 22 of the vote, Something Like that, that donald trump could win the state with a plurality of the vote. Say a 4038 win over ted cruz. Even a plurality win for trump like that, two points over ted cruz, hed get all 30 delegates for winning the state. Probably take most of the congressional districts, probably 48 or more delegates out of indiana. The big win in new york, the expected big win tomorrow, then 48 or more out of indiana, hed be polling far away in the delegate race at that point. Also the issue of he would look like a winner at that point. He would have beaten cruz in a state that looked like it should be a cruz state. These would be the states left to come. Trump would still have work to do to get to 1,237. But hed look unstoppable at this point. The cruz and kasich people know this. Donald trump needs to lose in indiana for that stop trump for the stop trump forces to be able to look at the rest of the states and say, yeah, guys, we are still in this, we can stop him at the convention. So, indiana, its stand alone, its next week, may 3rd. Its a huge event to circle your calendars for in american politics. For more on this unprecedented, uneasy alliance, ill bring in trend duffy with the Kasich Campaign and jack kingston, a Cruz Campaign surrogate. Getting some mixed messages here, sounds like from the Kasich Campaign. His state chair in indiana saying the message from john kasich is saying, vote for ted cruz in that state. But the candidate, john kasich himself was asked about that today. He said voters in indiana, quote, ought to vote for me. So whats the answer to a voter in indiana right now . Is it vote for kasich anyway . Or is it hey, you got to go with cruz to stop trump . Were not telling anybody how to vote. Whats important is governor kasich canceled his events in indiana. So thats the best evidence that this agreement is Going Forward and the kasich team is going to live by that. What this is really about, 63 of Republican Voters who dont want donald trump to be the nominee and whats more, the 67 negative, unfavorability rating donald trump has in a general election. He would get crushed by Hillary Clinton and we lose the senate, we lose the Supreme Court, and thats what is really going on here. Were working to make sure that the 63 of Republican Voters have a voice at the convention to demonstrate that they do not want donald trump to be the nominee, because it would be a dooms day scenario for the republican party, not just in november, but for years and years to come, with the kind of image problem that we would continue to suffer as a party. I want to press the point, because it almost sounds like theres a little winking going on at the voters here. But are you telling somebody in indiana who likes john kasich and who doesnt want to see trump as the nominee, that they are doing a disservice to that cause if they vote for kasich in indiana . We have said were not telling voters how to vote. John kasich canceled his appearances in indiana. Hes moving west to new mexico and oregon. Oregon on thursday. And thats what we talked about with the Cruz Campaign. Thats why we think its a Winning Strategy moving forward so that donald trump cannot get the majority of delegates. Thats what were talking about here. 37 of republicans have voted for donald trump, millions more have voted against him. We feel that they have a right to have their voices heard in cleveland. Jack kingston, let me bring you in on the cruz standpoint. Ted cruz has been saying for as long as i can remember now, probably about two months, if he could get that oneonone fight with donald trump, he will win. Well, hes going to get the oneonone fight now in indiana. John kasich is pulling out, not campaigning, not spending money, not going to have super pac money there. If donald trump still wins indiana in the face of that, what will that say . Well, what it will say is the oneonone really does work for ted cruz because people get more of a spotlight on donald trump, and they realize that hes got more flip flops than daytona beach, whether its planned parenthood, supporting the gang of 8, whether its supporting Hillary Clinton, he goes back and forth. But what im asking you, though, what happens we have the polling, we can maybe put it up on the screen. There was a poll from fox on friday that showed trump leading by eight points over cruz. You take kasich out. Ask, who is the second choice. Trump is still leading indiana even with kasich out of that poll. So if you get that oneonone matchup that ted cruz has been talking about, that youre saying is so favorable to cruz, and trump still wins, is that a point where we can look at the republican race and say its over . No. I think actually that were going to do really well in indiana. Were not telling anybody how to vote, but were going to put a lot of resources in indiana. Were going to get some votes tomorrow. As you know, donald trump still needs about 400 votes to win. But if he is so upset about cruz and kasich, then why doesnt he agree on a debate . And what conservatives want to know about, where are his taxes . Why wont he come clean on things like this is Foreign Policy, his statement on israel, and his support of Hillary Clinton . We think a oneonone, cruz versus trump will be very good for the whole process. And we believe we will get that opportunity in indiana. But he still has to get over 400 or almost 400 delegates to wrap this thing up. And the math just is not there. And any time that donald trump starts falling behind, he always says, its the process, its rigged, its corrupt, its politicians. You cant have it both ways. Its that same process that right now has given him more delegates than anyone else, but you dont hear any of the other candidates who have fallen behind, particularly those who have dropped out, belly ache. He winning in delegates, but hes winning in the whining. And i think the American People are getting tired of it. The word of the day from donald trump is collusion. Hes saying its unfair, that hes being ganged up on, but how do you think this looks . Does this make donald trump look strong to a voter who is seeing this and saying, doesnt look like ted cruz can beat him oneonone, he needs the assist from john kasich. And john kasich needs the assist from ted cruz. They need to go two on one on beat this guy. The word of the day is dooms day. Thats what would happen if donald trump was the nominee. Nge theres at great sense of remorse from 30 states. The Hillary Clinton has to be toasting in their offices right now, you cannot undo his skyhigh negatives. The same question to you then, in the face of everything youre saying that has now come out in new hampshire, in the skyhigh general election negative numbers, if theres a one onone matchup in indiana something cruz has been talking about forever, you got it in indiana. If trump still wins indiana in the face of everything youre saying and in a oneonone fair fight, is it fair to say this guy is going to be the republican nominee . If donald trump wins the majority of delegates in cleveland, that 1,237, then he has earned the nomination. We dont think thats going to happen. We think hes going to come up short for all the reasons we just mentioned. We have no idea where he stands on his positions. He still hasnt outlined a Foreign Policy that makes any sense whatsoever. And i think that the more people that look at this and as we head to cleveland and look what kind of dooms day scenario that were talking about again, the people gathered in cleveland are going to say, no, we cant have this guy. If he gets the majority in cleveland, then he gets the nomination. Thats why we think we can stop him. Thank you both for the time. Appreciate it. Coming up, Bernie Sanders hammers Hillary Clinton on her ties to wall street as his road to nomination narrows. Well have the latest as both candidates get ready for the exclusive town halls here on msnbc tonight and later, two of tomorrows primary states have some seriously nasty senate fights that are going to be decided tomorrow as well. Could they decide whether democrats have a shot at taking control of that chamber . Stay tuned. Wrely on the Us Postal Service . Because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. 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