Defense secretary ash carter called the death a major blow to the terror organization. The removal of this isil leader will hamper the organizations ability to conduct operations both inside and outside of iraq and syria. This is the second senior isil leader this month. John kerry weighing in as well during a visit to brussels, where he was showing american support and solidarity following the terror attacks earlier this week. Kerry said isis is now on the run. Its fantasy caliphate leaders being decimated. Revenue is dwindling, and fighters are fleeing. Brussels have been dominating the news this week, and president ial politics back here at home. President obama has come under intense chr intense criticism for his decision to press ahead with his trips, including a baseball game in cuba. Also, dancing to the tango in argentina, saying the actions sent the wrong message this week, from the president. This week, National Security became a top issue on the campaign trail as well. Ted cruz and donald trump going after the president. We are fed up with a president who is so politically correct, he wont even say radical terrorism. They have no respect for our president or our country right now. Joining me now, con tritt bue tore and editor at large for the atlantic, john stanton, buzzfeed news, and mention that msnmsnbc universal has made an investment in buzzfeed. Thank you both for being here. Steve, lets start with you on news of the day. This is interesting. All week, we are talking about the horrific things happening, that happened in brussels, the aftermath of that. At the same time, the death of the number two isis leader, and john kerry right there saying isis is on the run. Trying to scare thoquare those things, with that statement. What do you make of it . They coexist. I think what john kerry said is right and what ash carter said is right. Were killing top leaders in isis, rolling back territory, making incremental gains, but isis continues to have a whackamole where it can animate activities, it is set up and put in place inside other countries, in this like paris, like in belgium and brussels, and so its going in both directions. And i think, you know, i was just in brussels as you know, and met with leaders there, and what has been interesting after the capture of Salah Abdeslam as that they were astonished at how large the network was, it was larger than they opened. That coexists with the military activities that are going on in syria and iraq that are moving isis in a different direction. Well, let me ask you more about the death here, the killing of hajiimam. Striking leadership is necessary, but as you know, far from sufficient. They are senior, experienced, and so eliminating them is an important objective, and achieves an important result. But they will be replaced. Its that last part, steve im curious about. They will be replaced. We make a big deal, number two has been killed, put all the responsibilities that he had, and now they dont have somebody doing that. But isnt it true that a week from now, a month from now, theyll just be someone else who is number two. Yes and no. Yes, a number two down the road, but when you have someone like the number two, the finance, has a technical granular understanding of the financial apparatus that, you know, spans nations, goes over national boundaries, and operates in a lot of hostile environments. So to take that person who is really a systems integrator, operate in so many different places and move money, deal with supporters, and synthesize all of that, thats not a war fighter. Thats not even a traditional general. Thats someone with a sophistication far higher. I agree with ash, but replacing this individual is harder than he is letting on. John, let me ask you about the politics of all of this. Earlier in the week, when the attacks first happened, the president was in cuba, giving a planned and prepared speech in cuba. He mentioned the attacks at the beginning of it. Some criticism he didnt focus on it enough. His words may not have been strong or tough enough for some. Then the baseball game, the tango, this theme that was emerging, republicans saying, democrats saying this, the president was not showing suffolk us on the threat revealed by the brussels attacks, now the weekends of course with the killing of isis number two. Does this event negate the pr problems the president had earlier in the week . I think so. I think it certainly goes a long way to eliminating that. But the realty is, president obama clearly realizes he is the last couple, like eight months of his presidency, and so pr problems, dont seem to be a thing he is is worrying about any more. He is on air force one, he can operate the government from any where in the world. So while it create ace pr problem and looks bad, the functioning doesnt change much if he is in washington or abroad. So i think for the white house to kind of look at this and say who cares, you know. Maybe the republicans dont like it. It works for their base. It doesnt matter for us. Were not up for reelection. Its going to go away in a week or ten days, and thats probably right. Thats one of the things you get to say in a two term presidency. Steve, what do you make of the criticism from an on the grounds standpoint . The president in cuba, when he gave that address this week, he did, this was the morning of the terror attacks, he started out by telling the audience, if you indulge me for a minute, perfunctory, does that matter how the president speaks about this . Absolutely it matters. Look, i largely agree with president obama that you have to walk and chew gum more creatively in that job than any other job in the world. That said, he didnt set up the country for it. You know, he gave kind of a professor obama style lecture in argentina, a very long response to margaret, who raised the point. He should have intimated some of the issues that were not going to suspend having fun, showing that were about other things, and keeping america, about america not letting isis hijack and stop, you know, who it is and what it is to be american. I think that was a powerful message delivered after the fact. It would have been good for him to intimate some of the issues before the ball game and the kind of images that he knew would come out. Let me ask you about the other party, Republican Party, tweeting about isis, he tweeted, Just Announced as many as 5,000 isis fighters have infiltrated europe, also many in u. S. I told you so. I alone can fix this problem. There is a school of thought, maybe not backed up by data, than a gut feeling, a school of thought that donald trump with this message of strength and power that he is basically running on the power of his personality, an event like this plays to his advantage politically. What do you think of that . I think it does. This is the kind of thing that anybody that is aspiring to be a strong man uses to their advantage. He looks at Something Like this, i told you so, ive been saying the end times are coming, and im the guy that can protect you. The people he is appealing to, they are looking at whats going on at the middle east, attacks here at home, it makes them nervous, theyre not the type of people drawn towards president obama type of leadership necessarily. By coming out and doing this it works well for him i think. Its a perfect thing for donald trump to try to manipulate and take advantage of. Thanks for the time. Thank you, steve. All right, and coming up, the real impact of the latest feud between donald trump and ted cruz. It is getting ugly. Why has some republicans worried about women voters this november. Also, how a trump nomination could determine which controls the senate and house. Also, youre going to be seeing a lot of talk about political cheese heads over the next couple of weeks. Turning point for both parties in the 2016 race. Abdominal pain. Diarrhea. Xifaxan can help. Prescription xifaxan is a 2week treatment that can provide you with 6 to 24 weeks of relief from your ibsd symptoms. Specifically, relief from diarrhea and abdominal pain associated wh ibsd. Do not use xifaxan if you have a history of sensitivity to rifaximin, rifamycin antibiotic agents or any components of xifaxan. Tell your doctor right away if your diarrhea worsens while tang xifaxan as this may be a sign of a serious or even fatal condition. 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Were going to be looking at the hard math in the fight for delegates. And the potential path to victory that are out there for trump and everyone else. Also, the politics of wisconsin. Thats the big Battle Ground right now. Why that states upcoming primary could be a pivot point for both parties. The socalled down ballot effect. If donald trump does win the nomination, could it mean the republicans will lose control of the senate, and even the house of representatives. But were going to started to with women voters and the impact of the feud with donald trump and ted cruz, involving their wives. Trump eventually retweeting this unflattering picture of cruzs wife, wheidi, who called trump sniffling coward. You know, in the last few days, donald trump has taken to attacking heidi. Ill let him speak for himself, but ill tell you, i think heidi is the most beautiful, loving mom, incredible wife, and she is my best friend in the whole world. I love you with all of my heart. One impact of this fight, it is renewed questions about trumps potential problem with women voters. Especially if he becomes the republican nominee, and runs against Hillary Clinton. A recent poll, this was conducted before this weeks spat, shows that 73 of female voters hold an unfavorable view of trump. That is worst than any candidate, democratic or republican. This has been building for some time now. Way back in the very first republican debate, last august, trump was asked about past comments he made about women, including rosie odonnell. During the campaign, he has taken heat for calling Hillary Clinton shrill, and for saying this about clintons 2008 loss to barack obama. I may win, i may not win. Hillary, thats not a president. Thats not. She is not taking us. Everything that has been involved in hillary has been losses. You take a look. Even her race to obama. She was going to beat obama. She was favored to win, and she got sclonged. She lost. More recently, this ad from a republican super pac, with women reading trumps own words about women. Beca dog. Fat pig. A person who is flat chested is very hard to be a ten. I would like her right in the fat ugly face of her. Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that. And there are signs now that trump could pay a steep price in a general election against Hillary Clinton for all of this. He trails her in polling right now by 27 points among women voters, according to the nbc wall street journal poll. Senior political reporter, he i heidi. Let me start with this. I had katrina pearson, a National Spokesman on and i asked her directly, would this spat with ted cruz over their wives, would Donald Trumps comments about women hurt him in the general election. This is what trumps spokeswoman had to say about that. No, i dont think so. Weve been hearing this for a long time. The gop didnt have women problems imagine magically in 2. He is going to continue to win women, because they care more about the education of their children, safety and security and jobs in this country. Heidi, do you buy that . I think that katrina probably speaks for a small minority of women, while what she says is true. That donald trump is winning the women vote in many of these races, its in a very crowded field and it is not symbolic. General electorate, which you know, the numbers speak for themselves on that. In terms of the 78 number, there is another poll showing 50 have a very negative view of him. Those are numbers that will be hard to change. Let me just add this, steve. As a woman, let me try to explain a little bit whats going on behind the numbers. You know, democrats have been trying to prosecute on women for a long time. Donald trump walks right into that. He takes it from politics to personal. There is not a woman out there, or very few, who dont remember kind of the eighth grade bully who called her ugly or fat. Thats bipartisan. Women remember that guy and dont like him. Its visceral. He is making himself into t character on both sides of the political aisle. Polling showing trump losing among women if he were running against Hillary Clinton 25, 30 points, in that ballpark. In 2012, for some context here, obama beat romney by 11 points, so trump much worse than romney did in 2012. Here is an interesting story. In the New York Times magazine this week, headline is look out for the trump pivot. He is not talking specifically about trump and women, but what he is talking about here is basically if donald trump gets the republican nomination, he will reinvent himself. We will see a very different donald trump in the fall than were seeing running for the republican nomination, and part of the basis of that would be that donald trump has already in this campaign reinvented himself in so many ways. So when you think about Donald Trumps ability to reinvent himself and be a chameleon in a lot of ways, does it give him potential to undo the problems with women voters in the fall . I dont know about the undoing, steve. But i do expect a pivot. Not just with regards to women, but also, with regards to immigration, perhaps also with regards to financial policy. But what were seeing here is even now, his comments about women are outrageous, but his policies are the most moderate out of all of the gop candidates, so he is prolife, but not as prolife as the other candidates. He is open to having planned planned parenthood. He just doesnt want funding for it. So in terms of issues, i can see where hell hook onto the ledge and say hey, im for women. But you know, beyond the issues, lets not forget that women out vote men. Weve been out voting men since the 1980s. 64 as opposed to 60 in 2012. A trump candidacy in the general election may mobilize women, especially democratic women, who we know already turn out at higher rates to turn out even more so. So i think the question here is about turnout we know that republicans are already at a slight disadvantage, and my money is on trump pivoting, but lets not take our eye out of the turnout. What about the language he uses . When is he asked about this himself, it seems he falls back on a few words, he uses the word cherish. He says ill protect him. Specific words, do you think they have any particular effect . I think that i do. Sorry. Sorry. Just really quickly. In the cherish and love women, i patternle, if he is not, he is incredibly smart. Hell tone it down. General election, if he gets the nomination, he cant acceptsend these tweets. But the question is what is the memory of those women on the fence or in the gop. Are they going to remember all of the things he said about women in the past . That for me is the big question going forward. Heidi, you were going to say . I just think that the words cherish, i mean, that sounds very positive, but i think for a lot of women who are already inclined to view him negatively, thats just another example of him objectifying women and they are objects. Theyre critical already of his choice of his third wife as a super model and i just, i think that thats not going to necessarily be something that he can pivot on. Especially when you peel back the poll numbers, and you look at the fact, like i said, 50 , very unfavorable. If you talk to people like katie packer, the antitrump super pac who cut that ad, she says 50 of women who saw that ad when they did a trial run, said it was new information to them. So the question is are those republican women then going to all of a sudden forget what they viewed in the context of this general election . Are they going to stay home . Are they going to cross over and vote for Hillary Clinton, which i think some of them might. Considering the fact that the democrats are going to do everything they can to keep all of these images before those women and the run up to the general. There is also the issue before we get to the general of how this could affect the republican race in the here and now. The other dynamic is with this dust up over the wives, ted cruz is using this as an opportunity to try to stand up publicly to donald trump. So it sparked an Interesting Exchange here with hallie jackson, our reporter, where ted cruz called trump a sniveling coward. Let me play the exchange and see what you make of that. So yes or no . Will you vote for him . If he is the nominee. I will say this. I dont make a habit out of supporting people, who attack my wife and attack my family. So previously, cruz had been saying, look, even if donald trump is the nominee, im for him. That may be changing right now. Is there an effect in this republican primary race, vicky, that you see . I do. I think that the line in the sand has been drawn. Cruz is saying im not going to support trump. You know what . Th