and study group. good, clean food pairs well with anything. try the clean pairings menu. at panera. food as it should be. good morning, everyone. i'm joy reid coming to you live from msnbc world headquarters in new york city. today's top story, the capture of one of the world's most wanted. an alleged plotter in the paris terrorist attacks was arrested yesterday after dramatic firefight outside of brussels. the man, 26-year-old saleh abda salam was taken alive. now, he has been on the run for the last four months and believed to be the last surviving suspect in the nova tax that left 130 people dead. joining me from brussels is christopher dickey, former editor for the daily beast. talk about the significance of

wrapping up this investigation, all ten plotters either dead or captured. >> you know what's really significant is that as they have come close to wrapping it up and getting this guy they have been searching for four months, they realized there were a lot more people than originally thought. in fact, president francois holland said exactly that a while ago. i think they're concerned they're looking at a much broader network than at first they hoped they were dealing with. and they're hoping -- now they've got him in their hands and he'll tell them a lot about it. >> is there a sense, christopher, the problem we're seeing in brussels and france is tied to the war in syria directly, or is it some sort of other kind of i guess one-off sort of isis-related sort of terrorist plots? >> reporter: well, no. it's tied to the war in syria, but not in the way you might think. it's not as if the attacks in paris were taking place because people said we're doing this, so that you will do something about

syria. syria had become -- has become an area where people who want to join a certain kind of jihad, a certain kind of fight can go to train and to prove their mettle. and some of them are sent back to the lands of their birth or where they were brought up, france, belgium, other countries, to try and take the fight home to those places. but it's all about building the caliphate. it's all about building this new islamic empire that's being dreamed of by the people in syria. >> christopher, we're seeing obviously the great success by the authorities in belgium in wrapping up this particular cell. is europe stepping up in a way that will relieve the united states of sort of primary responsibility of trying to root this particular vein of terrorism out, or do you see this becoming america's problem in some way? >> reporter: well, it's going to be -- it is america's problem. it's going to be america's problem. and it's probably going to get worse at some point. because among other things, we've got competing groups.

we don't just have isis, the so-called islamic state. we also have the old al qaeda and new al qaeda spinoffs. usually they have some kind of local agenda. but then you have these situations where they want to create -- they want to attack the far enemy, the united states, or europe. and so i think we're all at risk. >> yeah, unfortunately it goes on. always good to talk to you, christopher dickey, thank you to coming to us from brussels, belgium. meanwhile, president obama's supreme court nomination of judge merrick garland has triggered a political showdown with senate republicans who have vowed to block any supreme court nominee put forward by this president. according to our nbc news poll, only 28% approve of senate republicans' obstruction of the president's nominee and that number changes dramatically, depending on the political party you're talking about. only 8% of democrats approve of the obstruction versus 55% of republicans. the nomination hasn't only drawn a challenge from the gop.

here is senator bernie sanders on what he would do with the garland nomination if elected president. >> if you get the democratic nomination and you were elected president in november, would you ask president obama to withdraw that nomination in the lame duck so you could name your own nominee? >> yes, i would. and i think i'm 100% prepared to support judge garland. i think he's clearly very knowledgeable. and can serve ably on the supreme court. but between you and me, i think there are some more progressive judges out there. >> and joining me now is radio host, and pollster extra their, at seton hall law school and washington, d.c. nbc news and reporter, peri bacon jr. let's go to the new friend first. you heard bernie sanders essentially say he too would oppose this nomination. and if he got the nomination, he

would junk merrick garland? helpful or not helpful? >> i think he's trying to establish what he always says. the left -- the most liberal member of the u.s. senate. that's his base. i think he's trying to make that point. at the same time, he's not saying he's going to go against the president. so he's finding a balance for how he wants to approach this. >> that has been a challenge for bernie sanders overall is the sense of how strongly he is with barack obama. that has actually become sort of an underlying question in his ability particularly to minority voters. >> it has, but as mark alluded to, this is all about base politics. specifically on the democratic side. a lot of democrats are saying why didn't we nominate a progressive? this was the opportunity to do so. and i think you see bernie sanders trying to stick up for that side of the democratic side of the aisle that says we didn't go progressive enough. but i think on the other side, you see barack obama once again, no drama obama, playing it cool as a cucumber saying, all right, gop, merrick garland. top that. >> if you won't seat him, who would you seat?

perry, let's talk about the president's calculation here, assuming he didn't nominate the person he actually wants, right? what could have been the president's calculation in deciding to go for somebody like merrick garland, rather than going for a pick that would have excited the base more? >> it sounds like he really wanted to pick someone who he could imagine -- president obama has been very focused on i'm president for this last year and i'm going to be involved in the campaign, i want to help the democrats win. but i also want to accomplish key goals of my own and for other countries. and a supreme court nominee like this, you heard in obama's speech as he announced garland, he was able to quote twice from orrin hatch, where orrin hatch, senate republicans sort of talking about how great garland was, how garland should be a great choice. so in some ways, this is a choice that my sense is, garland is actually, despite being cast as a moderate, he's going to be for abortion rights, he's going to be for affirmative action, he's going to be for striking down citizens united. i think the white house knows he's a liberal person, but also someone who is also going -- the

republicans have said should be a good person and has been confirmed in the past. so they're trying to really put the republicans in the box here. and i think the white house calculation also is it's not totally clear how many voters actually focused on the supreme court as a voting issue. if if you picked a black woman and the republicans decided to block that person, is that going to make a big impact on the election in any way? voters are motivated by donald trump, by obama, by hillary clinton. it's not clear having a supreme court nominee would change the dynamics of the election that much way. >> i'm not sure i agree with you. but to your point, let's play what harry reid said. how republicans treat barack obama. let's listen to harry reid on that very point. >> republicans are slamming the door on a good man. they once embraced. simply why? because president obama nominated him. that's how they have treated him. overtired presidency. they have done it for going on

seven and a half years. it didn't matter where these ideas came from. it didn't even matter if they came from republicans. >> and mark, doesn't that become the strong argument, here they go again, treating barack obama like he's not the president of the united states. >> there's a pattern. whenever congress stands up and says you lie, going back to the beginning, through this point, the treatment towards the president. and let's remember, it's the president. you know, he is the president of the united states and he's going to do his job throughout his eight years. he was elected twice. the people have had their say. he's going to continue to do his job. the republicans in the senate are acting as if he doesn't have the power. the reality is, as a professor myself, the constitution says he has the power to make the appointment. and the senate has to do its job, advice and consent. they're acting like they don't have to do that. >> here's one thing. we don't give the republicans sometimes credit for strategiry. senator jeff lake of arizona made a statement on fox news on thursday that signals that there is a possibility that the president, if his calculation

was they're not going to seat him anyway, he won't get through and maybe a more progressive nominee by a bernie sanders or hillary clinton, what if that doesn't work out? let's listen to jeff lake real quick. >> if the republicans are not successful in the november election, i hope we are, but if we're not, then we ought to look it at this nomination in a lame duck session in november. i would rather have a less liberal nominee like merrick garland than a nominee that hillary clinton, if she were president, would put forward. >> help me out. could they try to win by losing? >> you know, it's funny, because these guys just keep moving the goal posts. it doesn't matter what the criteria are. the president appoints the supreme court nominee. the senate advise and con sebsc. just do your job. on our radio show, we get a lot of folks saying, you know what, this guy is against gun rights, he wants to overturn the second amendment. let's have a confirmation hearing so we can put him on record and see what the situation is about. >> of course, we know, perry,

it's not as if presidents have tried to make the supreme court and shape to their ideology. it's why they make these nominations. i'm wondering in your reporting, perry, when you're talking to constituency groups, to other democratic base constituencies, what are you hearing? what is the feedback on this nomination there? >> there is some level of feedback, particularly from a lot of black women wanted to see the president -- elect someone who is a black woman. we've never had a black woman in the supreme court. there are some thought that sri would have been a good pick. the president could have taken a more aggressive pick, someone who was sort of more openly progressive and not a white man and not in his 60s. so you kind of have an equivalent of a 50-year-old who could shake the supreme court for 30 or 40 years. so there's some disappointment. at the same time, that's pretty limited. most people sort of feel like they understand the calculation. obama wanting to pick someone who kind of called the

republicans' bluff, someone who was pretty centrist in his decision making, someone who they can object to. some republicans actually said they wanted to see picked for the supreme court. so in some ways, obama called their bluff. and there's a thinking that this is smart politics. and perhaps -- one question sanders got at i think is important. if hillary clinton or sanders won the election in november, what happens then? would the president -- if jeff lake wants the president to stick with garland then, how would the president approach that? would he withdraw as a nomination? and that's an interesting question to come back to. >> i'll ask you that question. do you think that president obama -- let's say hillary clinton or bernie sanders was the nominee. do you think president obama would pressure them to take garland? >> i think he would. because he has said himself, merrick garland happens to be the most qualified person for the job. but i want to go back to another point, if we could. the republicans like to play obstructionist politics. that works in off year elections. what have we seen in 2008, 2012? presidential election years, doesn't work so well. so they're taking a huge gamble.

>> you always know when i'm on with a radio guy. he has perfectly set up our next block with the throw to the next block. we are definitely going to get to that. i'll put up a poll in advance of that. we just put up the 61-36. people want them to take a vote. when you break that down actually by party, it gets really interesting, right? so you have -- do you approve of the republicans not considering republicans, the total is 55% disapprove of it. dems, 79% disapprove of it. let's look at independents, 57% disapprove. >> not only playing with fire, but the key number i look at is 25% of republicans disapprove. a quarter of republicans say stop doing this. and we all have private conversations with our republican friends. they're all tearing their hair out saying i have no idea what we're doing. but i have the answer in one word. base politics. no republican wants to get primary. >> we're going to talk about that. but i want to come back to the democrat for one moment. what are the politics now for hillary clinton on this. we heard what bernie sanders had to say. >> what she has done is she has

said she has been proud of her service to the president. and i think she's going to continue with that. and she's going to say barack obama has made a wise choice and she would support him. that's my prediction. i don't know where she's going to go, but the reality is she has to own her relationship with the president, and that's ultimately for her political advantage, too, to see the president is doing a great job. i'll support him fully. >> and we had this conversation many times. the default of hillary clinton is, whatever barack obama says, i love it. that's going to be where she is going to be. >> if hillary won the election in november and the senate democrats win the election too, how she would view a potentially -- if obama -- would she take the bernie sanders, or pick someone more progressive and more left. i think she won't say that. i wonder if that's how she feels ultimately. because there is a demand, particularly if hillary wins the election with black people voting the way they are in the primaries, is would suggest she should pick a black woman or

latino person or asian-american. or maybe ginsberg retires. we're thinking far ahead here. but i do think hillary clinton would want to pick a minority on the court. >> i disagree she would take garland. she can go out on the campaign trail and say, i can give you loretta lynch. >> let's look at what the polling on democratic says says about the pick. no polling suggests that democrats are en masse against the picture. most polling, in coming days is going to say democrats support the pick. they're okay with it. >> we're going to talk with the republicans in a minute. republican senate majority leader mitch mcconnell does oppose the supreme court nominee. some republican senators may be starting to waiver with their own re-elections on the line. as teased by ferdinand amani on this program. of that's next. today's the day! oh look! creepy gloves for my feet. see when i was a kid there was a handle. and a face. this is nice. and does it come in a california king? getting roid rage.

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it is the president's constitutional right to nominate a supreme court justice. and it is the senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a president, and withhold its consent. the decision the senate announced weeks ago remains about a principle and not a person. >> that's republican senate leader, mitch mcconnell, doubling down on his pledge that the senate will take no action on any nomination by president obama. they are open to at least meeting garland. many of them are republicans in vulnerable seats like mark kirk of illinois who said this week, quote, i will assess judge merrick garland based on his record and qualifications. back with me now, ferdinand amandy and perry bacon jr. i'll go to you, perry. i sense if you look at the top ten list of the most vulnerable senators, that's where you will find the senators who will meet merrick garland. >> the thing we're talking about

here, joy, is traditionally always agreed upon that everybody -- everybody in the senate of both parties will at least meet the nominee. so you have this crazy thing this week where chuck grassley and mitch mcconnell, they took a phone call with the nominee, but couldn't meet him in person because of the stance they have taken. that said, i'm even a little cynical about the mark kirk. mark kirk is running for the senate in illinois where the democrats are going to win the presidential nomination. i'm sure he told mitch mcconn l mcconnell, i'll going on out there in public criticizing. and michigtch mcconnell was lik what you have to do. so now we have 8 people of the 54 saying i will consider meeting with the person we're nowhere near a hearing yet. still looking pretty strong to me. >> let me play what mark kirk said more. he was on the radio on "the big john howell show" in chicago, and here is what mark kirk had

to say. it was more than just i'm going to maybe talk to him. take a listen. >> just man up and cast a vote. the tough thing about the senatorial jobs, you get yes or no votes. your whole job is to either say yes or no. and explain why. >> mark kirk is considered the most vulnerable senator up for re-election. he's all man up and cast a vote. >> these are all swing state republicans. i like to think about the political implications. i think barack obama stumped him. i don't think they expected him to put merrick garland in. i think they said, all right, we'll do hearings and a vote. and always too liberal. barack obama came out of the rose garden the other day with merrick garland, days after orrin hatch said he doesn't have the ves particular fortitude. that's when it went up in smoke and now they can't have hearings, because on every metric, merrick garland is going to pass with flying colors. in fact, some people are saying he has a better resume than john roberts, chief justice roberts. >> i know orrin hatch, if he

smokes the smoke in all the cigarettes. 2010 was a disaster for democrats, electorally. but a lot of republican senators in places like wisconsin, ohio, even north carolina, which can be a swing state. barack obama won it once, he won it in 2008. these are the guys who are in a really tough position. because the polling is clear. you can put it up again. approve or disapprove of the senate obstruction. independents disapprove of this. 57-25. even republicans disapprove. -- i mean, approve only 55-27. and democrats obviously overwhelming. these are states that are going to be won by hillary clinton. >> that's the challenge. the challenge of the republican senators are looking at when they're trying to get themselves re-elected is what are they going to do when they are doing nothing? we talked about this in my election law class at seton hall the other day. mitch mcconnell, orrin hatch, those two senators in particular have to take the flack. because when kirk has got to say something like this, and he can let mcconnell take the flack.

they're going to play this game where some will act independent, but say oh, it's mitch mcconnell's fault. so they're going to play a game where it's shifting, saying, you know, man up and vote. but i'm sorry, my leader won't let me do it. >> that's what you were talking about, perry. at the end of the day, the thing mitch mcconnell wants most is to remain senate majority leader. he cares about that more than the presidential race. so the best thing for republicans to do is what? is it to play mitch mcconnell as the pin cushion, but in their own states, say they're open to the nomination? >> i think what you and mark said is perfect. of you can sort of pretend to be faux outraged about how we're not having a vote and i want to have a vote. and i'm not sure -- i don't know mark kirk so i shouldn't question his sincerity. but i do think it's easy to be out there saying. also, another thing is there are a few senators who are in vulnerable states, but the biggest danger if you're a senator or house member in today's congress is losing in had a primary. that's the realistic thing.

and for most of these guys, the safe thing is to vote. whether you have hearings or meetings or ultimately the safe thing is to vote against the nominee from barack obama no matter what. and so i think if we get further in this process, it's still hard to see with 54 republican senators how the confirmation would work, preelection, at least. >> yeah. >> and joy, here's the doom's day scenario for the republicans. i think on the timing, they miscalculated. these are the poll numbers right now, a couple days afterwards. when this drip, drip, drip effects happens over the next eight months, they haven't appointed anyone or can't give a justifiable reason. you think those polling numbers are bad now. the brinksmanship politics are going to start to cave when those numbers get worse and you start to talk about not only the potential loss of the senate but of the house of representatives. the unthinkable could be on the brink. >> and when you have 4-4 decisions that leave in place decisions they don't like on things like abortion or contraception. >> there are consequences because there are cases which will not be decided, perhaps,

because they may say we're not going to hear this. or a 4-4 decision leaves certain things in place. so there will be consequences which people can point to. so this is a high-risk game by the republicans and i'm not sure they'll want to play that risk. >> last word, perry. do republicans understand that that too is a risk. there could be decisions that they then have to go back home to their constituents in their state and say we couldn't get this abortion decision or this contra acceptive decision overturned, because ourselves are not allowing the court to be fully staffed? >> they do understand that. but when i talk to them, their basic argument is, and when you get down beyond the process and so on, it is antonin scalia being replaced by someone barack obama is for is something they cannot accept. and that is the pure raw politics of it. >> that all works until bernie sanders is the president. and guess who he's going to nominate. it ain't going to be anyone like merrick garland or hillary clinton. we're going to bring them back later in the program. up next, the floatest with

the mostest, michelle obama with her white house plans. ♪ the roles you play in life are part of what make you, you. and you're not going to let anything keep you sidelined.

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no matter who wins the presidency next, we can pretty much guarantee that we will no longer have this level of fierceness in the white house. no offense to any potential first ladies or first gentlemen that are out there. but nobody beats michelle. and this week, we found out that mrs. obama has no plans to come back to live in the white house after her husband's it term is up. >> i'm going to continue to work with our young people all over the world. not as president. i will not run for president. no, nope. not going to do it. hey, and here's one of the reasons why. because i've got these two young people at home. and -- >> the first lady -- do not worry, the first lady is not disappearing from public life. her latest venture may give us an idea of what she has planned for her life after washington.

that's right, flotus dropped a single ♪ this is for my girls all around the world ♪ ♪ stand up with your hands up ♪ >> the first lady commissioned the song and she fielded a powerhouse lineup of artists like missy elliot and zendaya to raise money for her let girls live campaign. it makes education more accessible for girls worldwide. mrs. obama wrote in personal terms about the millions of girls around the world who struggle to get an education. she wrote, i have met these girls, and they are so smart, and hard-working and so hungry for an education. i've met girls who make long, dangerous journeys each day to school and then come home and study for hours each night. i see myself in these girls, and their ambition and determination to rise above their circumstances. this is very much the kind of activism the first lady has become known for. nonpartisan fourth oriented

advocacy that embraces social media and pop culture as powerful tools to affect change. so while we may not see her name on a campaign button any time soon, we can expect that michelle obama will continue to slay. and up next, the most important election results this week had nothing to do with donald trump or hillary clinton. and that's next. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ with extraordinary offersmance saon the visionary ls, the generously appointed es and the new, eight-passenger lx. ♪

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in ohio and illinois, the biggest election night shakeups on tuesday with a contest for the democratic nominees for state attorney. in illinois, voters delivered an unambiguous rebeauty to cook county state attorney anita alvarez, the prosecutor who waited 13 months to charge the officer who shot mcdonald. kim fox voted to move on to the general election. in ohio, michael o'malley won more than 55% of the vote, handily defeating tim ma beginty who asked a grand jury

not to prosecute the officer who shot tamir rice. and i'll go to you first, charlene. for your reaction to what -- on twitter was called by anita, which actually came to pass last tuesday. >> first, it was exciting. it was an exciting moment. oftentimes when we reflect on this moment, we can only focus on the violence and the pain. however, the victory we saw last week was because of young black people, particularly young black queer, and transfolks who hit the streets for canvassing, phone banking, voter education events and ran a robust campaign to articulate that if you don't love black people, you will lose your job. and that's what this was really about. the states attorney holds a lot of power over the lives of black people and we had to get in this fight to send a clear message, not only to anita alvarez but

also prosecutors across the country who maintain the status quo. i wonder if you would be able to tell us what tamir rice's family thought of the election result in ohio? >> well, i spoke with samaria rice this morning. her comment, she's glad the voters held tim mcginty accountable for the mishandling of the death of her son. she recognizes that mi mike o'malley isn't much better and she said at least it's the start of something and we both laughed. >> i want to come back to charlene for a moment. one of the big questions about black lives matter and the black youth project precedes it and also caught up in kind of the overall black lives matter milieu is whether or not young people who cared about black lives matter would be able to translate that into politics. i want to show you the overvote. what's usually an undervote between the presidential nominating contest and local

races. in chicago, in that state attorney's race, you had 468,643 democrats participate in the race. 465, 500 participated in the democratic race. and 468, 691. so very little undervote. so people actually voted down ballot. does that give you hope we're finally seeing voters start to see the connection between local politics and activism? >> yeah. so the truth is that many young black people understand politics, and understand power. however, oftentimes those who are the messengers about the potential for change don't look like us. and so what happened with this work is that it was young people from byp 100, fearless leading by the youth, black lives matter chicago who were some of the primary messengers around the power we had in this election. and so what i anticipate is that you'll see more of this. byp-100 not only organizes in

chicago, but we're tearing up politics in new orleans and new york city and detroit, the bay area, washington, d.c., durham, north carolina. we're all over the place with a very clear analysis about the power we hold and the power we yield to move forward on our agenda. >> and there was a slight -- a little more of a gap between the vote and the presidential primaries and the race against tim mcginty. so there wasn't quite as strong. the result was unambiguous, nonetheless. i do want to read a little bit of a "new york times" op-ed when you and i spoke about this. they said in their eagerness to be rid of tim mcginty, voters turned to michael o'malley, a former prosecutor who worked under mr. mcginty's predecessor when the office was riddled with cronyism. voters need to play close attention to how he does business. you alluded to that a little while ago. explain, please. >> so if you look at this campaign, mike o'malley had the

opportunity. tim mcginty had the video and schlage of tamir rice out there. and yet mike o'malley was very careful to, number one, not say that he believed charges were appropriate. and number two, say he would just tell a grand jury nothing. that he would make no recommendation. he would just let them figure it out. now that's contrary to normal prosecutorial practice in any other criminal case. so in other words, what mi mike o'malley was doing was promising a different form of special treatment to officers than the version of special treatment that tim mcginty was rendering. for that reason, there is a concern in this community that while the rebuke to tim mcgainty was appropriate, at the same time, we can't be assured we're going to see anything better. we may just see a renewal of the politicization of that office that occurred under the prior prosecutor. >> but do you think, charlene, because there was, again, not as much of a close gap between voting in the primary and voting the prosecutor. the county was a bit mind in terms of that movement to the

polls while the result was the same. is it possible that even if the person that was elected in ohio was not quite what maybe activists wanted, that now that message is that he will actually face a lot more scrutiny from his constituents? >> absolutely. so we were very intentional in not endorsing any candidate for the state's attorneys race. it was a political decision. because we understand no matter who is in office, in ohio, or here in illinois, that we'll still have to organize. and the young people, the folks at black lives matter cleveland, which includes some powerful black trans women, leaders and organizers, are very clear on that. and ohio association, they're very clear no matter who is in office, democrat, republican, center, far-leaning left, we still have to do this work and make sure that the prosecutor doesn't increase incarceration, that they actually act with compassion and real leadership in a space where we need them to do so. >> indeed.

and in addition to being an attorney, you've also run for office in cuyahoga county, so you know the politics there. do you think that despite the fact that he is not ideal, that michael o'malley will feel the pressure of now knowing that he could be voted out if he doesn't act in the best interests of his constituents? >> joy, i hope so. but we can't be sure so. you know, we have some very entrenched politics in cuyahoga county. you have to remember that we are a vast majority democratic county. so one of the weird consequences of that is that people who would ordinarily run as republicans in normal places run as democrats here. so we have these factions in the party that are very deeply conservative and unregeneral rat. so we can't be sure that that message is getting through, because people are accustomed to winning prosecutor and judge races based upon irish names and based upon democratic affiliation. so one would hope that o'malley will wake up and realize that he too can be held accountable if he doesn't render equal justice. we're not seeing that right now

in terms of his commentary on the rice schlalaying, unfortuna. >> thank you for making that point. that sometimes people a d at the end of a name means one thing. thank you both for being here. >> thank you. up next, wrapping up the white house. what happens when hamilton meets obama? ♪ throwing up some words i'm going to say some freestyle ♪ ♪ the constitution, the potus ♪ i'm freestyling and you know this ♪ ♪ ♪ the federalists papers and the other 51 and greater ♪ thank you. imagine if the things you bought every day... ...earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. with the united mileageplus explorer card, you'll get a free checked bag, two united club passes, priority boarding, and 30,000 bonus miles.

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that's going viral. >> of course, it went viral! it's not every day a freestyle rap breaks out in the rose garden. lynn manual is the highly popular broadway musical about the nation's first treasury secretary. he was at the white house earlier this week for a special performance of songs from the perpetually soldout show. while in d.c., where miranda was urging congress to take action on puerto rico's debt crisis, miranda also stopped by the treasury department to make a plea on behalf of the real-life hamilton. miranda met with jacob lew to urge him to keep hamilton's likeness on the 10 dollar bill. a redesign would be in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. after the meeting, miranda tweeted that lew said you're going to be very happy. a spokesman would only say that lew plans to continue to honor hamilton on the 10-spot.

while many applaud the plan to add a woman, many also want to keep hamilton's image in place. and some like the women on 20s campaign say why not put a woman on the $20 bill? instead, and replace president andrew jackson? you know, the proponent of slavery who was responsible for the death march of native americans known as the trail of tears? replace him with a woman, like let's say harriet tubman or rosa parks? now that would be the ultimate big money move, secretary lew. much more when we come back. so stay with us. ♪ ♪

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all right. back with me now is my super panel radio hosts. nbc news, senior political reporter, perry bacon jr. we're going to go through and i'll start with you, perry, lightning round. who won the week, in your view? >> not because of what he said, but how well he did. donald trump won the week.

i'll give credit to joy, who told me for months, marco rubio was not a very good candidate. >> thank you! >> but the fact that donald trump beat the sitting senator from florida by 18 points, that is a remarkable and a political achievement. and trump won this week. also, he won because you could see how scattered and disorganized his opposition is. mitt romney's leading the anti trump effort, i guess. so on monday, mitt romney was campaigning alongside john kasich. on friday, he said i'm voting for ted cruz. i mean, donald trump is facing a game that can't shoot straight. >> i wish i had had one of those soundders. like wawa. i don't have that. who won the week? >> without question, barack obama. i never bought into the whole jedi master political savant barack obama. i'm starting to look for light sabers now. what he has done not only with the merrick garland pick, which was just unassailable.

it's just, top that, republicans. what is he going to do tomorrow? he's going into cuba. now no one knows what he's going to say. but i think he's going to make a historic address where he gets to kind of do what no american president has done, nine in a row, until him. he's going to speak to the cuban people directly. and think about the -- not only the geopolitical consequences and political consequences but the policy consequences of such a speech. if he can bring a cuban spring about like the arab spring, that would have a tremendous consequence in our hemisphere and region. and barack obama, jedi master, i'm a believer now. >> cuban americans are open to this and ready for it. >> 97% of cubans on the island, 56% of cuban-americans in the united states. >> who won? >> the republican anti establishment, both perry and fernando wright. the republicans are doubling down on a strategy that is so high-risk. so what's happening, this is fracturing the party more and more and more. as trump rises, the party falls apart more. as they lose, the daily drip,

drip, drip we talked about on the nomination, the republican party establishment loses. day after day, the republican party establishment is crumbling. this is the test for the republican party going forward. the anger that's being tapped into, the fear that is right now the trump message, that's ultimately crumbling, goes back to the tea party days. >> yeah. >> and crumbling the republican party establishment. so the anti establishment movement within the republican party, that's who is winning. >> yeah, so we don't talk as much about the democrats. probably should spend more time on that race. there has begun some rumbling, among hillary clinton people and even among obama, ack owe lights from the '08 days. that bernie sanders is mathematically eliminated, maybe he should drop out. he pushed back very strongly against that this week. they're determined to go on until june. what are you hearing, and what do you make of that fight within the democratic side? >> i'm hearing and it sounds like president obama hinted at some donors, he wants them to at

least not give money to senator sanders, as well. so there is definitely a push from the hillary people who say, it's fine if bernie runs, but they want him to focus on not attacking her very much and instead focus on attacking donald trump and getting the party behind him. that's what's sort of going on. i -- i find it sort of hard to believe hillary clinton's staff is sort of saying you're too far behind, the delegates, stop running. eight years ago, she had the same scenario and kept running for months. i don't know if she has the moral high ground. >> and indeed, in 2008, of course, hillary clinton went all the way to june. >> she did. >> she was closer, but her argument wouldn't be too strong if she said bernie sanders should come out in march. >> i don't think she can. and in a way, i think it helps her in a certain respect. it keeps her sharp. we see what happens when hillary clinton feels like it's a coronation. she i think becomes a weaker candidate. i think this is good, because the debates continue and keeps

her on her game. from bernie's perspective, why would he get out? he's probably going to raise another $40 million and he can leverage that politically and he keeps the base engaged in the process. >> let's talk about the leverage bernie sanders might have going into a convention. if, in fact, he does not become the nominee, what is he going into that convention potentially with, mark? >> he's going in with a message and that message has been clear every day. then he takes the people who want to follow that message with him. and what he can then say is, you want these voters? you want this message to be -- i want the message front and center. so hillary clinton, you've got to start talking about things i care about, or else we're going to have some problems. >> did he deliver his voters to her? at least if you pay attention to social media, a fair amount of resistance. i mean a lot of resistance. >> a lot. and that's the challenge. this is a challenge, i think, prime challenge for hillary clinton. she wants to be president of the united states. she's in a perfect position to be the next president. she's got one big task. get bernie sanders and his supporters fired up.

>> ready to go. fired up and ready to go for hillary clinton for president. that's her challenge. >> i think he can. and i think you can pretty much sum it up in four words. why the sanders' voters can be delivered to hillary clinton. republican nominee, donald trump. >> yeah. >> and that does it. and perry, you've covered so many of these presidential races, the 2008 race. there was, of course, a lot of bitterness between obama people and hillary people. the vast majority of voters didn't wind up coming over. do you sense there is greater resistance to hillary clinton among bernie sanders' voters than we saw hillary pumas against barack obama in 2008? >> i think it's more concentrated. i will say it's different in that you have this sort of under 30, maybe under 35 group that hillary is really, you know, losing 80-10, 80-20 among the younger, particularly among white liberals under 35. so i think there is a more intense concentrated group that is anti hillary and strongly so. and i do think that suggests

one, hillary in her speeches is sounding more like bernie sanders in terms of on issues like college debt, particularly, she has moved toward him. and i do think the vp pick -- i would have said last year, tim kaine is the favorite. she's got a thing about a vp pick that excites the younger people in the base that are not excited about her. i'm not sure what that person's name is now, but i think that has to be taught of in terms of the vp selection. >> i'll give a couple names, cory booker, julian castro. and thank you for giving me the credit on that marco rubio pick. about a year or more ago. i think we've talked about this for a while, the overrating of that candidate. >> no one can ever be a prophet in their own land but the scoreboard is chelear. >> i'm declaring myself a proper felt in my own land. thank you. that is it for me today. thanks to you at home for watching. and up next, our coverage live from here in new york.

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good morning, live from msnbc world headquarters in new york. all eyes are out west today where the 2016 presidential candidates are locked in battle ahead of tuesday's western primary. republicans and democrats will hold votes in arizona and caucuses in utah. it's winner take all for republicans in arizona, where 58 delegates are at stake. 85 for democrats. democrats will also caucus in idaho. last night, clashes between police and protesters at a donald trump rally in salt lake city, and now the republican party's last standard, mitt romney, says he'll be backing ted cruz on tuesday. trump is set to hold two rallies in arizona today, joined by controversial joe arpaio and immigration advocates say they're planning to protest. bernie sanders is in