look, i would say about donald trump that this has been the summer of trump. he's eclipsed the entire republican field. but like most eclipse, if you stare at it, you can blind yourself. and they shouldn't be staring at donald trump. they should be thinking about the messages they want to impart, give people a sense of who they are, get those one or two lines that might be quoted, again, now, there may be some value in some of these candidates sparring with trump, but i can see other candidates. rubio has no reason to go after trump because he's not going after the trump voter. he's going after the center right voter who may be anti-trump. same is true with bush, although he for personal reasons may have to do it. kasich, he should get the safe driver award for what he did in the last debate. i expect to see him do the same thing in this debate. so it depends on what your objectives are and which lane you're competing in. >> it is interesting, amanda, because i mean, to david's point, so many of these candidates have had their messages eclipsed by donald trump

so i am wearing trump. i have my trump purse and my trump shoes and i'm all about trump. oh, i love trump. from "the apprentice" to everything, you know, i mean, he does put his foot in his mouth sometimes, but don't we all? >> reporter: now, she said she woke up at 10:00 a.m. to start making that dress, jim. that was a big investment for her. a lot of folks are here for the festivity and want to see trump up close and are looking ahead to the cnn debate. that's where they want to get a lot more substance from the candidates on stage, including donald trump. jim? >> we're minutes away from that and outside looking live at hundreds of latino protesters, they are taking part in a so-called dump the trump march. our ed lavandera is out there with them protesting trump's hard-line stance on immigration. ed, tell us what you are hearing from them and also how big that crowd is tonight. >> reporter: well, it is a growing crowd, jim, and we are just a few blocks away from the americanairlines center and the showdown, if you will, up trump supporters who have been showing up in l

trump scolded carson for questioning his faith, but before trump could pull out the heavy artillery, carson did something other candidates have never done while going head to head with the businessman. he apologized. carson told the "wall street journal" it was inappropriate and issued an apology to trump. his massive texas rally on monday, the gop front-runner noticeably played nice. >> ben carson, good guy. >> and ben carson is still playing the humility card. >> everybody has different kinds of experiences, and you know, it's human nature to think that whatever you do is the greatest thing and provides everybody with their messiah. i don't have that complex, quite frankly. >> such humility could be carson's ace in the hole. but with carson pulling ahead, we'll see if the strategy can endure. tonight's question, can ben carson actually win the republican nomination for president? log on to pulse.msnbc.com and we'll share your response later in the show. joining me now, susan del percio and josh barrow. thank you both for being here. josh, is ben carson a real threat to donald trump

that goes after trump on any topic, trump is going to come back on her business record and there's a lot of reporting out there on her business record where she is not going to be on the strongest ground substantively or rhetorically. john: the problem is because he's not just made an insult, but with the megan kelly thing, there are a couple of instances in which she could say you don't want to take me seriously, sir because you are a misogynist and she will have evidence to work with if she makes that claim. mark: that is one thing people are going to watch on wednesday. one other thing we want to talk about is bernie sanders at of all places, jerry falwell's liberty university. he went there to give his speech and reach out. here is a taste of how america's favorite socialist mesh with the evangelical crowd after being injured by jerry falwell junior. falwell:rs -- mr. people have been asking if i to find anyle common ground with the senator and i think i have. if you would come out. i think in the future, he is going to be a fan of the liberty flames. [applause] understand the is

here's the trump tweet. fox news owes me an apology to allow clueless pundit rich lowry to use such foul language on tv. unheard of. it is unheard of, maria theresa, except by the host of "morning joe" who used the same word recently. i personally won't. i have only used that word in coverage of the tom brady scandal. i haven't used it in any other way. but here we go with trump now. and this time, trump, of course, is never serious, but fox news seems a little bit serious with the afternoon with the statement they made about him. >> i think they're tiring of him. basically they're saying at the end of the day, you and i both know you need our tv stations in order to rally your base. we're going to turn that off. good luck with you. at the end of the day, that's one of the reasons why trump is saying he'll go back on. the only meg phone he has to rally up his base is through fox news. >> another tweet by donald trump about this. incompetent rich lowry lost it on fox news, he should not be allowed on tv and t

right now trump and reince are meeting in trump tower. so far trump refused to sip it. he wants to keep his leverage. the pledge appears to be at squarely at trump, his willingness to run as a third-party candidate. he said he won't run as long as he feels like he's being treated fairly. >> the republican party has treated my fairly. all i ask for is fairness. >> my whole desire is just fairness and i want to run as the republican nominee. i want to win. i think we will win. >> all this comes as monmouth university released a new poll a short time ago. the margin of error is high. it shows trump up while bush is declining. we see ben carson coming in second place there. msnbc's host steve kornacki remains with me at the table. let's start with the pledge. what does donald trump have to gain by giving up that leverage. that's one thing haes had over the republican side of things as remaining independent and saying people like me because i declare, i won't stay tethered. >> right. there is an appeal to the idea of independence to detachment from the big political party, e

when trump walked in, trump was mopped. we spoke to some of these potential supporters here, and some of them said some interesting things. they said they wanted to see more specifics from trump, especially when it comes to foreign policy, when it comes to issues like gun control, national security. these are the topics they want to hear a little more substance on. but a lot of them also said they liked his style last night. they acknowledged that he appeared to have toned it down. but one woman said hey, every time he opens his mouth, he gets into trouble, so that's sort of a given when it comes to his candidacy for now. >> get the sense from him -- i it's always hard to get a sense from the advocates, the cheerleaders that they didn't think he had a good night last night. i didn't think he had a good night. >> here's one indication. we were inside before donald trump came in. they said raise your hand if you think donald trump kwon last night? i'll be honest, it wasn't a big roar. you wonder if that's maybe something wher

>> trump: we d... yeah, they're going to listen to me. >> pelley: they don't listen to president of the united states... >> trump: they're going to listen to me. >> pelley: ...but donald trump they're going to listen... >> trump: just like i have the chinese banks in my buildings, they listen to me, they respect me. china has almost complete control over north korea. china will do that. and if they don't do that, they have to suffer economically because we have the engine that makes china work. you know, without the united states or without china sucking out all our money and our jobs, china would collapse in about two minutes. >> pelley: what's your plan for obamacare? >> trump: obamacare's going to be repealed and replaced. obamacare is a disaster if you look at what's going on with premiums, where they're up 45%, 50%, 55%. >> pelley: how do you fix it? >> trump: there's many different ways. by the way, everybody's got to be covered. this is an un-republican thing for me to say because a lot of times

if you believe mike murphy, there will be trump and anti-trump. jeb bush and john kasich are the ones they think about. mike: we are not talking about john kasich. we're talking about jeb bush. john: if you're a kasich fan, you wonder why he is not going after him. mike: we will call it a draw. republican caucus-goers say they like the way that donald trump tells it like it is. they like is business success and that he is not a career politician. when it comes to trump, they say they see what they want. some think he is liberal, moderate, conservative. ben carson is catching up. what is going on? john: it is fascinating that his favorable-unfavorable improved in this. it is interesting that there is this rohrshach thing happening. people who support trump are believers that barack obama was not born in the united states. mike: you skip iowa on the way to yosemite. what do you think about the fact that ben carson is drawing even with all trump in iowa with no media exposure? do you think that donald trump really cares about the numbers? john: yes.

to donald trump. of course this is a man that insulted john mccann's war record and went up in the polls and insulted a large group of voters hispanic voters and also went up in the polls. how much is this going to hurt him? i'm not sure. what i think what will actually have an impact is the first time we seen a large number of candidates gang up on him and go after him hard in issues you've seen so far and that cumulative impact may hurt him more in the polls while ben carson rises. very interesting to see how the first suite of polls, how that reflects on donald trump in the coming days. >> those of us that are political news junkies are looking for the political polls. all right. everyone stand by. we have a lot more coming up and dr. sanjay jupgupta will join us live. he's on fact check involving childhood vaccines a debate that occurred between dr. ben carson and donald trump. stay with us i have type 2 diabetes. i started with pills. and now i take a long-acting insulin at night. i take mine in

be the loan trump attacker? john: one of the leading -- mark: one of the leading debates right now is, ist good or smart to be the one to take down trump? i think the bush campaign felt they had to do what they were doing. you still see people like scott walker, marco rubio, john kasich staying out of this. i think at this point, there is strength in numbers for most of these campaigns to be a voice to try to rally the party against him. even though right now, you could argue that trump's being big is helping people like jeb bush, helping people like ben carson. john: i've got to think that jeb is happier to not be the lone voice out there anymore. let's move on. as promised, we will get to biden, bernie, and some other stuff after this word from our sponsors. ♪ ♪ mark: at this point, every republican presidential candidate is dealing with the donald. one of them, scott walker, has been the most trumped gop'er today. in the run-up to the second republican debate, walker's campaign is trying to convince the c

by trump's campaign on caucus day. the even want to bother with the ground game. or is this national media persuasion strategy enough to carry him through? mark: i want to ask you one more thing about this national poll. we have three big candidates, trump and caron, bernie sanders who are trying to bring a lot of new people into the race. polling will be a challenge -- are we pulling the right people. what does this poll say about enthusiasm for trump and enthusiasm for carson? ann: enthusiasm for republicans is waxing, enthusiasm for democrats general is waning. trump has a very high number saying that they feel enthusiasticif if he were to become the nominee. half as many saying they would be upset. carson, his numbers are more tilted toward the positive. haveush is not somebody we been talking about. he has more people saying it would be angry if he turned out to be the nominee than saying that they would be enthusiastic about. mark: i think they are not angry but frownuy faced. ann: upset. john: sad face. you are

trump has a huge following. trump should not be underestimated. until tonight, trump had been getting much better. trump had some really good performance. >> do you think he was tired, by the way? i thought he was tired. >> i'm tired sometimes, but he has been getting better. and none of these men or women is going to be ruled out because of one bad night. now, if this is more than one bad night, if they succeeded in finally getting under his skin, we may see the beginning of more moments like what we saw tonight, where he seemed peevish. the attack on rand paul who -- i mean, the actual attack engendered sympathy for rand paul. he's so far behind, loser, what are you doing here? actually in the back of my mind, i felt bad for rand paul. >> there are many different dynamics in this debate tonight. the questions are less focused. the fox news debate, the way they went through from moderator and moderator. they were all specifically focused. >> that was ten interview mrs. than a debate. >> there's much more free form. meaning, thf response is bounci

party, trump supporters, versus trump skeptics. i can tell you someone that looks at ratings, every day, there is no evidence trump fans turned the fans against fox news. we're seeing a new sort of feud that's brewing. we'll see how long it lasts. in the past, these thing haves been patched over but it is a very tense and fragile relationship. >> megyn kelly seems to be doing just fine in the ratings, in fact, very well. i think she had her best august in awhile. >> that's right. she's doing her job covering trump, fox said today pretty bluntly, they don't think trump understands how the business works. candidates are not supposed to tell the media what questions to ask, those are strong words from the chairman of fox news who many people believe is in the business of supporting republicans, supporting conservatives, a very interesting challenge for him in recent weeks and almost as if trump and fox met their match. >> brian, appreciate it. thank you. >>> coming up, not just fox news drawing the trump today, he has room for more ta

trump later said he misspoke. but many chalked it up to a period comment and trump's child-like understanding of the female anatomy. (laughter) >> larry: love that. very nice! i love the long arrow to the other hoo-hoo. that's great. (laughter) now, in a "rolling stone" interview, trump said this -- >> this morning, trump collaring his remarks in a new "rolling stone" magazine cover story about his g.o.p. presidential rival carly fiorina. trump is quoted as saying, "look at that face. would anyone vote for that? can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" >> larry: okay, first of all, let's get something straight -- when "your" face looks like what would happen if owen wilson knocked up a bean bag chair, you do not get to go around dispensing opinions on faces. (laughter) secondly, it turns out that trump doesn't even have the cojones to stand by his original statement. the leading g.o.p. candidate now says that when he called carly fiorina's "face" unelectable, what he really meant was her "persona." >

bill crystal said trump wouldn't win. he said trump had no chance. he scoffed at him actually more than anybody who came on our set. >> i did. >> i like david remnick a lot. i would love for him to come back. >> david, come back on the show. >> we may not have been polite on that day. mika was in a bad mood. >> i was. it was a bad moment. back to bill crystal, our friend. >> can you imagine what they wore? >> oh, my god! >> it wasn't all lights on the tennis courts. >> they wore orange. >> it was as ghastly as john -- i can't believe i even said that irishman's name. john mcenroe. >> back to our friend, bill crystal. you need to come back and we need to talk. oh, he's on tomorrow! >> could you get david on tomorrow? we're hours away. work on it. hours away from tonight's second republican debate. >> the trump party showdown in simi valley. >> stop saying that. >> donald trump, it's going to be a beautiful showdown will once again be center stage in the trump debate. flanked by jeb bush and ben carson. while the prime-time debate includes the top 11 c

is trump that unique? is that the only reason that this pledge came to be. >> reporter: in a word, yes. he is. even the republican national committee sources inside say that they don't have any evidence that this is happened before on a national level. on a state level, yes. when you have sort of intra-party fights it's happened but with a national race, the presidency, this is the first time it's happened. certainly, there have been threats from republican candidates in the past to go their own way. pat buchanan, for example, was a republican at one time and, you know, sort of was part of a primary and then no longer. it's happened before but nobody who has the celebrity, the backing, the money, the whole package that donald trump has to make republicans so fearful that if it's not played right and he doesn't get the nomination, he would end up potentially going his own way, running as an independent and why this all matters yrks the frenzy is here, is because republicans are convinced and i think the pol

trump is entertaining. i have to tell you. i really do. i really do find it entertaining. and, you know, i kind of wish i had that same sort of mentality like, oh, listen, i don't need to tell you anything. when i get there peace will be breaking out everywhere. prosperity will be raining down upon you. we will have the new age. well, i would like to do that. but i don't think that's how a great democracy makes its decisions about who is going to lead us. >> joining us now is columnist for the washington post and nbc contributor. good evening to you. what effect are we seeing in the trump and bernie surges on the rest of the field, particularly hillary? >> good to be with you, ari. tonight you saw a really interesting contrast. there are a lot of people who say, well, trump and bernie are both kind of the same, both outside of protest candidates. here you had donald trump who spent like the first half-hour of his speech talking about himself, talking about his contract. and arnold schwarzenegger taking his

let trump be trump? >> absolutely. what we do is present the material, we boil it down to essentials, let him absorb and take out of it what he needs and what he wants and then let mr. trump be many trump. i think that is the best strategy in the world for us. look how it's working so far, anderson. >> when it comes to policy specifics, trump tends to talk in very broad terms, build a wall, 11 million undocumented immigrants have to leave and come back, good ones, take over iraq's oil fields. just because he says something can be done doesn't actually mean it can be done. he lays out ideas without detailed implantation plans as a policy advisor, does he need, do you believe he needs to explain how he'll implement these ideas or not? >> i think that will take care of itself. the campaign will morph, adjust, adapt. right now we're staying ahead of everybody. we're staying ahead of the game and i think that's what is working as we go forward. we'll make those adjustments and i think the big thing for us is to go out here

donald trump can be donald trump, but none of these other candidates can beat him at this point. he is in complete, absolute complete control of the republican battle space. >> what does that mean for the republican party, to have donald trump as the potential standard-bearer. >> and what stops him -- susan, you covered this for the front page of your newspaper and your bureau. and later in the show, we taped this a few minutes ago, an our ago with bill mauer, i decide we let the people decide. i want to know when this act's going to die. because it's certainly not dying, donald trump. >> and we keep predicting. we've predicted over and over again -- >> how does he keep doing this? >> this is too much. the last debate, we thought, he went too far after the debate in the feud with megyn kelly, not true, right? he continued to gain ground. although i think -- >> what is the grossout point? you say what he said about women's menstrual cycles or what everybody thinks he meant and you talk about the president being a psychopath, running a gestapo operation, steve says you have to one-

/trump. >> trump/cruz. >> cruz/trump. he's running for president of the united states. he's not running for vice president of the united states. >> he's not ruling it out. >> he's the most prepared for president of the united states. he'll get the nomination and we'll get the delegates, i'm confident. >> when you say a food fight, it could be among some of the others. like for example, who do you think? >> well, jeb bush has been taking on senator -- mr. trump and carly fiorina has been taking on mr. trump. ben carson, to some extent, has been taking on -- back away from that, so we'll see that. a lot of people have a stake in they're getting further on the wings where the other people are getting closer toward the center. they don't want to be in the wings, they want to be in the center. their balance will be how do i get attention without looking like i'm getting too much attention? remember in the last debate, the people that got the most attention actually went down in the polls. senator cruz got double because he was

let's take trump first. despite promising to bring the country together, barack obama has been one of the most divisive presidents in history. his signature achievement, obamacare, passed without a single republican vote. that's because it's an entitlement, free health insurance for the the have notes paid for by the haves while most working americans will pay more for good healthcare. likewise, the nuke deal with iran, no republican votes. does the president care? i don't believe so. thus, conservative, traditional americans realize mr. obama is not looking out for them. he is a far left leader who has never even tried to be inclusive. the anti obama folks strongly believe that illegal aliens get better government treatment than they do, than abortionists and antireligious groups have more rights than they do. that american economic power is being eroded in order to create a massive welfare state. and finally that evil people overseas want to kill americans are not being challenged effectively. trump has ta

trump. in fact, when anybody predigts that, his numbers go back up. yeah, he's leved off a bit after the cnn debate and carson and fiorina are rising. but the press is stampbing even after a short storyline. >> we've seen however, mark is four polls now in which he's either dropped or the best one for him is a fox news poll where he went up one point. at best, he's doing this right now in the polls. i whereabout to ask you this, his numbers who showed that they would definitely not vote for him are actually higher than the numbers of people who would vote for him. >>> when the number of republicans who would definitely not support you is greater than the number who support you, where does that leave you? welcome to trump world. >>> where does that leave you? >> it means he has a very high floor of loyal sub horders and a very low ceiling where there's going to be heartburn to go above. but then, the other thing that hurts him, quite frankly, is his debate. he looks very bad because he didn't

he loves trump. he goes around saying, trump is my all-time hero. he says it to everybody. kanye west, i love him. maybe in a few years, i will have to run against him. he has been so nice to me. you people have seen because i have been a counterpunch or peer and i hit people when they hit me, only. and kanye west has been so great. i would never say bad about him because he says such nice things about me. >> [inaudible] mr. trump: no, my supporters are really supporting me because i am very competent. they know i will not let china rip us off. i will not let japan rip us off. japan is devaluing the yen, very hard for caterpillar and other companies to compete against their big tractor maker. we will not let this happen anymore. you talk about a trade imbalance. they have, in japan, the biggest ships you have ever seen pouring cars into los angeles. pouring the men. i've never seen anything like it. we send them bees and they do not even want it. in this building, i have the largest bank in the world, brighter than these elevators. it is a bank from china, by far the bigges

and carson has been closing on trump. no one has much of an idea of what ben carson thinks on foreign policy. and the last thing is, these guys are going to have to say some pretty striking things to get into attention at all. the rest of the candidates besides trump and carson. so they risk saying some outlandish things, but they've got to stand out because they are at single digits in the polls right now. >> john, do you agree with that? >> yeah, actually, i do. you know, i think this race is over because tom brady just announced that he was endorsing donald trump. i just want to put that on the table. >> it pains me. >> we're going to get to that in a little bit. that's definitely important news. >> i think what cnn wants to do is really encourage the candidates themselves to go after each other to have kind of a big food fight. and i think you're going to see that, especially with fiorina and trump. i think all the other candidates are going to try to somehow get in the scrum. although i think for each of the candidat

that helps donald trump. jeb bush probably needs to pick on scott walker or one of the other former governors and see if he can get a little bit of -- a little bit more energy going on the stage. >> all right, margaret. what about carly fiorina, one of the most captivating candidates to emerge from round one. she's on the main stage. she's getting a lot more publicity but the poll numbers, at least nationally, haven't seemed to move that much. >> carly's biggest challenge, biggest goal, is to solidify her status as a top-tier candidate. look, she has all the advantages she needs. she's an outsider from washington, the electorate is craving someone who is not a professional politician. and it's easy to break away from the kid's table like she did last time. she's got to keep that going forward so she can really solidify herself as a credible, top-tier candidate. her biggest risk, look, she's got to answer to some of the hits against her that donald trump, frankly because he's donald trump, has picked up steam.

so i am wearing trump. i have my trump purse and my trump shoes. and i'm all about trump. oh i love trump. from the aprnts tom >>> first back to the serious stuff. that rally was full of other highlights including when trump joked about his feud with fox anchor megyn kelly. he sparked controversy after he said and i quote blood coming out of her wherever where moderating the last debate. >> we're going to have so many victories that at some point they are going to be coming out of your ears. oh i have to be careful about what i say about coming out of somebody's ears. have to be careful. nose, ears, eyes. those are the only places i'm talking about. >> so charming. right? joining me now margaret hoover and i'm also joined by mike shields, former chief of staff for the rnc. he is now president of the congressional leadership fund. good morning. let's not pretend. this is the match up everyone will be watching. fiorina versus trump. margaret, will will this be a deafeni defining moment for fiorina. >> yes. she's a shrewd debater and shrewd campaigner and my guess is look, sh

trump is under siege. -- the first time in his campaign, donald trump is under siege. in the past 24 hours he has taken four body blows from ben carson, carly fiorina, and jeb bush. and bobby jindal. let's start with the first blow coming from a religious angle courtesy of dr. carson. , [bell] mr. carson: one of my favorite bible verses. "by humility and the fear of the lord are riches and honor in life." and that's a very big part of who i am. humility and the fear of the lord. i don't get that impression with him. maybe i am wrong. but i don't get that impression. trump: i never heard faith was a big thing until just recently, so i do not even know about what ben carson. all of a sudden he becomes this great religious figure. i don't think he's a great religious figure. i saw him yesterday quoting something and he was quoting on humility, and it looks like he memorized it two minutes before he made the quote. don't tell me about ben carson. john: speaking to the washington post carson backed off his , co

she's a real threat to trump. she's an outsider like him but she's very smart and very deep. >> it will be interesting to see how this reflects in next polling. thanks. >> thanks. >>> we know what the gop field said when they took the stage said but what did their body language tell us about them? >>> one name was brought up multiple times. we don't mean the candidates trying to get jake tapper's attention. ronald reagan. >> i think i actually flew on this plane with ronald reagan when i was a congressman. >> think reagan said during the cold car. >> i'm on the reagan side of this. listen up team, i brought in some protein to help rearrange the fridge and get us energized! i'm new ensure active high protein. i help you recharge with nutritious energy and strength to keep you active. come on pear, it's only a half gallon. i'll take that. yeeeeeah! new ensure active high protein. 16 grams of protein and 23 vitamins and minerals. all in 160 calories. ensure. take life in. thankshow may i help you?s list. i heard i co

that's a nutty idea. >> look, you know, donald trump is donald trump. i mean, he is a complicated picture. no one doubts that. the reason trump is at the top of the poll, isn't just because he had a reality show, right? he is talking about a couple of issues that people feel like most leadership g.o.p. leadership folks haven't really talked about and can be fair. can be not fair. he certainly is appealing to a lot of people who are reagan conservatives and a lot of independents. who also maybe want to get into politics for the first timing. i have no idea how it's going to turn out. to say that somehow this is not about any substance and this is just a knee jerk thing, i don't think that's fair. >> i didn't see that at -- i didn't say that at all. this was not a consistent conservative or ho comes from conservative orthodoxy. nine years ago his biggest contribution was to elect nancy pelosi the speaker of the house of representatives. after she won he wrote her a congratulatory note saying you are the best. that is not a conservative. that is not a cons

it seems important he is in lock step with trump in the eyes of trump supporters presumably in case trump drops out he maybe has a better chance of getting voters. >> part of the discussion and the critics of trump is saying he is not giving out enough content. his campaign released a position paper on the second amendment. do they want to change the subject here and move it past what has happened today? >> reporter: this is the second policy paper that trump has released. the first one was immigration which was a lot more explosive than this one. but i don't know if trump is doing this as part of a deliberate strategy or not but his style means there is always a lot of shiny objects to chase. it is not unheard of him to move away from one controversy by throwing something else out there. you remember when he said comments about john mccain in iowa a couple of months ago in which he said he was not a war hero because he was captured during the vietnam war. later he gave out lindsey graham's phone number and then we were talking about that. last month he got into a feud on fox news with me

i think -- >> trump -- trump's humor is more biting humor. and he's got the -- it is not the self deprecating humor. it is the self aggrandizing humor which kind of puts him over the top. but it builds on to trump's character. it reinforces people's images and impressions of trump already. >> and ben carson has proved he also has a sense of humor but way different than donald trump's, right kevin? >> it is a little bit more of dry humor. one of the things with ben carson is he spent his career in medicine and working with the patient/doctor relationship. that is not exactly the best career to have a sense of humor in. people want to know that their neurosurgeon a pretty serious guy. when they become a presidential candidate they do want to find a way to relate to them. and humor is a way that you can do that. and in his first opportunities in the first debate he had some success there. it will be interesting to see if we see more of that tonight. >> true. kevin madden, andy smith. thanks. >>> still to come. trump's momentum has him leading an

grow up, donald trump, grow up. >> even glenn beck has had enough of donald trump. but glenn beck clings to the optimism that donald trump might someday actually grow up. glenn beck's disgust with trump comes on a day when donald trump continues to explore what he can get away with saying no other presidential candidate can say. this time about the only republican woman running for president and rolling stone showed the scene of the trump entourage on the trump jet watching carly fiorina on tv. look at that face, he cries, would anyone vote for that? can you imagine that the face of our next president. the laughter grows haunting and fantd me hind him. she's a woman andite i'm not supposed to say bad things but come on, are we serious. donald trump made the rounds on tv doing his vision of damage control. pretending what he said, look at that face, he didn't mean that face. >> probably i did say something about that. i am talking about persona, not look. when she and other people hit me on things no one comes to my defense. >> you come to your defense. >> carly had

of trump fans. but first, you actually rode with trump from new york to dallas on the trump plane. give me the juice. what was that like? >> i will be honest, i felt like the conservative cinderella. i woke up in the morning and i have been with campaigns traveling with them for the past couple months. we have done the buss and mini vans. . i have never gotten on a plane. this was amazing to walk on there. but here was the surprising element. maybe this is the juicy gossip people want to hear. it was a very classy, not a party atmosphere. mr. trump, i have been with candidates who will close the door and not. around. he was with us the entire time. not hovering, but just sitting there and studying notes, handwritten notes he had taken on all sorts of points and philosophies. flipping through the news channels, and yes, he turned on cnn. listening and studying what people said and would practice his reply back. all this talk about not debate prep, the key is he's debate prepping how he should, with r

look, they are never going to try and make trump not be trump. but i thought, for a wild, that -- for a while that if he shows , more discipline, putting a few more lines in there, that some people not currently in this coalition could seize on. he could broaden his appeal. maybe that is what is going on here. trump is a smart guy. as he goes out and gives speeches, he may be honing it, although most of it was undistilled. john: i used to compare it back in 1986 when pat buchanan used to speak, comparing him to the grateful dead. playing "dark star." the song sounded basically the same, but you hear these tiny differences, tiny bits of the variance. i think trump could head more in that direction, where the greatest hits are still there, but some things are a little bit new and more conventional at the same time. today, john ellis, bush's super pac, is out with a new tv ad in iowa, new hampshire, and soon south carolina that promotes his record as governor of florida. >> the state was florida, the governor was jeb bush. proven conservative, real

president trump. president trump. president trump. >> that's who we've come to. >> it's not every day a presidential candidate goes to a battleship, and donald trump definitely understands the power of big symbolic media events, but he surprised everyone tonight but failing to meet this moment. just last hour, donald trump step aboard u.s.s. iowa to speak to a veterans group and turned in one of the shortest, freedom association addresses of his entire campaign. here's the closest he came to foreign policy. >> i just want to say that we're going to come out with some plans in a very short time. we're going to be building up our military. we're going to make our military so big and so strong and so great. and it will be so powerful that i don't think we're ever going to have to use it. nobody is going to mess with us. i learned a lot about the iowa. by the way, iowa is a great place for a lot of reasons. you know? we have been treated so well in the state of iowa, it's been incredible. number one in the polls and we lo

trump maintaining altitude. and, look, both are very significant because, remember, hillary's biggest problem may not be on the plate yet, which could be joe biden's entry. there are a lot of people betting he won't enter but no knows. every day is different and who knows how wakes up on the day he makes that decision. if he gets in suddenly establishment democrats have a real alternative and he has been getting great press. >> what if he doesn't, larry. what if he says no i am not going it run. he was with colbert last night and hinted he might not have it in him to run. if doesn't, does that support go back to hillary? it seems to have taken from hillary. >> i think it stays up in the air. i don't think a lot of those people are going to go to bernie sanders. and i don't see any of the other contenders on the democratic side picking up much steam. i will tell you what could happen, eric. if hillary clinton ends up being indicted or she gets taken out of the race for one reason or another, you're going to have

trump still leads the polls. ben carson had has been cautious not to criticize and apologized for the one time when he was having construed to having insulted donald trump. put advisors around him. trump says the same thing. rivals say he lacks a certain amount of common sense. big night for carlie fiorina. graduated from the second tier into the top tier. and for her there would will be a tremendous amount of attention. hoot heat is on her to perform. there are a lot who think she is the most potent of the critics. they want to see her ascend even further. there is the other will. the establishment experience political candidates who have been pounding one another, trying to get a leg up on these outsiders who dominating in the polls in the buzz. and this is going to be a long one. the truth is, a three hour marathon like this is risky for candidates. they can get irritated because they haven't been asked enough questions. they can be aggravated if the answers they are hearing from rivals. they can get tired and

trump, trump. go ahead and trump. trump. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> and prepared remarks, no teleprompter. and here he goes. >> wow. wow. amazing. can you people see me up there? stupid. i said, don't fill up the upper rings, it's not fair. but you are great. thank you all. i appreciate it. >> you're great, donald! >> now, if you like the media, give them a big hand. and if you don't, give them a big boo. [ audience booing ] >> boo! >> i had a feeling. >> yeah! >> by the way, can you see in the back, they have the best view. can you see it's really my hair? >> yeah! yeah! real hair! >> well, that's the other thing. i get killed on this. i had a article recently, with me it's -- it's a whole big deal. it's a whole big deal. and you know i'm self funding my campaign. i'm not taking all of this blood money. i'm surging with women. can you believe that? >> yeah! yeah! sex sells, baby! sex sells! >> hillary's not surging. i tell you that. they're not saying that. >> oh ho ho! no! >> thank you. the right leader can get

my interest is on donald trump. mr. trump is a smart man. he's got all of his facts, and i thought -- i actually appreciated that he was questioning that because there was a lot of americans also thinking the same thing. once again, he does what's not popular, that's not comfortable, that is a little bit more kun comfortable to handle and he does the dirty work for americans. and that's why he's number one in the polls. people love him because he's doing our work for us. and he is taking all the blows and all the punches and dealing with people like that that are in his media forum. and he's handling it and he's doing a great job. we couldn't be more proud of mr. trump. and i'm hitting the streets here in iowa. everyone loves him. >> tana girtz, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> you're welcome. take care. >> joining us now, eugene robinson and stuart stevens who ran mitt romney's campaign last time around. >> donald trump does the dirty work. that's what they love about him. >> let's hope not. i find donald trump as a busine bus

we'll start with a bush ad against trump and then trump's response and then you see a trump ad against jeb and jeb being interviewed both on the same program, "good morning america." let's take a look. >> partial birth abortion. >> i'm very pro-choice. i'm pro-choice in every respect and as far as it goes. >> who would you like representing the united states in a deal with iran with this regime there? >> i think hillary would do a good job. >> you heard jeb bush say you're not a conservative and more democrat than republican. this is all personal. is he drawing blood? >> i think he had really no choice. he's doing poorly in the polls. he's a very energy kind of guy. >> they broke the law. it's not a felony. it's an act of love. >> is that what you think that donald trump is a one-man mission to kill the gop? >> i think donald trump is trying to insult his way to the presidency and it's not going to work. people want an uplifting hopeful message. >> where is the detailed media examination of the immigration questions raised in the trump ad against bush and shifting of positions raised i

trump's style is very attractive. the reason he's able to get all of this attention and have the following that he does is because he says things in a way that inspires people or makes them feel good about the things he's saying. pretty soon there's going to have to be some substance. when we hear what the substance is of what his programs are for his vision of america, i don't think that his candidacy will last very long beyond that. >> i wonder, having been in the public eye for so long, especially because you were in such a bright public spotlight when you were so young. starting when you were so young and for so many years, do you feel like -- i guess do you feel like our politics right now are in part about who's good at managing just the art of being on tv? who's good at managing the art of being looked at and talked a lot about more than other substantive in politics. >> i think too many trivia aspects of the public life have become primary and all important. whereas getting programs that are going to benefit t

. -- first,u tonight filet of trump. trump-bashing to the next level today. it reminded a lot of people about the willie horton ad. the first response came in the form of a video this morning. manhattan oned in my life. some ivs are different if i had lived in iowa. >> partial-birth abortion. >> i am very pro-choice. as far as single-payer, it works in canada and scotland. >> it would you like to represent the united states in iran? >> i think hillary clinton is a terrific woman and i have known her for years. john: all right. took a in miami, jeb second swing. in spanish, he said that donald would insult anyone who doesn't agree with him. in english, this. >> he supports democrats. i was campaigning for republicans across the country for -- and for conservative-minded candidates. he supports hillary clinton as a good negotiator for a deal with iran. this is not a guy who is a conservative. john: trump launched a counter offensive on twitter with this -- " another week hit by a competitor with a weak campaign. " that is not where he ended. he did not stop the

what is your voice, trump or not trump, what is your advice for those out there who feel bullied? >> you got to take their power away. when you poke somebody with a stick and they jump, then the bully likes to poke with the stick. when they stop jumping, they stop poking. they're looking for a reaction. i think the worst thing you can do it take the bait. the best thing can you do is flip it on them. >> let's talk about a well-known athlete by the name of susie favor hamilton, who was the star runner. she never won the olympics but she won all sorts of other competitions. unbeknownst it the world, she became a married another and call girl, all at the same time, and incredibly with her husband's knowledge and approval. she's going on the dr. phil show on tuesday. and she tells her entire story to him. let's set it up with a clip because as he always does, he asked the most relevant question when i was how? how? watch. >> the biggest question on everybody's mind as they watch this interview, as they read the book is how could a mother, a wife, a world class athlete, an olympian end

donald trump. donald trump has take answer couple stabs at jeb bush. our reporter sara muir rmurray s in the room with donald trump. we expect him to take questions which is significant because this is the first time he's had a town hall in new hampshire since he was asked a very hateful question about muslims which he chose not to challenge. he's expected to take questions. we'll bring that to you live. in the meantime, as these two town halls are going on, i want to go now to our panel of guests, katrina peterson, republican strategist and former rnc communication strategist doug high and s.e. cupp. good to have all of you with us. >> thank you. >> doug, he came out swinging talking about polls. that's the donald trump we all know. right, live speech, he comes out with the polls. today he had the ammunition. suffolk university, he's solidly in the lead, up six points since july. at the same time, you see jeb bush falling. this is a significant lead in his poll. are you surprised? >> i'm not surpr

ron allen was there for all of it at trump tower. he now joins me. ron, classic trump. everything's a speck tactical. something as seemingly normal as signing a pledge to run as a republican. i would say today, he sort of made it appear that the republican party really wanted him. >> reporter: he did. he of course great stage craft and well prepared and a great performance. and, yes, he made this sound like in this sound bite you played that he did this so that when he wins, he can go straight onto take on the democrat that nobody will change him. forgotten in the whole notion he was the only one who said that he would not support the nominee necessarily if it were not him. asked about the whole notion of fairness, what's happened, we still have such a long way to go. no one's cast a vote yet. apparently, it's a strategic decision that he's making, he's apparently gotten assurances that he's not going to encounter much or any resistance to try to get on the ballot. the republican party has said to him whatever he wanted to hear. so here we go. it was the quite an event.