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CNN Live Event/Special
Trump Speaks to Supporters After Sweeping Five States; Hillary Clinton Wins Four of Five States; Bernie Sanders Wins Rhode Island. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired April 26, 2016 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to be spending a lot of time with Bobby. Bobby is an amazing guy. He is tough, he is sharp, he is smart and he wins. He knows how to win. The people of Indiana love him. And Bobby has endorsed me.
And we are going to spend tomorrow night and I think the next day with Bobby. So, it's going to be a lot of excitement and fun. And that's called the gold standard for Indiana. I would say Bobby Knight has to be the gold standard. We have so many other people that have endorsed us there. So, that will be great.
So, we will be spending. We'll start in the afternoon and we are going to be spending numerous days in Indiana. And it is going to be something really, really special.
So, I want to thank the media. The media has really covered me very fair for the last two hours.
(APPLAUSE)
They have been really very fair over the last few weeks. And you know, it's been amazing what's been happening. The crowd we have had record- setting crowds. Bigger than Bernie. But Bernie is second I have to say.
In fact, I suggested today, you probably saw, that the democrats have treated Bernie very badly. And frankly, I think he should run as an independent, OK? I actually do. I actually do.
(APPLAUSE)
I think they have treated him very badly. And, you know, the system is a bad system and whether it is their system or our system, you look at what goes on. But, you know, the best way to beat the system is have evenings like this where you get record-setting votes, where you get record-setting delegates.
(APPLAUSE)
I used the analogy of the boxer. You know, when the boxer knocks out the other boxer, you don't have to wait around for a decision. So, that's what it is. That's what happened tonight. That's what happened last week in New York, and that's really what's been happening throughout. We have millions more votes. Millions more than Cruz. We have millions
more than Kasich. I mean, Kasich now he was 1 in 41. So now, he is 1 in 46. Why is he here? I can tell you that if you look, Dr. Ben Carson did much better. He could have hung around and done very well.
If you look, Chris Christie did much better. If you look, Marco Rubio did much better.
(APPLAUSE)
In fact, Marco Rubio right now has more delegates than, you know, Kasich. I mean, he has got more delegates. But so many others. I mean, they have actually done more.
All they had to do was hang around. But they thought it was inappropriate and a lot of people don't like seeing it. It's like a spoiled person that just says, I'm just staying for whatever reason.
So, Kasich -- and by the way, as soon as Kasich gets hit with the first negative ad, he has had none. Bing, that's the end of that. You know, it's the only thing he can say.
And today, we came up even against Hillary. But we will beat Hillary so easily. And you know, remember this.
(APPLAUSE)
Remember this, I was not going to run according to everybody. And I ran. I was not going to sign for May, which basically you sign your life away. And I signed for May. And then everybody started saying, wow, and then we put in financials. The financials were phenomenal, far better a little like this evening, far better than even people thought, great financials.
I built a great company with the help of my sons and my daughters and with the help of my family, frankly.
(APPLAUSE)
I mean, it's pretty great. But we built a great, great company and that was great. And then everybody said, well, he is just going to have a good time for a couple of weeks. He is enjoying it.
And very shortly, we went to number one over a three or four-week period. And we've been there ever since. We've been number one ever since. And again, millions of more votes, hundreds of more delegates and I think this one is maybe the biggest of them all.
I mean, New York last week had almost 62 percent was incredible. Far better than what people thought. They said, if you could break 50 again with three people, it is very hard to break 50. We hit almost 62 percent. Picked up so many delegates.
(APPLAUSE)
Last week, we had -- last week we had 95 delegates in New York State, New York City, the whole thing. It ended up to 95. We picked up almost every single one of them. It was an amazing victory. But this one is a diverse victory.
I mean, you go Rhode Island, and you go Maryland, and you go Connecticut and you go Pennsylvania and you go, I mean, the whole thing Delaware. And every one of them was conclusive. And every state is so different. I mean, it is so different.
I think one of the greats was when you look at almost 50 percent in Massachusetts and almost 50 percent in the State of Alabama, now, that's pretty different. But we have all across the board.
And I think we are going to do really well in Washington State. I think we are going to do amazingly in Oregon. And every place we are going to. I mean, we are to be going fighting hard. New Mexico, we are going to be fighting really hard.
And I think that Governor Kasich and Senator Cruz have really, really hurt themselves with a faulty deal that was defaulted on before they even started.
[22:04:59] Because Kasich said, well, what do you mean? Aren't they going to vote for me in Indiana? Well, I said, I thought they just made that deal. So, what it is these politicians, all talk, no action. They can't get it done. And they certainly can't straighten out our country because we are going to bring back jobs, we are going to take care of our military.
(APPLAUSE)
We are going to be doing so many things. I mean, to me, especially over the last two weeks. Because I traveled New York State and I went to Syracuse and Poughkeepsie and Rome, our Rome, New York. As supposed to there is another Rome out there someplace. But we went to Rome, New York and we went to the island, Bethpage and just every place we went, manufacturing down 40 percent, 45 percent, and even more.
And then we go to Pennsylvania, and we see the same thing. You look at what's happening with steel and you look at what's happening in so many other industries. And I get statisticians to give me numbers. And before I leave all the time. Give me the numbers. And every single place I go is a disaster.
Manufacturing down, 40, 45, 55, 60 percent sometimes in a relatively short period of time. Our jobs are being sucked away from our country. And we are not going to let it happen anymore, folks. We are going to make it very, very difficult to do that.
And when companies want to leave this country, our great country, and they want to lay off all of these people that in many cases helped build the country, there will be consequences for that country to pay.
When they think they are going to make their product and send it in, no taxes. They are very weak for it. And by the way, our border will be very, very strong. We will build a wall. Just remember I said that, OK? (APPLAUSE)
But when they think they are going to send their product through this weak border and they are going to pay no tax and have absolutely no consequence for what they did, it's not going to happen that way. And you know what's going to happen, when we do that, all of a sudden, companies are going to say, I'm staying in Syracuse. And I'm staying in Pennsylvania. And I'm staying in Maryland.
I want to thank the people of Maryland. They have been so incredible. We had some rallies all over. But we have some rallies in Maryland and Pennsylvania that were absolutely unbelievable.
Yesterday, in Pennsylvania, we were in an arena that was like Madison Square Garden. They turned away thousands and thousands of people. Unfortunately, the press never reports it. They always show my face.
They go like this. I said, does anybody ever want to show this arena that has got tens of thousands of people in it? They don't do that. But it's OK because I'll at least explain it to you.
But we're going to have our country back. We're going to make America great again. I just want to tell you for the five states, I am so honored. This was to me our biggest night because it shows such diversity.
(APPLAUSE)
So, thank you very much. We will take some questions. Yes, CBS.
(OFF-MIKE)
Yes, it's all been. Well, I don't -- I don't what the final numbers but the money relates (Inaudible) is reviewing and we are looking for some other really worthy places to distribute the final (Inaudible).
But for the most part, it has been distributed. Yes, go ahead. I consider myself the presumptive nominee, absolutely.
(APPLAUSE)
I mean, Senator Cruz and Governor Kasich should, you know, get out of the race. They have no paths.
(APPLAUSE)
And honestly get out of the race and we should heal the Republican Party. And I'm a unifier. I unify people. That's how I did in this. I mean, we will have people that are back in this party and back here for my candidacy that you folks will not even believe.
We are going to have such unity. I'm not saying everybody. Some people have gone too far over the edge. But we will have people back in the party and back in the presidency. And we are going to win. We are going to beat Hillary Clinton. And it's not even (Inaudible).
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you.
(OFF-MIKE)
Of course, we look at different things. And I don't want to do that. We are leading by so much. I think we are going to hit the numbers pretty easily. Most people are going to do that.
[22:10:00] And probably before we end the process (Inaudible) before the convention and that with a lot of delegates. If you look at Pennsylvania, first of all, I have a man and we brought this and he is a tremendous leader.
And one of the things with Pennsylvania, you know, we had a massive victory, 60 percent, above 60 percent. Pennsylvania has been amazing. We get 17.
(APPLAUSE)
We get 17 delegates outright and then you have 54 or so delegates that are, you know, up for grabs. The one thing different with Pennsylvania. And I have been hearing about it. I have heard about it for years actually is that the winner of Pennsylvania there is a moral obligation, at least on the first round to support the person that won.
Now, we didn't only win, we won big. And again, we have to get in mind. You have the three people. And when you have three people that get 60 percent, that's almost unheard of.
Honestly, if you have two people and you got 60 percent, that's a really big victory. So here, you have a case where we have a great leader, great republican leader and you have a moral obligation in Pennsylvania that those people and all I care about is the first round.
You know, when you people write about Cruz is going around giving people dinner, buying people everything, riding them around all over the place, getting them into hotel rooms. Because he is looking for the second and the third and the fourth.
I'm not too interested in that because we're going to win on the first. I am not looking to go second, third, fourth, fifth. Maybe I'm making a mistake. I mean, the truth is, even if this did ever go there, can you imagine if Donald Trump, because in California, we are up to almost 50 percent.
I think we hit 50 today and they are at 18 and 16. I mean, there is massive difference. So, we are going to have a big California. I think we are going to do great in Indiana.
Indiana is the home for Carrier air-conditioning which is leaving for Mexico that I've been talking about for the last four months, long before I knew Indiana will be so important. And I'm saying that won't happen if I'm president. Carrier will not be
leaving Indiana if I'm president. But I have been talking about this for a long period of time.
So, when you think of it and that the really unfair thing that the pundits never report, when I began the process with 17 people, very capable people like Chris, governors, senators, Dr. Ben Carson, very smart, tough, highly accomplished people, 17, a record in the history of politics, 17 people.
So, I go and I start winning. And I'll win New Hampshire. And I'll get whatever it may be, 32 percent and people will say, why didn't he get 50 percent? I said, you can't get 50 percent when you have 16 people.
Then I go to South Carolina. We have a massive victory. That was Cruz' stronghold except I won it in a landslide. And I won it because of the Evangelicals who backed me. The Evangelicals have been unbelievable and they backed me. So, I won there.
And we had 12 or 13, or 14 people, we had many, many people, and I got a lot. And then, we went to Nevada. We went to the south. We went -- I mean, Alabama, with all of the people we had, we almost got 50 percent.
Massachusetts, with all of the people we had, we almost got 50 percent. The pundits I was watching tonight, the pundits never talk about the fact that these early states, especially even now, we have three, three is unfair.
You know Hillary has one. I have three. There is a big difference. There is a big difference between fighting one person and fighting two person -- people in terms of percentages. So, what I'm saying is when you talk about the 1237 number, the first 70 percent of these things we had from 16 people and even 17 people to 10, to 8, to 6, to 5, to 4, and now we're at 3.
So, it's really unfair when you try -- I mean, I've always been very good at math. Nobody ever discusses that. When I watch the people on television, whether it is CNN, Fox or any of them and I watch. They never talk about the fact that we have all of these people and that if you got a 32 or a 35 or a 38, and you have 7 people running, that's like 75.
So, we are really honored by this night. And I'm really honored to have hit over 60 in virtually every race with three people in the race. OK. Go ahead.
(APPLAUSE)
I didn't want to bore you with that long, long -- but I'm telling you, it's never discussed on television. Go ahead.
(OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just as Senator Cruz announced that he's come up with short list of running mates. They've started the vetting process. TRUMP: He is wasting his time tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
In fact, I heard he had a news conference tonight and I heard the news conference was for the purpose of getting out of the race. That's what I thought. And instead he just had a news conference more talk, you know. But...
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: I don't want to think about it right now. I'm not doing that. We are going to set up by committee at some point in the not too distant future. But I just don't want to think about it right now.
[22:15:02] I want to -- I want to finish it off.
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: Well, I think he is fantastic. Look, I think Chris Christie is fantastic. So, certainly...
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Trump, one of your aides -- one of your aides recently suggested that you were playing a part and that your public persona would change?
TRUMP: You know, I am me. You know, it's interesting, Sara. I hear that. You know, he will be presidential, he will not be presidential. He'll do that. It's very easy to be presidential, much, by the way, much easier but I'm not playing a part.
Look, I started off with 17. I'm down now. I'm winning it. It's over, as far as I'm concerned, it's over. These two guys cannot win this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But do you have -- but do you have to change...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: So, why would I change? You know, if you have a football team and you are winning and then you get to the Super Bowl, you don't change your quarterback, right? So I'm not changing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How about in a general election instead of a republican primary? Will you have to make changes?
TRUMP: I think we will do great in the general. Well, I may act differently but my thought process is the same. You know, when I speak to a group of 10 people in a conference room, I'm not going to be speaking the same way I spoke in Pennsylvania yesterday to 25,000 people. It's a very different thing but I will be saying very similar things.
Yes, go ahead. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, as you -- to kind of follow up on that point
to some extent, is you shift your focus to say, tomorrow to this foreign policy speech that you should be giving.
TRUMP: I am doing a foreign policy speech.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a more formal setting.
TRUMP: Yes. Which I look forward to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A more serious topic. Are you concerned to some extent that you lose your more enthusiastic long-term supporters who supported you because you were...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Well, it's an interesting question. I have had many, many people write in, tweet in, the modern way of writing, but write in, tweet in, call in. Please don't change. Please don't change. Just stay the way you are.
So, look, I'm not changing. You know, I went to the best schools. I'm like a very smart person. I'm going to represent our country with dignity and very well.
(APPLAUSE)
Look, I don't want to change really my personality. I think, you know, it got me here. Somebody said, if you changed and if you were that way, you wouldn't be maybe where you are right now.
You know, we beat a lot of people. A lot of people are sitting back saying, what happened, darling? Why are we sitting here? We are watching television. Don't forget, when I announced, there were many favorites that were going to win.
One of those people raised over $100 million in a PAC and a lot of money personally. Others had other big advantages. Governors of major states, et cetera, et cetera. They are all going to do great. They were all going to do great. One after another after another and here we stand with big five victories over 60 percent.
David?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, in her speech, Hillary Clinton took a chunk out of you and basically said she is going to have a (Inaudible).
TRUMP: I mean, Hillary, I call her crooked Hillary. She is crooked. She will be a horrible president. She knows nothing about job creation. Her husband signed NAFTA, which destroyed this country economically. I will tell you.
You look at New York State, you look all over New England, you look at Pennsylvania, NAFTA was a disaster. Her husband signed it. And it was a disaster for this country. Hillary will be horrible, absolutely horrible on economic development. She will be terrible on jobs. She knows nothing about jobs, except for jobs for herself.
And when it came to answering the phone...
(APPLAUSE)
... when it came to answering the phone at 3 o'clock in the morning, she was sleeping, OK? She wasn't with Benghazi and all of the other problems. You look at what she did with Syria. You look at what she has done in so many different ways.
She will not be a good president. She doesn't have the strength. She doesn't have the stamina. I know about dealing with China. I've made billions of dollars dealing with China. China can be dealt with and you can get along with them.
But Hillary does not have the strength or the stamina to deal with China or other things. But bottom line is, one of the big problems our country has is problems with trade, where you have China, Japan, Mexico, and so many countries, just ripping us left and right.
The politicians cannot handle that problem. Two reasons, number one, they don't have the competence to do it. Number two, most of them are paid off through campaign contributions so they don't touch certain things that the people want touched.
When people are making less money in real wages than they were 18 years ago, and then some people say, wow, he had a big crowd. That's one of the big reasons. When you have people making less money today, as you know because you see every stat, less money today, David, than they made 18 years ago.
And in some cases, they are working two jobs. So they are getting older and they are working harder. It shouldn't be that way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are not worried although about being labeled?
TRUMP: No, I don't worry about it, no. I don't. I'm not a hateful person. I'm a person that loves people. And make America great again.
(APPLAUSE)
I mean that's just a thing. I mean, she is going with that because she thinks it's great. I'll do far more for women than Hillary Clinton will ever do.
(APPLAUSE)
[22:20:04] Including -- remember this, including protecting our country, because she will not be good with the military. She will not be good with protecting our country and she's had her shot and she also raised her hand when it came to Iraq. And she shouldn't have voted.
And if you remember, just take a look at the things that Bernie Sanders was saying about Hillary Clinton. She said she is not qualified. He said, she is not qualified to be president. But he said something else that was if she's qualified. What's qualified?
I mean, you have to go out and you have to run and you see what happens. But he said some things about her that were so incredible, incredible. And so incredibly bad. There is a great level of hatred right there but he has been telling the truth. And I really mean it. I think Bernie Sanders should run as an independent. I think he would do great, OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just described yourself as the presumptive nominee. Is there a level of frustration that the party isn't seeing you that way even after a night like tonight?
TRUMP: I think the party is seeing me that way. I'm getting calls that, as I said, you wouldn't believe. I'm getting calls from people that I really can't know how they can do it, because they have said such horrible things about me and now they want to join the team.
Chris can tell you that. Ben Carson can tell you that. Other people can tell you that. I'm getting calls. Corey can tell you. Paul can tell you. We have -- we are getting calls from people where I actually say, how can you do this? How can you do this? How can you do it? And they have no problem.
But the fact is, names that you wouldn't believe, names that you interview and say, oh, Trump, Trump, Trump. And now, they are calling and they want to join the team. Well, a lot of them will be coming out soon. They want to come out very soon. Yes.
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: Sure. I mean, tomorrow is going to be I think interesting. It's going to be some of my views on foreign policy and defense and lots of other things. So, we will be discussing and part of it is economics. I mean, I was asked a question recently on -- by Wolf Blitzer on CNN and he talked about NATO. I gave a great answer.
I gave an answer that at first people didn't like and they said, you know what, Trump is right. Experts said. I said it's obsolete and too many people are getting a free right ride. Because we are funding 72, 73 percent of NATO.
You have 28 countries and many of these countries are just taking advantage of the United States. And you have to pay up. Because we don't have a country with $19 trillion in debt that can afford this anymore. You have to pay up.
And part of I'm saying is people we love our country and we love our allies but our allies can no longer be taking advantage of this country. This isn't 40 years ago and it's not 20 years ago. This is now.
And we have to rebuild our infrastructure. We have to rebuild our country. We have to get rid of ISIS and we have to rid of them fast. Our military is totally depleted. We have to build it up. It is going to the cheapest thing we can do. And a lot of great things are going to happen. We are going to make America great again. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Trump...
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: No, no. You hear different things. Yes. Great. I'll never change one thing. You know what I will never change. Make America great again. I will never change. That's one thing.
(APPLAUSE)
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: No, it's not going to be the Trump doctrine. And you know, when I say it won't be the Trump doctrine. Because in life, you have to be flexible. You have to have flexibility. You have to change. You know, you may say one thing and then the following year you want to change it, because circumstances are different.
And I have followed people for years. I have friends that are the most successful people in the world. Many of them are endorsing me, Carl Icahn, many of the great business people are endorsing me.
You have to have flexibility. You can't say this is my doctrine I will not move. Because the world changes, countries change, leaders change. Lots of things happen. So, you can't say that. OK. Yes, sir, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the last few races, a lot of us were talking about the ceiling that you have had and you definitely have blown through that.
TRUMP: We don't have a ceiling. You know what our ceiling is, I think it's 100 percent. We don't have a ceiling.
(APPLAUSE)
Again, the ceiling was always so unfair. Because I am just going to do it again because I want to do it, because it is so important. But the ceiling -- wait a minute.
The ceiling they kept saying, he doesn't hit the 50 percent. Well, now they don't say that anymore. But how do you hit 50 percent when you have 16 people in a race. You can't do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just here in the northeast, New York and Pennsylvania. These are places...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You don't understand. I have many people running.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you going to win these states?
TRUMP: I think I am going to win New York. No other republican can say it. I think I'm going to win -- excuse me.
Conservative voters. Did you see the polls where they are coming out tonight? The most conservative people in the Republican Party tonight backed Donald Trump, the most conservative, OK? The most. You have to see the polls.
(APPLAUSE)
[22:25:03] Go ahead.
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: That is the single biggest question I'm getting, student debt. And we are going to work on that. We are going to make it much different.
The biggest problem the students have. They have the problem with debt but they go to a good college. They borrow right up to the -- right up to here and they are choking on debt and they graduate and they work hard and they get good marks and then they can't get a job. I am going to bring jobs back to this country like you've never seen. That's the biggest problem.
(APPLAUSE)
(OFF-MIKE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the biggest contrast in terms of how you both would regulate Wall Street and the economy between you and Secretary Clinton?
TRUMP: Well, we have a lot of contrasts in terms of jobs. We have a lot of contrasts in terms of how I would handle Wall Street. Look, Hillary Clinton is funded by Wall Street, folks. I mean, she is going to get the nomination unless she gets herself indicted with respect to what's happening with the e-mails, OK?
You know, what I don't understand you look at what's happened to so many other people, and they are, you know, they went through hell. Their lives have been destroyed for doing less than what Hillary Clinton did. What she did is an outrage.
It is an absolute criminal outrage. And for her to be able to run as a democrat. That's why maybe Bernie Sanders isn't finished. But the only way you can say that is if something happens to her. She is being protected by the democrats. Because what she did and I see it.
And whether I read it about it in the papers or I watch it with experts, legal experts on television, virtually every single one of them said what she did is a criminal act and what she did is a very, very dangerous thing for our country.
And yet, here she is running for president. So, I think that Hillary honestly, she is a flawed candidate. I think she will be easy to beat. I think she is going to be much easier to beat than most of the 16 people that I competed with just recently.
Go ahead.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you let us know, if you become president, what's the number one security threat in this country and how you would deal with it?
TRUMP: To me, always the number one security threat to the United States is nuclear. That's our biggest threat. It's our biggest risk. The power of weaponry and we have to be unbelievably careful.
The single -- it is not global warming. President Obama said the biggest threat to our country is global warning. Give me a break, OK.
The biggest threat to our country is nuclear. And we cannot let Iran get a nuclear weapon.
(APPLAUSE)
We are going to do something where we'll have a real partnership with China. You know, we have a lot of power over China. China has rebuilt itself by making a fortune over us. China has power, tremendous power over North Korea. We have to be very vigilant on North Korea. We cannot let this guy go much further.
And China should handle that problem. China can handle that problem very easily. They say they can't but they are toying with us, OK? They are toying with us. We have a lot of power. We are going to have a great relationship with China. We are going to have a great relationship with Putin and Russia.
But let me tell you. China has a lot of power over North Korea, a tremendous amount of power. They just refuse to use it and they refuse to talk about it. And they are toying with us. And right now, they don't respect us. They don't respect our president.
And because of that, they are getting away with murder. This guy is getting away with murder. What's going to happen is and something very important to me and to a lot of other people, but very, very important to me is nuclear weaponry. That is your single biggest threat in the world today. Go ahead, Don.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you worried at all that you could be possibly be running for president in November and also standing trial for Trump University?
TRUMP: No, that's a civil case. Very simple. I'm going to win that case very easily. Yes, go ahead.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Politics behind it...
TRUMP: Go ahead, Sara. Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, Mr. Trump, Hillary Clinton, as you're saying, does have extremely high unfavorables, but yours are even higher among a general electorate? TRUMP: Well, my unfavorables have come down a lot.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But how do you change that among people that think they know you already?
TRUMP: Well, remember this, OK. I saw it on all of the cable stations and a lot of the networks and I read it in a lot of papers. I have had 55,000 negative ads against me. When I ran in Florida, I had 14,000 negative ads. Millions and millions of dollars, and I won in a landslide.
I have had negative ads all throughout and I've won races in a landslide, OK? In a landslide. You know it. You report it. You all report it. I'm not -- even Carl would agree to that, right? I mean, landslides.
[22:29:58] And yet, I have this tremendous amount of -- you almost say do ads mean anything? I think we are going to hurt the industry pretty because people say what does an ad mean.
But I have, now, largely the ads were false, a little truth to some of them perhaps, but largely false. But I had 55,000, a 100 million and even more negative ads. Even in New Hampshire. I mean, Jeb spent millions and millions of dollars on negative ads and I won New Hampshire in a landslide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But how do you change that image in the general electorate?
TRUMP: No, no. But now what's happening is most of these people that have been fighting me are gone. And when I am one-on-one with Hillary, she will be, as I said, easier to take down, much easier to beat than the people, many of the people that I have already beat. OK.
(OFF-MIKE)
Well, I think they are hurting the party because, again, they have no path, zero path to victory. We are going to win on the first ballot. We don't look for the delegates on number two, three, four, or five ballot.
And here's what I say. Let's assume it did go beyond the first ballot and let's assume, you know, Reince, who is a very good man, head of RNC, Reince Priebus. And let's say, oh, well, Trump was 12 short or 15 delegates short or 25 short but 500 more than Cruz, and far more than that ahead of Kasich.
So, you go to a second ballot. Now Trump by that time will be five million votes because of California, and the size of California and I think Indiana and other places. Trump by that time will be five million votes ahead of Cruz. Will be much more than five million votes ahead of Kasich. I mean, Kasich should be -- he got to get. I call him. Now, I change it. Now I change it to 1 in 46. I mean, how do you stay in a race? And I would have won Ohio had I not been given a dirty poll saying
that Florida was tougher than I thought. I stayed in Florida for two more days instead going to -- if I spent two more days in Ohio, I would have won it. OK.
How do you pick a man on the second, or third, or fourth ballot, who has millions of votes, five, six million votes less than Trump, and I'm the one that brought all of these people into the party. That's why the Republican Party is up almost 70 percent from four years ago.
(APPLAUSE)
And you know what's going to happen? Those people, at a minimum, they are going to be very upset, very angry. But at a minimum they are not just going to vote. They are not going to vote. So, how do you do this? How do you say, OK, Trump won by five million votes, Trump is five, six, whatever, 100 delegates more than Cruz, and much more than that having to do with Kasich.
And he brought millions of people into the party. And everybody is talking about the party worldwide how hot the Republican Party is. You know, some people used to say its state.
Well, the democrats are 35 percent down from four years ago. The republicans are almost 70 percent up from four years ago. So, I mean, that's an amazing tribute.
(APPLAUSE)
And that's not because of, believe me, that's not believe of Kasich or Cruz. That's because of me. So, here's the thing. How do you say to them, we are going to choose a man that lost by 5 million votes and 500 delegates. We are going to take him because Trump was 14 delegates short of winning in the first ballot.
I don't think you can do that. Now with that being said, I intend to get enough delegates. But that's it. OK. Yes, ma'am. One more question. Go ahead.
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: I'll stick with my feelings on immigration. If you look at what's going on in immigration, and just look at the record numbers of people right now that are pouring across the borders of this country. They are pouring -- excuse me, excuse me. I just read it. I read it in actually a legitimate journal. All right.
We need protection in our country. You look at the kind of crime. You look at what's going on economically. We need borders. And by the way, I want people to come into our country but I want them to come in legally. They have to come in through a process. So, I want...
(APPLAUSE)
Excuse me, excuse me.
(OFF-MIKE)
TRUMP: Well, I think the only card she has is the woman's card. She has nothing else going. And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she would get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she has got going is the woman's card.
And the beautiful thing is, women don't like her, OK?
(APPLAUSE)
And look how well I did with women tonight, OK. So, ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Donald Trump, 5 for 5 this evening. And whether or not he was intentionally trying to send a message to anybody on his campaign or to the media gathered there, that was definitely Donald Trump, like him or not, take him or leave him. That was the Donald Trump who has managed to come so far.
[22:35:09] There was nothing restrained in what he was saying. No attempts to be, quote, unquote, "presidential." He was who he was. And he had some very, very tough attacks against the two remaining republicans in the race and against Hillary Clinton, whom he said if she were a man, she wouldn't get 5 percent of the vote.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That was a as our friend in the control room said a doocy at the end there. He said 5 percent of the vote and that the only card that she has to play is the woman card.
But I think probably the headline of this, if there was one, was when he said, close to the beginning, I consider myself, the presumptive nominee.
TAPPER: Absolutely.
BASH: Now there are a lot of people, including a man that he praised tonight, the Republican Party chair, Reince Priebus, who would disagree considering the fact that they are fundamentally are sticking to the fact that a majority of delegates will decide who the presumptive nominee is and not just person who is ahead in the votes.
TAPPER: Right. But as he has pointed out, it is mathematically impossible for John Kasich to become the nominee. I believe as of this evening, it may be mathematically impossible for Ted Cruz to become the nominee.
And with his sweep this evening, he certainly comes much, much closer to that magic number, 1,237 delegates, the majority. Although he has not yet reached it. Wolf Blitzer, you have a projection.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We do. And we have another major projection right now. The final projection of the night, take a look at this. Hillary Clinton is the winner of the Connecticut democratic presidential primary. Her fourth win of the night. Hillary Clinton wins in Connecticut.
Let's take a look at all the states won so far tonight. Ten presidential primary contests on the republican side. Donald Trump had a clean sweep. He won in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Delaware, 5 for 5 tonight for Donald Trump.
On the democratic side. Four for five for Hillary Clinton. She wins in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, and Delaware. Bernie Sanders, he captures the State of Rhode Island. Big nights. Very big nights for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Let's go over to John King over at the magic wall. You told us earlier, John, that the populated parts of Connecticut had not yet come in. She was sort of neck in neck. But now, we project she wins in Connecticut.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As Donald Trump was speaking, the vote count in Connecticut, jumped dramatically. And as it did, Wolf, we saw in places, as we say we talk early about Bridgeport, she was leading a little bit down there.
We are still in the upper 29 percent there, and she is well ahead there. So, she is going to pad this lead. She is winning Connecticut and she is going to win it by even a bigger margin than we have right now.
More votes have come in down here in Stanford, for example, where, again, she is at 65 percent. She held that margin. When we talked earlier. We said, if she holds this margin, plenty of room to make up the ground. And she did hold that margin in that part of the state.
You see here in the southwest corner of the State of Connecticut, Hillary Clinton running up the numbers big, also in Hartford, the state capital. Still only 58 percent reporting there. So, again, if this continues with this margin of error, Hillary Clinton not only win Connecticut, Wolf, in a comeback, if you will, from the early count.
But she will win it by a little more than that. Still roughly even in the State of Connecticut. Important for Hillary Clinton, because she has four of five now, not three or five and she has the three biggest prizes.
Connecticut one of the smaller prizes, but with Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut. Senator Sanders is claiming a win in Rhode Island. Again, by a decent margin there. Proportional rules on the democratic side, that will give Bernie Sanders a little more than half the delegates here.
But a win for Secretary Clinton this will be 50 percent there. And when you move to her bigger wins down here, Wolf, this is what the Clinton campaign is thrilled about tonight. They get four out of five. But they get a big win in Pennsylvania, still only 71 percent counted. But if she is above 55 percent that helps her in the delegate count,
she gets in a bigger win in Maryland where you have, she is at 63 percent right now, it's 75 percent. And she gets almost similarly huge win in the State of Delaware.
So, three very big wins for Hillary Clinton right there. Smaller margin in Connecticut, four out of five. The delegate map, the Clinton campaign will argue now is insurmountable for Bernie Sanders.
BLITZER: All right. We're going to take a closer look at Donald Trump. He is getting closer and closer to that 1,237 number.
We'll take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to take a look at the delegate count, where he stands, how close is he. What he still needs to do. Much more right after this.
[22:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: A huge night tonight for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Let's take a look at the states won.
Donald Trump, just to recap, clean sweep. He wins in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, not only wins all five of those states but wins by very, very impressive majorities, large margins.
Hillary Clinton wins four of the five democratic presidential primaries. She wins Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware. Bernie Sanders takes the State of Rhode Island. That's his only win for tonight, four for Hillary Clinton, one for Bernie Sanders.
You heard Donald Trump say, "I consider myself the presumptive nominee." Jake?
TAPPER: Well, before he can call himself the presumptive nominee, according to the delegates, we are going to have to do some delegate math.
And let's bring in the executive editor of CNN politics to talk to us about not just what states have been won but how many delegates have been earned in those states. Mark, let's talk with the republicans.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, Jake, again, as we've been talking all night, you need 1,237 delegates to win the nomination. So far tonight, Donald Trump winning five states has picked up 99 delegates.
We are still counting as we speak. John Kasich has picked up five delegates tonight. Ted Cruz has picked up zero. Year to date right now, if you are to look at those numbers, right now Donald Trump, 945 delegates in his pocket. John Kasich got a 152 delegates and Ted Cruz at 563 delegates, Jake.
[22:45:07] TAPPER: All right. And do you have numbers for the republicans as well?
PRESTON: Well, sure.
TAPPER: I mean, the democrats as well with?
PRESTON: On the democratic side, sure. Hillary Clinton picking up three states tonight, she has 72 delegates right now that she has won tonight.
Bernie Sanders has won 50 delegates. But let's look at year to date numbers right now, Jake, if we can. Right now, Hillary Clinton has 2,026 delegates in her packet. Bernie Sanders has 1,291.
Let's break those numbers out, though, because if you break them out it shows that Hillary Clinton has 1,524 pledge delegates. These are delegates she's won in contest, 502 into super delegates, these are delegates that are basically promises by governors and senators and other party officials who have said they will support her.
And Bernie Sanders only has 42 of those to win the democratic nomination, though, Jake. Hillary Clinton would be at 2383 delegates.
TAPPER: All right. Very, very difficult for Bernie Sanders to win those delegates as of now. But Hillary Clinton has not reached the majority level yet either. So, we have the front-runners stronger but still not quite there yet.
BASH: That's right. Not quite there yet but it is still, you know, on the republican side, especially, the important thing to underscore as we have been talking for what, the past couple of months now about the possibility even at that point, the probability of an open convention.
The fact that Donald Trump did as well as he seems to have done tonight makes that probability even smaller, a lot smaller. He is not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination, despite the fact that he said he was the presumptive nominee.
But it is certainly going to be a lot harder for the not-Trump, the never-Trump movement to stop him.
TAPPER: Not a great night for them. Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Certainly not. But also just fascinating to see stylistically the differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tonight in their speeches. I mean, Donald Trump, we wondered, is he going to be reading off a teleprompter, is he going to be what he did last week this sort of eight-minute?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COOPER: This was sort of classic Donald Trump.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that went off.
COOPER: Right. Just ripping and even taking questions from the audience. AXELROD: You know, you saw -- you saw there the strength and the
weakness of Donald Trump, because this improvisational quality is what lends to his notion that he will speak his mind. Then he closes his deal by taking a gratuitous shot at Hillary saying, you know, she was only in it because she was a woman.
She only get 5 percent if she weren't. He's got like a 30 percent gender gap already in general election. Polls like, I mean, I don't know what number he would be satisfied with he seems to be intend on driving in one.
COOPER: Well, let's play some of what he said about Secretary Clinton tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I called her crooked Hillary. She is crooked. She will be a horrible president. She knows nothing about job creation. Her husband signed NAFTA which destroyed this country economically. I will tell you.
(APPLAUSE)
When it came to answering the phone at 3 o'clock in the morning, she was sleeping, OK? She wasn't with Benghazi and all of the other problems. And when I am one-on-one with Hillary, she will be, as I said, easier to take down, much easier to beat.
And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she would get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the woman's card. And the beautiful thing is, women don't like her, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Gloria Borger.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Mary pat, Maria pat. I know looked over at her husband. She wins to her rolled her eyes.
COOPER: Chris Christie's wife.
BORGER: Chris Christie's wife. Right. And you, look, I think...
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: They have to stop putting the Christie's behind.
BORGER: The thing about Donald Trump is that he doubles down on everything. He doesn't apologize. He doubles down. And what he was doing tonight, not only was gratuitously taking a slap at Hillary Clinton as a woman but also stirring the pot.
Bernie Sanders has been telling the truth. And then, saying, OK, you have a moral obligation by the way in Pennsylvania if you are uncommitted to go with the person who won. So, he had a mixed agenda. COOPER: It is interesting, though, to listen to Donald Trump. I mean,
I know for a lot of his supporters here, somebody who just says what comes into his head, and for better or for worse.
I mean, even one of the things he was saying about all the negative ads against him. I thought it was interesting. I don't know of any other politician would have said what he said, which was, you know, most of what they said wasn't true. Some of it was actually sort of true. You know, would any politician you know ever admit that?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Which makes him interesting and fascinating to watch. I mean, you never know what he is going to do. I mean, this I thought press conference was exactly like we have seen before. He didn't have the stakes. You know, him passing out, you know, all sorts of Trump magazines in the way that he did in Florida.
I thought what was good about it what we have seen two speeches tonight. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And Both of them were making overtures to Bernie Sanders. I mean, he was taking lines essentially from Bernie Sanders.
[22:50:04] He hit Bill Clinton on NAFTA. He said, Hillary Clinton is funded by Wall Street. And he also said that she is paid off through campaign contributions.
COOPER: Let's play some of what Hillary Clinton said in response to earlier comments by Donald Trump about her playing the women's card. She had something to say before Donald Trump spoke tonight.
BORGER: Right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The other day, Mr. Trump accused me of playing the, quote, "woman card."
(CROWD BOOING)
Well, if fighting for women's health care and paid family leave and equal play is playing the woman card, then deal me in.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And yet, he repeated again tonight, it was clearly something he is going to be using forward.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's it is interesting to me, if it is inevitable, right. If this is the way it is going to me, and by the way, can you imagine what the next several months hold if these are the two candidates.
COOPER: Incredible. SMERCONISH: Unbelievable. Think of those debates. But each is getting the opponent they desire. Isn't that interesting? They seem to relish the opportunity to square off against one another.
I'm wondering down ballot. Today in Pennsylvania, there was a Senate primary, Katy McGinty won the democratic nomination. She'll be running against Pat Toomey. Pat Toomey when he voted today, Anderson, made it known that he voted for Ted Cruz.
Donald Trump says he is now getting calls from individuals who want to climb aboard. I am wondering how many members of Congress and how many members of the Senate are willing now to engage on his campaign.
COOPER: The style difference, though, between Secretary Clinton and Donald Trump could not be any more different. I just find it fascinating for some of this tonight.
PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It is. It is. Hillary is all about ideas. Mr. Trump is all about impulses. Sometimes it is terrific. Sometimes it is offensive. You know, Hillary Clinton thinks she thinks this through. She is kind of walks she is about ideas and substance.
COOPER: But it was definitely a prepared speech.
BEGALA: Of course, she is running for president. This is a big country, it's a big job. She has actually thought about it.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She is trying to be prepared.
BEGALA: Right.
JONES: Remember that.
COOPER: You know, to the authenticity issue, I mean, that play, a lot of Trump supporters like that about him.
BEGALA: I've known Hillary most of my adult life. The thing she relishes most in life is standing up to a bully. I think it drives her foreign policy, it certainly drives her politics. And I'm quite sure she views Donald Trump as a bully, not against Hillary Clinton. She is fine. She is going to be fine no matter.
But when he says things like that about women, when he says things like that Mexican migrants or Muslims, let me tell you, she relishes the idea of going after him.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let me take a rare moment to defend Donald Trump first on this.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Wait. Wait. Hit the -- hit the DVR.
CUPP: We can talk about the imprudence of Donald Trump talking that way about Hillary Clinton and playing the woman card for a general election. I don't know. She's got some issues with women voters that I think Donald Trump may think this wins with.
But in a republican primary, this is actually not a very controversial thing to say. Anderson, I don't have to remind you, that when you asked Hillary Clinton at a debate in October, what would make her different from a third term of Obama?
She said, well, I'll be the first woman president. I think republicans think that she plays the woman card all the time. And that it is political correctness to suggest otherwise.
So, on this, I don't think it's beyond the pale to suggest that Hillary Clinton plays the woman card. We see...
(CROSSTALK)
AXELROD: Yes. But that's different as he's been saying that.
COOPER: OK.
AXELROD: It's different than saying if she were a man, she wouldn't get 5 percent of the vote. I mean, that's taking what you said way beyond.
CUPP: And it's also true that Hillary Clinton...
HENDERSON: I don't think so.
AXELROD: In a republican audience though.
COOPER: One at a time, Nia.
HENDERSON: I think it's also true that Donald Trump is sort of playing a gender card too. I mean, is there a presidential candidate that we have seen that is more sort of obsessed with his own masculinity than Donald Trump?
CUPP: Right.
HENDERSON: Whether it's talking about the size of his hands or sort of being, you know, I'm the strong one and sort of the bullying talks. I think it's sort of ironic that he is pointing to Hillary Clinton saying, listen, where would she be if she were a man, where would he be if he were a woman? So, probably not by 5 percent.
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was told by a woman friend the other night who had a party. I will not mention her name. She had all these women on her house for some affair and they were talking about Donald Trump. And she said, you know, "We are all independents. We are all in the feminists, but you know what we like about him, he is an alpha male." What does this mean here?
BORGER: Well, it means is he'll attack Hillary Clinton in the way that we've seen. I mean, there's always been a debate. Oh, if you had a woman running for president, how would you debate her? How did Joe Biden handle Sarah Palin?
And we know from watching Donald Trump tonight as well as on other occasions, that it's going to be the same.
COOPER: Well, it's also, actually the same thing that Melania Trump has said on numerous occasions, that he will hit, you know...
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: People opportunity.
COOPER: Right. That he will be as aggressive with a woman as with a man if...
BEGALA: He had both female opponents, 16 opponents he talked about, one was a woman, Carly Fiorina. Still is, Carly Fiorina. She was attacked for her looks...
BORGER: Yes.
BEGALA: ... by Mr. Trump. I don't think he attacks everybody for everything. It seems to me, both his attacks on Megyn Kelly, the female anchor at Fox News and Ms. Fiorina were different in kind than his attacks on his male adversaries. That's a problem.
[22:55:08] JONES: I just want to say one thing. You are going to see that look from Mary Pat.
BORGER: Mary Pat.
BEGALA: Right.
JONES: That was shocking. We can pretend it didn't happen. It happened. He got up there and he said up there and he said something that maybe republicans like and maybe they don't. But when he said that she would be at 5 percent, the shocked look on the face of Chris Christie's wife, the first lady of New Jersey, that tells everything.
HENDERSON: Yes.
JONES: There is a danger. He can go too far. I think he does go too far. And I think tonight, that look will burn a thousand mirrors.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Jeffrey, what that, are you convinced about that?
LORD: One of the things like we don't discuss enough is the bringing together of the idea of women and liberalism. Because after all if this were all about women, then everybody would have been standing up cheering for Sarah Palin.
That doesn't happen. When women despise minorities as well, they are conservative and they have a different approach to things, they are scorned. They are sort of read out of the crowd.
There was an article in The New York Times about Ivanka Trump at some big magazine thing and everybody loves her and then somebody brings up her father and things get tense. For why the things get tensed. Not because she is sitting at a table with women but because she is sitting at a table with liberals. That's the difference. And I think that's going to be discussed here.
AXELROD: I don't think that he scored points by making the comment he made. I do think two other things, though. I do think that the spontaneity and improvisational nature of his presentation plays well against speech off of teleprompters...
BORGER: Yes.
AXELROD: ... and answers that seem to be run through kind of a political filter. I also think that I said earlier, a lot of democrats think they would rather run against Cruz.
The fact is, Donald Trump will say anything.
CUPP: Anything.
AXELROD: He will take any shot.
CUPP: Yes.
AXELROD: There are no boundaries and you saw some unloaded on Hillary Clinton there. And as Michael said, it portends a really brutal.
(CROSSTALK)
SMERCONISH: Can I say to David's point, I think he deserves credit for his willingness to stand there and avail himself to the questions.
COOPER: I totally agree with that, yes. I've been saying that all along. I mean, his willingness to do interviews when all these other candidates are, you know, in a cave somewhere they not returning calls.
AXELROD: Somebody should have asked him, what was in those negative ads that actually was true.
SMERCONISH: Anderson, remember how the night began when Ted Cruz tried to lower the bar, because he knew he was going to get shellacked. And what did he do, he blamed the media. And I'm sitting here as one who hosts a show on this network that Ted Cruz won't return the telephone call.
COOPER: Right. Same here. Until recently, yes.
SMERCONISH: Yes.
BORGER: But he's in the media tonight for two hours.
CUPP: I'm not sure how heroic it is for Trump to constantly make himself available. As media, we love that. But there are no consequences for the bad things that he says.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: There is no wrong answers.
CUPP: Of course, you would go on when there are no wrong answers. And when someone like Ted Cruz or someone like...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: But there are certainly aren't wrong answers, because you don't like him.
CUPP: Really gets -- no, no, no. What I'm saying is there are no consequences.
COOPER: No, no, but I mean, but it has had consequences on your support for a republican candidate. You're a republican, I mean, based on the things he have said, that has had consequences on your vote.
CUPP: There is no consequences in the voting and delegate count.
(CROSSTALK)
LORD: There is a 65 -- he has a 65.
CUPP: He is winning.
COOPER: Absolutely.
CUPP: He is winning. And other people like Marco Rubio are really pulled apart and parsed on every syllable and Trump can say outlandish things fact checkable things that patently wrong and he doesn't suffer in the polls.
BORGER: But he did get pulled apart, for example, on the question of should a woman be punished for, you know, having an abortion.
LORD: Sure. Another corresponds.
BORGER: He got pulled apart for that.
CUPP: Yes.
BORGER: The difference was and I think the media went...
(CROSSTALK)
CUPP: And then he flash forward to New York. And then it's a blowout.
BRGER: But it didn't matter to the voters.
CUPP: Right. Exactly.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: It's not about the voters.
BORGER: In the primary. JONES: It's not just about the voters. At a certain point, you have to take some responsibility. Until him someone who said this many things that were factually wrong, just wouldn't be allowed back in the media.
If I sat up here every night and said things that were this inflammatory and this factually wrong, I wouldn't have a job.
LORD: But he says them all.
COOPER: But you are not winning states and the leading candidate of your party.
BEGALA: No, no. The voters should be the gatekeepers.
COOPER: So, you want -- you want networks to ban candidates because of things they say?
JONES: That's not what I'm saying. I'm not talking for banning. What I'm saying is, until he came along, there was a sense in the political class and there was a sense I think in American society that you had to at some level exhibit some form of rational, mature behavior or that something would happen to you. Now what's happening...
(CROSSTALK)
CUPP: Nothing is happening.
JONES: And nothing was happening. I don't know that nothing is supposed to be. Maybe Santa Claus supposed...
LORD: There is a divergence.
SMERCONISH: The man has a 65 percent disapproval rating in the general election poll. So, something happened. Something happened.
CUPP: No, the consequence will come in the general for sure.
LORD: I mean, she -- and hers are 56. I mean.
[23:00:02] SMERCONISH: Yes, 10 points lower than...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: I don't know but just listening to 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of you, not Jeffrey, if you would think Donald Trump loss tonight. Donald Trump had a major sweeping...
(CROSSTALK)
LORD: Yes.
