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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump's Final Push Before Super Tuesday 2; Latest Campaign Happenings; Sheriff's Dept: No Charges Against Trump For N.C. Incident; Super Tuesday Stakes; Kasich, Trump Down To Wire In Ohio; Kasich: I'm Deeply Disturbed By Trump; Kasich: I'm Going To Have To Work Extremely Hard. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired March 14, 2016 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[20:00:15] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.

And get ready for a day that will almost certainly live up to the name super Tuesday. Especially on the Republican side where it's do or die Tuesday with big winner take all states like Ohio and Florida.

Now, by this time tomorrow night two GOP candidates could be back in the game or on their way out. And one, Donald Trump could have the nomination just about within reach.

And in the Democrats another chance for Bernie Sanders to narrow the gap with Hillary Clinton. And for her, to stop his momentum. However, most headlines tonight revolve around one party and one candidate and one thing. The Republicans, Donald Trump and all the violence we have been seeing at his campaign events, including that brawl in Chicago on Friday. Trump accompanied by Chris Christie is campaigning right now in southeast Ohio.

Our Jim Acosta is there as well and he joins us now.

So Trump's final push before the two big primaries tomorrow. What's his message in Ohio, in Florida?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson.

First of all, we should point out Donald Trump was able to get his message across without interruption at this rally. There were no disruptions, no protests. The Trump campaign, we should point out, did require that the people attending this rally park miles away and then take buses to get here. You should see the line to get on those buses right now behind my camera. It is pretty incredible.

But one Trump volunteer organizer here told us that they were hoping that that tactic would help keep down the demonstrators, and - well, it worked. Now, as for Trump's message, Anderson, it was one attack after another on Ohio governor John Kasich. Trump said at one point about Kasich quote "he can't make America great again. He is totally overrated." That was another quote. And that he has supported trade deals in the past that will destroy or have destroyed Ohio jobs and will do so in the future. Now, we should point out as we have been saying, you know, this is

really crunch time for Donald Trump and the rest of the candidate in this race for the GOP nomination. You know, a Rubio win in Florida, a Kasich victory here in Ohio. That would essentially re-write the narrative in this campaign, Anderson, signaling for the first time that Trump may not have the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination.

But a clean sweep tomorrow for Trump would do the exact opposite, Anderson. There would be no more muddle. This would clear away much of the field leaving Ted Cruz to battle it out with Donald Trump. And Trump said today he pulls off that kind of big night tomorrow night. The rest of the party should rally behind him - Anderson.

COOPER: Jim Acosta, thanks for that.

Now, Ted Cruz has a late campaign event shortly later in Decatur, Illinois. He amped up his closing pitch today that a vote for Kasich or Rubio is a wasted vote. He spoke just a short time ago in (INAUDIBLE), Illinois.

Our Sunlen Serfaty is there and joins us now. What has he been hitting on in his final push?

SUNLEN SERFATY, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, his final pitch, Anderson, is all about his own campaign's viability. We saw him really amplify this message today on the campaign trail when he was talking to voters here in Illinois. He said look, point blank, the math actually matters here. So making something of an academic argument to argue about the realistic chances, what he sees as realistic chances of his opponents and arguing point blank to voters saying look, if you support John Kasich or if you support Marco Rubio, basically that is a wasted vote arguing that he is the only one that's because of the delegate math that is well positioned going into tomorrow to potentially beat Donald Trump.

Now, the Cruz campaign has been trying to make this message for so long. They see tomorrow, Super Tuesday, as a chance to inch closer to that goal. Of course, though, so much of that hinges on how Marco Rubio and how John Kasich do tomorrow in their respective home states -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Sunlen, we will check in with you later. Thank you.

Marco Rubio has what they are calling a homecoming rally tonight in west Miami. Now appears to be staking it all of his home state 99, winner take all delegates. He also wavered over the weekend of whether he could support Trump in November.

Sara Murray joins us from West Palm Beach where another Rubio event took place short time. What about Rubio's message tonight?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Marco Rubio was much more reflective I think than we have seen in recent days. He and his staff are, of course, looking at the same poll numbers that we are. They know that it's an uphill climb here in Florida. And his speech tonight was almost talking about the campaign he wished he had run, sort of making that his final stand rather the campaign - than the campaign he actually did run at certain point, you know.

He even said tonight that he felt terrible for some of the attacks that he launched against Donald Trump again reiterating that he embarrassed his family members, he embarrassed some of his supporters. But he went hard against Donald Trump without really even talking about the candidate by name saying this is someone who encourages people to, you know, fight at his rallies. This is someone who is essentially turned this into a reality TV show. You try to drive home the seriousness of the choice that's voters are going to be making at the poll tomorrow night. And, of course, he asked for their vote. As you said, Anderson, this state is really do or die for Marco Rubio. And I think we saw that all coming home for him tonight. That he has spent 11 months working up to this moment, and it all comes down to tomorrow.

[20:05:07] COOPER: Certainly does. Sara Murray, thanks.

Ohio governor John Kasich says he'll score a home state win tomorrow. He got help today from 2012 nominee Mitt Romney. He did not, however, get his endorsement.

Phil Mattingly joins us now from the campaign stop in Westerville, Ohio.

Certainly the stakes for John Kasich tomorrow night are incredibly high. What does he do on this final day before the primary?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's more or less do or die, Anderson. And look, John Kasich did today what he has been doing most of this week, trying to remind Ohio Republicans why 77 percent approved of him as recently as October of 2015.

He has serious strategic advantages in this state as you would expect for a home state governor, Anderson. He has a significant operation. He has the state party support and a Super PAC that's put seven-figure ads up. And it has more than 30 staffers just focused on that state still. Even his advisers are willing to acknowledged, it is a very close race. He's been rising in the polls, kind of stretching a lead a little bit over Donald Trump but really utilizing Mitt Romney today.

Two big events. One out in Stark County. One down here in Westerville with (INAUDIBLE) two counties break on Delaware. That's important for this reason, Anderson. Those were three huge counties for Mitt Romney in 2012 when he won Ohio by just 10,000 votes. The turnout in those counties will be crucial to how Kasich does tomorrow. Mitt Romney trying to give him, if not an endorsement, at least a little bit of a boost as he tries to stop Donald Trump tomorrow night.

COOPER: I'm going to talk to governor Kasich in the broadcast tonight. In particular, I want to ask him if he is still going to support the nominee, even if it is Donald Trump, as we heard Marco Rubio saying it gets harder every day. We'll see what the governor says about that tonight and bout his chances tomorrow. Phil, thanks.

I want to bring in out panel. CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger, chief national correspondent, "INSIDE POLITICS" anchor John King, also our political commentators Ross Douthat, Kayleigh McEnany, Tara Sethmayer and Peter Beinart. Ross is a conservative op-ed columnist from "New York Times." Kayleigh is a conservative columnist and Trump supporter. Tara is a former communications director of Republican congressman (INAUDIBLE). Peter Beinart is precisely none of those things. He is a liberal-leaning contributor for the "Atlantic" and professor of journalism and political science in the City University of New York.

I mean, Gloria, the tone, the tenor of this Republican race, the huge stakes tomorrow, what's do you expect? Is there any way to know?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we could end up with four candidates still in the race. We could end up with two candidates in the race after tomorrow night.

COOPER: Those are the options.

BORGER: What we do know for certain is that Donald Trump is going to gain some delegates, and we don't know how many. And I think that, you know, for John Kasich, as we have been saying, for John Kasich over and out, if he doesn't win Ohio and the same for Marco Rubio if he doesn't win his home state.

I think Cruz, talking to Cruz people, they believe they have a paths forward no matter what happens tomorrow. They believe they are going to be able to pick up some delegates. Maybe not win anywhere, but pick up some delegates. And they vow to continue no matter what. But to answer your question, we don't know what to expect.

COOPER: John, I mean, there was a lot of early voting in Florida. It's a state that likes to vote early. People were saying that broke for Marco Rubio because people kind of had made up their mind to support him in any decline that he reached - they would already voted by then. Do we know what the polls show in Florida?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Rubio people think they did quite well with the early vote. One of the complications of that, if you look at the polls and most of the polls he is down 15, 18, and some poll even 20 points. So that's pretty discouraging. Now, with this campaign we have learned believe nothing. Nothing is certain and every day brings a new surprise. But the interesting fact, if he closes strongly in Florida, what might we have a dynamic tomorrow night, yes, let's say Rubio does fine in the early voting. But Jeb Bush gets a healthy chunk of those early votes. If Rubio close in the end, it could get to a point that he falls, you know, 5,000, 6,000 votes short that Jeb Bush's early vote is a determining factor in that race.

Look. Today is the storm before the reset. Everybody is out there being busy. If Trump has a big night, if he runs the board --

COOPER: If he wins Florida and Ohio, is it over?

KING: Well, you assume if he wins Florida and Ohio, he is also winning North Carolina and Missouri because of the Democrats. If you are winning states as diverse as Ohio and Florida you are probably also winning Missouri. Depends how much - how many delegates Cruz can pick up in Missouri. But Donald Trump has a chance tomorrow night to end up in the ballpark of 800 delegates. If he's in the ballpark of 800 delegates, then he needs about 42, 44 percent of the remaining delegates. That's gettable. Whether it is a three-way race or two- way race, that is doable. If he loses both Florida and Ohio, and I think I'm going to show you the map in detail of it later, if he loses both of them, then you are almost guaranteed an open convention as long as Cruz and whoever stays, if it is Rubio and Kasich or just Kasich. If they do OK down the path, Trump will still get to the convention the leader. But if he loses both - if he loses one in Florida and Ohio, the likelihood of an open convention is up there. Then we are going to have a wrestling match. If he loses both, it's probably an open convention.

COOPER: Ross, I mean, the violence that we saw particularly on Friday, how do you think that's plays either for or against Donald Trump?

[20:10:03] ROSS DOUTHAT, OP-ED COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES: I think in the short term it probably helps him a little bit. I mean, everything is happening on the margins here because there's, as we can see, so much information out there and so many things floating around.

COOPER: But do you think it actually helps him?

DOUTHAT: I think that if you do, you know, if you think about this -- think about it from the perspective of sort of a conservative casual news consumer, right. And they haven't followed every one of Trump's rallies closely. They probably don't know that he has been essentially goading people in the stands to hit protesters over the course of the years. And so, what they see are, you know, a kind of mob scene of protesters shutting down Trump's rally and Trump saying, well, the police told us we had to shut it down. And that's not actually true but that's what's Trump says.

And you know, from a conservative perspective, a narrative where angry protesters shut down conservative politician's rally, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, it is a bad thing but it is not necessarily something where they say, well, this must be the politician's fault.

COOPER: Tara, do you think it helps?

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think in the short term because of the way -- what Ross just said. Most people are very -- they have short memories. You know, they watch him. They don't cover it like do. They don't live and breathe politics the way we do.

COOPER: You mean they have actual lives?

SETMAYER: Yes, outside of the election they have real lives. But that is what they see. And they do see disruptive (INAUDIBLE) protesters coming in, mob rules, very reminiscent of the black lives matter disruption thing that most people looking at that independently and go away. This isn't how you react to objectionable speech, however you feel about Donald Trump.

But unfortunately, the other side of it is that Donald Trump does have a certain responsibility here but he has been very clever in his denials of this. He continually repeats that, well I say, you know, we have peaceful protesters. There's no violence there. As if we all don't see what we see and hear what he says. But he continues to repeat those lies in a way to try to create something like we're all crazy.

COOPER: I mean, but that's what he does --

SETMAYER: Correct. That's been characteristic of his entire campaign.

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Repeating lies is the theme of the Trump campaign.

SETMAYER: His entire campaign, dishonest.

BEINART: There's a larger theme which is one of the ways the Donald Trump incites fear among his supporters is to portray outsiders as violent even when there's no evidence they are, right. He portrays -- remember when he -- the first thing he says about Mexican undocumented immigrants coming across the border. They are criminals and rapists, right.

The vast, vast majority, and even if you are a hardliner of illegal immigration are not doing violence. The same thing with Syrian refugees. Remember, they were strong men, right, the implication. The vast, vast majority Syrian refugees have nothing r do with violence. It is the same thing with the protesters. Yes, some of the protesters are obnoxious. Some of them may yell obscenities. There is very little evidence that these protesters are actually been violent and yet Donald Trump repeatedly again and again and again describes them as violent in order to legitimize the violence of his protesters.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Here, there have been more violence protesters and there have been violent Trump supporters. In fact, when you go and watch the --

BEINART: I watch this carefully. That is entirely not true.

MCENANY: Over the entire --

BEINART: Who are the violent protesters?

MCENANY: There have been three incidents with Trump supporters, the 78-year-old man. There were two other incidents. One protest, one Trump supporter engaging in some sort of physic altercation. Meanwhile, in the last two days alone --.

COOPER: So that's actually not true. In fact, there was one encounter of an African-American woman --

MCENANY: That's was one of the three.

BEINART: And you are reporting to the Breitbart reporter.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: But Kayleigh, you are saying there's no incidents. You are counting one incident in which a number of people manhandle jobs and --

MCENANY: I'm saying total, three have been three incidents over --

COOPER: Right. But there numerous people involved in those incidents.

MCENANY: Compare that to in the last two days, we have seen three large-scale incidents on the part of protesters. (INAUDIBLE) in the "Washington Post" how protesters had to be -- they had to use tear gas on the protesters, the police did, in order to disperse the protesters. You look on Friday night, when you watch those videos. It's not people in Trump shirts engaging in the violence. It is the protesters. People with anti-Trump signs. And then we saw --.

COOPER: But does it concern you at all that your candidate has encouraged that's? By saying I would like to punch this person. Back in the old days we were able to do this. Now we're so politically correct, we can't do it. I'm going to pay your legal bills. Does that concern you at all?

MCENANY: If I were a candidate, I would not have chosen those words even though --.

COOPER: No, no. But as somebody who is supporting this candidate, the man you are supporting, does it concern you? As somebody who is, I mean, you are practicing to be a lawyer. Does that concern you that somebody is going to be president of the United States is saying like back in the good old days we'd be able to just beat these people up --

MCENANY: It concerns me that Barack Obama in 2008 --

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: Because you are deflecting. We gave you three opportunities to answer and you deflected.

MCENANY: Tara --

MCENANY: You aren't giving me an opportunity to answer because --

SETMAYER: Because you are continuing to deflect as to what Donald Trump --.

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: I love to hear how even as an evangelical which you claim to be that's you can look at what's going on there and that is acceptable to you.

MCENANY: I watched the Don Lemon interview between Don Lemon and Trump that happened on Friday night seven times and I have the time stamps if you would like to see them. Trump said I denounce violence. Likewise we went on to an alternate network after and said it four times. He has said 11 times in the course of two hours --

[20:15:09] COOPER: But after saying I would like to punch them, if they throw tomatoes, just knock them out for me.

MCENANY: And I know when I say Obama everyone says that was 2008. Well, it is important to compare apples to apples. And in 2008, Barack Obama said why you need to bring a gun to a knife fight. I know people in (INAUDIBLE), they like to (INAUDIBLE). That is a violence statement. It could be interpreted as such. It was a zestful thing and likewise I think Trump's statement were zestful. In hindsight they were regrettable. In hindsight I don't think he should have said.

SETMAYER: Justifiable

MCENANY: However, I think it is important to compare that other candidates have made similar statements in the past.

DOUTHAT: Bu the issue with Trump, right, is that I mean, this is the Schick. And if this is the same thing with, you know, the KKK interview, right, if you have Donald Trump on set here and ask him a question say do you disavow the KKK? Do you disavow violence and so on? He will say it. He will say it four times. He will say it seven times. He will say it 11 times. But the next day at the protest -- at his rally, he's going to get up there and make a joke again. A joke, right?

MCENANY: When is the last time he made a statement I want to punch a protester? He's changed his rhetoric since that point. When is the last time he had made such statement?

DOUTHAT: He has change his rhetoric since the Chicago protest.

MCENANY: Things got actually got violent. He has change his rhetoric.

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: But wait the minute. In the Chicago protests, he said that he would look into paying legal bills of a supporter who knocked -- almost knocked out a protester leaving peacefully.

COOPER: Right. And that's was a complete sucker punch of a guy --

SETMAYER: And just for the record, Kayleigh, you didn't answer the question. And that, for me, as an actual conservative, life-long conservative and a person that believes in integrity and character, I find it despicable that you trump supporters cannot simply just disavow his despicable behavior and his double speak and --

MCENANY: I said I wish he wouldn't have made those statements.

SETMAYER: You just said it was justifiable.

MCENANY: Tara --

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: So why can't you just say no?

MCENANY: Tara, you just said that he said he would pay the 78-year- old's legal fees.

(CROSSTALK)

MCENANY: This isn't about his age. I'm trying to finish my statement.

SETMAYER: Go ahead.

MCENANY: In that same statement he made he said nothing condones a sucker punch. I would like to take a look at what happened and see what happened.

SETMAYER: Double speech.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: You can just take a look at - I mean, Donald Trump watches TV more than any candidate I've ever seen.

BEINART: He's watching -

COOPER: He watches all the coverage. You can't tell me that he hasn't seen the video of that 77-year-old something white guy sucker punching this African-American man right here and there it is again. He has got to have seen it. And anybody --. And to say that you consider paying, you know, the fees for that guy who later on was quoted as saying, you know, that guy might have been from ISIS, next time we might have to kill him, you are going to pay his fees?

MCENANY: From that video, that's is inexcusable. What we see in that video clip right there is absolutely inexcusable. No excuse for what that man did. However, we don't-- if you take that into a court of law they would ask what happens in the ten seconds before that and the ten seconds after that. It is important to gather context --.

COOPER: Nothing happened between those two people because wherever that man was protesting was further down. He was just walking down and this man saw an opportunity to stand up and sucker punch him.

MCENANY: We don't know what he did before --

(CROSSTALK)

DOUTHAT: What is actually true is that from the beginning, right, because of the nature of Trump rallies and because he started out, you know, talking in very vivid language about illegal immigration, his rallies have attracted a difference kind of protester than Marco Rubio's rallies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or Ted Cruz's rallies.

DOUTHAT: But this is the thing, in a sense, up until a few weeks ago you can say this in Trump's defense. You can say, look. Other candidates weren't having, you know, sort of large-scale groups of protesters go in and try to be disruptive.

COOPER: Although Bernie Sanders did and basically --

BEINART: But Bernie Sanders was in an utterly different way.

COOPER: We've got to take a break. We'll continue this discussion. A lot more to talk about in the next couple of hours of live "360" coverage including a closer look at this question of violence at Trump rallies. And as we have been discussing, the candidates' plane that they are simply is none that it is, in his words, a love fest.

Later, I will speak with Ohio governor John Kasich who says a home state victory tomorrow could propel him all the way to the nomination and beyond and that he still -- would he still support Trump for the nomination, if, in fact, Trump gets there? Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:22:36] COOPER: We're talking tonight, sometimes quite passionately, about the Republican front-runner and the violence at his campaign events. And there is breaking news on that note. We just learned that a North Carolina sheriff's office has just decided not to bring charges against Donald Trump or his campaign of inciting riot in the sucker punching of that protester at his rally In (INAUDIBLE).

Now today, as you know, Trump denied there is a violence problems surrounding his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The press is now calling this, but there's such violence. No violence. You know how many people have been hurt at our rallies? I think like basically none other than, I guess, maybe somebody got hit once? But there's no violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Keeping them honest. We have been seeing these last weeks. And over the weekend, the evidence suggests otherwise, and whoever you support, whoever you blame for it, it's hard to deny there is something different about Trump events.

Our Gary Tuchman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There would be no wandering in to this last Donald Trump rally before Super Tuesday III. That's because people attending the rally took buses from a parking lot about seven miles away from the Youngstown, Ohio, rally site. Trump organizer say it was not done this way to try to keep out possible Trump opponents. They say parking was limited. But one of the Trump volunteers wasn't completely on message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People walk in with, you know, Trump is a bad guy, you know. You don't want that. This is a rally, and it's paid for by Trump. So we want Trump supporters there.

TUCHMAN: Security keeps getting more elaborate t Trump rallies. As the buses pulled in secret service, local police and private security were keeping a close eye on everything. Inside the hangar were people awaited Donald Trump's arrival, many were looking over their shoulders.

If you see protesters here, what's will you do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell them to go whine somewhere else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those people have an agenda.

TUCHMAN: What is their agenda?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To destroy.

TUCHMAN: This past weekend saw more tumult on the Trump campaign circuit following the violence in Chicago on Friday.

Secret service and Trump's private security scrambled when a man charged toward the stage at an Ohio rally. Trump was noticeably startled but continued on.

Another weekend rally in Kansas City, Donald Trump showed no signs of flexibility for protesters.

TRUMP: Hello, darling. Go home to mom. Go home to mommy. Get him out. Get him out. Out.

I hope these guys get thrown into a jail. We are going to take our country back from those people, those people. They do nothing.

[20:25:18] TUCHMAN: On Sunday, this is what Trump said on "STATE OF THE UNION."

TRUMP: When I say things like, I'd like to punch him, frankly, this was a person that was absolutely violent and it was like a crazed individual. A lot of them are -- I don't even call them protesters. I call them disrupters.

TUCHMAN: The Trump supporters we talked to here have no problem with their candidate's more controversial comments.

Do you think Trump bears any responsibility? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. The media should stop showing it over and

over. Because then that makes people want to do it.

TUCHMAN: It's the news media?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the news media. It's not Donald Trump. He's perfect.

TUCHMAN: People can argue until they are blue in the face about who is responsible for the violence at the Trump events. But what was evident, that everyone realizes there is potential for more.

TRUMP: Get them out of here!

TUCHMAN: Many people here say Trump should not change his language toward protesters one bit.

DANNY WHITE, TRUMP'S SUPPORTER: I think we need a leader who has authority and is in charge. And if that's what it takes to be in charge, that's what's it takes.

TUCHMAN: It becomes an OK message?

WHITE: Fine with me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Gary Tuchman joins us now from tonight's Trump event.

Did the increase in security make an impact in tonight's rally?

TUCHMAN: Well, put it this way, Anderson. If you ever wanted to be a campaign manager for a candidate and you wanted to keep political opponents out, the smart thing to do would be to have your rallies in an airport hangar, not many neighborhood away from houses and businesses and make people take a bus for seven miles. Because if you were a protester and it got in trouble here, you would not want to ride a bus seven miles back with 50 or 60 people who hates you. So we can tell you tonight, there were zero disruptions here.

COOPER: All right. Gary Tuchman, thanks very much.

Back with our panel. Joining us is also CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

No charges filed in North Carolina. Is there exposure for a campaign if there is violence at a rally?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, in the direction we're heading, it's possible. Certainly in North Carolina there was no justification for an incitement charge. If you look at the statute, there was no way.

COOPER: This is from the guy sucker punching the man as he walks by?

TOOBIN: Right. And it has to be a riot. And whatever you think of that, you can't describe that as a riot. But there are statutes on the books in many states that's make it unlawful to whip people up into such a frenzy that violence exists. There are also statutes in some jurisdictions that say disrupting a speech or a political event can be a crime as well. So both the pro and anti-Trump people have risks of getting arrested. And also the authorities are not going to put up with this. And they are going to start canceling Trump events if they feel like they --

COOPER: The thing about the sucker punch I didn't quite understand is the older man punches the African-American man as he was walking by. And then the police did nothing about the guy in the hat doing the punching. They wrestled the African-American man to the ground and I assume arrested him. I mean, that's minutes after -- seconds after he sucker punched, he gets wrestled to the game by other private security or police and hustled out. Nothing initially happened to that older man.

TOOBIN: Though he was later.

COOPER: Later on he was arrested.

TOOBIN: But I mean, ask yourself, would he be arrested if we didn't have that video? I mean, I think the answer to that is self-evident. But, clearly what he did is a crime. That's an assault if under all the circumstances that we're aware of now. And these kind of cases are going to start to be charged. The cops are going to be much more closely enforcing the law in these places. And the question will be, can they sustain this? Can they allow this to go forward if it gets worse than it is now?

BORGER: If you are Donald Trump and you watch that video, as I'm sure he has done, over and over again, how do you not go before your crowds and say, we know we're going to have these so-called disrupters?

COOPER: Well they do. My understanding is - the recorded messages before the rallies --

BORGER: But if you are the candidate.

COOPER: Let me law enforcement, which is sensible and understanding.

BORGER: Right. But if you are the candidate and your supporters listen to you, what would be so wrong with standing up there yourself and saying everybody has a right to protest. We don't believe in violence here. We are not going to encourage violence. We don't want people to disruptor rally, but use a different kind of language if you are running for president of the United States. It's a whole different level of a game here, right?

COOPER: But isn't that part of --

DOUTHAT: But that's - I mean, why would Trump use different language? This is the core --

BORGER: Because it's getting -- DOUTHAT: But this is the core of Trump's appeal, right. I mean, you

think, you know, if he is watching us right now and he hears Jeffrey say, you know the authorities might slap some charges on his campaign, he wants the authorities to slap charges on his campaign. His campaign was desperately hoping, I'm sure, that somebody in North Carolina would charge them with something because the whole raw visceral appeal of Trump is, you know, the man who tells it like it is, no matter what. The man who standing up for you against - I mean, you heard him there against those protesters and so on.

It's -- you know, there's a little bit of how George Wallace handled these things in the late '60s and there is a little bit of the WWE. Right, Trump's -- Trump was a WWE, guest star, world wrestling. And that's ...

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: And I think that's completely misunderstanding Trump's supporters. Because I think the aggressive rhetoric is something Trump supporters tolerate and they see as a cost of change.

I think most Trump supporters don't support him because he said he wants to punch a protester in the face. In fact many Trump supporters wish he wouldn't say things like that. Rather they see it as the price for change. Changing the Republican platform, making it a more anti-free trade platform, making it protective a social security benefit something Republicans is highest problem with all time.

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You think -- is it the guy who punched him was concerned about free trade?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not that guy. I think he's the outlier though. I think he is the outlier of Trump supporters. E (CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Isn't tells it like it is one of the top qualities that we every on a every primary night of the four qualities, tells it like it is. You don't think sort of tough talk to protesters is not, you know, labeling everything political correctness. You know, whatever Gloria just said, it would be labeled the epitome of political correctness by Donald Trump?