Good morning everyone! Happy Friday to you! Big show planned for today.

Joining the show today are Sam Stein, Donny Deutsch, Mark Halperin, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Hillary Clinton, Mary Kissel, Tom Brokaw, Chuck Todd, Eugene Robinson, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Dr. Dave Campbell and moreTaiji: The last boat has arrived to the harbor. 15 consecutive blue cove days 2016-26-2 9:57am ‪#‎dolphinproject‬ ‪#‎tweet4dolphins‬
What heel happened in that debate last night. There was no control of anyone to the point that Dr. Ben Carson asked for someone to yell at him. It was a total debacle. The New Times writers said it best because this debate (which was worse than the South Carolina one if you can believe it) was a "Descent Into a Free-for-All'. In reality, Trump followers probably thought he did fine and did not hurt himself ad you did not like Trump, it did not move that needle so to speak either. It seems like Marco Rubio came out looking the best but he will not win this primary at this point in time. I agree with the panel, they all thought Donald Trump was a fly by night passing candidate. What went down was too little too late.

It was the messiest and most confrontational debate of the Republican presidential primary, repeatedly descending into free-for-alls of cross talk and name-calling.

And for Donald J. Trump’s opponents, it may have been the best debate of the race.

Now again, why these things about him (Donald Trump) making his ties and clothes maybe in China and in Mexico is beyond me. Why never has there been anything mentioned about his Trump University is beyond me. 

But in reality, Marco may have delivered his punch (literally and not comedic) lines nicely last night but he never had any follow yup to it when Trump punched back in reply to it/them.

With the Super Tuesday primaries next week, Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida finally laced into Mr. Trump, battering him for his business deals, his thin knowledge of policy and what they characterized as his political opportunism.

The debate revealed the acute urgency each candidate now feels in making his case, and captured how Mr. Trump’s opponents are approaching what may be their last really good chance to slow his political momentum.

We haven’t hit bottom yet
Even by the standards of 2016, this was a nasty debate. Mr. Trump has set the standard for personal vitriol in the campaign, and he lived up to it in Houston, mocking Mr. Rubio as a clumsy “choke artist” and once again calling Mr. Cruz a liar to his face.

After Mr. Cruz referred to someone as a “crazy zealot,” Mr. Trump leveled a literal schoolyard taunt, and asked if Mr. Cruz had been talking about himself.

But for once, Mr. Trump’s opponents reciprocated — especially Mr. Rubio. The Florida senator caricatured Mr. Trump as a dunce on policy who repeats five canned lines over and over, and said that Mr. Trump would have amounted to little without inheriting a fortune from his father.

Should the race ever narrow to just Mr. Trump and either Mr. Rubio or Mr. Cruz, it could showcase a level of raw political violence unlike any recent presidential primary campaign.

With Trump, what you see is what you get
Mr. Trump has assumed an imposing front-runner’s position, achieving the kind of political stature that might prompt another candidate to reach for the dignity and gravitas Americans typically expect from a president.

Not him. His sales pitch has evolved little since the day he began his campaign, and he made no effort Thursday night to project the comportment or depth of knowledge that voters view as presidential.

Challenged on health care, Mr. Trump reiterated a vague set of promises to replace the Affordable Care Act by making “many plans” available to consumers. When Mr. Rubio suggested that Mr. Trump lacked an understanding of peace negotiations in Israel, Mr. Trump insisted, “A deal is a deal.”

Mr. Trump’s supporters may be indifferent to his limitations as a candidate, but his obvious discomfort handling policy questions and his apparent unwillingness — or inability — to elaborate on his ideas, may further unsettle Republicans already concerned about his capacity to compete in a general election.

Rubio and Cruz figured out how to attack
Mr. Trump’s opponents have struggled to make a sustained case against him, experimenting with a range of punchy attack lines that failed to stick.

A different dynamic governed Thursday’s debate. As Mr. Rubio and Mr. Cruz assailed him, they often used similar or even identical language and themes. After Mr. Rubio attacked Mr. Trump for having paid a hefty fine for hiring illegal workers, Mr. Cruz took up the same set of facts as a cudgel. Both men raised the issue of Trump University, a defunct educational company over which Mr. Trump is currently being sued.

Their shared purpose was to question Mr. Trump’s credentials and alarm voters about his vulnerabilities in a general election. “They’re going to pick apart his taxes,” Mr. Cruz said of the Democrats. “They’re going to pick apart his business deals.”

Citing the Trump University lawsuit, Mr. Cruz asked voters to imagine “the Republican nominee on the stand in court, being cross-examined about whether he committed fraud.”

Mr. Trump responded by talking over his rivals, but he will certainly have to address the issues they raised, either now, or as the Republican nominee.

Likable Rubio vs. lawyerly Cruz
Mr. Rubio and Mr. Cruz are both first-term senators who were elected by running to the right in Republican primaries. Both promise to be the first Hispanic presidential nominee.

Both have also improved as political athletes over the duration of this race. But they have settled into sharply contrasting styles that were on vivid display in Houston.

Mr. Cruz is cool and clinical, laying out his facts in a lawyerly manner and rarely flashing humor or emotion. He knows exactly how he wants to sell himself to voters, as a candidate of uncompromising ideological purity.

Mr. Rubio is animated and aggressive, speaking quickly and playing deliberately to the in-house audience. He projects an appealing personality without necessarily articulating an explicit case for his election as president.

For Republicans not sold on Mr. Trump, these are the main alternatives available to them, and Tuesday’s nominating contests may help resolve which man’s approach will be the final point of contrast with Mr. Trump.

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio has seemed to campaign almost in his own political dimension throughout the 2016 race. He has deliberately wooed moderates and independent voters, and has freely acknowledged that the next state he believes he has any chance of winning is Michigan, which does not vote until March 8.

In the debate, Mr. Kasich held fast. He did not attack other candidates, and when asked directly whether his opponents understood how to reach Hispanic voters, Mr. Kasich shot back, “I’m not going to talk about that.”

With some of the most conservative states voting on Tuesday — including Alabama and Oklahoma — Mr. Kasich continued to tailor his pitch to voters closer to the center. Breaking with conservative orthodoxy, he said that businesses should not receive religious exemptions based on their proprietors’ views on gay marriage.

When he was asked about deporting undocumented immigrants en masse, he cited a Reagan-era compromise as a model of immigration policy. That law included an amnesty provision for people who entered the country illegally.


Mr. Kasich believes he has a path forward through moderate and liberal states in the Midwest and Northeast, and that his fortunes will improve later in the primary calendar. Even so, he appears to have accepted that he will first have to withstand a wave of losses.
Mark Halperin's Report Card: Rivals Take Trump On, But Don't Take Him Down. In a free-wheeling presidential debate in Houston, the Republican front-runner's rivals came out intent on damaging his brand.
Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio at last seized the challenge of trying to slow Donald Trump’s momentum before Super Tuesday. Dropping their long-running attacks on each other, they went after the billionaire aggressively—following sustained criticism that they were making no direct attempt to keep the front-runner from sewing up the nomination in March. But without coordination or emphasis, their scattershot attacks were less effective. Trump was ready to parry and retaliate, showing once again that he can’t be felled easily.
Confronted Trump with voluminous opposition research and a mocking smile, and stood his ground when the billionaire fought back, but also didn’t get any clean kills, let alone a knockout (except perhaps in the eyes of media and political elites). Spent so much time going after Trump that he had less opportunity to critique President Obama or sell his positive message. Still, gets credit for trying to change the game, and will inspire those who wish to see him stand one-on-one on the stage with Trump down the road.
Spirited and confident. Purposefully calm in the face of frequent attacks from Rubio and Cruz. Turned many question into opportunities to talk about his favored issues and project the key to his success: s-t-r-e-n-g-t-h. Team Rubio will claim they rattled him—and Trump did have to play a lot of defense (especially on Trump University, health care, and the hiring of non-Americans), but the front-runner emerges on the other side headed for a super Super Tuesday.
Jabbed at Trump (although less often, less intensely, and less effectually than did Rubio) while trying to be a genial populist. Measured and mild, playing it safe, thus largely ceding the alterna-Trump spotlight to Rubio. Now he has to hope his performance was appealing enough to win more votes—including in his must-win home state.
His message of unity was on display all night, even as his low-key style was mostly overwhelmed by the fireworks at center stage. Maintained the upbeat, can-do persona that brought him big numbers in New Hampshire, and touted his Ohio record on a range of issues, but at times lapsed into excessive government-speak. Likely won’t boost his short term prospects but his mid-March plan is alive and well.
Pleasantly wry, engaged, and evincing more determination than usual. Eloquently displayed why he was once a contender, but lacked the kind of breakthrough moment he needed for a comeback.


Note: Grades reflect many aspects of the candidates' performance, including style, substance, and crowd reaction, and whether a candidate seemed to improve or hurt his or her overall standing based on the debate.
Republican debate: CNN's Reality Check Team reviews claims. The Republican candidates for President gathered in Houston on Thursday for their last debate before Super Tuesday, and CNN's Reality Check Team spent the night putting their statements and assertions to the test.

The team of reporters, researchers and editors across CNN selected key statements and rated them true; mostly true; true, but misleading; false; or it's complicated.

Donald Trump
Reality Check: Trump on American taxes

Donald Trump reprised a claim he's made in past debates, saying the United States is the "highest taxed country in the world."

Responding to a question about his plan to cut taxes, Trump said, "If you look at what's going on, we have the highest taxes anywhere in the world. We pay more business tax, we pay more personal tax."

As CNN's Reality Check team did when Trump made this claim two weeks ago, we'll look at each part of his claim that American individuals and businesses pay more taxes than any other country.

So, do Americans really pay more individual taxes than citizens of any other country in the world?

Hardly.

America ranked 17 out of 34 Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development member countries for total tax revenue per capita in 2014. In America, the tax revenue per capita is $14,203.90. In Luxembourg, the country with the highest tax revenue per capita, that rate is almost $50,000. Norway's tax revenue per capita hits more than $38,000. Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland round out the top five countries with the highest tax revenue per capita.

OECD's 34 member countries are advanced, industrialized nations, which makes their data valuable in comparing the United States to similar countries. China, Russia and India are not included in the OECD's list because they are not member countries.

We can also look at total tax revenue as a percentage of the country's gross domestic product. This time, America ranks even lower -- 27th out of 34 OECD member countries in 2014. America's tax revenue is 26% of the country's GDP. Denmark tops the list, with its tax revenue being equal to 50% of the country's GDP.

Looking at whether American citizens face the highest taxes, we rate Trump's claim as false.

Turning to companies, it's true that American businesses face the highest official corporate tax rate. The federal rate stands at 35%.

But that's not what many companies actually pay. The Government Accountability Office found that large, profitable U.S. corporations paid an average effective federal tax rate of 12.6% in 2010, thanks to things like tax credits, exemptions and offshore tax havens.

U.S. corporate tax collection totaled 2.6% of GDP in 2011, according to the OECD. That was the 11th lowest in a ranking of 27 wealthy nations.

So when it comes to American corporations, we rate Trump's statement as true, but misleading. The United States has the highest official corporate tax rate, but that's not what many companies actually pay.

Reality Check: Trump has a dirty mouth
Asked about former Mexican President Vicente Fox's comments from earlier Thursday ("I'm not going to pay for that f**king wall!"), Trump said, "I saw him make the statement. I saw him use the word that he used. I can only tell you, if I would have used even half of that word, it would have been a national scandal. This guy used a filthy, disgusting word on television and he should be ashamed of himself and he should apologize, OK?"

However, the businessman has a history that shows his own mouth might need to be washed out with soap. Cover your ears, children.

In April 2011, he blasphemed at a large Las Vegas rally on oil prices ("We have nobody in Washington that sits back and said, 'You're not going to raise that f***king price!'"), on putting tariffs on China ("Listen, you mother***kers, we're going to tax you 25%!") and on military presence abroad ("We build a school, we build a road, they blow up the school, we build another school, we build another road they blow them up, we build again, in the meantime we can't get a f***king school in Brooklyn."). Listen for yourself in the (bleeped) Vine below.

That's not even counting the profanity he's uttered during this campaign season. Whether it's wanting to "bomb the s**t out of" ISIS, calling Cruz a "pussy," or casually cursing during interviews, Trump's indignation over Fox's expletive seems a bit feigned when it comes to his own history. We rate Trump's outrage as %$*#.

Reality Check: Trump on paying for the wall with Mexico
Trump has long said he wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and get the Mexican government to pay for it. More recently, he's been tying the issue to America's trade deficit with its southern neighbor.

"We have a trade deficit with Mexico of $58 billion a year. And that doesn't include all the drugs that are pouring across and destroying our country. We are going to make them pay for that wall. Now, the wall is $10 billion to $12 billion," Trump said.

It's true that the trade deficit with Mexico was $58 billion last year. But that doesn't mean the Mexican government can pay for the wall ... not to mention whether they'd even agree to.

The deficit means that private firms in Mexico have earned more money from trading with the U.S. than U.S. firms have earned from trade with Mexico, said Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

"It not like it's a pot of money available to the Mexican government," he said.

So it's false that the trade deficit gives Mexico the money to pay for the wall.

CNN also looked at the cost of building the wall. Construction experts said a wall fashioned out of pre-casted concrete panels -- similar to those that run alongside highways -- would be the most workable choice.

Based on the price of highway panels, the price tag for the wall alone would cost around $10 billion, which is not accounting for the cost of construction that would take at least four years over the border's diverse terrain.

Other construction estimates have come in much higher. A retired estimator and economist for one of the nation's largest construction firms calculated it would cost nearly $25 billion, according to The Washington Post.

We rate Trump's claim that building the wall would cost between $10 billion and $12 billion as false.

Reality Check: Trump accidentally calls himself out
Trump said, "I don't repeat myself. I don't repeat myself."

But by our count, he repeated himself at least 20 times during the debate.

Some examples:
"Because the country will become a dynamic economy. We'll be dynamic again."

"We will have a dynamic economy again."

"We have the highest taxes anywhere in the world."

"We have the highest taxes in the world."

"I've hired tens of thousands of people over my lifetime. Tens of thousands ..."

"Let me talk. I've hired tens of thousands of people."

"And by the way, I've hired -- and by the way, I've hired tens of thousands of people over at my job. You've hired nobody."

We rate his claim false. False.


Reality Check: Trump on "Israeli Day Parade"
Trump touted his bona fides as a supporter of Israel during the debate, sparring with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over which one of them is a more devoted booster of America's close ally. Trump said, "I was the grand marshal, (walking) down Fifth Avenue a number of years ago for the Israeli Day Parade."

And Trump added, "I received their Tree of Life award and many of the greatest awards given by Israel."

The real estate tycoon indeed marched in a parade called Salute to Israel in 2004. The New York Daily News reported that Trump was heckled by pro-Palestine activists chanting, "You're fired."

Trump said he has close ties with the nation he has yet to visit as a candidate. He was scheduled to go there in December but canceled the trip after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized him for proposing a travel ban on Muslims in the wake of the San Bernardino attack.

The Tree of Life prize is awarded by the Jewish National Fund, a charity that supports environmental initiatives and land development in Israel. A number of Jewish organizations have honored Trump over the years for his philanthropy, but the government of Israel has not yet given him a prize as he claimed Thursday.

Verdict: True, but misleading.

Ted Cruz
Reality Check: Cruz on Wall Street Journal article on Arizona immigration
In a heated debate about illegal immigration, Cruz noted that undocumented workers fled Arizona after the state cracked down on them. He cited a Wall Street Journal story that outlined the impact on state and business spending.

"What the state of Arizona has seen is the dollars they're spending on welfare, on prisons, on education, all of those have dropped by hundreds of millions of dollars, and the Americans, and for that matter, the legal immigrants, who are in Arizona, are seeing unemployment drop, are seeing wages rise," Cruz said.

The number of undocumented workers in Arizona dropped by 40% between 2007 and 2012, the Journal writes, citing a Pew Research Center report.

Here's what the Journal article actually said about the economic impact of that decline:

-- The number of students enrolled in intensive English courses in Arizona public schools fell from 150,000 in 2008 to 70,000 in 2012 and has remained constant since. Schooling 80,000 fewer students would save the state roughly $350 million a year, by one measure.

-- Annual emergency-room spending on noncitizens fell 37% from $167 million to $106 million.

-- The annual cost to state prisons of incarcerating noncitizens convicted of felonies fell 11% from $202 million to $180 million.

-- Wages rose about 15% for Arizona farmworkers and about 10% for construction between 2010 and 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It's true that the Journal story said that spending on education dropped by hundreds of millions of dollars.

But Cruz exaggerates the other claims, so we rate them as false.

The savings from fewer incarcerations are much smaller and the Journal doesn't mention welfare spending. In fact, it notes that undocumented immigrants cannot receive government benefits, including non-emergency hospital care.

Also, while wages have gone up, the story doesn't specify whether pay is rising for legal immigrants. It noted that some of the low-skilled workers who benefited are native born.

Reality Check: Cruz on everyone's illegal immigration records
Cruz kicked off the debate by defending his own record on illegal immigration and attacking others on stage.

He made many claims about his record and those of two of the other candidates on stage with him. Let's look at them one by one.

"I really find it amazing that Donald believes he is the one who discovered the issue of illegal immigration. I can tell you that when I ran for Senate here in the state of Texas, I ran promising to lead the fight against amnesty, promising to fight to build a wall," Cruz said.

During the race for his Senate race in 2012, Cruz said he opposed amnesty -- which to him means no pathway to citizenship or legal status for undocumented immigrants -- multiple times.

"Neither party is serious about stopping it. I strongly oppose illegal immigration. I categorically oppose amnesty. I support legal immigrants who come here supporting the American Dream," Cruz said in an interview with Hot Air in May 2012.

In the same interview, Cruz said, "We need to do everything humanly possible to secure the borders. Electronic surveillance, a wall, helicopters and, most importantly, boots on the ground."

We rate Cruz's claim that he campaigned on a promise to fight amnesty and build a wall as true.

Reality Check: Cruz says Trump is for 'socialized medicine'
On the topic of health care, Cruz claimed Trump "for decades ... has been advocating 'socialized medicine.' What he's said is that the government should pay for everyone's health care. And, in fact, a couple of debates ago, he said, if you don't support socialized health care, you're heartless."

Cruz may be confusing "universal health care" with "socialized medicine," two different things. The former means that everyone gets coverage. Socialized medicine means medicine and hospital services are paid for by taxes.

And while we haven't found a record of Trump saying this during a debate, on ABC's "This Week" last month, he did allude to Cruz being heartless. Host George Stephanopoulos reminded Trump that Cruz was telling voters, "A vote for Trump is a vote for Obamacare." Trump responded, "I want people taken care of. I have a heart. I want people taken care of. If people have no money, we have to help people." Trump went on, saying of Cruz, "Maybe he's got no heart."

We did discover multiple instances as far back as 1999 where Trump has made clear his support of universal health care. Here's a few of them:

Last September, in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes," Trump told Scott Pelley: "I am going to take care of everybody. I don't care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now."

Pelley: "The uninsured person is going to be taken care of. How? How?"

Trump: "They're going to be taken care of. I would make a deal with existing hospitals to take care of people. And, you know what, if this is probably --"

Pelley: "Make a deal? Who pays for it?"

Trump: "The government's gonna pay for it. But we're going to save so much money on the other side. But for the most, it's going to be a private plan and people are going to be able to go out and negotiate great plans with lots of different competition with lots of competitors with great companies and they can have their doctors, they can have plans, they can have everything."

Trump also spoke highly of universal health care in his 2000 book, "The America We Deserve," where he wrote: "We must have universal health care ... I'm a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one ... We need, as a nation, to re-examine the single-payer plan, as many individual states are doing."

In 1999, Trump flirted with a presidential run as a Reform Party candidate. That year, he told CNN's Larry King: "If you can't take care of your sick in the country, forget it, it's all over. ... I believe in universal health care."

Trump may have an out for some of his claims -- he's often added that, while it's worked well in other countries like Scotland or Canada, he didn't think it would work as well in the U.S.

While specific details are hard to come by regarding Trump's health care policies, he has made clear his support of universal health care, but not socialized medicine as Cruz claims.

Verdict: False.

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz
Reality Check: Cruz and Trump on Libya intervention
In a discussion about the 2011 military intervention in Libya by the United States and its international allies, Cruz and Trump engaged in a vigorous debate about Trump's stance on the issue and the question of whether Libya was better off without Moammar Gadhafi in power. Trump said the following about Cruz: "He's saying I was in favor of Libya? I never discussed that subject. I was in favor of Libya? We would be so much better off if Gadhafi were in charge right now."

In fact, Trump did speak out about the intervention in Libya in 2011 and the fate of Gadhafi. "I can't believe what our country is doing," said Trump on a video blog of his in 2011. "Gadhafi in Libya is killing thousands of people, nobody knows how bad it is, and we're sitting around, we have soldiers all over the Middle East, and we're not bringing them in to stop this horrible carnage and that's what it is: It's a carnage."

Trump went further in the same remarks, saying that Gadhafi's ouster would be best for Libya.

"Now we should go in, we should stop this guy, which would be very easy and very quick. We could do it surgically, stop him from doing it, and save these lives. This is absolutely nuts. We don't want to get involved and you're gonna end up with something like you've never seen before," Trump said at the time.

Trump appeared to be calling for a military intervention in Libya and for Gadhafi's ouster in his 2011 remarks, which are at odds with his statement at the debate that the country would be better off with Gadhafi in power. We rate his statement Thursday night as false.

In his remarks at the debate, Cruz said the following: "He stated that in an interview that will be on our website, TedCruz.org, and you can see and hear the exact words from Donald's mouth. And I assume when he sees that interview, maybe he forgot about it, that I assume Donald will apologize where he sees that he said exactly that."

Cruz's website does indeed link to the same 2011 video, so we rate his remarks as true.

Donald Trump and John Kasich
Reality Check: Trump and Kasich on fracking and jobs
Trump said of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, "I just want to say -- and I'm a big fan of the governor -- but they also struck oil, OK, so that helped Ohio a lot."

Kasich replied, "OK, let me just talk about that. Donald believes the energy industry is important and so do I. But of the over 400,000 jobs that we've created in the state, we think maybe 15,000 are connected to this industry, because it's early-stage."

We checked a similar claim Trump made during a debate last October.

Fracking first took off in Ohio four years ago. Since then, it has attracted more than $22 billion in investments to the state and the industry estimated that it would create 200,000 jobs. However, independent analysts concluded that job growth has not been nearly as robust as first predicted.

IHS Global Insight, an economic analysis company, attributed the improving economy in Ohio to the fact that the manufacturing industry was expanding and that the population was growing slowly. They determined that the auto and plastics industries were the main drivers of growth -- not fracking.

We rate Trump's claim as false.

As for Kasich's response, we've fact-checked the 400,000 jobs figure before and found it to be true for private sector jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Marco Rubio
Reality Check: Rubio says Obamacare is a certified job-killer
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio repeated his claim that Obamacare is "a certified job-killer."

"It's bad for our economy," Rubio said. "It's a health care law that is basically forcing companies to lay people off, cut people's hours, move people to part-time. It's not just a bad health care law, it's a job-killing law, and I will repeal it as President and we will replace it with something substantially better for all Americans."

In fact, Obamacare is not a job killer, according to the 2015 Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Education Trust survey released in September.

The report showed that only 4% of employers with at least 50 employees said they shifted some staffers to part-time hours so they wouldn't qualify for health care, and another 4% said they were reducing the number of full-time employees they planned to hire because of the cost of health benefits.

An ADP Research Institute study had similar findings. In fact, that study showed that 10% of employers reported that they were changing workers from part-time to full-time status to enable them to obtain coverage.

One reason may be that the economy has been improving. Some companies interviewed by ADP said they may increase their part-timers' hours to retain talent and reduce training costs.

As to whether employers are cutting jobs because of Obamacare, it's nearly impossible to determine from Labor Department data since the economy is recovering and adding jobs. The number of people who can only find part-time jobs has declined in recent years, signifying companies are hiring more full-time workers.

Verdict: False.

Reality Check: Rubio on Trump hiring undocumented workers
A fiery back-and-forth between Rubio and Trump elicited this lengthy exchange:

Rubio: "You're the only person on this stage that's ever been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally."

Trump: "No, no, I'm the only one at this stage that's hired people. You haven't hired anybody."

Rubio: "In fact, some of the people --"

Trump: "And by the way -- I've hired tens of thousands of people over my job. You've hired nobody. You've had nothing but problems with your credit cards, et cetera."

Rubio: "Let me say --"

Trump: "You haven't hired one person, you liar."

Rubio: "He hired workers from Poland and he had to pay a million dollars."

Trump: "That's wrong. Totally wrong."

Rubio: "People can look it up. I'm sure people are Googling right now. 'Trump Polish workers.' You'll see a million dollars for hiring illegal workers on one of his projects. He did it. That happened."

And so on.

We Googled "Trump Polish workers" and here's what we found.

In 1980, a contracting company called Kaszycki & Sons Contractors hired a group of undocumented Polish immigrants to demolish a building that would later make room for the Trump Tower in Manhattan. Some of the workers were paid $4 an hour, working 12-hour shifts, and some of the workers never received the wages owed to them, according to litigation cited by The New York Times.

In 1983, Trump was sued on the workers' behalf, involving allegations that he used undocumented Polish workers to avoid paying union medical and pension benefits. Trump denied ever knowing that the workers were undocumented, since the hiring was made by the contracting company. In 1991, a judge ruled that Trump conspired with the union president "to withhold payments to the funds" and owed more than $325,000. That ruling was appealed, and the prosecutor in the case estimated that the money owed could reach about $4 million, according to the Times. The case was eventually settled out of court in 1999, and the amount paid was unclear.

We're not sure where Rubio got his $1 million figure from, but the final figure that Trump paid out was never made public.

Additionally, The Washington Post reported last summer that a Trump company may have been employing some undocumented workers to construct a new hotel in downtown Washington, D.C.

We're going to rate Rubio mostly true on his claim that Trump was fined for illegally hiring workers (since Rubio misstated the unknown amount Trump paid out), and we're rating Trump false on his denial of Rubio's claim.

We're also going to rate Trump false on his literal claim that he's the "only one at this stage that's hired people." While Trump may have the most extensive business experience of the Republican candidates, Ben Carson likely hired people as the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, Kasich likely hired people as a governor, and all of the candidates have hired numerous campaign staffers in the past year.

Reality Check: Rubio on Obama's executive order
During a discussion of immigration, Rubio said that President Barack Obama knowingly violated the Constitution with his executive order halting deportations of young people in 2012. "The problem with the executive order is it is unconstitutional," Rubio said. "The President doesn't have the power to do that. And he himself admitted that."

During a 2014 speech, Obama said, "I just took action to change the law" in response to protesters who criticized him for not doing enough to help immigrants. But he also said that the administration was looking at how existing laws are being enforced.

"The way the change in the law works is that we're reprioritizing how we enforce our immigration laws generally," Obama said.

Conservatives criticized the executive order as overreach by the executive branch and the controversy continues to play out in the courts. The program, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is awaiting a ruling by the Supreme Court.

While Rubio claimed that Obama "admitted" he violated the Constitution with the executive order, the President didn't say he deliberately crossed the line bypassing congress. Rubio raised a valid point, questioning if the executive order violated the separation of powers principle, but he mischaracterized how the President has described the action he took.

Verdict: False.

In talking about balancing the federal budget, Rubio once again talked about how just a few programs cost a lot of money.

"In less than five years, 83% of our entire budget will be made up of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the interest on the debt," Rubio said. "That means only 17% of our budget will be for things like the military or the Department of Education or environmental protection issues."

CNN's Reality Check team looked at that claim when he said it at a recent CNN Town Hall. We found that those three programs and interest payments actually are projected to make up 60% of the federal budget in 2021, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates. They currently make up 54% of the budget.

It looks like Rubio was referring to the increase in government spending, not the actual budget. Social Security, major federal health programs and interest will account for 83% of the increase in government outlays between 2016 and 2026, the center said.

Verdict: False.

Why Trump Survived Every Attack From Rubio and Cruz.

“If he hadn’t inherited $200 million, you know where [Donald] Trump would be? Selling watches in Manhattan.”

It was Marco Rubio’s big moment, the one that was supposed to damage the GOP frontrunner. It wasn’t a bad line. The zinger illuminated that Trump wasn’t self-made. It made him seem like the avatar of New York’s worst values—a street hustler from pre-Giuliani Times Square.

Rubio’s riposte got a laugh, but that was it. He had administered his blow too quickly, after a dizzying oppo dump of Trumpian facts—bankruptcies, lawsuits against Trump University, hiring illegal workers and so on. Like a hormonal teenager with control issues, Rubio blurted them out so quickly that the fusillade fell flat.

It’s not just Rubio’s delivery that faltered; it’s Trump’s impermeable defense, his rhetorical comfort level on TV, seasoned by decades in the public eye. Cruz and Rubio were children when Trump exploded into the public consciousness in the 1980s. He was a symbol of Gordon Gekko capitalism when they were collecting Power Rangers.

But Trump’s great strength is also the way he’s blurred ideological lines. He says Planned Parenthood does great things. He calls Ronald Reagan “somewhat conservative” instead of genuflecting or pretending Reagan was an inflexible ideologue. Trump says he won’t let anyone die on the street. That seems like an unobjectionable position when it comes to health care, but it left Cruz apoplectic, accusing the billionaire of socialism, which is insane.

It’s not that Trump can never be beaten. He may well be. But it won’t be by Rubio and Cruz if they stick to their current strategy. They constantly charge that he’s insufficiently conservative (no one cares), a hypocrite (they all are, people say) and a hustler (people like knockoff watches). If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then Cruz and Rubio need to be committed.

No one seems to go after Trump for not caring about the little guy. His opponents didn’t make enough of the old woman who lost her home to make way for a casino parking lot Trump was building in Atlantic City. But it quickly turned into a debate over eminent domain, not a woman at the end of her life.

There’s plenty to use against Trump, namely the way he’s treated the help. The writer Mark Bowden once depicted him as a rich maniac screaming at his gardeners and handymen. As long as people see Trump as outrageous in service of America, they love him. If they see him as indifferent to or hostile towards the little guy, then he’s going to hurt. That’s a battle Hillary Clinton with her fighting-for-you message could win.

Instead, Cruz and Rubio fumble soundbites. “The Palestinians aren’t a real estate deal,” Rubio kept repeating, even though it’s a malapropism. (I’m pretty sure the Czechs aren’t a real estate deal). And if Trump sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a kind of real estate deal, he’s no crazier than every president since 1967. But in their effort to try to portray him as a mogul in a keffiyeh, Cruz and Rubio stepped all over themselves without likely picking up a single vote in Boca Raton.


Maybe a year from now when President Rubio is in his first 100 days, these criticisms will seem lame, fleeting. But I suspect it’s much more likely the first 100 days of the new administration will belong to a president from New York—Trump or Clinton.

Trump Dominates in Bloomberg Poll of 'SEC Primary' States.

The poll, conducted by Purple Strategies, is a remarkable show of strength for a twice-divorced New Yorker in Bible Belt states home to some of the nation's most conservative voters.

Donald Trump holds a substantial lead in the southern region where Republican voters have their say on March 1, displaying remarkable strength for a twice-divorced New Yorker in Bible Belt states home to some of the nation's most conservative voters.

An online Bloomberg Politics poll shows the billionaire is backed by 37 percent of likely Republican presidential primary voters in the seven states surveyed, while Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas are tied at 20 percent.

Trump beats both Rubio and Cruz in hypothetical, one-on-one matchups in the region, weakening the argument that the front-runner's march toward the nomination would be slowed if it were only a two-man race.
The real estate mogul and former reality television star is also more popular in the region than Pope Francis and he gets more support than the pontiff when it comes to their differing views on the Christianity of building walls, including among a majority of Catholics, after poll respondents were read the two men's words.

The findings demonstrate the broad-based nature of Trump's support and how primary voters -- even conservatives and evangelicals who might find issues with his personal history -- have accepted him, making it harder for his rivals to take him down.

The front-runner is stronger than both Cruz and Rubio on questions about authenticity, protecting against terrorism, ability to win a general election and having a positive vision for the future, while he's weaker on questions about being a committed Christian and solid conservative.

"These voters rate Trump as the least conservative and the least committed Christian of the three top candidates, and yet he still leads," said pollster Doug Usher, who led the survey. "He's turning everything we thought we knew about Republican primary voters on its head."

Conducted Feb. 22-24 by Washington-based Purple Strategies, the poll included the so-called "SEC Primary" states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Nicknamed after the southeastern collegiate sports conference, they're among the 11 states that will award Republican delegates Tuesday from primaries and caucuses.

The online survey was done using a representative panel of likely Republican primary voters in those states and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
The poll findings reported the candidates' combined support across all seven states, but that isn't how Tuesday's elections will play out. The March 1 contests -- like those held in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- will award delegates on a proportional basis, so winning even some of the vote will translate to winning some of the 595 delegates at stake.

The rules change starting in the contests March 15, when states will start awarding delegates on a winner-take-all basis. A total of 1,237 are needed to win the Republican nomination.

Following last week's rare criticism of a U.S. presidential candidate by a pope, the poll found that Trump came out on top among likely Republican primary voters in the seven states.

The issue arose just two days before last week's South Carolina primary, when the pope criticized Trump's proposal to build a wall along the Mexican border and called such actions "not Christian." Trump responded by calling the pope's statement "disgraceful," before later softening his tone.

After they were read statements on the topic made by both men, 64 percent said they were inclined to agree with Trump, while 15 percent sided with the pope.

Overall, Trump is viewed more favorably than the pope among the likely Republican primary voters in the seven states, with 60 percent seeing the billionaire in a positive light and 54 percent viewing the pontiff that way. Rubio scores a higher favorable rating than both of them, at 65 percent.
After the top three candidates, support falls off significantly. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is backed in the region by 8 percent, while Ohio Governor John Kasich is at 6 percent.

When first and second choices are combined, the race is slightly closer. But Trump beats both Rubio and Cruz in one-on-one matchups, with Rubio getting the closest at 48 percent to 44 percent. Trump wins a contest with Cruz, 49 percent to 40 percent. If the race were between only Rubio and Cruz, Rubio wins 45 percent to 40 percent.
The race remains fluid in the southern region. More than half -- 53 percent -- say they could still be persuaded to support someone other than their first-choice candidate.

While the poll's overall findings are strong for Trump, there are some negatives. Among the five remaining Republican candidates, he's picked the most often by the poll's participants as someone they could never support, highlighting his polarizing nature even within his own party. A fifth said they could never back Trump, above the 17 percent who say that for Cruz and 10 percent for Rubio.

Only a slim majority of the likely Republican primary voters are supportive of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's position in opposition to holding confirmation hearings prior to November's election for a President Barack Obama appointee to fill the spot of deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Taking no action on a nominee and allowing the next president to name a replacement is supported by 51 percent, compared to 40 percent who say hearings and a vote should be held.

At 24 percent, Trump is the most trusted by likely Republican primary voters in the seven states to appoint a new justice, followed by Cruz at 22 percent. Four in 10 say choosing a new justice isn't a factor in their vote, while 20 percent say it's a major factor and 36 percent say it’s a minor one.

With former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg considering an independent presidential bid, the poll tested his favorability ratings among likely Republican primary voters in the seven states. More than half -- 56 percent -- had an unfavorable view of him, while 18 percent had a positive take on him and 26 percent didn't know enough about him to form an opinion.


Bloomberg was a three-term mayor of New York and is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News.
Photo published for Hillary Clinton on Wall Street, transparency

In an interview with Joe and Mika that is airing today, Hillary Clinton discussed her Wall Street speeches, and whether it's important for her to be transparent to Democratic voters about what she's said behind closed doors. She also said that Trump traffics in prejudice and paranoia. She then says that she has been vetted as a candidate and that Donald Trump's performance has a political candidate has surprised her. They talk about her emails, women voters and GOP. They discuss her emails while Secretary of State, younger women voters and working with Republicans. Clinton says that she has to carry a weight of responsibility. She tells Joe and Mika that it is painful for her that some people do not trust her and that she feels as if she carries a weight of responsibility. She was asked whether there was any room for Elizabeth Warren in the Clinton administration? Mika asks Hillary if there would be room for Elizabeth Warren in her administration should she win office. Clinton was asked about her message and what is it that she cares about. Hillary has received criticism for not having a unified message for her campaign. Clinton pushes back on this notion sharing what is her core message. 

Lindsey Graham jokes about how to get away with murdering Ted Cruz. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham thinks his party has gone "bats---" crazy, and joked Thursday that it's possible to get away with murdering Ted Cruz if it happened in the Senate.
"If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you," the former presidential candidate said at the Washington Press Club Foundation's 72nd Congressional Dinner, referencing the Texas senator's unpopular reputation on Capitol Hill.

CNN has reached out to Cruz's presidential campaign for comment.

While Graham teased Democrats and other politicians in the room -- at one point turning to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and asking her not leave to leave for the sake of his own party -- he focused his roast on the 2016 election and the GOP field, in which he formerly participated.

"The most dishonest person in America is a woman who is about to be president, that can get me. My party's gone bats--- crazy," the Palmetto State Republican told the crowd.

The South Carolina senator acknowledged his own unsuccessful presidential campaign and the concurrent timing of his remarks alongside CNN's Republican debate.

"This is the largest number of people I've ever talked to during a Republican debate," Graham joked, having mostly appeared at GOP undercard debates.

Graham continued to mock the rest of the 2016 GOP field going through the remaining candidates. He cited "moderate" Ohio Gov. John Kasich's recent comments about "women leaving their kitchens," "nice guy" Dr. Ben Carson having "tried to kill his cousin," and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio changing his positions.

"How did I lose to these guys?" Graham asked at one point.

With businessman Donald Trump, however, Graham shifted to a more serious tone. "I don't think he understands what makes America great."

"Our party and our country is going to have to up its game. You're going to have to ask him harder questions," Graham urged the reporters in the room. "And I don't mean to turn a funny thing into a serious thing."

Graham thanked House Speaker Paul Ryan for his efforts in promoting conservativism and told his Democratic colleagues that they aren't his enemy. "We have a lot in common. We just don't realize it."

He said that Americans live in dangerous times and how he wished that Congress worked more like the military. "What they focus on is the mission. They don't focus on their differences," Graham said. "In my business, we focus way too much on stabbing each other in the back."

Despite the brief change in tenor, Trump did not escape Graham's humor.

At the end of the speech, Pelosi handed Graham Trump's signature "Make America Great Again" baseball hat. Graham placed the hat on his head, reminded the crowd of his failed campaign and his endorsement of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's failed campaign, and said, "I endorse Donald Trump and hope that Graham magic still exists."





















Sunset Daily News & Sports
Published by
Sunset Daily News
26 February 2016
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