On Wednesday, NBC’s Today used the outcome of the New York primary to declare the nomination contests on both the Democratic and Republican sides to be over. At the top of the show, co-host Matt Lauer proclaimed: “Decisive victories. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton walk away with big wins in New York. Both now talking like the general election is set....So have New York values ended the race for Cruz? What about Kasich and Sanders?”
Moments later, Lauer touted how Trump “crushed his rivals” and reiterated: “Ted Cruz finishing a distant third, the criticism of New York values seeming to hurt him.” Fellow co-host Savannah Guthrie noted a “resounding double-digit win” for Hillary Clinton.
In the report that followed, correspondent Peter Alexander hyped the “overwhelming wins” and declared: “The two frontrunners regaining the math and the momentum, looking polished and presidential during their remarks.”
Wrapping up the segment, Alexander saw good news for one side of the aisle and doom for the other: “And one of the most striking numbers that we found last night during our exit polls, speaking to voters, was this: 66% of New York Democrats say that this bitter campaign has energized their party. 59% of New York Republicans say it has divided theirs.”
Talking to political analyst Mike Murphy after the report, Guthrie wondered: “What does this say about Ted Cruz as the official alternative to Donald Trump? He came in third last night.” Murphy replied: “Yeah, no, Cruz had a bad night.” Lauer chimed in: “It's got to be a hard campaign to run if you’re Cruz or Kasich. It’s not about energy or inspiration, it's just about hanging around.”
Meet the Press moderator Chuck agreed: “Yeah, it's all negative.” He then declared that it was “ridiculous” to wait for voting in upcoming states like Indiana to determine the state of the race.
Turning the Democrats, Lauer impatiently asked when Bernie Sanders would drop out of the race: “If you're Bernie Sanders waking up this morning for breakfast, you should be ordering, coffee, toast and a side order of reality. Is he the kind of guy, though, who knows when the game is over?”
Todd observed: “I don't know....If he looks at the playing field and says, ‘Hey, I've done a lot here, I’ve pushed Hillary Clinton. I may lose the battle for the nomination, but I might win the ideological war.’ If that's how he gets up this morning, that's a healthy place for him to be.”
Here is a full transcript of the April 20 panel discussion:
7:06 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Chuck Todd is NBC's political director and moderator of Meet the Press. And Mike Murphy is an NBC News political analyst and former director of Jeb Bush's super-PAC, Right to Rise. Guys, good morning. Welcome, Mike.
MIKE MURPHY: Good morning.
CHUCK TODD: Good morning.
GUTHRIE: Chuck, I’ll start with you. We've seen something of a new incarnation of Donald Trump in the last couple of weeks. Certainly last night, the victory speech was more moderate in tone. He's hiring some real professionals, in terms of organization, for his staff. We don't see as much of the name calling. Is he now at a point where he can rally some of these reluctant Republicans behind him?
TODD: I don't know if he's at the point where they're going to start rallying behind him, but he may stop the bleeding and he may at least get the – get anybody who was thinking about joining the Stop Trump movement to say – to give a pause. Because for 10 days – look, what he did post-Wisconsin, the day after Wisconsin, there was a lot of people declaring, “Okay, maybe the Stop Trump movement is real.” In 13 days, he turned his campaign around and put it back on a path to the nomination, impressive.
LAUER: Let's talk more about the Stop Trump movement. You know a little bit about that, okay? And there's a lot of criticism, they simply didn't show up in New York. Did they decide, Mike, that it was already lost to them? And if not now, where? Where are they going to take a stand?
MIKE MURPHY: I think – my guess is they were a little intimidated by Trump's hometown support. But I think they had an opportunity in western New York and today I’ll bet they wish they had a time machine, because he was able to really run up the score here. The question is now if this new civilized Trump campaign cannot make mistakes and run the table forward, and will Stop Trump come back to life, engage now and in Indiana in two weeks? Which could be pivotal.
GUTHRIE: And, Mike, what does this say about Ted Cruz as the official alternative to Donald Trump? He came in third last night.
MURPHY: Yeah, no, Cruz had a bad night. I mean, Kasich swept the upper west side of Manhattan, so he’s got bragging rights as far as that’ll get him. But you’re right, Cruz is not built to win this region. So the Cruz campaign and the Kasich campaign have the same interests but they don't seem to cooperate, which is to not let Trump get to 1,200 or more delegates and try to stop him in an open convention.
LAUER: It's got to be a hard campaign to run if you’re Cruz or Kasich. It’s not about energy or inspiration, it's just about hanging around. Let’s turn –
TODD: Yeah, it's all negative. And this whole waiting for Indiana thing, it’s kind of ridiculous.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Empire State Game Changer?; What Trump & Clinton Wins Mean for Race Ahead]
LAUER: Let's talk about Hillary Clinton. Obviously, a resounding victory for her last night, 16-point win over Bernie Sanders. If you're Bernie Sanders waking up this morning for breakfast, you should be ordering, coffee, toast and a side order of reality. Is he the kind of guy, though, who knows when the game is over?
TODD: I don't know. It depends on what he – if he got into the race the way a lot of people think he got into, which is just to be relevant, to lead a movement, to say, “Hey, my wing of the Democratic Party is a rising wing. You need to take notice.” If he looks at the playing field and says, “Hey, I've done a lot here, I’ve pushed Hillary Clinton. I may lose the battle for the nomination, but I might win the ideological war.” If that's how he gets up this morning, that's a healthy place for him to be.
MURPHY: Sanders has kind of asymmetrical power. I don't think he can win the nomination, but he owns voters under 30. And if they don't show up in the general election, and they are a fickle group when it comes to turnout, that is a huge problem for her. So she’s got to push him off the stage without putting on a Darth Vader helmet and creating resentment. Tricky, tricky thing.
GUTHRIE: And I was going to ask you, as a Republican, are you hoping Bernie Sanders stays in, does he do damage to her that you think will be helpful for Republicans in the general?
MURPHY: Yeah, I think the more that she grinds on him to kind of push him out of the race, there could be an effect to help us in the general election with that turnout. Though, the main worry I have as a Republican is, how, with either of our leading candidates, can we win a general national election? It'll be hard, very hard.
LAUER: What's the biggest state to watch next week?
TODD: It is Pennsylvania. It's the largest one. I mean, look, Connecticut is a distant second, if you're going to Stop Trump – or Clinton. Connecticut is a fickle state, you can mess around in it.
MURPHY: I disagree with Chuck on Indiana. You put Indiana, Nebraska, and Maine together, you get almost as many delegates as New York. I could be important. If Trump could win Indiana, I think he's going to be the nominee.
TODD: What's going to happen next week, though? He’s going to win all five, that’s the problem.
MURPHY: Two-thirds of the Pennsylvania delegates are not very sticky. They can kind of do what they want. But if Trump can run up the score, the pressure on him, at least on the first ballot, which is everything for Trump, will be hard. So run it up there. And Maryland, which is a state Trump has polled badly, I'll be watching to see if he gets a boost off today – or yesterday.
LAUER: Good to have you back, Mike.
MIKE MURPHY: Good to be here.
LAUER: Chuck, always good to see you.
TODD: Alright, buddy.
LAUER: Thanks very much.
Don’t forget, Donald Trump will be with us exclusively tomorrow morning for a live town hall on the plaza. We'd like your questions for him. Just use the #TrumpTODAY.
