Opening her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Friday, host Andrea Mitchell triumphantly proclaimed: “Tough crowd. It's crickets for Ted Cruz in Manhattan but Donald Trump is speaking their language at the big party dinner.” In a report minutes later, she announced: “Cruz had a terrible night at the Republican black-tie gala here for the state party...”
Turning to correspondent Hallie Jackson, Mitchell gloated: “But what happened when Ted Cruz tried to speak to his own – well, his own Republicans, but they're not really his, they're New York State Republicans and I guess they have New York values?”
Jackson eagerly piled on:
One of our embeds on the ground there called it a “dead room.” You saw Ted Cruz delivering his usual stump speech with a few changes. But his typical applause lines fell flat. His laugh lines got no laughter. People were distracted, a lot of folks simply were not paying attention. A couple even stood up and left. People were taking selfies. It’s not exactly the kind of engaged audience you'd want as you’re delivering a speech...
She added: “That said, the Manhattan New Yorker is not exactly Ted Cruz's target audience here. This is why he's going to be in Rochester later tonight. He's holding some rallies upstate. He's been in western New York.”
Here is a transcript of the April 15 segment:
12:00 PM ET TEASE:
ANDREA MITCHELL: Tough crowd. It's crickets for Ted Cruz in Manhattan but Donald Trump is speaking their language at the big party dinner.
12:08 PM ET SEGMENT:
ANDREA MITCHELL: And speaking of Ted Cruz, Hallie Jackson covering Ted Cruz. Cruz had a terrible night at the Republican black-tie gala here for the state party, but on The Tonight Show, it was a slightly different thing. Let's play that, with Jimmy Fallon.
JIMMY FALLON [AS DONALD TRUMP]: Are you watching the Democratic debate?
TED CRUZ: Nope. I'm watching The Princess Bride for the 843rd time.
FALLON: Inconceivable. Well, you're missing some great stuff. They just nailed Hillary for flip-flopping on trade. She was going back and forth, this way, that way, this way, that way, it was like watching her swipe a metro card on the subway.
MITCHELL: I love Fallon’s Donald Trump, Hallie. But what happened when Ted Cruz tried to speak to his own – well, his own Republicans, but they're not really his, they're New York State Republicans and I guess they have New York values?
HALLIE JACKSON: Well, you saw pretty much the diametrically opposite reaction from the crowd at the Republican gala, the dinner for the New York GOP that you were talking about. One of our embeds on the ground there called it a “dead room.” You saw Ted Cruz delivering his usual stump speech with a few changes. But his typical applause lines fell flat. His laugh lines got no laughter. People were distracted, a lot of folks simply were not paying attention. A couple even stood up and left. People were taking selfies. It’s not exactly the kind of engaged audience you'd want as you’re delivering a speech, as did Donald Trump and as did John Kasich last night.
Some folks that we talked to, Trump supporters, said, “Hey, of course Ted Cruz is not going to get a good reception coming into this room. He hit New York values and we are all New Yorkers.” Cruz supporters on the other hand will say, “Hey, it was a late night. People were a few glasses of wine in, that’s why they maybe were distracted and not paying as much attention.”
That said, the Manhattan New Yorker is not exactly Ted Cruz's target audience here. This is why he's going to be in Rochester later tonight. He's holding some rallies upstate. He's been in western New York. Those are the places where he wants to try to compete to keep Donald Trump from basically sweeping New York State. He hasn't spent as much time necessarily there as you might have seen. He had a trip out to California. He had a trip to Pennsylvania as well. And I think, Andrea, that is indicative of what Cruz sees as the most important places moving forward, along with Indiana and Nebraska, places where the campaign can compete, can compete well, can try to lock in some of these delegates, these unbound delegates in particular in Pennsylvania, to be able to take down Donald Trump if this nomination goes past a first ballot.
MITCHELL: And thanks to you, Hallie Jackson.
