On Wednesday, NBC’s Today and CBS This Morning agreed that the Republican primary race was “over” and openly mocked Donald Trump’s opponents. On Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie asked: “So Trump is calling himself the presumptive nominee. Is he right, is this over?” Political analyst Nicolle Wallace relied on pop culture to declare an end to the nomination contest: “Yeah, there’s a line in Sex and the City where Carrie says to Mr. Big, ‘It's so over, we need a new word for over’...”
Fellow co-host Matt Lauer wondered if Republican members of Congress were ready to “wake up and put the Trump bumper sticker on your car.” MSNBC host Steve Kornacki noted that “there are still some sort of dead-enders out there” supporting Ted Cruz or John Kasich, but assured viewers that Trump “might go in and win and really just sweep this thing.”
Turning to the Democratic side, Wallace was baffled by Democrats allowing Bernie Sanders to continue his campaign: “I can't understand why he’s had such a long leash to launch attacks against her that have already been picked up and telegraphed by Donald Trump.” Lauer worried: “But you say, why does he have such a long leash? Who’s going to pull in the leash?...who does he answer to?”
On CBS This Morning, co-host Gayle King argued “nothing can stop” Trump. Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson agreed:
I think that's right. I mean, the Never Trump movement has kind of this flaccid quality. It’s kind of just got no oomph to it. And there was this strange arrangement this week where John Kasich and Ted Cruz tried to get their voters to vote for the other, it basically, you know, crashed on the launchpad. And so, there might be one more spasm of the Stop Trump movement to try and stop him, but basically I think the thing to watch is the energy of people getting in line behind Donald Trump, wanting to kind of be in the picture with him now...
Moments later, he warned: “And the idea of stopping him at the convention just seems that much more far-fetched. He's won that many more votes. There will be that many more people who will be furious if he doesn't win the nomination at the convention.”
Here are transcripts of the NBC and CBS panel discussions:
Today
7:08 AM ETSAVANNAH GUTHRIE: We’re joined now by NBC News political analyst Nicolle Wallace and MSNBC host and political correspondent Steve Kornacki. Up late, up early. Good morning to you. So Trump is calling himself the presumptive nominee. Is he right, is this over?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Trump Sweeps All 5 States; Front-Runner Dubs Himself “Presumptive Nominee”]
NICOLLE WALLACE: Yeah, there’s a line in Sex and the City where Carrie says to Mr. Big, “It's so over, we need a new word for over,” and that’s how I feel about both of these campaigns. They are over. And on the Democratic side, it’s math. And on the Republican side, it’s been a nationalized race since the beginning and there’s no – there are not three Wisconsin examples out there where they're going to trip up this national dynamic.
LAUER: You like to crunch the numbers, I’ll ask you to do that in a second, but do you agree with Nicolle, is this the morning, if you're a GOP member of the House or the Senate, you wake up and put the Trump bumper sticker on your car?
STEVE KORNACKI: Yeah, there are still some sort of dead-enders out there I’m hearing who are saying, “if we win this state, if we pick off this delegate.” But I mean, we're at the point right now where Donald Trump's lead, it's not the states – we're not talking so much about the states he might be surprisingly losing in from here out – it's now the Cruz states that he might go in and win and really just sweep this thing.
GUTHRIE: Okay, do your math thing then, Steve. Because I think the prospects of that contested convention, Trump not being able to get to 1,237, was greatly diminished last night.
KORNACKI: Here’s the key last night, it’s not just that he won, it’s not just that he won big, it’s in the state of Pennsylvania, you had these so-called 54 unbound delegates. They’re free agents. This is the hope of the Stop Trump movement, they get these unbound delegates to flip against Trump. It looks like at least, at least two-thirds of those unbound delegates from Pennsylvania will be for Trump. That's a huge bunch of delegates that changes the math significantly.
LAUER: You don't hear this very often. Nicolle, talk about the Democrats. Hillary Clinton has 90% of the delegates she needs to get the nomination. Bernie Sanders keeps saying this is about politics, this is about ideas, this is about getting to the convention and getting my side across. Is there any part of this that's personal?
WALLACE: Listen, this may be a blind spot for me, but I can't understand why he’s had such a long leash to launch attacks against her that have already been picked up and telegraphed by Donald Trump. On Sunday on Meet the Press, he again talked about all that divides them on the question of the big banks. Donald Trump, by Monday, in front of tens of thousands of people, was echoing the Sanders attack.
LAUER: But you say, why does he have such a long leash? Who’s going to pull in the leash?
WALLACE: Well, he's not going to win. There's no path to the nomination. And this is not a contest about self-esteem. Sure, he’s raising money –
LAUER: But who does he answer to?
WALLACE: Well, he answers to himself. But you would presume that someone has some loyalty to the team you're playing for. And the team he decided – the jersey he put on this cycle was for the Democrats. And Trump is picking up the Sanders attacks on Clinton and making hay.
GUTHRIE: Steve, real quickly, we are pivoting toward the general election. Last night, Trump said that Hillary Clinton is playing the gender card, the woman card, and in that in point of fact, to his view, she would be at 5% in the polls but for the fact that she was a woman. Is that an argument that's going to play well in the general election?
KORNACKI: I gotta say, and I'm surprised that I'm saying that I'm surprised Trump said something. I am surprised that last night, on such a big night when the focus starts to turn to the general election, that, that's the message he played. Because the biggest obstacle he faces in the general election is this huge, huge gender gap and those kinds of comments last night only seem to reinforce it.
GUTHRIE: Mike Murphy, the political pundit, not a Trump fan, said, “It’s like Trump were built in a lab to blow the general election.” We will see how it turns out. Steve and Nicolle, thank you.
LAUER: Thanks, guys, good to see you.
CBS This Morning
7:12 AM ETCHARLIE ROSE: CBS news political director and Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson joins us. John, good morning.
JOHN DICKERSON: Good morning, Charlie.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Trump Sweeps; Dickerson on Impact of Primary Landslide]
ROSE: Impressive numbers.
DICKERSON: Yeah, for Donald Trump. Remember when we thought he had a ceiling of his vote, it couldn't get higher? It turns out it's a big, fabulous ceiling, it might have a skylight. It's very much higher, 60% in some places. He’s rolling towards the nomination.
ROSE: Over 50% in every state.
DICKERSON: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And remember, there was a period where his opponents were saying he could never get over 35.
NORAH O’DONNELL: He won every single county last night. I mean, that’s how sweeping his victory was.
DICKERSON: That's exactly right.
GAYLE KING: It was interesting, at the Time 100 dinner last night, we were watching as the numbers were coming in. He was looking at someone’s iPhone saying, “Okay, this race is over, let me go over here and make this speech.” Nothing can stop him now. Do you think that's true?
DICKERSON: I think that's right. I mean, the Never Trump movement has kind of this flaccid quality. It’s kind of just got no oomph to it. And there was this strange arrangement this week where John Kasich and Ted Cruz tried to get their voters to vote for the other, it basically, you know, crashed on the launchpad. And so, there might be one more spasm of the Stop Trump movement to try and stop him, but basically I think the thing to watch is the energy of people getting in line behind Donald Trump, wanting to kind of be in the picture with him now that he’s –
ROSE: Which becomes – with an aura of inevitably, it becomes this question, how can they make sure her, Hillary, gets the Sanders vote, and how can Trump make sure he gets the vote of the Republican?
DICKERSON: Trump's got the bigger challenge, although they – he keeps winning. And the idea of stopping him at the convention just seems that much more far-fetched. He's won that many more votes. There will be that many more people who will be furious if he doesn't win the nomination at the convention.
On Hillary Clinton's part, it's going to be a long dance. You saw her opening her arms to the Sanders people, delineating all the things that they agree on, all the issues they agree on. And then Bernie Sanders didn't attack her in his comments last night. He talked about issues. You could see him riding alongside to her. They go all the way through all the contests, but it's no longer a clash.
KING: What about Donald Trump attacking Hillary Clinton last night, as we just heard in Nancy’s piece, saying the only thing she's got going is the women's card?
DICKERSON: Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty risky strategy. He is toxic with women in the general election in terms of his negatives. So why he would want a fight on that turf, he's got other turf where he might have a better chance. But to do that affirmatively on his part, you know, it's a risky move.
ROSE: If they are the two candidates of the respective parties, what's the big issue in the general election?
DICKERSON: How fast we can drive to the bottom? I think it's going to get nasty and ugly fast. I think Hillary Clinton will talk about income inequality, obviously she's already made an issue of the fact that he lives in buildings with his name on it. But I think it's going to be ugly first before we get to issues.
O’DONNELL: Alright, John Dickerson, thanks.
