>>> If I tell you I'm going to do something, I'm not just saying that for an election.
>> He's holding an event right now to compete with us.
There's only one problem, nobody showed up.
>> Florida governor Ron Desantis and former president Donald Trump trading jabs at each
other during dueling rallies in new Hampshire.
The two 2024 candidates crisscrossed the state targeting each other as they talked to voters.
Jessica Dean is at the table with us.
Good morning.
>> Good morning.
>> There were people at Desantis -- >> I was going to say it.
>> Just let -- just let the reporter report on it.
>> He's having a hard time letting go of the reporting.
>> He's a reporter at heart.
>> Kidding.
Yes.
>> Yes.
Well people were at Ron Desantis' stop as Phil noted.
They were in the state of new Hampshire.
Of course to remind everyone, a key early state with its own personality.
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personality.
Phil, you talked about this yesterday morning and heard you say you have to do retail politics
in New Hampshire.
They expect you to talk to them.
They really expect you to interact with the voters.
Ron Desantis was there going up against this kind of collective wisdom he's not the best
retail politician, and so he's now for the first time we're seeing him take questions
from voters and talk about that, interact with them from the stage, he's been talking
to them, take the questions from the stage, and then, of course, you have former president
Donald Trump who is also in the state.
This is the first time they were circling each other in this tiny state of New Hampshire.
Desantis, going more indirectly at trump saying he wants to break the swamp, not drain the
swamp, trump had a chance to drain it and didn't it.
You have to break it.
Here's what -- >> Break not drain.
>> Let's hear what the former president said.
>> Somebody said how come you only attack him?
Because he's in second place.
Why don't you attack senators -- attack others?
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-- attack others?
Because they're not in second place.
Soon I don't think he will be in second place and I will be attacking somebody else.
>> This is what we see develop.
Trump and his campaign going directly at Desantis as we saw there.
Desantis will go after him but only when asked directly.
From the stump he doesn't name him in a stump speech.
He will say things like I want to break the swamp, not drain it, others have gone before
me, that sort of thing.
When voters or the media will ask him directly about trump that's when he will take him on.
I expect to see that expand until maybe we see these two on a debate stage in a few months?
Tbd.
>> How do you break a swamp?
>> That's a great question.
>> I want to make sure I wasn't missing something --
>> It's a different verb.
>> To that point, are they going to be on a debate stage question?
>> That's a good question.
I don't think trump or at least some members of his team see incentive for him to be on
a debate stage.
So to be determined, but I would
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So to be determined, but I would not be surprised if trump bows out of the stage.
I think his big argument is why would I give these guys a chance to go directly at me when
I'm so far ahead?
>> Isn't a bad argument when you're plus 32 in every poll.
>> To that point, a lot of trump supporters up in arms over what house speaker Kevin Mccarthy
said about is trump strong enough or the strongest to win.
Let's play it.
>> Could he win an election?
>> Yeah, he can.
The question is, is he the strongest to win the election, I don't know that answer, can
anybody beat Biden.
Yeah.
Can Biden beat other people?
Yeah.
Biden can beat them.
It's on any given day.
>> You served in congress.
>> Did you start your stop watch when you saw that sound?
How long is this going to take.
>> Sometimes politicians make the mistake of being honest.
In so many ways, this trumpian base is so fervent and passionate that the second that
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passionate that the second that you criticize him as a Republican, the backlash can actually
be extraordinary.
What I think some of these Republican officials fail to acknowledge, though, is that actually
is not the majority of even the Republican primary base.
Maybe it's a third, but in politics, passion is often stronger than numbers.
I have no doubt that Kevin Mccarthy's office, both his government office as well as his
political office, is getting e-mails, text messages, phone calls, letters from both people
they know and people they never heard of, and that's why he backtracked so quickly.
>> And Mccarthy, trump actually had Mccarthy's article on his desk on the way -- on the plane
home which I thought was -- >> That is --
>> About the backtracking one.
>> Interesting.
>> It is interesting because the whole field is counting on some cover, right, from people
like Kevin Mccarthy, to say look, everyone supports trump, this would be like a Republican
talking point, everyone supports
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talking point, everyone supports trump, however, who can win in a general election?
That's what Ron Desantis, that's cate he's certainly making and these other contenders
want to make as well.
It was interesting to see him say that.
Of course, backtrack.
>> Can I ask, what are we not seeing?
Shelby is always good at answering this question.
>> See if I can do it.
>> Poppy has done me out, the bar is low at this point in time.
When you're on the trail, there are narratives that are set and top line things that we're
always talking about right now as we wait for this to kind of fully kick into high gear.
What are you kind of observing like stands out to you that maybe we're missing right
now.
>> I think the thing that has stood out to me the most is that the voters I've watched
are truly interested in learning about the other candidates.
They're not deadset on trump.
Look, there is a part of that primary electorate that is never going to move, right.
Those always trump people are immovable.
However, I think even people who, perhaps, feel like they
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who, perhaps, feel like they think they want to support trump are out there and very curious
about these other candidates.
There is trump fatigue out there.
It's just, can they find someone