This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," March 17, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MEGYN KELLY, HOST, "THE KELLY FILE": Breaking tonight. High drama in the White House as the RNC hints at convention rule changes less than 24 hours after the front-runner warns about riots if he does not win.
Welcome to THE KELLY FILE, everyone. I'm Megyn Kelly. Remember, it was just six days ago that violence erupted in and around the Donald Trump rally in Chicago, forcing Mr. Trump to cancel that event. Now the businessman is suggesting there could be a similar scene in Cleveland at this summer's convention if he falls just short of the majority needed to secure the Republican nomination outright. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, R, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we'll win before getting to the convention, but I can tell you, if we didn't, and if we're 20 votes short or if we're, you know, a hundred short and we're at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because we're way ahead of everybody, I don't think you can say that we don't get it automatically. I think you would have riots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Well, some are suggesting Mr. Trump was just speaking figuratively. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is not amused.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WIS., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Nobody should say such things in my opinion, because to even address or hint to violence is unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: With Trump's warning echoing across the media, we are now seeing new reports that the Republican National Committee may ditch its massive rule book in favor of a, quote, "simpler plan" in what critics are calling an effort to head off the effort to stop Trump.
Ben Domenech is publisher of The Federalist, he has been writing on this issue. David Wohl, an attorney and a Trump supporter. Great to see you both.
So, Ben, what exactly is the RNC preparing to do? Because they say, we just want to make it more transparent, that's all. And that's a good thing.
BEN DOMENECH, "THE FEDERALIST" PUBLISHER: The RNC is considering a suggestion that perhaps they should shift to Robert's rules of order opposed to using the 1,500 page rule book that they have traditionally used within the context of conventions. I do think that Megyn, this is a sign of how unwilling the party establishment is to even consider, even at this late date, supporting Ted Cruz. It's so inaccurate of them that they are more willing to risk the riots that Donald Trump was talking about in that instance and potentially have a violent scene in Cleveland than they are to come around to the idea that Ted Cruz is their only real way to stop Donald Trump before they --
KELLY: Uh-hm. So this isn't about the so-called Republican establishment trying to stop Trump, this is about them trying to stop Cruz and find a way to parachute in some third party savior -- Ben.
DOMENECH: Exactly. I think that's exactly what they're trying to do. I had a Republican consultant a year ago ask me who I thought the likeliest nominee would be. When I said Ted Cruz, they said that that would only happen over the dying corpse of the Republican Party as it turned out it was Donald Trump who did the killing as opposed to Ted Cruz. But that's literally the scenario that they're dealing with today.
KELLY: David, the Speaker of the House not amused by Trump's language. John Kasich has been all over him today for suggesting -- they are saying he's suggesting that there would be riots. What say you?
DAVID WOHL, ATTORNEY: No. I mean, Megyn, that was literally a shot across the bow of the GOP establishment. He didn't call for rioting in what we may have a violation of law. Megyn, the problem is, Donald Trump is where he is because of a rage against the machine. And if somehow the GOP managed to pull the rug from out under him and pull the rug out from under the voters who put him where he is right now, the revolt against the GOP would be so extraordinary, we would never have seen anything like it -- Megyn.
KELLY: But David, what would be pulling the rug out from under him? Explain that. If he doesn't get to the convention with 1,237, which is the majority, and he's as he put it, a hundred short, should they be forced to give it to him? Because, you know, the rules say you have to have a majority.
WOHL: Well, the will of voters have been shown already, Megyn, if he is short of 1,237 by a hundred, he's short by 200. And Ted Cruz is short by five or 600, and then the GOP elders are going there and say, you know what? We think our idea of who should be president supersedes --
KELLY: But that wouldn't be the second move. Well, the next move would be let's have a second ballot and let's see who the voters -- and at that point, they're free to vote, Ted Cruz if he's still in it, John Kasich if he's still in it, Donald Trump if he's still in it.
WOHL: Megyn, it's manipulation that would be usurping the will of the voters. There's no other way to look at it. They may want someone other than Donald Trump, they may want Cruz. But if they do something that is sort of, it's without transparency and they do it in a way that usurps the will of the voters, forget about it, Megyn. It's going to be a massive revolt, they're not going to want. And I just don't think it's going to happen because of that.
KELLY: Go ahead, Ben.
DOMENECH: There have been six Republican presidents who have come out of contested conventions. Contested conventions are often healthy things, particularly when the party is particularly divided. I understand the rage of all the people that this affected Democrats, the Republicans who want to punish this establishment for the mistake that they've made. But there's a voice as well for conservatives who believe that they ought to do it in a different manner. If Trump supporters want to come to Cleveland and they want to riot, I say let them and they will find out what the party of law and order is really all about.
WOHL: A different matters in the primaries?
KELLY: Go ahead.
WOHL: No, no, no, no. People aren't going to buy into that. You're saying that there is a different way to do it and it's different than allowing a vote, the constitutional right of people --
DOMENECH: There's a reason that we have a threshold. There's a reason that party has a threshold.
(CROSSTALK)
If Donald Trump is the uniter --
KELLY: Hold on! Hold on, David. Go ahead, Ben.
DOMENECH: If Donald Trump is the uniter that he claims to be, he should be able to win over the support of enough people to take him over that threshold. It exists for a reason to show that he has the necessary support to be a competitive contender in the general election campaign.
WOHL: He's already proven that.
DOMENECH: He's as good as a dealmaker -- he's as good as a dealmaker as he claims. He ought to be able to get those 200 votes.
KELLY: But David, speak to Ben's point of there's a process. And the process doesn't say you get the nomination with a plurality.
WOHL: Right.
KELLY: It says, you have to have a majority and if you fail to get a majority on the first vote, then the rules say it's up to the people voting and they're no longer bound. Why shouldn't all of these candidates be required to follow those rules?
WOHL: Because this is a year like never before, Megyn. Because the outrage right now, because of the overwhelming support that this man has in the light of the last seven years of voters basically being told, America basically being told that we're second best, that the rest of the world, better not be offended by what we do or we will change what we do. The rage is so extraordinary, Meygn --
KELLY: OK.
WOHL: The damage of the party would be so huge, if they want ahead and did that, the rapture would be irreparable, I don't think they'll going to do it because of that -- Megyn.
KELLY: Okay. Ben, quick last word.
DOMENECH: Donald Trump doesn't believe in the rules when it comes to debates, he doesn't believe in the rule when it comes to honesty and he doesn't believe in the rules when it comes to the law. There's no surprise to me that David would feel that way given the expression that his candidates has made him so many different circumstances.
WOHL: Bottom-line, Megyn, he's going to get 1,237.
KELLY: Thank you both.
WOHL: Thank you, Megyn.
DOMENECH: Thank you.
KELLY: That was certainly --
(CROSSTALK)
Amid all the upheaval, there has been increasing talk of a possible third party candidacy, something many voters say they might be able to support. FOX News exit polling from four of the contests this week finds about four in 10 Republican primary voters say, they would seriously consider voting for a third party candidate in November. If Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the two nominees. But Trump himself suggests, that would all but assure the Democrats of victory in November.
Marc Thiessen is a FOX News contributor and former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush, Dana Loesch hosts "Dana" on TheBlaze TV. Good to see you both.
Good to see you, Megyn.
First of all Marc, do you believe that if a third party cropped up because we've seen reports of that just day, a big push to make that happen. We're going to get to that in a minute. That it would hand the White House to Hillary Clinton?
MARC THIESSEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, absolutely it would. I mean, I haven't seen anyone lay out a path to victory for, and assuming you could find a candidate with national appeal, assuming he'll get them on the ballot in all 50 states, no one has shown a path to victory. So, we all a third party candidate would be at this point would be a way for conservatives to vote for Hillary Clinton without actually pulling the lever for Hillary Clinton. And I think there's some conservatives who would be okay with that. Because their primary goal is to deny the presidency to Donald Trump because they think he would hurt the Republican Party as president. However, the problem is, is that if Hillary Clinton is
elected, she gets to choose the replacement to Justice Scalia. She might only be in office for four years, but whoever she picks will be on the court for 25 years.
KELLY: She might not. She might not. Because if she wins that elections, those Republicans might start taking a hard look at Merrick Garland. Oh, he looks a lot better. Oh! He got a couple of months. And second thought, he does get a vote. But there may be other Supreme Court vacancies in the next, you know, eight years. Dana, you're a Cruz supporter. You know never Trump people. Do you believe that they will come over to support Donald Trump in a general election?
DANA LOESCH, HOSTS "DANA" ON THE BLAZETV: I think a lot of them won't, Megyn. And when you mentioned the exit polling as well. One of the things that I noticed and looking at all of the different exit polls from the states is how unbelievably polarizing Donald Trump is as a candidate. I mean, when you think back to, a lot of these Republican primary candidates, the nominee, or at least, you know, before he was coordinated the nominee as such going into the convention, this people, they had it wrapped up,
pretty soon after Super Tuesday. But we're not there yet. And in fact, we still have a pretty long way to go. And I don't think that these people are going to go on over. These are individuals who are really standing on principle and they are not going for popularity.
And I don't think unnecessarily, I don't believe that this is their fault, Megyn either. I think this is the fault -- I place the blame on two things, I place the blame on the Republican Party for allowing this to
happen in the first place. If the Republican Party Megyn didn't have such a fetish against grassroots conservatives and didn't have such a fetish for going after people like Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Mike Lee and people like Rand Paul, people who are actually doing the will of the people, I think that we would be having a different conversation today and I also blame impatience. I think there are a lot of people in America. Look, I myself, I am one of those people myself that are impatient. We are in a marathon, not a sprint. And it's going to take more than just a few election cycles to get more conservatives in the Senate and in the House.
KELLY: She makes the establishment sound very saucy, Marc.
(LAUGHTER)
Okay, but back to serious business. We are seeing -- what's been interesting so far this week is, we are seeing some folks who didn't want either one of these candidates starting to congeal or get together. And it's interesting to watch who they choose. You know, I mean, Lindsey Graham is now pushing for Ted Cruz. He just said that the Senate could kill Ted Cruz on the floor of the U.S. Senate and if they had the trial in the Senate, no one would be convicted. So Marc, these Never Trump people are faced with the choice right now, because a lot of the Never Trump people secretly feel like, Never Cruz either.
THIESSEN: Yes. Well, Ted Cruz is the only option. If you don't want Donald Trump, he's really the only person with the path to the nomination. So, if you don't want Donald Trump, step one is fight for -- get behind Ted Cruz. Support him in the states. If it goes to the convention, support him in a contested convention, because he's the only who can stop Donald Trump for getting to the nomination. But then if Donald Trump wins the nomination, if you start opposing him, I mean, I understand why people might oppose him. I would have to choke down my bile to vote for Donald Trump.
But the Supreme Court is a real major, you know, wrench in the system right now, because now you have Justice Scalia's seat being up for grabs for the next president to choose. And that -- Hillary Clinton in one term could cement a liberal majority in the court for 25 years. So what Donald Trump has to do now -- if Donald Trump gets the nomination, he's got to win over those anti-Trump conservatives. Everyone is saying, he's got to tack to the center, he's going to start moderating, in part it's not the case. He has got to go and win those people who are anti-Trump conservatives. Exactly.
KELLY: He's got tack with the rights.
THIESSEN: He's going to win people and say, if Donald Trump -- who are you going to nominate for the Supreme Court? Name somebody. Tell us who you will nominate. If he nominates a real conservative and says during the campaign I'll nominate so and so, and that's acceptable to conservatives. That could be enough to bring a lot of them over.
KELLY: The issue though for people like Eric Erickson who is behind this is not who he is going to put on the Supreme Court, it's a fundamental moral issue. They don't think that he's a moral man. They feel like he's not going to be a pro-lifer, I mean, that they feel like they would rather go down voting for someone, even if they steal the vote from the Republicans for someone whose convictions they believe and whose character they believe.
LOESCH: Yes, I think that's true, Megyn. And we don't know honestly. I mean, can anyone really say what Donald Trump is going to do, if, you know, if, and we still have a long way to go, and Cruz is been shortening that gap and he's going to go out to close primaries to Western States where he is going to do well. But in looking at this, do we know what would happen during a Trump presidency? Can anyone say for certain the guy who has been all over the board? And that's the issue. I understand where these people are coming from. That is the issue that they have. They have no idea what they're getting. They know what they would be getting with Hillary Clinton.
They're not saying that they're going to support Hillary Clinton either. And I think that is a false equivalency for anybody to assert that not supporting Donald Trump is somehow supporting Hillary Clinton. But at the same time, I think that these people are looking at Alexander Hamilton's rule not wanting to be responsible for somebody like Trump as opposed to backing this rule, I've been hearing a lot of talk about Hamilton's rule and --
KELLY: Back this rule. Elect the most conservative electable candidate.
LOESCH: Right.
KELLY: Great to see you both.
THIESSEN: Thanks, Megyn.
KELLY: While it is still months until the political conventions, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are already attacking each other. Like we're in the general election.
Pollster Frank Luntz is here on who is winning that fight. And then we'll turn to folks close to both campaigns about the strategy for the road ahead.
Plus, Kilmeade is back. And he has the story of a dad who walked away from $13 million to spend more time with his son. See why Brian thinks this guy is sending a bad message.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From the World Headquarters of FOX News, it's THE KELLY FILE with Megyn Kelly.
KELLY: Welcome back, everybody. We are tonight hearing both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ramping up calls for their parties to unite behind them. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, D, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are moving closer to securing the Democratic Party nomination, and winning this election in November!
(APPLAUSE)
We can't do this without you. So if you've been waiting for the right moment, now's the time to come join us!
DONALD TRUMP, R, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact is, we have to bring our party together. We have to bring it together.
(APPLAUSE)
We have -- we have something happening that actually makes the Republican Party probably the biggest political story anywhere in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Joining me now, Frank Luntz, he is a pollster and CEO of Luntz Global. He is also the author of "What Americans Really Want, Really." Frank, how about that messaging that we're hearing from these two?
FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: Well, it's time that we launch a new segment of the electorate, and I call it the Trump Democrat. And Trump has been very successful in bringing in 15 or 20 percent of the voters that are brand new to the GOP. Similar to Reagan Democrats from 1980. People who never identified with the Republican Party but do identify with what Donald Trump is talking about. And that 15 or 20 percent is significant and allows Trump to dispatch one Republican candidate after another. And frankly, it's what makes him viable in the fall. These Trump Democrats are middle to slightly older. Incomes below the mean. Not particularly interested in politics until this election cycle. And still don't really identify themselves as Republican as they vote for him. But these are the people that the Republicans have not been able to win over since the early 1980s, and they're people that could make a difference for him.
KELLY: So, this is the question for him. Because he's getting this influx of voters on the GOP side who may be more modern, who may be Democrats, who may be just disaffected Republicans, but there's a group like Ben Domenech and Erick Erickson and Glenn Beck who are saying, we're out. We're out. Never.
LUNTZ: Yep. And those are the lost Republicans. And it's why Hillary Clinton has a lead in virtually every single survey. And so if Donald Trump is watching today, he's going to like the first half of this and he's going to hate this. But the fact is that Trump is also losing women, younger women that Republicans have been challenged with. He's not doing as well nationwide among Latinos. And there's some upper middle class voters that feel uncomfortable with him. We have an electorate that is shifting, that is significantly shifting. It is not the same that voted in 2008 and 2012. And what's interesting is that they're not defining themselves by what they think of Hillary Clinton. They're defining themselves by what they think of Donald Trump. Which is why every time I do a focus group, even if I try to talk about Hillary Clinton, the group always goes back to what Donald Trump is saying.
KELLY: So, to what extent does it play here Frank that both of these two people, and let's make clear, these races are not yet settled? There are still other candidates vying for these nominations. Their name recognition is 100 percent, right? I mean, it's not like the electorate needs to get to know Trump or get to know Hillary. They know them. So, how is this race different than other races?
LUNTZ: No. Because there's really no undecided, which is going to make this probably the ugliest election that we've ever had in modern American politics. And it is not based on policy. And now here's where the journalists are going to get angry. This election is going to be determined by personality. In Hillary Clinton's case, do you trust her? Does she have the integrity to be president? And, you know, most poll show that Americans don't believe she does. And in Donald Trump's case, do you have the confidence that he can actually do the job? And we know in polling that there's some doubt there.
So both of these candidates have record unfavorable ratings. In Hillary Clinton's case, 53 percent of Americans. In Donald Trump's case, 60 percent of Americans. So this is truly going to be an either a none of the above election or a quite frankly a lesser of the two evils election. So now everyone is going to be mad at me, mad at FOX. But that's why this is so fascinating and that's why people are paying attention to it.
KELLY: As you well know, sometimes the people get mad. We still have to do our jobs.
LUNTZ: Exactly.
KELLY: Great to see you, Frank. All the best.
LUNTZ: Thank you.
KELLY: Well, Hillary is not the only one who seems to be turning her sights on Donald Trump. As Politico reports that Clinton's fellow Democrats are also sounding the alarm tonight. Not to mention the Republicans who are also trying to distance themselves from their party's front-runner.
Joining me now, Boris Epshteyn, who is a Republican strategist and former communications aid for the McCain-Palin campaign along with Robert Zimmerman, who is a Democratic strategist and DNC Committee member. Great to see you both.
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good to be with you.
KELLY: So, Robert, let me start with you on this.
ZIMMERMAN: Sure.
KELLY: This week we saw these huge Democratic groups say, we've got to organize, we've got to get in all the swing states, we have to make sure that Donald Trump never gets this nomination. Why are they doing that now?
ZIMMERMAN: Well, actually it's a tribute to Donald Trump. He's united conservative Republicans with the Democratic mainstream. He's united Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. I'm waiting for the rapture to kick in next. I mean, it's a remarkable development. And why I disagree with Frank, it's because of who Donald Trump is, and because of his outrageous statement, advocating -- talking about riots if he's not nominated, that people who believe in the Democratic process, people who believe in our system of governance and our electoral process are standing up and rebelling.
KELLY: What do you make of it?
BORIS EPSHTEYN, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL STRATEGIST: I don't see anyone rebelling. What I see is the Republican Party and its voters are overwhelmingly in favor of Donald Trump. You look at the polls going
forward. Arizona plus 12 for Trump, California plus 16 for Trump. We as Republicans need to listen to the voters. As far as the Democrats go, they have their own problems with Hillary Clinton and her untrustworthiness. The polling in terms of her is extremely troubling for her. And that's why Bernie Sanders has done as well as you've done so far.
ZIMMERMAN: Well, let's put it --
EPSHTEYN: Hold on. Let me finish this.
ZIMMERMAN: It's because Bernie Sanders is strong. He's been in politics way too long. He's part of the establishment. It's because Hillary Clinton is a flawed candidate.
KELLY: But I want to ask you about that. Because we heard a lot about the enthusiasm gap, that you know, Donald Trump is galvanizing some pockets of the Republican Party or, you know, maybe moderate Democrats who now are identifying with, you know, being a Trump Republican --
ZIMMERMAN: Sure.
KELLY: And we haven't seen that enthusiasm on the Dem side this year.
ZIMMERMAN: No question. There is no question Donald Trump has produced a lot of media, a lot of enthusiasm. And with all that, Hillary Clinton has still gotten over a million votes more than Donald Trump.
KELLY: But it's like two people on the Dem race.
ZIMMERMAN: Also you talk about a lower turnout. Still she's done well. She's also gotten over a million and a half votes over Bernie Sanders. My point simply being that in fact, when you really look at the issues, and that's what every election really hinges on. I don't care about the speculation. You look at the issues, the fact that in the Democratic Party, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have approval ratings of over 80 percent, and in the Republican Party, 43 percent of Republicans, according to "The Wall Street Journal" poll, believe that Donald Trump is hurting the Republican Party. It tells you about --
KELLY: What about that Boris? Because we have heard that, and the numbers that you just heard Frank tick through, we checked and they're real. I mean, his gender gap, the women, they are not going for Trump right now.
EPSHTEYN: Well, right now, about 50 percent of women strongly disapprove of Donald Trump right now. Now what Frank was not right about is there's still a lot about Donald Trump that has not been out there. This has been a primary season. It's been a nasty primary season. But now, as we coalesce hope for behind Donald Trump, he has eight months to show the general electorate who he truly is which is a -- leader, a successful businessman --
ZIMMERMAN: Well, it's about time --
EPSHTEYN: -- and somebody who truly can lead this country. As
Republicans, we have no busy having these Super-duper secret meetings in D.C. to stop Donald Trump. We need to be focusing on all the enthusiasm that's behind him. We have three million --
KELLY: But people like Eric Erickson and the Never Trump crowd, they're allowed to not like Trump. They're allowed to say, we're going to do what we can to stop him. They're not talking about changing the rules. They're talking about how can we stop him according to the rules.
EPSHTEYN: They should absolutely do what they want. But it's detrimental to the party and it's helping Hillary Clinton in general.
ZIMMERMAN: Actually, what's helping Hillary Clinton is the fact that we now see record Democratic registration higher than it was at the height of 2008.
KELLY: You feel like Trump makes up the enthusiasm gap for her?
ZIMMERMAN: Oh, absolutely. Look at the result turn up --
KELLY: You have to be a little worried about Trump.
ZIMMERMAN: Come on!
KELLY: Even David Plouffe came on to the program and said, I don't envy Hilary having to run against -- he's the nominee.
ZIMMERMAN: Let me tell you something, Hillary Clinton and no Democrats takes anything for granted in this election cycle. But when you get down to debating the issues about immigration reform, about the rights of the LGBT community, infrastructure, raising the minimum wage, Hilary Clinton is going to win and she's going to win big.
EPSHTEYN: Hillary Clinton has been governing for over 20 years, and what is she going to say? What is her offer to the American people about changing things? She's saying, things are going to get better and I'm going to change things, I'm going to bring in different ideas. She doesn't have any. She's been around for a long time --
KELLY: The question is whether he can peel off enough Latinos and women to make up the gap that Mitt Romney lost. And if he can't, can he make up that gap with these new voters --
ZIMMERMAN: With the blue collar Democrats.
KELLY: -- with the blue collar Democrats?
ZIMMERMAN: Losing Latinos by record numbers and losing women by record numbers puts him behind in the beginning and in fact what he's doing is encouraging more Democrats to register.
KELLY: That's right. We're going to get to that next. That is coming up, next. Great to see you both.
EPSHTEYN: Good to be with you.
KELLY: Thank you.
ZIMMERMAN: Thank you so much.
KELLY: So, with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton going at each other as if they're in the general, we thought we would take a look at what the latest polls suggest for November.
Barry Bennett and Guy Benson are here on how it breaks down.
Plus, how much do you know about the President's pick for the U.S. Supreme Court? Brian Kilmeade and Jimmy Kimmel on that just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: So, you heard Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton moments ago, calling for their respective parties to come together and make them the nominees.
And tonight, we have new numbers on how that showdown might go. Trump adviser, Berry Bennett, and political editor, Guy Benson are here on that. But first, we go to Trace Gallagher for the polling. Trace?
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Megyn, let's begin with millennials, those 36 and younger according to an online USA Today poll, millennials favor Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump 52 percent to 19 percent. Almost 3 to 1. And as you break it down, the news for Trump gets
worse. White millennials favor Hillary 2 to 1. Young Hispanics 4 to 1. Young Asians 4 to 1, and young African-American 13 to 1. In a Trump v. Clinton matchup, one out of four Republican millennials would defect to the Democrats. Here's a sample that we took. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump has -- I think that he's really dividing the people, to be quite honest. It's not so much his policies. It's just sometimes his mouth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honestly, I'm a Republican. So, even though I'm Mexican, Trump unfortunately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I have to choose, it's either, you know, the bigot or the liar. And I'm going to go with the liar, because I think the bigot would lie, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Now Donald Trump says he's well-liked by women voters, but the polls beg to differ, according to Reuters, half of U.S. women say they have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump. Back in October, only 40 percent had an unfavorable view. The women polled cited several reasons for disliking Trump including his stance on immigration and disparaging comments about women including the anchor of the show.
Donald Trump responded by saying, I'm quoting, "I can see women not necessarily liking the tone, but I had to get to the finish line. I had to be harsh in order to win. I can see women not liking that. That will change."
Experts say to win the presidency today, you need 25 percent to 30 percent of the non-white vote. Right now, Trump's unfavorability among black voters is 86 percent. Hispanic voters 77 percent. So, even though 57 percent of white males favored Trump, the times are changing.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan took 56 percent of the white and won 44 states. But in 2012, Mitt Romney took 59 percent of the white vote and lost 26 states. That does not bode well for Donald Trump, Megyn.
KELLY: Just the changing demographics of our country. Trace, thank you.
Joining me now, Barry Bennett, an informal adviser to the Trump campaign, and Guy Benson, co-author of the book "End of Discussion," and a Fox News contributor. Great to see you both.
Barry, let me start with you on that.
BARRY BENNETT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN INFORMAL ADVISOR: Sure.
KELLY: You know, that is the reality that the demographics of our country have changed so much since Reagan was elected that you do need a much higher percentage of the white vote if you want to win on white votes alone. The safer and better path would be to win with all of the electorate and that would mean that this nominee, whoever they pick on the Republican side, is going to have to do much better with Hispanics and African-Americans than Mitt Romney did, no?
BENNETT: Well, partially right. You've got to do two things. One, win a bigger percentage of the white vote, but you have to turn the white vote out. If only half of it turns out, then getting 57 percent is what Mitt Romney did. But if you turn out 60 percent, then you can get a smaller percentage of the white vote and do very well. So, turnout is very key to these demographic figures.
KELLY: What about, I mean, what are your thoughts on whether we should have a president who can win a significant percentage of minorities and obviously women?
BENNETT: Yes, I mean, I think the polls I saw today that among African-American voters, Trump is already right now at 12, which is historically unfortunately pretty good. But, you know, it's in March and we're in the heat of a primary battle where all Republicans are yelling at each other. As we finished the primary and the healing starts and we get to the convention, I guaranty these numbers are going to look a lot different.
KELLY: Guy?
GUY BENSON, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm not sure they are going to look a lot different because the American people have been watching Donald Trump for months and they don't like what they see. His favorable-unfavorable rating is historically catastrophically bad. And this is someone who everyone in America knows.
His name I.D. is virtually 100 percent and he loses head-to-head to Hillary Clinton in a lot of these polls another politician with 100 percent name I.D. So, the numbers and the stats that Trace just ran down were brutal. They lay out in stark relief why Donald Trump in all likelihood will underperform Mitt Romney, not only among these key demographics, women, Hispanics, young people.
I think he'll also underperform Mitt Romney among white people and white men. This white men absolutely opposes Donald Trump and there's a lot of fellow conservatives who do to a previous topic on the program.
KELLY: Would you -- would you go never Trump? Would you do third party before you vote for him?
BENSON: I would never vote for Hillary Clinton to steal a line from Trump. It will be a game day decision and it will depend on whether I've been treated fairly if I vote for him, but it would be awfully, awfully difficult. I think he's unfit for the presidency.
KELLY: What about that, Barry because...
(CROSSTALK)
BENNETT: Guy, you said the exact same thing about John McCain. You know, I was -- I'm a social, I'm a movement conservative and I said I'd never vote for John McCain, no way, no how. You know, I did.
BENSON: But John McCain is a man of character.
KELLY: But that's a thing. Is that -- is that so many...
(CROSSTALK)
BENNETT: Oh, come on. He's not even republican when he were in.
KELLY: OK. So, let me ask you this.
BENNETT: I mean, conservatives did not say that.
KELLY: Because the thing that people say about Trump is that he's not like a McCain, you have to admit that. He's nothing like John McCain.
BENNETT: No. I'm just saying that John McCain has never cared about the party.
KELLY: But he makes people feel strongly about him, whether it's strong love or strong dislike, he makes people feel very strongly about him.
BENNETT: Yes.
KELLY: And this question, Barry, is that, is whether as he fills the party with these new voters who feel like they've been ignored for so long, whether he's going to empty the party when people like Eric Erickson and potentially Guy and others say I'm out, I'm not doing it.
BENNETT: You know, I mean, I think for everyone he brings in, you know, he's going to bring in 10 new ones for every one that doesn't come. But in the end, these guys are going to hold their nose and vote for him. I mean, that's just the way it works. We're always unhappy, right he heated the battle but come November, all we wanted to do is stop Hillary. They're all going to be there.
BENSON: Yes. Hang on.
KELLY: Go ahead, Guy.
BENSON: The thing is I've held my nose and voted for Republicans far to my left like Mark Kirk in Illinois and Ken Cuccinelli to my right in Virginia, people that I didn't agree with. But ultimately, the goal is to advance the ball and to win the election to beat the Democrats. I get that, I've done it my entire life. Donald Trump is different.
BENNETT: yes.
KELLY: Barry, what do you make of the women? All right. Because they're already the Republicans have released an ad against him highlighting his controversial comments about women, the subject I asked him about at the very first debate. And these poll numbers for him with American women are very low.
BENNETT: Well, I mean, you go back and if you look at the Reuters poll four years ago this weekend, where Mitt Romney was losing to Obama by 12, the numbers weren't that different. You know, and this is the...
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Mitt Romney never had 50 percent of the women in the country having a very unfavorable view of him.
BENNETT: No. But Democrat women was, you know, it was 60 percent or 70 percent of democrat women. And that's just the way, I mean, that's the way it is. It's a very polarized country right now. But as he tells the story, you know, have you seen a positive Donald Trump commercial? No. But you're
going to all summer long.
KELLY: But he's on TV all the time. He's a positive Donald Trump commercial. I mean, he's everywhere.
BENNETT: No.
(CROSSTALK)
BENSON: He's a commercial.
BENNETT: Wait till the ads. Wait till the ads.
KELLY: OK. All right. Great to see you both.
BENSON: Thanks, Megyn.
BENNETT: Thanks, Megyn.
KELLY: Up next, Brian Kilmeade is back. He's back. And he has a story of a dad who walked away from millions to spend more time with his son. Wait till you hear Brian's take on it.
The dog who managed an amazing story of survival. And also, what happened when Jimmy Kimmel took to the streets to ask everyday Americans to ask about President Obama's pick for the U.S. Supreme Court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, God. This morning, President Obama announced his nominee for Supreme Court justice. How do you think Whitey Bulger will do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope he can make it. I just hope. I know that the Republicans are going to attack him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Welcome back, folks. Well, if you are a Kelly File regular, you know the story of the president's new pick to be the next Supreme Court Justice. But Jimmy Kimmel's show spoke to some folks who are not quite so lucky.
His team dropped some famous names out on the street, names of people far, far from the short list for the highest court in the land, and watch what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think Sammy Hagar is a good choice for Supreme Court Justice?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel the motions that he's for and the laws and things that he wants to change and everything I think he would be a good candidate for it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you think when you heard that President Obama nominated L. Ron Hubbard to the Supreme Court? (Inaudible)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I am. I thought it was a good choice because he's more Republican. And I identify myself as a Republican, so I would say content with that choice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Obama nominated Tyrion Lannister for the Supreme Court Justice. Do you think that Tyrion Lannister will bring peace to all Seven Kingdoms or he will be divisive figure?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he'll be divisive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even though he formed an alliance with Khaleesi and the Mother Dragon?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right, right. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Tried to have his own son murdered and all that.
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX & FRIENDS SHOW CO-HOST: Right.
KELLY: Brian Kilmeade is the co-host of Fox and Friends. He joins me now. That was a Game of Thrones referenced to and Lannister.
KILMEADE: Right.
KELLY: So, this is very disturbing to me. Deeply disturbing.
KILMEADE: You know what it shows? We have become a nation that never says I don't know. Because we are not going to give up. If we don't know the answer, we are going to go -- I tell you, that's a great idea. We are going to filibuster.
KELLY: Fill it...
KILMEADE: Yes. We're going to...
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: One of the other one was Whitey Bulger.
KILMEADE: Yes.
KELLY: That murdered 11 people. Yes, he's great.
KILMEADE: And no one is saying -- do you think his past crimes will hurt him? I don't think so, no one is perfect. That's the answer. We used to say, I don't know, why do you ask.
KELLY: It's true.
KILMEADE: And now we just filibuster.
KELLY: Why is that?
KILMEADE: Because I think we're used to going to school for oral reports and not having being prepared. So, if the teacher asks you in front of the class, you can't say I don't know, you go up there.
KELLY: I think it's something else.
KILMEADE: What?
KELLY: I think it's Mr. Google. Mr. Google has made it unacceptable to not know. In the 21st century we gave up not knowing. We have up maps, right?
KILMEADE: yes.
KELLY: We have GPS in our cars now.
KILMEADE: We don't even know when to make it right.
KELLY: Correct. And we gave up, what we gave up the VCR.
KILMEADE: Right.
KELLY: We gave up cassette tapes and DVDs and, you know, all sorts of music other than Pandora.
KILMEADE: Right.
KELLY: And we gave up not knowing because Mr. Google is always there for us.
KILMEADE: Right. But the problem is, if we gave up not knowing and we knew, that would be great. But we gave up not knowing and we don't know, but we pretend to know. You know what I'm saying?
KILMEADE: I know. I do. OK. Let's move on to something we do know about, which is the Orcas Down at Sea. So, I am going on vacation with my family and my kids are up. And we are taking a family vacation down to Florida. And apparently, we better get to SeaWorld right away if we want to see that.
KILMEADE: Well, the problem is there was a documentary called "Blackfish." They went out and that talked about the life of the killer whales. Not too good according to the experts. They don't have enough for freedom, they don't have enough things to do. And there was some really sad things about trainers dying.
So, "Blackfish" comes out and their attendance goes down 12 percent. Now when you go to show up with your children or with your family, you have people protesting and killer whale uniforms called you're yelling.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Yes, yelling.
KILMEADE: How can you murder it. They're yelling at you when you want to be at the stand.
KELLY: What are they going to do with the existing orcas?
KILMEADE: They're going to put them in a killer whale type of observatory. So, we're going to get to observe them in their own environment. That's going to be down the future. But the good news is, for those who get to say goodbye to Kobe Bryant in his final season and Derek Jeter in his final season, we're going to have a year to say goodbye to this whale and all the whales.
KELLY: I see. Well, one of them is pregnant right now. So there is going to be a little calf.
KILMEADE: Yes.
KELLY: What's going to happen to her?
KILMEADE: Well, they're in trouble. Because they were told not to mate in California. They said no more breeding. Then you turned up pregnant. There's a lot of explaining to do.
KELLY: It happens in a lot of places.
KILMEADE: Right. But I mean, you are training things that are called killer whales. You know right away the, you know, the nature is against you. So, the bottom line is, the natural people, the people that are pro-animal, they took away our elephants, now they take away our killer whales. No more elephants in the circus no more killer whales in the water. So, now I guess we just kind of talk to each other or text somebody or go somewhere else.
KELLY: There are a lot of attractions down in Florida. All right, you don't have to go there.
KILMEADE: Yes.
KELLY: Baseball is a thing that you love, sports in general. I thought you are going to have a totally different take on this story because you told me how he feels beforehand. Tell me who the player is, Adam?
KILMEADE: Adam LaRoche.
KELLY: Who he played for?
KILMEADE: Adam LaRoche, he plays for the White Sox. He's now the designated hitter and did that the best year last year. And I say that because he starts this year kind of injured. One thing about this year and last year, he wants to bring his 14-year-old son to the game every single game.
Well, the team was under a TV so they're going to streamline things. You could bring your kid, but not every game. And my sense is, that the locker room is a place to get away. It's a workplace. For example, you have five, six, seven kids, you're not even sure, but they're not running around the studio. You love your children.
KELLY: Occasionally they come.
KILMEADE: Right. There you go. You could play for the White Sox. So, they came down on Adam LaRoche. You know what he said?
KELLY: What?
KILMEADE: I quit, can I, good bye. You owe me $13 million. You can keep it. If my son can't come, I will not play.
KELLY: He just wanted to bring him to the games and not the practices? Why is it so bad if he wants to bring him to the games? He wants his time with his kid?
KILMEADE: Eighty one games you have during the day, you have time with your kid, I'm for that. But if everyone brings their kid to work, who is going to get work done? Now it turns out people agree more with you where your stance are going. Most of his teammates are mad at management for kicking out the kid, because the kid is a great kid.
KELLY: Right.
KILMEADE: He cleans the cleats for everybody he hangs out. But the thing is you can't use the lord's name in vein. You can't curse your snap...
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Why not if the environment doesn't have to adjust to the child. The child in a situation like that has to adjust in the environment.
KILMEADE: Do you think a 14-year-old should be hanging out with 25 and 35-year-olds? Do you think he should be in the pro locker room environment? My feeling is...
KELLY: It's up to his dad.
KILMEADE: Everyday kids...
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: His dad get to make that call, not me.
KILMEADE: Yes. But the management and employees' dad. And the message to...
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: You make a good point. There could be legal problems.
KILMEADE: Yes. It could.
KELLY: All right. I have to get to the happy story before we go.
KILMEADE: Yes.
KELLY: The dog who lived against all odds.
KILMEADE: The name of the dog is Luna, he is two miles off the shore and he's on a fishing boat, a commercial boat with Nick Haworth, who happens to be his master bottom for I don't know how much money. He's a German shepherd. He falls off the boat, he's gone. It's night, they can't find him. They think he's dead.
However, the owner thinks he'd find a way to survive because he's in great shape. It turns out he swim somehow two miles to the San Clemente Island shore and stayed there for five weeks.
(APPLAUSE)
We think he...
KELLY: Yes.
KILMEADE: We think he -- is their clapping allowed?
KELLY: How did they found him?
(CROSSTALK)
KILMEADE: People are clapping...
KELLY: You have 10 seconds to tell us how they found him.
KILMEADE: They found him sit thing on the side of the road. He must have ate a lot of mice.
KELLY: And Brian had something big tomorrow. I'm going to tell you about it after the break.
KILMEADE: I'm just -- I can't talk. There's no time.
KELLY: Don't go away
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Happy St. Patrick's Day. It's the holiday when all of us, including yours truly, can be proud of our Irish heritage. Even if we aren't Irish at all. But did you ever wonder where the traditions of parades, and beer, corn beef and cabbage come from?
Our chief leprechaun correspondent Trace Gallagher volunteered to find out. He started with the beer. Trace?
GALLAGHER: Kelly says to Gallagher that leprechaun, we should begin by fessing up, Megyn, that St. Patrick really wasn't Irish. He was a Brit, kidnapped by Irish pirates. Historians also point out St. Patrick was an atheist who later in life discovered his faith and became a priest.
It's unclear if he died in Ireland but it is believed he died on March 17. And St. Patrick that it used to be a religious holiday but became celebratory, because as my Irish grandmother used to say, the Irish like a wee bit to drink.
The first St. Patrick's Day parade in America happened in New York in 1766. As for those traditions, legends say that St. Patrick used the three-leaf shamrock to explain the Christian holy trinity, but historians say not true. The Irish would wear shamrocks on their coats and to close out St.
Patti's Day they drowned it in a glass of whisky.
And leprechauns weren't always drunk little rosy cheek men in green suits. At one time the Celtic belief was they were ferries who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. By the way, corned beef and cabbage it's an American dish, not Irish. And the original color of St. Patrick's Day was blue, but because Ireland is the emerald isle the Irish flag has a green stripe, blue lost out. Finally, pinching those who don't wear green was started by the leprechauns and continued by those who might have had a wee bit too much whisky.
KELLY: On that subject, if you ever go to Ireland, never kiss the Blarney stone. Do you know why?
GALLAGHER: Why?
KELLY: Some people use it on their way home from bars if you know what I'm saying. I'm going to leave it at that. Be right back with Kilmeade. Thanks, Trace.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Tomorrow night, some of the protesters who were behind that Donald Trump protest in Chicago will join us right here.
KILMEADE: On the Wounded Warriors the first time the ousted CEOs speak out about what happened behind the scenes of the Wounded Warrior Project.
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