[Chris Cuomo, Cnn Anchor:] Dr. Ben Carson just drew a big old line in the sand. He says a Muslim should not be president. Last night, you know, the word in the prompter is backtrack. I wouldn't say that. I'd say he kind of qualified saying, well maybe he could support a Muslim for president if he or she swears to put the Constitution ahead of their religion, like every elected official has to, by the way, and rejects Sharia, as if all Muslims live under Sharia. So what are Carson's rivals doing about this rhetoric? We have Amanda Carpenter, CNN political commentator and former communications director for Senate Ted Cruz, and CNN political commentator Kevin Madden, who is a Republican strategist. Kevin, I start with you. Alisyn and I were just discussing how to do this segment
[Kevin Madden, Cnn Political Commentator:] Yes.
[Cuomo:] And the notion is the CNN debate was a formative event in this race. It changed the field. It changed who's at the top and who's coming up on them. Could this be the next formative event because you have one big group of appeal chasing the frontrunners with totally different positions on tolerance?
[Madden:] Yes, I don't know. I look, I don't I don't look at campaigns as really events as much as I look at a processes. So I think it was part of the process. I think this is going to bring the kind of scrutiny to the Ben Carson campaign that, as we've seen with some of the way they've handled it, he's clearly not ready for. And I think other campaigns are who are looking at Ben Carson like he's holding on to this like 25 percent of the of the Republican electorate right now, they're more than willing to watch him, you know, have to explain this because, ultimately, they want those voters to fall to him.
[Alisyn Camerota, Cnn Anchor:] Huh. Amanda, there have been a bunch of GOP contenders who have come out and either condemned or backed away from what Ben Carson has said, including Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Jeb Bush. Lindsey Graham was quite forceful. He said, I think Dr. Carson needs to apologize. But Donald Trump has taken a different tact. He sounds as though he's given support to Ben Carson. Let's listen to what Donald Trump said about this last night.
[Donald Trump , Presidential Candidate:] Ben was saying there are difficulties. And I think everybody knows what those difficulties are. And people want to be politically correct. But there have been difficulties. And a lot of people agree with Ben.
[Camerota:] Look, Amanda, this is what Ben Carson's people and Donald Trump keep saying is, we're not going to be politically correct. This is just about political correctness. How do you see it?
[Amanda Carpenter, Cnn Political Commentator:] Well, I don't think Donald Trump has a choice. He was arguably the highest profile birther in America over the last five years. I mean I think everyone forgets the fact that he was on cable TV all the time demanding President Obama produce the birth certificate. So when someone stands up at a New Hampshire rally and asks him a question like that, gosh, Donald Trump is playing footsie with this issue at every venue possible. So I don't see there's any way he could bush back on that question. And I'm happy to see him get the scrutiny. I'm happy to see Ben Carson get the scrutiny because, quite frankly, this isn't the first objectionable thing he's said.
[Madden:] Right.
[Carpenter:] He's all over the map on so many issues. In the debate he's talking about competing minimum wage. He's talked about installing federal monitors in classrooms to make sure there's no liberal bias. He said people should voluntarily opt out of Social Security to make the system more solvent. He needs some scrutiny because the second, you know, number two status that he's enjoyed this far has not been earned.
[Cuomo:] Well, Kevin, you end you did the end run on me there on the event versus process thing. Let me come at it a different way though.
[Madden:] Yes.
[Cuomo:] Do you think this issue may tighten up the difference between Carson and Trump and the rest of the field? At least with Fiorina, who gave an incredibly intelligent and inclusive answer about what the role of faith should be for its leaders. Do you think we may see a contraction based on this?
[Madden:] Yes, I look, I think it's I think it will take place over time. And Ron Brownstein made a point earlier that I agree with. I think there's a bit of a fissure right now within this within this field. There is two candidates and Trump and Carson who seem to be defining their candidacies based on what they're against. I ultimately believe that is destined to fail. The other part of the campaign, which is the other part of the field, which is, they're very focused on promoting their candidacies based on what their for and what their vision for America is. One that's a unifying vision. People may disagree with it, but they are they are absolutely defining their candidacies that way. I think ultimately one thing after the other, as Amanda pointed out, there are a number of issues that are going to add up for Ben Carson where people are going to have very serious doubts about his readiness, about his judgment as a potential president and ultimately it will I think the rest of the the support will come back to the rest to the to that other half of the field.
[Camerota:] Well, but, I mean, Amanda, very quickly, doesn't this also hurt the rest of the field because there's people like John Kasich who are trying to have a substantive policy discussion but keep having to address these conflagrations?
[Carpenter:] Well, certainly. And the way that Donald Trump and Ben Carson have controlled the media narrative is unfortunate for so many other candidates. But I want to jump on a comment that Chris mentioned about whether we're going to see a contraction in the field. Well we immediately saw the field contract yesterday with the departure of Scott Walker who said in no subtle terms that he's doing this to unify the anti-Trump, you know, and anti-Carson, too, I'm sure he meant, vote. He dropped out so that there could be some coalescing around some kind of unifying candidate that probably has a more positive vision for America. So that's already happened quite dramatically.
[Camerota:] All right. There you go.
[Madden:] Yes.
[Camerota:] Amanda Carpenter, Kevin Madden, thanks so much. Great to get your perspectives on all of this.
[Madden:] Great to be with you.
[Camerota:] Michaela.
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