So finally the Stop Trump movement has come up with a concrete strategy with Ted Cruz and John Kasich agreeing to not campaign in states in which the other has a chance of beating Donald Trump.
Within minutes of each other, the pair issued statements late Sunday saying they will divide their efforts in upcoming contests with Cruz focusing on Indiana and Kasich devoting his efforts to Oregon and New Mexico. The strategy — something the two campaigns have been working on for weeks — is aimed at blocking Trump from gaining the 1,237 delegates necessary to claim to GOP nomination this summer.
…Trump is the only candidate who can realistically get a first-ballot victory — there’s no mathematical path for Cruz or Kasich to clinch the nomination heading into the convention. The billionaire is poised for a strong performance Tuesday, when Republicans in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island head to the polls.
Needless to say Trump is not happy and his supporters will see this as just one more sign of how the party establishment is trying to thwart the ‘will of the people’. Trump issued two tweets in response.
“Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!”
“Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are mathematically dead and totally desperate. Their donors & special interest groups are not happy with them. Sad!”
If this last-ditch effort fails, it will become even harder to deny Trump the nomination at the convention, even if he does not have an absolute majority.
Love it! Trump is such a yuge liar, but on those occasions when he tells the truth, he NAILS IT!!
I still don’t see that the Republican Party honchos have any obligation to nominate Trump. Thwarting the will of the people has kind of been the conservative thing for a long time, and the primaries are not binding.
The only reason to nominate him is to prevent the voters being angry, and what can the little people do? If Trump cannot win, but someone else can, they should get nominated.
Yes, Trump is occasionally right, and he is a powerful speaker. Well, to the folks who like him he is powerful.
Oddly, Trump versus Clinton may be a confusing election. Trump hasn’t stated his postions on a great many issues, but he has some very liberal tendencies. Clinton is a war hawk, a Wall Street lackey, and a fan of money -- she’s said some hurtful stuff. If Trump starts clarifying the right way, and Clinton gets caught lying, we might wind up voting for Clinton just to keep the Republican apparatus out.
@2 Menyambal
Republicans are not built to thwart other republicans though. That’s more Democrat-style, where they hamstring themselves. Republicans focus all their dirty tricks and bullshit on the Democrats. They were unable to thwart the Tea Party and such from taking over. I don’t see any reason to think they would deny Trump the nomination.
Republicans fall in line, so why wouldn’t fall in line behind Trump?
What can they do? They can vote for Trump when he runs as an independent, which he threatened to do, then ostentatiously promised not to do, then definitely threatened to do again. He wouldn’t win -- but he’d split the Republican vote to the point that the Democrats couldn’t lose.
What? If one candidate starts making sense and the other proves themselves to be crooked, you’ll vote for the crooked one because… reasons? Wow. Your “democracy” is broken.
@doublereed, 3:
Have you been awake at all for the last nine months? All the Republican dirty trick apparatus has been focused on Trump.
Because they don’t control him. When you say “Republicans fall in line”, what actually seems to happen is “Republican candidates fall in line with the party when they get nominated”. What the GOP fears (rightly, I think) is that if the nominate Trump, the party will have no influence over him. He’s a maverick, and while he may do some things that look Republican-ish, he could (and probably will) ride roughshod over some other stuff they regard as their core values. As Menyambal pointed out, Trump has some very liberal tendencies…
Kasich isn’t on the ballot in Oregon, whereas Cruz is… not sure what good campaigning here will do towards blocking Trumpenfuhrer.
Correction, he is, but he didn’t bother even submitting anything for the voter pamphlet…