Trump campaign: Cruz won Wisconsin by illegally coordinating with his Super PACs

Hotair ^ | 04/06/2016 | AllahPundit

[SeekAndFind]

Usually when Trump makes a wild accusation there’s some dubious peg on which to hang it, like when he claimed that Cruz was behind the ad in Utah from Liz Mair’s anti-Trump Super PAC targeting Melania Trump. That wasn’t true, as even Trump superfan Sean Hannity eventually admitted, but the ad obviously was designed to move votes to Cruz. Trump assumed culpability, wrongly, because Cruz benefited.

What’s the peg for this new claim, though? Or have we reached the point where Trump is gaslighting his fans without any tether to reality?

In an error-riddled statement released Tuesday night, the Donald Trump campaign claimed Ted Cruz was “coordinating with his own Super PACs (which is illegal), who totally control him.” That’s more than just campaign bluster; the charge of illegal coordination between a federal candidate and a super PAC is serious. The penalties for such illegal activity can include prison sentences.

But the Trump statement offered no evidence or verifiable claims of the Cruz campaign’s illegal coordination. Is there any evidence? Will the Trump campaign be filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission? Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks has not yet responded to an email asking these questions.

Actually, says WaPo, there is a peg, and it’s as dubious as ever — not that the media, which reflexively amplifies everything Trump says, would tell you that:

But instead of contextualizing Trump’s latest wild claim as being part of a pattern, NBC News, Fox News, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and others simply published it uncritically without noting the lack of support for the billionaire’s assertion. The Associated Press included an unfiltered version of the statement in its stream of primary-night updates…

The Houston Chronicle, in Cruz’s home state, posited that “Trump’s accusation of illegal coordination was a reference to Cruz’s participation in campaign events organized by Keep the Promise, a putatively independent Super PAC that supports Cruz.”

Indeed, Cruz made appearances at three Wisconsin events organized by Keep the Promise in the days before primary voting. But even the Chronicle story did not make clear that such appearances are permitted by the Federal Election Commission. They are not considered coordination.

This isn’t the first time Trump has strained to delegitimize a loss at Cruz’s hands. As Michael Warren notes in the first piece quoted above, in Iowa he accused Cruz of winning via “fraud” when a Cruz operative sent a message to caucusgoers wrongly claiming that Ben Carson was dropping out. Iowa and Wisconsin have something in common besides their midwestern pedigree: They’re the only two major elections this year that Trump has lost on nights when no other states were voting. He did lose two minor primaries, Puerto Rico and D.C., held on dates when no other elections were being conducted, but both of those came just a few days after Trump notched big wins in other states. Every other Trump defeat this year has come on a night when multiple states voted and added wins to his column to offset the losses. He’s smearing Cruz here, I assume, for the simple reason that the usual spin — sure, I lost X tonight but that’s an aberration because I won Y and Z! — isn’t available to him. It may be a simple matter of this guy being so psychologically fragile when it comes to not being perceived as a consummate winner that he’s forced to reach, like a child, for theories of foul play to comfort him. Cruz out-organizing him in Louisiana, North Dakota, and Colorado to woo delegates is another textbook example; that’s just good gamesmanship according to longstanding rules, but to Trump it’s “unfair” and de facto cheating. Be happy, I guess, that he hasn’t descended yet into outright accusations of vote-rigging, but also don’t put it past him. Some of his fans on Twitter last night, remembering this garbage poll from ARG, concluded that Cruz’s margin of victory must be fraudulent since it was so wildly out of sync with ARG’s numbers (yet very much in line with the numbers from Marquette and Fox Business).

I wonder, in fact, who the target audience for the “Cruz cheated!” smear is. Some would say it’s the media and undecided voters, to convince them that “Lyin’ Ted” isn’t worthy of their support, but I think it’s actually aimed at Trump’s core supporters. He’s running as the Green Lantern; faith in his ability to overcome all opponents, foreign and domestic, takes a hit every time he loses an election straight up. More than that, he wants his fans to see themselves as part of an irresistible movement, a new “silent majority” that isn’t even a majority in its own party. When something like Wisconsin happens, he’s left scrambling to explain how his superpowers and his legions of fans were unable to prevent a beating from a guy in Ted Cruz whom most people outside the conservative base dislike. The only available explanation is cheating. Only by delegitimizing Cruz can defeat be rationalized. All of this is but a small test run of his spin at the convention.

[Rational Thought]

There entire SuperPac structure is corrupt, yet accepted and legal. As for coordination between candidates and SuperPacs, it's just a law which is easily ignored.

[ifinnegan]

“Persecuting the opposition for “illegal coordination” has been tried in Wisconsin before. In fact it was not too long ago the Democrats’ favorite tactic in Wisconsin. And now Trump is doing it. Coincidence? Like I’ve said from the outset, Trump is really a Democrat.”

Excellent post.

[ifinnegan]

Rush was pointing out how the Fox gang, Bloody Kelly, Tokyo Rove and Dr Krauthamer were all praising Trump’s strength after the Wisconsin loss.

[pookie18]

http://moonbattery.com/?p=70707

[TheConservativeBanker]

I’m a Trump supporter who wishes Trump would leave Wisconsin behind. He lost for some good reasons: 1) No ground game in a state where ground game counts, a lot. 2) Very disciplined state Republican party which is firmly in the “Never Trump” camp. 3) Late start in trying to reach disaffected, less political voters. 4) Complacency.

If lessons are learned and acted on it is plus for Trump, if not it’s a wasted learning opportunity.

[Fiji Hill]

Trump needs a campaign song:

Boo-Hoo

Boo-hoo
You've got me crying for you.
And as I sit here and sigh,
Says I: "I Can't believe it's true."

Boo-hoo
I'll tell my mommy on you
The little games that you play
The little games that you played
Has made her baby oh, so blue.

[Norseman]

And yet the man sues at the drop of a hat. He would here too, if he had even the least bit of evidence for his claim. Conclusion: He’s making it up as he goes along, like most of the stuff he says.

[Starstruck]

Ted Cruz has repeatedly made false accusations about Trump after primary ay losses. Where are the left wing articles calling him nasty and a sore loser?

I googled "Cruz accuses Trump of cheating." in the news and all I got were articles where Trump accused Cruz of cheating. What is your source?

[Brilliant]

You could see it coming from the outset though. Right after he said he could shoot someone dead in Times Square and it would do nothing to his popularity you knew he would up the ante until he hit the ceiling.

[Larry Lucido]

Trump doesn’t have to sue to prove his complaint, but if Cruz doesn’t sue, then the complaint must be true. That’s how it works, isn’t it?

[italianquaker]

His multiple statements on abortion made him look foolish also

[unlearner]

Trump is still off message.

He is the leader. He keeps getting distracted and using insults and allegations to keep the opposition down. This is leading from behind.

He should have been focussing on what he is going to DO as president.

He does not need to draw more attention to his loss. He needs to point out how well he expects to do in NY and other upcoming primaries.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Right, Cruz is a lawyer and exploits the rules and law to his benefit—like any good sleazebag lawyer. You liked Clinton and Nixon, you'll love Cruz.

Isn't that exactly what Trump uses as his excuse when questioned about the bankruptcy laws? "Hey, those laws are there and I took advantage of them. That's good business."

To some extent, I don't disagree with that. But the point is that the rules are what they are, everyone has known what they are (if they didn't, they're negligent) and so the smart thing to do is to do what you can within those rules. Complaining about someone else using the rules to their advantage is like what you see in a basketball game when some player starts complaining to the ref that he was fouled, and while he's complaining about the no-call, the guy he's supposed to be guarding dunks the ball at the other end.

If Trump wants to win this, he ought to be investing in a good ground game and fighting for those delegates. Complaining about an unfair system isn't going to change anything.

[Salvation]

Right in there with all the dimocrats.

[House Atreides]

Diarrhea of the mouth is what cost Trump Wisconsin. Trump’s mouth diarrhea effluvia continues to flow as evidenced by his campaign’s non-gracious statement last night.

[VanDeKoik]

“Ted Cruz has repeatedly made false accusations about Trump after primary ay losses. Where are the left wing articles calling him nasty and a sore loser?”

That goes into the rabbit hole that is the gap between the ears of Cruz’s fans.

In fact, I’ve never seen one Cruztard actually scream about it.

But the press is letting him get away with it for obvious reasons, so these guys are happy to forget themselves.

Bit the moment they go up against Hillary, then all that ends.

[faucetman]

“whenever Cruz, wins a state, that Trump accuses him of winning it illegally.”

Well, at least it doesn’t happen very often.

[publius911]

Democrats’ favorite tactic in Wisconsin. And now Trump is doing it. Coincidence? Like I’ve said from the outset, Trump is really a Democrat.

Brilliant?
Maybe not.

Perhaps it's simply
Occams Razor.

Nobody is so smart as to ignore what works.

Ever wonder how the stoopid party, 50% indolent, ignorant and drugged out, 40% parasitic union "public employees" and 20% criminal elected politicians and cronies getting rich on the public checkbook manage to outmaneuver highly educated and experienced "Republicans"?

In The House, in The Senate, using arcane or invented procedures to destroy any semblance of opposition; during elections, violating election laws or outright fraud?
Creating Executive Orders as an unconstitutional fourth branch of government?

If Trump has turned to the political armory that "enemies domestic" have successfuly used to destroy the GOPe, all I can say is...

More power to the Donald!
GO TRUMP!!

[VideoDoctor]

Trump campaign: Cruz won Wisconsin by illegally coordinating with his Super PACs

My suggestion to the Trump campaign as a TRUMP supporter.. THEN SILENTLY PROSECUTE IT and QUIT TALKING ABOUT IT.

[snowrip]

Lyin’ Donnie is stamping his little feet.