Posted on 10/16/2015 12:38:02 PM PDT by GonzoII
Donald Trump increasingly looks unbeatable in the Republican presidential nominating sweepstakes unless the GOP establishment can persuade a bunch of candidates to drop out early, conservative commentator Pat Buchanan said Friday.
Appearing on The Laura Ingraham Show, Buchanan said the dropouts likely will have to include Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who previously looked invincible but whose fortunes have sagged under months of a withering onslaught by Trump.
At some point, he does become an impediment to the establishment getting a comeback plan, Buchanan said.
Trump, the billionaire real estate mogul and reality television star, continues to hold large leads in national polls and early state surveys. Buchanan said it is increasingly apparent that establishment forces cannot take Trump down with so many credible alternatives.
Its looking very, very difficult to see how theyre gonna take this nomination from The Donald, he said.
Its looking very, very difficult to see how theyre gonna take this nomination from The Donald, he said.
Buchanan suggested the establishment has a shot if it coalesces around a single candidate. And the best hope appears to be first-term Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, he said.
Hes back in the pack, but he looks like the third horse coming around the far turn, he said.
Trump terrifies the establishment, Buchanan said.
He is not under any measure of control or discipline, he said. Hes a very entertaining candidate, and hes full of verve and life. And I think hes more disciplined than he was in July. And hes putting on a great show.
Buchanan compared Rubio to Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican whom many are trying to entice to become speaker of the House of Representatives. He is a likable guy, as is Rubio, Buchanan said. But if Ryan becomes speaker, he almost certainly will pursue the same policies on trade and immigration that turned grass-roots conservatives against outgoing Speaker John Boehner, he said.
And if Trump does take the nomination?
All of a sudden, a lot of folks he was unaware they were supporting him are going to suddenly be around him. Theyll all be gravitating there. This city is full of people who want to work in the White House and in government and in the State Department and Defense and everything.
And the closer Donald gets to that nomination, the more hes going to hear from them.”
It has happened before. Two Republicans dropped out so that Woody Jenkins would make the runoff versus Mary Landrieu in 1996. It didn’t work but it was the right strategy.
I believe it has been tried - except that no centrist candidate has caught fire....if one did you might see some drop out.
Yep. Trump may be pulling a Secretariat. We’ll see what it looks like as they round the last corner, but so far I’m not seeing anything but strength growing.
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