Posted on 03/23/2016 7:19:21 PM PDT by jazusamo
The Republican establishment is sending in the cavalry for Ted Cruz, the latest unexpected twist in a presidential race that has defied all expectations.
Many prominent members of the GOP establishment intensely dislike Cruz. But they now acknowledge that he is the best option — perhaps the only option — to deny Donald Trumptheir party’s nomination.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush jumped on the bandwagon on Wednesday with a surprise endorsement of Cruz, describing the Texas senator as “a consistent, principled conservative” in a Facebook post.
Bush’s admiration for Cruz was noticeably lacking during the Floridian’s own run for the White House, when he mocked the Texan for political expediency. During one town hall meeting in New Hampshire, Bush said that Cruz had believed in immigration reform “until he went into the witness protection program.”
Bush is just the latest establishment figure to throw support to Cruz.
Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee, urged voters in Utah — a state in which he has deep roots — to support Cruz in caucuses Tuesday night. Though Romney stopped short of a full endorsement of Cruz, he went as far as to record robocalls on the senator’s behalf in which he said that it was “time for Republicans across the spectrum to unite behind Ted.”
Cruz won Utah in a landslide, though he lost the night’s biggest prize, the Arizona primary, to Trump.
Another late entry into the Cruz camp is South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who recently helped raise money for the Texan’s campaign. Less than a month before, Graham had joked that “if you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.”
The newfound enthusiasm for Cruz looks to some like an admission that desperate times call for desperate measures. But skeptics suggest the effort is doomed for precisely that reason.
“These guys look like all desperation and as if they have really no means, or ability, to speak to the core constituents who are supporting Donald Trump,” said Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. “At this last minute, it’s, ‘Now we support Ted,’ after you spent the best part of a year telling America how much you hate him.”
“It’s disingenuous,” Steele added. “People aren’t stupid. They see it for what it is.”
Cruz’s chances of winning the nomination outright appear small, as he now trails Trump by 275 delegates. The magic number to clinch the GOP nomination is 1,237.
Cruz currently has 463 delegates to Trump’s 738, according to a New York Times count. That means Cruz would need to win around 90 percent of the remaining 848 delegates in the contests. For Trump, the equivalent figure is just 59 percent.
But some Republicans suggest that if Cruz could get close to Trump’s number — and keep the businessman a significant margin short of 1,237 — there may be a chance of the nomination being wrested away from Trump at the convention.
Conversely, however, if Cruz does not significantly narrow Trump’s advantage, it will be all over, bar the shouting.
“If [Trump] loses, it has to be legitimate,” said Ed Rollins, a Republican strategist who has worked for conservative presidential candidates in recent cycles, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.). “If he comes in 50 or 100 votes short, it’s going to be awful hard to take it off him. But if Cruz got to within 100, that could be different.”
Many insiders are dubious of the idea that the new tide of establishment support for Cruz will catalyze a movement of primary voters toward him. But they note that major fundraising players formerly allied with Bush could now come over to Cruz’s side.
With primaries still to come in large states with expensive media markets, including New York, New Jersey and California, campaign cash will be important. So will having money available right until the last day of voting in the GOP race, June 7.
The establishment shift could have another effect, too. The third candidate who remains in the GOP race, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, has been seeking to position himself as the standard-bearer for establishment hopes. But Kasich’s campaign is ailing badly: He has won only his home state and, on Tuesday night, came in behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in Arizona, despite Rubio having ended his campaign almost a week before.
The move by big centrist names toward Cruz is “sending a clear message to Kasich that it is time to get out,” said GOP strategist and Hill contributor Matt Mackowiak. “He is playing spoiler, he has no real path to the nomination. People who would be for him are choosing to be with Cruz because he has a better chance. That is a powerful thing in and of itself.”
Whether it will be powerful enough, however, is an entirely different question. The geographical territory for many of the remaining contests — particularly the large number of Northeastern states that have still to vote — favors Trump. So too does the absence of caucuses from the rest of the calendar, as those contests have been favorable to Cruz.
Looking at the overall picture, some Republicans say it may be too late.
“If they had taken Donald Trump’s candidacy seriously from the beginning — if they had not misread the message that was coming from the voters who were supporting him — perhaps this thing would have played itself out differently,” Steele said.
Not sure they really hated Cruz ...it’s my contention that Cruz was always the establishment’s “anti-establishment” candidate ... a very palatable last resort if you will ...
I’m tired of PC cucks and GOPe globalists. Ted Cruz is annoying because he’s quite obviously a phony. Just watching his nervous ticks and robotic mannerisms as he recites his answers in interviews makes me cringe. Watching him blame Trump for leftist riots, play the usual “I didn’t say that, it was my Super PAC” game, and all his other weasel garbage is just SAD!, because it’s causing otherwise well-meaning people who are sick of leftists to grow vaginas and act just like leftists themselves.
Hopefully the people who support Cruz will come around some day and leave behind the crybaby “me too” GOPe bought-and-paid fraud that is Ted Cruz. But if they don’t, whatever.
DT will still get the votes he needs, and we’ll Make America Great Again for everyone. Even the people that got fooled by Ted.
If you read the article it says the GOPe ard rallying around Cruz
to stop Trump.
It never says they are rallying around Cruz to give him the nomination.
Surely Cruz knows he is being used.
Crux is a member of a horrible cult, the “ SEVEN MOUNTAIN DOMINIONIST”. Not only is he creepy to any Christian with discerning spirits, HE WAS ANOINTED “ MESSIAH” in that horrible cult. Look it up!! He thinks that he has to win in order for our Savior , Jesus , to come back!! He wants to take your money and give it to cult members!!This man is SATANIC!! Go Trump!!~
Ted isn’t running for Ted. That ship has already sailed.
Ted is still running so that Mitt or Jeb can be the nominee. Ted is in it for Goldman Sachs: they own the establishment, which means they own Ted and his wife.
The GOPe feel like they can control Cruz easier than they can Trump...
I believe Cruz is now in it to stop Trump. Many times Cruz would say Trump is not going to be the nominee just like Jeb and other GOPE have declared. There is something shady going on and Cruz is a part of it.
That would not surprise me. I could see the GOPe planting a anti-establishment candidate, in the event that someone took out JEB.
What they didn’t expect was Donald Trump. If Trump wasn’t there, JEB would have been the likely nominee and Cruz would have been out of the race.
Cruz — the GOPe’s choice for Republican presidential nominee — to ensure a previously agreed win for Hillary.
>>Not sure they really hated Cruz ...
Trump disagrees:
“He is “a nasty guy. Nobody likes him. Nobody in Congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him.”
Great graphic!
“Not sure they really hated Cruz ...it’s my contention that Cruz was always the establishment’s “anti-establishment” candidate ... a very palatable last resort if you will ...”
All that remains for Cruz’ contrition is for him to make a “pilgrimage” to the Senate and kiss “king” Scrotum Neck’s ring! So, for all the Cruzers here, it that “kosher?”
Well perhaps Trump was wrong ..the GOPe and Bushies love Cruz ... love that rigged Utah vote , Romney really pulled it out , a bit too much ...Romney can’t even steal an election without screwing it up ...
Tech billionaires (major Dem donors) plot with GOP leaders at exclusive island resort to stop Trump
Billionaires, top tech CEOs and leading figures of the GOP establishment gathered on an island off the coast of Georgia this weekend for a conference where the main topic was how to stop Donald Trump, according to a new report.
Also on hand were Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Republican elder statesman Karl Rove, House Speaker Paul Ryan, GOP Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Ben Sasse (Neb.), who recently made news by saying he could never support Trump.
This election is really about The Cheap Labor Express vs the citizens
They had planned on the usual gambit of a Designated Loser like ¡Yeb! losing graciously to block us from electing anyone who would stop them from flooding the country with fraudulently documented foreigners.
Trump stepped up on the side of the citizens and it has them scared spitless. The citizens finally have a champion.
Now the only thing they have left is to try to steal the nomination at the convention.
¡Teb! is being used to stop Trump, which is really The Cheap Labor Express stopping the citizens from keeping our country.
¡Teb! has gone to the dark side.
“Let’s you and him fight!” is what the GOPe is doing- the oldest trick in the book.
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