Posted on 04/27/2016 5:43:30 AM PDT by xzins
The wins help Trump not only in terms of delegates, but also give the billionaire bragging rights and the ability to rhetorically sidelinehis rivals. On Tuesday he said about the primary race: “As far as I’m concerned it’s over.”
The Cruz-Kasich strategy had already been facing difficulties. Shortly after the plan was announced, Kasich undercut the strategy Monday, saying “I’ve never told [supporters] not to vote for me. They ought to vote for me.” He sought to downplay the strategy as well, describing it as “not a big deal.”
Kasich’s struggling campaign was dealt another blow when it was revealed Monday that Kasich was not featured in an Oregon voters’ guide after the campaign missed the deadline to submit information for the pamphlet.
Even in states like Indiana, where Cruz is investing his resources, he still trails significantly behind Trump. The latest Fox News poll gave Trump an eight point lead over Cruz. Trump collected 41 percent, while Cruz had 33. Kasich was a distant third with 16 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I’d agree with you, if somehow Roberts could be persuaded to resign. The damage he has done to the US is beyond comprehension.
Roberts certainly isn’t reliable, but adding a known liberal wouldn’t be helpful at all. Even Obama’s supposed ‘moderate’ selection is a radical anti-gun judge.
“nor did they envision that a president would be elected by popular demand.”
How exactly did our founders envision the POTUS would be elected?
Do you think that Cruz can reach HALF the delegates needed to get to the nomination?
Or more appropriately, half of the delegates that Trump gets?
If he gets so lucky.. Where will he get an increase of at least 100% of delegates in Cleveland?
And do you think he can actually be viable in a general election if he colludes his way to this type of victory?
Looks like even Fox News is seeing the handwriting on the wall.
“Cruz has always been anti-establishment”
Because nothing screams outsider like hiring the entire Bush staff and ex criminal brother Neil to work for your campaign. LOL!
Perhaps. I don’t trust Murdoch at all.
And just being frank, a foreigner (recent citizen?) in charge of shaping the American mind troubles me a lot.
Per thegreenpapers.com,
Trump had 956 ‘hard’ delegates. He needs 281 of the remaining 508 to reach 1237.
Cruz has 547 ‘hard delegates. He needs 690 but only 508 remain.
Trump has 409 more than Cruz.
There are 118 uncommitted. Rubio holds on to 173. Kasich has 154.
Even a ‘hail Mary’ would not probably help Cruz or Kasich.
Kasich is dancing on crumbling ground. Kasich wants to be VP, but his continued obstinance is not helping him. Cruz has already hinted at Fiorina as his VP. Trump may have more than enough delegates to not need Kasich’s. Kasich could find himself back in Ohio.
I agree with your numbers. CNN was publishing 988 for Trump last night. The only reason would be their knowledge of Pennsylvania unbound delegate decisions in favor of Trump.
It’s a curiosity is the only reason I mention it.
Cruz isn’t just a Trump spoiler anymore. He’s an anti-Clinton opposition spoiler.
The national review and the American spectator types are talking of a 3rd party effort.
There seems to be a real determination out there to get Clinton elected.
In a word: NO!
Oops, I almost forgot...speaking of time, here's a "For what it's worth" for anyone who might be interested:
Frankly Cruz ran a bad campaign. Further he is about as charismatic as a dead fish. The fact that he gave Trump a run for the money speaks more to Trump's weaknesses than Cruz's strengths. Maybe you should deal with that.
Trump is going to have a hard road to the presidency. He is not going to win it without burying the hatchet that he used to pummel Cruz and Kaisich and Rubio and everyone else he insulted and ridiculed to get his people energized.
He needs the ground troops that Cruz has. Trump will not be able to win without them.
That being said, I think that Cruz needs to face reality. At this point there is no stopping Trump from winning on the first ballot. If he is going to go forward at this point, he needs to stop mentioning Trump by name and get back the message he had before the feud started.
I agree with almost 100% of what you wrote.
Cruz made strategic errors with both the Glen Beck elevation and the timing of his attack. He multiplied that by bringing in the Bush/Romney teams. They contradicted his message.
Trump is going to have a hard time getting the coalition built, and I think it has to be well on the way to being rebuilt by the time the convention rolls around, and that’s in late July, isn’t it?
I’m convinced personally, that Trump ran the raw debate phase of his campaign as a reality show. IOW, he was doing outrageous things to attract attention to himself and to cut down his opposition. It worked, so he kept doing it.
I want him to continue that aspect against Clinton in any debates they have, because it’s an effective style given these debates aren’t really debates but are a 3-ringed circus.
But, he needs a pivot point for serious discussion, and I’m not sure what that would be. He has remained almost 100% on message throughout this primary season, and that is getting boring. He needs to add a bit of spice to that message.
I think his VP selection is crucial. Moreso than any candidate in our lifetime perhaps. It needs to be someone who is both a warrior and who brings a demographic or a state. Kasich and Carson simply aren’t warriors. I don’t think he and Cruz will ever reconcile now, and besides, Cruz doesn’t bring a state. Perhaps a demographic...Hispanic. Cruz certainly is a warrior. I’ll give him that. You know my opposition to his birth issues, but I think I’m in a huge minority on that.
Jan Brewer? Chris Christie? Marco Rubio? A talented general? Another business leader?
Agreed. I acknowledge that Cruz has followers, however, look at the states he won and how he won them. As bad as it sounds, his “strong states” are not the critical ones it takes to flip an election. Additionally, winning 5 states where 3 didn’t even have a vote and declaring that a landslide is not a strong position. About the only two states I can think of that he won strong and without the benefit of a caucus or delegate wrangling is Utah, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. In the states critical to an electoral college victory, he didn’t even win a county, never mind the state. He is not a strong candidate at all. He is only where he is because he rode in Trump’s draft for so long and his campaign staff ran a good campaign early. It is just that Ted is a weak candidate, notwithstanding his strong principles/positions. And as far as him doing well vis a vie Trump, Trump has never run for office before. Cruz has been in politics or around politics his entire adult life. He should have done better against a novice, blowhard who is self-funding his campaign. Cruz lost control when he made it personal against Trump...he got taken off his game/message and never recovered. Not it’s just a scorched earth, “I’m not going to let Trump win outright”, campaign. That makes him look petulant, and even more weak. It will affect him for the rest of his intended political career. He will not be able to shake the “Lyin’ Ted” moniker. He would be much better served at this point to bow out gracefully and try hard to rework his image.
I heard this morning that Trump may very well be close or at 1000 after the dust settles from last night. Apparently the unbound delegates in PA are saying they will follow the “will of the people” who voted in their county.
CNN had a graphic up for a while last night that said 988. Then they stopped using it. I saw it with my own eyes, and alerted on it, because it was so different than what Fox News was using. Then it disappeared. (Or I fell asleep :>)
Trump won every county, so he won every district. That means those delegates from PA who pledged to support the choice of their district are ‘bound’ to a degree. They can always go back on their word, since they are unbound.
But it explains CNN’s 988 number.
I always said Mitt Walker generated all the excitement of a flea circus. I can now say that about Ted Cruz.
Ted needs to get out for the good of the party and the country.
Sorry but I had to stop reading after that point.
This election was a war. Donald Trump had a strategy which was to utilize the Media as his propaganda arm (even though they hated him) and to engage in a strategic bombing approach. In other words he did not engage in putting ground troops in place and instead just did a top down election strategy focusing on rallies and sending his message through the media and making fun of his opponents. Frankly it was a very effective strategy and apparently for all intents and purposes it was a winning strategy.
Cruz did not have the access to the media that Trump had so he had to run a ground game. He put his troops on the ground in strategic locations and where he put them they were effective. He did not "steal" delegates or "cheat". He knew he could not compete with Trump in the air war so he tried to challenge him in the ground war. Frankly everywhere that he did use his ground troops, they were effective because Trump never mobilized his ground troops to fight in the trenches that Cruz did.
Cruz ran a very effective ground war and it is to his credit that he gave Donald Trump a run for the money. But as we learned in WWII, whoever owns the skies owns the war.
Cruz got off message when he started going after Donald Trump. He would have been more effective if he had never even mentioned his name and stayed on message about social and fiscal conservatism. Frankly he lost me when he voted for TPA, but that was just the beginning of his fall. Overall he ran a poor campaign and when he started taking on Donald Trump on a personal level rather than keeping on message as to why we should have voted for him rather than voting against Trump.
The war is over. Last night was the Hiroshima bomb. Next Tuesday (if Cruz stays in) will be the Nagasaki bomb.
Frankly I would hope that Cruz and Trump could bury the hatchet before that, but then they are both too committed to destroying each other to go there. It is going to take another nuclear bomb to end this war. Hopefully it will lead to a lasting peace. But if Freepers are not willing to bury the hatchet and seek peace at this time, then I don't think we can expect the general electorate to do so.
So I would propose that everyone on this forum stop using terms like Cruzers or Lying Ted or Trumpsters or whatever the perjorative of the day is and start working together from this point to hold Donald Trump's feet to the fire and defeat the Hildabeast next November. Trump is not going to be able to do it without the support of Cruz's ground troops. If anyone thinks he can, then they are deceiving themselves. Hillary is going to launch total war, on the air and on the ground. Trump has the air war pretty much in hand, but he is going to need the kind of ground troops that kept Cruz in this race until now.
/rant.
Amen to your post.
We don’t win over the loyal opposition by ridiculing them. Even the bible says (multiple times, actually) that you shouldn’t gloat over the fall of your enemy.
We need to convince the loyal opposition to join forces to stop the Clinton socialists and not continue a struggle that will blow up any chance of the opposition camps ever getting together.
I think it was his message compared to Trump’s message. People are so mad and fed up at this point, Trump reached right out to those people on day one. I think Cruz was caught off guard.
As angry and fed up as I have been I had no idea so many others felt the same way. Trump knew, he is in touch with what people are feeling, the direction we want to go.
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