By steamrolling Cruz in Indiana, Trump put an end to any hopes his rivals or the Republican Party’s leadership may still have had to somehow snatch the presidential nomination away from him through last-minute backroom deals or a change of rules at a contested party convention. Ben Sasse, who has consistently said he could not support Trump. Franklin said, “We could see the writing on the wall so it wasn’t a complete shock”.
Advertisement
Like the Kasich alliance, choosing Carly Fiorina as a running mate was another “Hail Mary” pass that fell as flat as Carly herself ended up doing. Trump won the IN contest with 53.3 percent of the vote, to Cruz’s 36.6 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 7.6 percent, according to unofficial results. “We gave it everything we’ve got but the voters chose another path”, Cruz said. If Pastor Jim Franklin of Cornerstone Church could have picked our country’s next president, he says, it would have been Ted Cruz.
Fresh off an overwhelming victory in IN that made him the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump wasted little time in previewing his tactics against Hillary Clinton in a general election.
Trump paid tribute to Cruz in an effort to bring the party together. “He is one tough competitor”, Trump said.
Earlier Wednesday, Kasich tweeted an homage to Star Wars, suggesting Kasich was the only hope to defeat Trump and prevent a Clinton presidency. Heading into Tuesday’s voting, Clinton had 92 percent of the delegates she needs.
Cruz’s fall began when he made the comment about Trump having “New York Values”. Trump vowed to unite the splintered GOP, even as he was bitingly dismissive of members who have been critical of his campaign.
But the billionaire’s surge toward the nomination – he still is about 200 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to win – left the GOP in a deep state of uncertainty. Katie Packer, the chair of Our Principles PAC, said there is still time for Trump to “continue to disqualify himself in the eyes of voters”.
“I am confident that I can unite much of it, some of it I don’t want”, Trump said on NBC’s Today show. That, the adviser said, just how Kasich approaches the race.
John Kasich celebrates his Ohio primary victory on March 15 in Berea, Ohio.
The statement adds: “Our strategy has been and continues to be one that involves winning the nomination at an open convention”.
“Our party is facing a clear choice between positive solutions that can win in November and a darker path that will solve nothing and lead to Hillary Clinton in the White House, a Democrat Senate and a liberal Supreme Court”, Kasich Campaign Manager John Weaver said in a statement following Cruz’s announcement. But Clinton already has turned her attention to the general election.
By the time the race reached its critical stage, the remark came back to haunt Cruz.
The Trump campaign will be looking for other endorsements in the coming days from Republican stalwarts.
“You know what, I think something different and something new is probably good for our party”, the chairman of the Republican National Committee told CNN’s New Day Wednesday.
He also launched a desperate personal attack on Trump, calling him a “pathological liar”, “utterly amoral” and a “serial philanderer”.
He unleashed his full arsenal of insults in his attack on Trump.
Advertisement
“This man is a pathological liar, he doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies.in a pattern that is straight out of a psychology textbook, he accuses everyone of lying”, Cruz said as in voters headed to cast their ballots.
