Don't agree with the title of this video, at all, but I find this song kind of catchy. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/It7SVPlspf8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Well, she is married to Ted Cruz, so of course she is a bit strange. Nothing wrong with strange, though. We all have our quirks.
Scott Walker endorses Ted Cruz ahead of the Wisconsin primary next Tuesday. Cruz is up slightly in recent polls, while Trump was up back in February. Some Republican operatives have stated that Cruz has a chance to win in every Congressional district in Wisconsin. Scott Walker's backing is sure to help, in any case.
I don't think it'll matter at all until someone can bring some actual, credible evidence. The story can end up being very tame, but if it's proved it can be problematic (though what's a evangelical to do at that point? Vote for Trump?). If there's plausible deniability, it won't matter, regardless of how tawdry the allegation. Even I tend to disbelieve it, as much as I don't like the guy. He seems like someone who would not let a little sex get between him and his ambition.
If Cruz goes into the convention up even one delegate over Trump, Trump might as well not even show up at the convention. There would be no point in him and his supporters whining and wailing, he will have effectively zero chance at the nomination. And Ted Cruz would become the odds on favor to win, unless the Republican establishment types truly are as corrupt and self serving as most Republican voters clearly believe they are. Of course if these people steal the nomination and give it to Jeb or Mitt or someone like that, they will have confirmed their corruption and their betrayal of their base formally, once and for all times. There would then be no further need to discuss that scenario again during our lifetimes, they would have proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt themselves. Cruz does not need to set a goal of winning 1,237 before the nomination. He needs to set his sights on winning one more delegate than Donald Trump.
He doesn't even need more delegates than Trump, he just needs Trump to lack a majority. If Trump is short of the majority, he might as well not even show up to the convention.
That is probably pretty close to true. However, if Trump shows up 20 delegates short and Cruz is trailing by say 400 delegates, then Donald Trump's supporters will have the largest collective meltdown we have ever seen if Trump does not get the nomination. And in that scenario, I think there is a pretty good chance that Trump pulls it off. But if Trump trails Cruz by even one? Cruz can probably piece together a majority on the convention floor if nobody has one going in, even if he trails by a plausibly narrow amount, as appears to be one of the likely scenarios. But if Trump trails Cruz by any number going in? That is game over for Trump. In that scenario, Trump and his supporters would wail, because that is what they do. But not with any conviction and nobody would take them seriously.
Trump supporters are nothing but mindless fools, who cares if they throw a temper tantrum? I'd MUCH rather them stomp their feet and hold their breath than have the embarrassment to the nation that Donald Trump winning a major party's nomination for president would be.
It is a pretty big deal, actually. Trump supporters seem to get some special thrill out of trolling and aggravating those who are in opposition. But thinking ahead to the general election, that is a remarkably stupid posture to take towards people that you will want supporting the Republican nominee in November. Since that is what Trump and his supporters are constantly doing, that supports your hypothesis that they are mindless fools. Clearly, they have demonstrated that they are exactly that. Sure, Cruz coming from behind on the convention floor to piece together a majority may end up being the best outcome possible, depending on where the delegate counts end up. But if Cruz can capture the delegate lead going in to the convention, then Trump will have no real claim to the nomination, especially after all of their rhetoric by him and his supporters about how if Donald Trump is leading, he must be the nominee or there will be riots, etc. In the end, the goal is to win the presidency. That will be a lot easier if Trump supporters are not protesting in mass by staying home on election day in November. As a result, the smart thing to do would be to avoid unnecessarily antagonizing them before then to the greatest degree possible.
Cruz wouldn't be running against an incumbent president and wouldn't be running against Obama. I mean, I'm not a Cruz supporter, but to suggest that Hillary would do as well against Cruz as Obama did against Romney is sort of odd. Let's face it, Hillary is a train wreck of a candidate and really her best hope is being able to run against someone that is even more of a train wreck like Donald Trump.
I think if it's Hillary vs. Cruz, she'll win almost all the same states that Obama did. I'm curious what states in that race you think Cruz would win that Romney didn't? I'm not saying he wouldn't win any new states. I'm just curious which ones, and if it will be enough to change the outcome from before.
I could see Florida flipping and honestly any "purple" state would be up for grabs. When you have a 2 really bad candidates it's hard to say for sure and make no mistake, Hillary and Cruz are both really bad candidates.
I agree they are both bad candidates, and so it's possible for an implosion. But barring that, I don't know what changes. I certainly don't see enough changing that Cruz would come close to winning. Though, I'll fully admit that this far out from the actual election nobody could say for sure. Anything is possible.
Bun B is a surprisingly good on-the-ground reporter <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/BunBTrillOG">@BunBTrillOG</a>'s latest for <a href="https://twitter.com/VICE">@vice</a> features the most incredible photo of ted cruz i've seen yet <a href="https://t.co/yp7VpZOVtA">https://t.co/yp7VpZOVtA</a> <a href="https://t.co/s1tFAPHC1w">pic.twitter.com/s1tFAPHC1w</a></p>— SWEET BOY (@zachsokol) <a href="https://twitter.com/zachsokol/status/715723624871825408">April 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Ted Cruz is warning the RNC against trying to change Rule 40, which requires nominees to have won a majority of delegates in eight states. Unless John Kasich somehow performs a political miracle, the only two candidates that will qualify to be nominated under the current rules are Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Some on the committee clearly agree, such as Morton Blackwell, mentioned in the quote above. It is too late to change the rules for this cycle. And if these people do try to change it, it will be obvious to all that the purpose of that will be to thwart the will of the people and to promote the will of a tiny cabal of irredeemably corrupt Republican politicians and their donors. Expect Trump and Cruz to push their delegates hard to vote to make sure that Rule 40 continues to be in full force and effect for this convention. If it is, the Republican establishment types that run the convention will be severely constrained from instigating any shenanigans.
Unless the shenanigans result somehow in Cruz, with fewer total delegates, being the nominee. That would be okay.
You have to have 1,237 to win the actual nomination. If Trump wins 1,237 delegates he should be the nominee. If Cruz gets to 1,237 first, he should be the nominee. What rule 40 pertains to is who is eligible to be nominated, which according to the eight state threshold, would likely be limited to messieurs Trump and Cruz, unless John Kasich turns things around and romps to majority-delegate victories in seven more states before the end of the primaries.
