http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/03/10/scenarios_how_cruz_could_pull_it_outScenarios: How Cruz Could Pull It Out
March 10, 2016
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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I checked the e-mail during the break, and an e-mail says, "Screw the Democrats! The Republicans aren't finished. Let's start with the Republicans." Folks, we're gonna get to everything going on on the Republican side. Florida is coming up. I know there's a huge push now to get Rubio and Kasich to drop out now, before Florida and before Ohio, and have everybody unify behind Cruz on the theory that the only way to win this... By the way, this is a fascinating theory and the question then becomes: Can it happen? Is it possible?
The theory is to get rid of the divided opposition, which Trump benefits from. Get everybody out except Cruz. Rubio and Kasich aren't gonna win anything. It isn't possible. There's no gold star for winning your state, not in this context. There's too much is at stake. Rubio and Kasich get out, everybody unify behind Cruz, and maybe even have Cruz select a potential running mate. And then that unifies the anti-Trump vote on the Republican side, which many people think is greater than the Trump support on the Republican side, which tops out at 35, 40%.
The question then becomes "Is there enough time left?" Because what... If you do that, if that's what they ultimately decide to do -- and I think the strategy makes sense. There's two theories. Let's stick with this one. Kasich, Rubio resign from the campaign today, resign before next Tuesday, announce unification the party behind Cruz. What then has to happen, folks, if this is gonna have any prayer... Because you can't do this unless you think... If you're the Cruz camp, you can't do this unless you think you can show up at the convention with 1,237 delegates.
You can't show up a close second. You can't show up with Trump, say, 50 votes short, 75 votes short and expect a contested convention where you can win. You have to go all out. That has to be the thinking. If Trump shows up and he's only 25 or 50 votes short of the 1,237, it'd be crazy. It'd be crazy to deny him the nomination that circumstance. That would be utter chaos. Cruz knows it. A lot of people confused here over what Cruz has said.
When Cruz talked about how silly it would be for the establishment to deny the legitimate winner -- the leader in delegates, the plurality leader in delegates -- the nomination, what Cruz specifically was talking about was, in that scenario, if the establishment would then take that occasion and, say, give the nomination to Romney or give the nomination to Jeb, or give the nomination to somebody who has not contested. Then that would be major error. That would cause choose and an explosion of the result and the end of the party.
Cruz was opposed to that.
Cruz did not say, and he's made it clear now... Cruz was not saying that if you have a contested convention and somebody other than the leader gets the nomination, that would be fine if it's a candidate that meets all the other rule requirements and has been in the race all this time and has had a lot of support. His only point, Cruz's only point was: Do not blow up the convention. Do not deny the leader -- he was talking about Trump -- and replace him with an establishment pick. That would be disaster. Okay?
So if you buy into this theory that there's still time for Cruz to get 1,237, to essentially beat Trump by unifying everybody, there's a big part of this that also has to get behind Cruz. You know who that is? That's the good old establishment. It's not gonna be enough for Rubio and Kasich to get out and pledge their support if you still have a Mitch McConnell-led faction, per se, in the Republican establishment, which hates Cruz for personal reasons and others that will not get behind him and can deny donor support, can deny establishment support, which is gonna be necessary.
I'm just telling you right now: It's gonna take an entire unity effort. If the establishment doesn't get on board then it's all finished. And how do you get them on board? Are you gonna go get Lindsey Grahamnesty? Lindsey Grahamnesty has floated a possibility. Lindsey Grahamnesty either earlier this week or late last week or maybe over the weekend, said, "It may be time to consider all of us unifying behind Cruz." And remember a lot of people stopped dead in their tracks over that, 'cause the conventional wisdom is that Cruz is hated by the establishment even more than Trump is.
'Cause they view Cruz as intractable.
Cruz won't make deals with 'em. Cruz will not be flexible. He is who he is and he's gonna remain who he is, and they know that. Now, I believe what Lindsey Grahamnesty was doing... I don't think Lindsey Grahamnesty was making a pitch to the establishment there. When Lindsey Grahamnesty said it may be time to start thinking about unifying behind Trump, he was not talking to Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and whoever the big donors are. He was sending a message to Cruz. The message to Cruz was, "Hey, bud, come back to us, and we can talk."
Now, what does that mean?
Would that mean that Cruz has to, I don't know, apologize to members of the establishment that he has attacked, like McConnell? Well, I don't know. But I'm just telling you: If you are of this school of thought which says, "Kasich, Rubio, get out; everybody unify behind Cruz," "everybody" means everybody. You gotta do something to get the establishment that doesn't like the guy on his side and treating him as though Jeb Bush got the nomination. All the money, all the donors, all of the ground support, all of that that the party can bring to it.
That would have to happen. The other theory involves Kasich. Rubio is... Essentially, if he doesn't get out after Florida -- and if he doesn't win it, he will be out. But Kasich. The latest Fox News poll, Kasich is, what, down five or six points to Trump in Ohio? Six points. So the other theory involves Kasich staying in for as long as he can. The other theory essentially, you know what it is? It's an Operation Chaos for Kasich. Keep Kasich in, have Kasich win Ohio, deny Trump those delegates.
Have Kasich and Cruz stay in and continue to deny Trump the delegates. Keep him short of 1,237, and then at some point down the line come together, as we're talking about in the first theory, and then seek the 1,237. Now, the Cruz camp... I don't know this. The Cruz camp, for that second theory. Keep Kasich in it as long as you can, maybe even do an Operation Chaos-type thing so that Kasich wins Ohio, deny Trump delegates, deny him getting 1,237. If the Cruz camp believes that they can eventually prevail in a contested convention where Trump has a plurality, and neither of them have the minimum requirement, 1,237...
If the Cruz camp... I don't know. I'm speculating here. If the Cruz camp believes that neither Trump nor Cruz can get to 1,237, and therefore it's a contested convention, in the Cruz camp there may be elements there that think they could win that contested convention on the theory that when you get to the second ballot, all bets are off. That theory that may be popularly held within the Cruz campaign relies on this: That all of the delegates that are pledged to Trump and Cruz in the first ballot... Let me use Florida as an example.
Let's say Trump wins Florida, winner-take-all, 99 delegates. On the first ballot, all 99... The delegates are elected by the state. It's a big honor. On the first ballot, they have to vote the way of the popular vote in the state. So on the first ballot, Trump would get the 99 delegates from Florida. But if there's no winner -- and in this scenario there isn't because nobody's got 1,237. So if there's no winner, the Cruz theory is that some of those 99 that had to vote for Trump on the first ballot are really not Trump supporters and would vote for Cruz, or could be persuaded to vote for Cruz on the second ballot, third ballot, what have you.
Now, speaking just for myself, I don't think that theory has much of a chance.
I think if Cruz is to win the nomination, he's got to do it in the primaries. He's got to go to Cleveland with 1,237, and I think they think they can do it. I think they think there's a pathway there. But it involves Kasich and Rubio getting out now and somehow the establishment unifying behind Cruz, happily, cheerfully, with no animosity, no disappointment. I mean, they've gotta be all-in that Cruz is the guy.
They think there's a pathway to the nomination.
But those are the two theories that survive here in the world of how to defeat Trump.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: No, no. Was not an error. I didn't get it wrong. I misspoke. It was Kasich up five. I said Trump was up five over Kasich in Ohio. It's Kasich up five over Trump in Ohio. And, given that, this theory that requires Kasich and Rubio to get out now, you're gonna have a really tough time getting Kasich to pull out of there. So it looks like theory or scenario two is what the Cruz campaign is gonna have to glom onto here, and that is Kasich staying in and trying to take delegates away from Trump at every state along with Cruz, to deny the 1,237.
Now, here's another thing to think about, folks. And don't think that I did not consider this. In theory number one, scenario number one, where Rubio and Kasich get out and the establishment and everybody unifies behind Cruz, the establishment has not changed. They do not all of a sudden like conservatives. So any scenario that involves the establishment getting full bore behind Cruz, you have to ask:
"How serious is it? How deep is it?" Folks, everybody's under the illusion... Not illusion. Everybody's under the impression the Republicans want to win the White House. Remember, there are elected Republicans telling Bret Baier they will vote for Hillary over Trump -- and some of them, no doubt, ditto instead of Ted Cruz, who is just as reprehensible to 'em for different reasons.
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