http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/04/20/cruz_sticks_to_yesterday_s_narrativeCruz Sticks to Yesterday's Narrative
April 20, 2016
Listen to it Button
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Ted Cruz has recently spoken up. We have the sound bite here. He is in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and it was at a reporter gaggle, I guess a little campaign appearance in Hershey for the Pennsylvania primary up next, and Cruz is sticking to the narrative of yesterday before the primary that, "Hey, nobody's gonna win this on the first ballot, so I'm staying in this."
CRUZ: Donald right now is terrified. It's the reason Donald won't debate, because he can't defend his policies. The math is virtually impossible for Donald Trump. Donald Trump is not getting to 1,237, nobody's getting to 1,237. The reason Donald's so scared is the last three weeks, and in particular the win in Wisconsin, put the nail in the coffin and made clear Donald doesn't get to 1,237. He knows that, which means this race is headed to Cleveland, it's headed to a contested convention.
RUSH: Okay, let me just ask, how many of you believe Donald Trump right now is terrified? Now, I have some Trumpists here, they're on the other side of the glass and they would naturally think this is a nonsensical statement. But even, you know, dump your Trumpists, is Donald Trump terrified? And later in the sound bite that's the reason Donald is so scared the last three weeks. Does anybody look at Trump and see somebody terrified? Do you look at Trump and see somebody who's scared?
I don't know. I think it's a stretch, and I think this kind of illustrates one of the -- well, here I go. I'm just gonna jump into this head first. I think this sound bite is an example of Cruz missing the mark. Let me just put it that way. 'Cause Donald Trump isn't scared, and he's not terrified right now. I don't know what he is. He looked pretty celebratory to me last night. He looked pretty pleased with what's happening. Whatever, he didn't look terrified. But about this 1,237, you know, this is another story, folks, this has been percolating out there, and there have been any number of stories generated by comments made by Republican officials that, "Hey, you know, if somebody gets close enough to 1,237, that he may just go ahead and win it anyway. It may not require 1,237."
Then you probe deep, you say, "Why, the rule's the rule."
"Well, because there's gonna be at least 200 unbound delegates on the first ballot. So all Trump's gonna have to do is pick up whatever number short he is of 1,237 before the first ballot." And you've seen these stories, I'm sure. We have pointed them out to you. And there's another one today from The Politico, and this is the most to the point of all of these stories yet. Headline is: "Trump's Real Magic Number is Less Than 1,237." The subheadline is: "GOP elite whisper about a lower threshold for the front-runner to clinch the nomination." And here's how this story begins.
"Even before Donald Trump’s big win in New York Tuesday night, the conversations among party officials and high-level operatives about a contested Republican convention were already shifting dramatically. The magic number of delegates for Trump to clinch the nomination on the first ballot, likely to be his best and perhaps only chance to do so, remains 1,237. But there are now whispers that the real number of delegates Trump must win by June 7, when the final contests take place, may be lower."
One RNC member attending quarterly meetings -- they're down in Ft. Lauderdale -- whispered, he didn't give his name, he said, "The closer Trump gets to 1,237, even if he doesn't get all the way there by the final primaries, the more likely he cobbles it together. There are plenty of delegates unbound on the first ballot. You've just gotta go find 'em."
And as I say, these whispers are not particularly new and they're not particularly recent. We've been hearing Republican official like Randy Evans say what this official just said for weeks. And back to the story. "When the convention opens in Cleveland in mid-July, roughly 200 delegates will arrive as free agents, unbound by the results of primaries or caucuses in their states. Trump’s campaign is confident they can win as many of them as they must in order to get to 1,237 on the first ballot."
"'Trump has to get to 1,237, but there’s a lot of talk about, "What is the real number?"' said another RNC member." What's the real number? This is how they're beginning to think now, according to The Politico story. If 1,237 isn't the number; what is the real number? "Whatever half the uncommitted number is, that's probably a reasonable number."
"'I think a lot of people think if he gets within 50-100 [of 1,237], he’ll be able to carry it,' said Steve House, the Colorado GOP chairman, who is himself an unbound delegate and is already being courted by the Trump and Cruz campaigns."
Steve House, this is the guy that rigged the system in Colorado, quote, unquote, is claiming he can go, you know, 50, 1,137 and still be able to carry it. Now, House is the guy who, together with the Colorado GOP, did away with the straw poll, which some say was done to prevent Trump from winning their delegates. The old argument here about the rigged system, people being denied a chance to vote. And House, this guy, is on record as being very anti-Trump right before that change of rules in Colorado last August.
"The whisper conversations about this indeterminate “real number” that Trump must hit by June 7 reveal a growing if reluctant consensus among party officials and establishment Republicans that if he gets close enough, they can’t take the nomination away." And I'm gonna tell you, that's happening too, folks.
You know, yesterday -- the day before, the week before, the month before -- this was all speculative, all based on unknowns, all based on polling data. There was a lot of empty time that needed to be filled up in the cable networks. Here comes expert after expert after expert opining on that magic number 1,237. It is hard? It is flexible? As we get closer and closer to it, reality is gonna set in, and what is the reality that we're gonna see? You can see it this story. Reality is beginning to set in that the real magic number is less than 1,237.
Let me tell you what the real reality is that's going to be seen by some of the people at the RNC even. They're gonna look at this. After June 7th, we get the final delegate count. Let's just hypothetically say Trump is a hundred short, that he's at 1,137 and needs 1,237. And let's further add to this speculation/this belief/this theory that Trump has to win it on the first ballot or he's finished. Have you heard that, that Trump can't win the second or third ballots for a combination of reasons? A, so many delegates are opposed to him that Cruz is out working hard for second ballot delegate support and all that.
I've heard this theory bandied about, that if Trump doesn't win it on the first ballot by virtue of the primaries, that when it gets to actual delegate votes, he's not gonna get 1,237. He's not that popular among people who vote. That's the wrong way to look at it, and the way some of these RNC people are looking at it is this: You strip all of this away, and what would be the view? Trump shows up at 1,137, a hundred delegates short, and nobody's anywhere near him, and they engineer a mechanism where they take it away from him.
Some party people are looking at it and saying they would have an abject disaster on their hands by having that many people ticked off, fit to be tied, maybe walking out of the convention or what have you. And that's where all this talk is starting now. That's why this magic number, 1,237, may not actually be a hard number. It could be even less. 'Cause when you get down to where the pedal meets the metal, the rubber meets the road, the actual denial of the nomination to the guy that got so many, many more votes than anybody else?
That scares them. And others are excited at the prospect. Others are so anti-Trump that they would love to see that happen, even if it means the party takes it on the chin for two or three more election cycles. But this is about keeping you on the cutting edge, and I'm just telling you that there are a growing number of people in the RNC who think 1,237 is a soft number, not a hard number. And I'm just warning you you're gonna be seeing more of it as the days go by.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: There's also something called a bandwagon effect, and I think that's what these anonymous RNC officials speaking to The Politico. Remember what The Politico is. The Politico is the place where GOPers go to leak, to unburden themselves in the Drive-By Media. And this talk now that 1,237's a soft number, it may not be required, 'cause 200 unbound delegates are going to show up in the first ballot; Trump can go get them. The bandwagon effect is this, and you see it all the time. It's the front-runner effect. It's called celebrity. It's...
Well, I can't use the word. It's the four-letter F-bomb word. But it's celebrity, and the way it works is, the convention finally gets here, and it's not the middle of April like it is now. It's actually late July, and it's Cleveland, and the convention is starting and rah-rah and all the pomp and circumstance and all that stuff. It's now in gear, and Trump rides into town on Trump Force One and all this itinerant glitter. Many of these 200 unbound might just want to get on that bandwagon just to bask in the glow.
I think that's what a number of these unnamed RNC officials are talking about in this scuttlebutt here that 1,237's a soft number. Look, I'm not trying make anybody mad. I'm just telling you what's happening on there. You can make the mistake of saying, "Oooooh, you're advocating it! I can tell in the tone of your voice, you're advocating it!" I'm not advocating anything. I'm not doing any of this. I am just informing you. I want to grab a call quickly before the hour ends. This is Bruce in Rapids City, South Dakota. Welcome, sir. It's great to have you with us.
CALLER: Hello, Rush. I want to thank you for what you do. I salute you for what you do, sir.
RUSH: Thank you! Thank you very much.
CALLER: First of all, I want to say I'm a Cruz supporter. Um, but I think it's time that Cruz makes that secret phone call to Trump and starts to align with him. I believe that they need to get together and say he's gonna be Trump's vice president. We don't need to be selfish here. We need to win the White House, and there's a lot of wall mending that needs to be done right now in the Republican Party.
RUSH: Let me ask you, Bruce. Are you old enough to remember the 1980 convention, Reagan and George H. W. Bush? Are you? Were you an adult at that point, remembering that?
CALLER: Absolutely, sir. I'm 57 right now.
RUSH: Okay, good. So do you remember when Reagan was advised by James Baker to pick Bush as his veep for the purposes of unifying the party? Do you remember how angry people got at that?
CALLER: Oh, yes, sir.
RUSH: Well, that's the equivalent of what you're suggesting here, that Trump choose Cruz. They are diametrically apart on many, many things. The only thing that argues for this is so-called unity of the party. As a Cruz supporter, what indication do you have that he's even thinking of this or would even entertain the idea being Trump's running mate?
CALLER: Well, last night, listening to the speech that he gave, he started talking about needing to unify the party and bringing people into the party to support the Republicans to beat the Democrats.
RUSH: That's all true. I just... I'm not sure that Cruz is... He's thinking he's maybe the guy to do the unifying. Anyway, Bruce, I appreciate the call. I really do. I'm really out of time.
END TRANSCRIPT
