Conservative Media Call For Cruz-Rubio Ticket To Stop Trump

As Political Journalists Say Contested Convention Needed To Stop Trump, Conservatives Call For Unity Ticket

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published

Political journalists are declaring that the only way now to prevent Trump from winning the Republican presidential nomination after his Super Tuesday victories is to have a contested Republican National Convention, in which delegates would vote by secret ballot to determine the nominee, rather than choosing the candidate they were originally pledged to support. Meanwhile, right-wing media figures are reacting to Trump's success by suggesting a joint ticket featuring Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) to stop Trump.

Donald Trump Wins Seven States On Super Tuesday

Trump Wins “Sweeping Victories” On Super Tuesday. Donald Trump won “sweeping” Republican primary victories “across the South and in New England” on Super Tuesday, “a show of strength in the Republican primary campaign that underscored the breadth of his appeal and helped him begin to amass a wide delegate advantage,” according to The New York Times:

Donald J. Trump won sweeping victories across the South and in New England on Tuesday, a show of strength in the Republican primary campaign that underscored the breadth of his appeal and helped him begin to amass a wide delegate advantage despite growing resistance to his candidacy among party leaders.

Mr. Trump's political coalition -- with his lopsided victories in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts and Tennessee, and narrower ones in Arkansas, Vermont and Virginia -- appears to have transcended the regional and ideological divisions that have shaped the Republican Party in recent years.

[...]

Brandishing his Super Tuesday victories as proof of his political might, Mr. Trump said he expected to consolidate the Republican Party behind his campaign. [The New York Times, 3/1/16]

Political Journalists Say Only Way To Stop Trump Nomination Now Is Contested Republican National Convention

NBC's Chuck Todd: Other Republican Candidates Can't Get “Magic Number” Of Delegates Without Contested Convention. During the March 2 edition of NBC's Today, NBC News political director Chuck Todd said that none of the Republican presidential candidates opposing Trump could “get to the magic number” of delegates needed to win “without getting a contested convention”:

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE (HOST): Instead, we're now seeing those remaining in the race looking at an increasingly difficult path to the nomination. What could they do at this point?

CHUCK TODD: It is. Look, he's got over a hundred delegate lead and we still haven't assigned all of the delegates from Super Tuesday. That's likely to grow, he'll get over 300. But that -- even though a hundred, you think, “oh geez,that can't be that much.” That is significant in the way the process works. And if you look they basically have 13 days. There's a lot of primaries and caucuses by March 15th. Now obviously, we're spending a lot of time. We're going to be talking about Florida and Ohio. Why? Marco Rubio, John Kasich. And the game now is not to -- they can't get the nomination on their own. Ted Cruz, Marco --

GUTHRIE: They can't get to the magic number.

TODD: They cannot get to the magic number without getting a contested convention. [NBC, Today, 3/2/16]

MSNBC's Benjy Sarlin: “Looking Like It Will Take A Contested Convention” To Stop Trump. MSNBC political reporter Benjy Sarlin wrote on March 2 on NBCNews.com that in light of Trump's Super Tuesday victories, “it's looking like it will take a contested convention, in which no candidate has a majority of delegates, to oust Trump”:

At this point it's looking like it will take a contested convention, in which no candidate has a majority of delegates, to oust Trump. With that scenario in mind, anti-Trump Republicans seemed split on Tuesday between whether it would be better to try and consolidate behind one candidate or encourage candidates to remain in the race to have a better chance of denying Trump an outright majority. Some recent polls have shown Trump leading nationally among Republicans even if the race shrinks down to two men. [NBC News, 3/2/16]

ABC's Jonathan Karl: Republicans Acknowledge “Their Only Hope Of Stopping Donald Trump Is ... Trying To Defeat Him Through A Contested Convention.” During the March 2 edition of ABC's Good Morning America, ABC News' chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl explained that Republicans will admit privately that “their only hope of stopping Donald Trump is making sure he doesn't get a majority into the convention, in other words, trying to defeat him through a contested convention”:

JONATHAN KARL: Now, George, it really looks like, and the others will acknowledge this to you privately, that their only hope of stopping Donald Trump is making sure he doesn't get a majority into the convention, in other words, trying to defeat him through a contested convention, something we haven't seen in a long time and would be a very steep climb. [ABC, Good Morning America, 3/2/16]

David Gregory: Republican Strategy Now Is To “Deny” Trump From “Going Over The Top At The Convention On The First Vote,” And “Maybe Having A Brokered Convention.” During the March 2 edition of CNN's New Day, former Meet the Press host David Gregory said the Republican establishment's plan is not to defeat Trump, but to “deny him going over the top at the convention on the first vote,” which could result in “maybe having a brokered convention”:

DAVID GREGORY: The strategy right now for what's left of the political establishment is to deny Trump. Not to beat him, it's to deny him going over the top at the convention on the first vote. And then maybe having a brokered convention. That's a pretty slim --

ALISYN CAMEROTA (HOST): That's the plan?

GREGORY: That is the plan. For what's left of the establishment. [CNN, New Day, 3/2/16]

National Review's Tim Alberta: “Either Donald Trump Or A Contested Convention.” National Review chief political correspondent Tim Alberta wrote on March 2 that “the reality facing the Republican party today” following Super Tuesday is that it's “either Donald Trump or a contested convention” by “stopping him short of the 1,237 delegates required to clinch the nomination and throwing the July convention into chaos”:

It's either Donald Trump or a contested convention.

Such is the reality facing the Republican party today. Its leaders are now staring down two scenarios they long dismissed as fantasy, after a slew of Super Tuesday contests demonstrated once again both the breadth of Trump's support and the difficulty in unifying his opposition.

[...]

All of the Trump-chasers, even Ben Carson, are now girding for what they see as a long slog to a contested convention. Their hope is that they can collectively deny Trump the victories he needs in upcoming winner-take-all states, stopping him short of the 1,237 delegates required to clinch the nomination and throwing the July convention into chaos.

[...]

It may still be possible to prevent Trump from securing 1,237 delegates. But it's now impossible to envision anyone else arriving in Cleveland as the Republican nominee. [National Review, 3/2/16]

Trump Confidant Roger Stone Is Already Raising Funds To Head Off Contested Convention

Roger Stone Solicited Donations “To Avoid The Steal” From Trump On Conspiracy Radio Show. During the February 26 edition of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' radio show, notorious dirty trickster and former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone -- who was recently banned from appearing on CNN after revelations that he made a series of racist and sexist tweets about CNN commentators -- solicited contributions to a website he set up to “avoid the steal” by pulling together “some of the best convention operatives in America today.” [Media Matters, 2/26/16]

Right-Wing Media Suggest Cruz And Rubio Ticket To Stop Trump

Erick Erickson:  “It Is Time” For “Unity Ticket” With Rubio As Cruz's Vice Presidential Pick. Radio host and Fox News contributor Erick Erickson wrote on March 1 that it was “time for Rubio to accept he will not be the nominee” and for Cruz to “accept we need a unity ticket and for Rubio to agree to be Cruz's Vice Presidential pick,” in order to unite “the outsider and insider factions of the party and [stop] Trump in the process”:

It is time for Rubio to accept he will not be the nominee. He keeps telling us he will pay the bill tomorrow, but tomorrow has not yet come and he is behind by double digits in his home state.

It is time for Ted Cruz to accept we need a unity ticket and for Rubio to agree to be Cruz's Vice Presidential pick, uniting the outsider and insider factions of the party and stopping Trump in the process. 

[...]

It is time to divide the map, combine the campaigns, and fight Trump state by state all the way to the convention as if a single ticket. [The Resurgent, 3/1/16]

Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol: Cruz And Rubio “Have To Combine” On Cruz-Rubio Ticket:

[Twitter.com, 3/1/16]

Hugh Hewitt: Likely Will Have “Open Convention” With “Ticket Agreement” Between Cruz And Rubio. Radio host Hugh Hewitt wrote on Twitter that an “open convention” was the most “likely outcome,” with a “ticket agreement [between]” Cruz and Rubio likely and with the “top spot to [going to] delegate leader post 3/15”:

[Twitter.com, 3/2/16, 3/2/16, 3/2/16, 3/2/16]

Washington Free Beacon's Sonny Bunch: Republican Convention Should “Nominate Cruz” And Have “Rubio VP.” Washington Free Beacon executive editor Sonny Bunch suggested on Twitter that “No one--not Cruz or Rubio or Kasich or Carson--should drop out if the goal is to stop Trump from getting to 1,237. Keep splitting it.” He then wrote, “Go to the convention. Nominate Cruz. Rubio VP. Trump?” with a GIF below with the words “You get NOTHING!”:

[Twitter.com, 3/1/16, 3/1/16]