Sen. John McCain tells the Washington Post he’d support Trump if he were to become the GOP’s nominee for president, while Sen. Jeff Flake says there’s no way Trump will win the nomination:
The response from the GOP leaders illustrates the tricky position in which Republican leaders find themselves when it comes to the unpredictable Trump. Prominent Republicans, including party chairman Reince Priebus, have treated the businessman with kid gloves even as his rhetoric has inched further toward the fringes. Trump has previously discussed mounting a run as an independent if he is not treated “fairly” by party bosses, stoking GOP fears that he might eventually peel off voters from the party’s eventual nominee.
“I will support the nominee of the party,” said Arizona Sen. John McCain, the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee. “I doubt if there’s any nominee I totally agree with in my lifetime.”
Pressed on how he could disagree vehemently with Trump on this issue, yet theoretically vote for him, McCain deferred to the limits of the two-party system. “I am a loyal Republican, and I rely on the good judgment of Republican voters.”
Some Republicans stated that the question was moot because the businessman would not win the GOP nod.
“He won’t be the nominee,” said Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.). “I don’t think he’ll win Iowa, and I don’t think he’ll play second fiddle to anyone. As soon as someone eclipses him, and he figures ‘I can’t say anything crazier than I’ve said to change the equation,’ then he’ll find a way to back out.”
Flake called Trump’s proposal “lunacy” and “just awful, frankly.”
“Just when you think he can’t stoop any lower, he manages to do so,” Flake said, wondering how Trump’s plan would affect diplomats and foreign officials who are Muslim from taking official visits to the U.S. He pointed specifically to a visit scheduled next month from Jordanian King Abdullah.
“I’m not sure he’d be able to come under a Trump presidency,” Flake said.
New York magazine’s Ed Kilgore looks at why Republicans are afraid to say they would not support Trump: They’re afraid he’ll launch an independent run in the general election that would drain off the voters they need to win the White House:
Asked if he would renege on his earlier pledge to support the Republican nominee even if his name is Donald Trump, (Lindsey) Graham would not comment.
He knows — and I’m guessing he’s been reminded repeatedly during the last few days — that if his rivals back out on that pledge, so can Trump. And an eminently viable independent run by an aggrieved and vengeful Trump could produce a catastrophe for the GOP next November.
Other presidential candidates and party leaders weighed in on Trump’s Islamophobic excesses with varying degrees of heat, ranging from Jeb Bush’s argument that it plays right into ISIS’s hands to Ted Cruz’s mild rebuke of the proposal yoked to a reaffirmation of his fond feelings toward the Donald. But nobody’s tearing up the pledge and saying they won’t back Trump if he raises his hands in triumph in Cleveland next summer.
Anyone forgetting the havoc Trump could create as an independent general-election candidate got a reminder today from a new national Suffolk/USA Today poll that not only shows him holding on to a robust ten-point lead over the GOP field, but also finds that 68 percent of his GOP supporters would follow him right out of the party if he ran as an indie. Trump himself gloatingly advertised this finding on social media.
Talking Points Memo’s Lauren Fox suggests “the establishment” couldn’t stop Trump even if they wanted to:
There is a myth circulating in the beltway. The myth is that bombastic business mogul Donald Trump can be taken down if only a Republican donor were to write a big enough check, if only a fellow GOP contender were to attack him with a vengeance or if only someone, somewhere concocted the right campaign-combustion cocktail.
Pundits, pollsters, reporters and donors have been racking their brains in war rooms and newsrooms from Washington to Iowa since the summer trying to understand the best way to explain and then to solve the problem of Trump. Underlying most of the scenarios gaming out the GOP primary has been the universal assumption that, if they really wanted to, the GOP “establishment” could step in and put a stop to Trump.
It’s not to say that Trump is going to win the nomination. There is plenty more action ahead, candidates to drop out and Trump stumbles to be had, but an organized campaign by the establishment isn’t likely to be his undoing.
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2015.
Much ado about nothing. Say goodbye to Christy, Bush, Paul and Kasic and let’s get down to it. Carson may make a great VP….just look at Biden. Hey where is he anyway?
NBC continues to try to figure out how to destroy Trump. I guess The Apprentice will be on Fox next year.
McCain has lost his mind. Trump? A clown as Prez? Give me a break.
There is no limit to what some will do for their party.
http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com/whoops-congressman-accidentally-reveals-democrats-really-want-amnesty/
I have been saying this for years and finally a Democrat has admitted it.
Open borders is a political cleansing of America. New figures show Muslim are 70% Democrats also. Those are the two groups they are working hard to appease.
They don’t need no stinking constitution..
I don’t believe that every Muslim is a terrorist. However, there’s not very many of us that would allow a complete stranger into our own home. I don’t believe that Mr. Trump is wrong by stating that he want’s to wait until we get our immigration affairs in order before allowing anymore Muslims into our nation. We have to know who these people are and what are their intention’s prior to letting them into our country. If President Obama insists on opening our borders, then we should at the very least, be well formed as to who we allow into our country
I personally feel that Trump, meant well. Non the less, His opponents that are trailing him in the polls and his democratic rival and her constituents, are leaking their chops, taking every single word he says out of context and forming their own interpretation for political gain.
Ya gotta love Mr. Trump. Saying what NEEDS to be said that others fear to say. Creating controversy and therefore dialog. Look right here. If he wins then the US gets another four years of novelty acts in the White House. Who knows, Mr Trump might even renovate the old Watergate hotel as a temporary residence incorporating a world class Monte Carlo style casino to help pay down the national debt and to entertain visiting heads of state. Who’da thunk?
The Republican “clown car” analogy is getting long in the tooth but still accurate in describing the quality of candidates that ooze out of the swamp of their political base. Trump, like PT Barnum, understands that no one ever died broke by underestimating the intelligence of the average voter, “A sucker is born every minute.” Bring on the elephant dancing the tango!
Trump will fail in his quest for the nomination simply because the RNC will not allow it. So watch closely for another Trump candidacy, in a self financed third party. That will be good for the Dems and make this the real Big Top election.
Unfortunately none of them let four Americans die in Benghazi like she did as Sec of State and then lie to the public about who was responsible. She is in agreement with Obamas plan to defeat ISIS which includes water balloons launched with XL rubber bands.
So we will make a choice. I hope it’s the better of the two regardless of how bad the better one is.
You’re right, “clown car” IS overused but always original to those who continue to have nothing better. I immediately think of anyone posting such originality as a highly educated but frustrated bearded lady.
The fact is is that Trump the Grump is not on the fringes of the Republican party, he defines it’s hateful and mean spirited essence toward women, the middle class, and working class. McCain’s insane support if the Grump receives the nod only confirms his obsolescence. The Republican party as a mess and no longer relevant to our countries needs, much less the needs of the world.
“McCain Would Support Trump If He Were To Win the GOP Nomination”
Yet another reason, and it’s not like we’re short of them already, for voters to make sure that “The Maverick” faces forced retirement next voting season.
There are plenty of reasons, Rat, to not trust Clinton. Her vote authorizing Bush to invade and occupy Iraq is a good starter. Continuing votes in favor of Das Patriat Ackt, her lackluster performance as secretary of state and her incestuous relationship with Big Money. Throw in her bizarre decision to maintain her own email server as SOS (imagine the howls from the left if Condoleeza has done the same) and Benghazi seems to fade away with the Republican lynch mob that proved nothing except investigations sure cost a lot of money.
So who’s better? Answer: none of the above.
Timing is not good to go leader less. Done that for 8 years and look at the current mess. America IS being destroyed from within.
How ironic would it be if the Obama’s were to follow the lead of one of the South’s most notorious segregationists, George Wallace and have Michelle announce for the presidency next spring in the same way Lurleen Wallace did. If we’re gonna have strange we may as well have COMPLETE strange ;-]
Here is an interesting comment regarding Benghazi and party loyalty:
Jefferson Thomas • 3 hours ago
What Hillary Clinton is hiding is the truth. Woods, Doherty and others were in Libya to collect US weapons that the Obama administration had secretly (and illegally) given to the anti-Gaddafi rebels so that they could over throw his government. The plan was to collect these weapons then take them to Syria and give them to the anti-Assad rebels (again illegal) so that they could overthrow the Syrian government.
The other part of the secret is that the attack in Benghazi netted those terrorist the US weapons that Woods and Doherty were collecting!!! Meaning in essence that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama armed middle east terrorist with US supplied weapons.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/10/benghazi-family-hits-back-hillary-clinton-lied-about-us-to-george-stephanopoulos/
Well that sounds a lot like Fast and Furious that got BP agent Brian Terry killed. Illegal weapons by the US government.
Trump 2016
They’re not laughing anymore.
Obama may end up being just as bad, if not worse than Bush II