The deep enmity toward Ted Cruz within the Senate is coming back to bite him in new and maybe unexpected ways.
As Lauren Fox talked to GOP senators for this piece, one of the dynamics that emerged was that even if senators might be inclined to soften their loathing of Cruz as a way of heading off a disastrous Trump nomination, many of them had already endorsed other candidates earlier in the race who have since dropped out. The prospect of endorsing a second time and having that person lose, too, runs the risk of making individual senators look fairly ridiculous.
A member of the Republican National Committee, who will sit on the convention rules committee, made a bit of a stir today when he said that 1237 wasn’t the magic number for Trump. It was probably more like 1100 delegates. He wasn’t saying that 1100 guaranteed Trump the nomination but that if he has more than 1100 he’ll be in a strong position to convince the remainder to come over and back him. A lot of people reacted like Randy Evans, the RNC committeeman, is crazy. But I’m not so sure. I won’t say that Evans has any special insight into the matter, at least not more than any other high ranking Republican. But I think he’s got a better handle on things than a lot of people who are chattering about this at the moment.
“He’s not going to get the nomination, is he?” my wife asks anxiously as she gazes out of the kitchen window at the Bernie for President sign on our front lawn. No, I assure her, and he certainly won’t win Maryland on April 26. I’m voting for Bernie, and my wife may, too, but we’re doing so on the condition that we don’t think he will get the nomination. If he were poised to win, I don’t know whether I’d vote for him, because I fear he would be enormously vulnerable in a general election, even against Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, and I’m also not sure whether he is really ready for the job of president.
Let me follow up on my post below about voting in New York State. I was just emailing with a reader about how blue New York is, how dominant Democrats are and thus how much the national parties care about voting rates in the state (i.e., not much).
We all know that New York is now a key part of the Democratic electoral bloc. But I remember back in 2012 and 2008 too having a realization of just how blue it is. Probably even bluer than you think.
Here’s an example.
McCain “at a loss” after Ryan bows out and wrestles with reality of a Trump or Cruz nomination.
As you can see from our feature story today, Trumpites aren’t just after protesters now. There are widespread and credible reports of threats – sometimes escalating to the level of death threats – against anti-Trump Republicans and particularly potential or already chosen convention delegates. Not every threat is equally serious or equally well documented. But we want to hear about and share with readers all the legitimate reports that are out there, especially because many are going to pop up in local and regional news sources. So when you see examples in the news or perhaps when you’ve heard of stories that we might be able to confirm ourselves, please drop us a line via email. As always the link is immediately below the TPM logo at the upper right.
We’ve seen a lot of attention and schadenfreude directed at the fact that two of Trump’s kids won’t even be able to vote for him in the Republican primary. And it’s not like they missed a deadline a week ago. It was months ago. But here’s the thing. Our voting system here in New York sucks.
So, yes, anti-Trump Republicans, and especially would be delegates are getting death threats from angry Trumpites.
As I’ve mentioned or hinted a few times, I think the mix of the Garland stalemate and Donald Trump or Ted Cruz at the top of the critic will lead to big Republican losses in the Senate. Big is relative – but enough to push the chamber into the Democrats’ hands in 2017. We’re now seeing the first signs of vulnerable GOP senators saying they’re going to be too busy to make it to Cleveland for the convention in July.
Phyllis Schafly says she’s being deposed as the head of her pet organization, The Eagle Forum, over her Trump endorsement.