In the final debate before Super Tuesday Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, sensing the race was getting away from them, teamed up to take the front-runner down, and they did it in spectacular fashion. Seriously, Cruz and Rubio eviscerated Trump onstage, leaving him sputtering and furious.
For all the Trump supporters looking for him to “Make American Great Again,” let’s run down the list of Trump’s talking points for the night:
1.) Trump defended his plan for “touchback amnesty,” letting illegal immigrants come right back to America as legal residents.
2.) When hit on the fact the he hires foreign workers to replace Americans, Trump fell back on the liberal talking point that he hires foreigners to do the jobs Americans won’t do.
3.) Trump once again defended Planned Parenthood.
4.) Trump defended his liberal judge sister who wrote an opinion praising partial birth abortion.
5.) Trump defended his position of supporting government run healthcare, while denying he supports government run healthcare.
6.) Trump repeated his line that he didn’t want to play favorites between Israel and the Palestinian terrorists that have been killing Israelis for decades.
7.) Trump defended giving money to liberal Democrats, saying “I’m a businessman.”
Ted Cruz even pointed out that this summer, when Republicans will be meeting in Cleveland to select our nominee, Donald Trump will be ON TRIAL FOR FRAUD over his “Trump University” scam. Trump’s response? “It’s just a civil suit. It’s not criminal.”
I don’t know how anyone can read that list and not come to the conclusion that a Trump Presidency would be nothing more than a continuation of Barack Obama’s failed policies combined with Hillary Clinton’s scandals.
Ted Cruz continued to have a solid debate performance. While Rubio mocked Trump, Cruz played the role of prosecutor, forcing Trump to either defend his liberal positions or lie about them. Cruz made the case that he is the best candidate to beat Hillary Clinton in November, and worked hard, not just to point out Donald Trump’s liberal record, but also Marco Rubio’s liberal position on illegal immigration and amnesty.
Cruz will have a major test of his campaign on March 1st. He has built his campaign around doing well on Super Tuesday when many southern states will vote at once. Many have tried to dismiss his campaign as simply targeting evangelicals, but that is not the case. The Cruz campaign has targeted Conservatives, Christians, and Tea Party voters that make up large portions of the electorate on Super Tuesday, and he has spent months building an organization in those key states. Cruz is leading in TX and AR, and is within the margin of error in OK, MN, and AK. There is also CO, TN, and AL that have not taken a poll since as late as November of last year. If Cruz can win 4 to 6 states on March 1st, including TX, he will solidify himself as the leading alternate to Trump.
Marco Rubio was forced to do something he didn’t want to do last night. For months, Rubio has avoided taking on Trump, preferring to let others do his fighting for him. Marco’s plan was to let everyone else get pummeled by Trump and knocked out of the race, then ride to the rescue of the party. First he let Jeb Bush take on Trump, and watched him get demolished. Then Ben Carson took on Trump and got crushed. Next it was Ted Cruz’ turn, but Cruz did not go down.
Now Marco is out of time. Cruz is not going away, Marco is losing his home state of Florida, and if Trump runs the table on March 1st, it’s over. Not only that, but Rubio supporters were demanding that Marco attack Trump to prove he can be the leader he says he wants to be. If Rubio refused to engage in the debate, it would have been seen as a sign of weakness.
The problem for Rubio is that taking down Trump doesn’t necessarily help him. In a head to head matchup with Trump, Rubio wins. But in a three way matchup with Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and a diminished Trump, Rubio doesn’t come out ahead. If Rubio’s attacks are successful in peeling away Trump supporters, those voters are far more likely to flow to Cruz, who is doing better than Rubio in March 1st states. A Trump supporter who cares about illegal immigration is not going to switch to Rubio. They are going to go to Cruz.
Faced with this Catch-22 situation, Marco rolled the dice and came out swinging, but it is a risk. If his attacks on Trump help drive his numbers down, they could help Cruz win states on March 1st, and if Rubio cannot finish higher than 2nd in any state, with polls showing he is losing Florida to Trump, the pressure on him to withdraw from the race will grow tremendously.
It all comes down to Tuesday.
15 comments
The past month or so on this blog article wise has increasingly come to look like a Republican establishment bitch session for clingers and ranters. Do I want to see Trump in the WH specifically- NO, am I going to see Trump in the WH likely – YES. It’s time to cut the BS and start to accept the reality and position some positive thinking on shaping and directing his future administration or you can sit it a corner for the next six months and chant he can’t beat Hillary, he can’t beat Hillary over and over again, it’s your choice. Perhaps it’s time for the editorial staff at the TBE to set a new direction toward the likely future. The point here is you don’t have to love him but you do have to start to accept political reality or face becoming irrelevant. You can’t look to the Republican Party for insight as they are as usual clueless, but it is a real opportunity to become cutting edge on the shifting ground of the parties’ direction. I suppose option two would to become BD and spent every written moment pitching a return to a political point in time that is not going to reoccur. Trump’s elevation will bring direct impact and change to local and state Republican politics so this is an opportunity to propose some needed changes and directions.
I am really having a hard time figuring out how advocating for the one candidate in this race the establishment hates more than Trump (Ted Cruz) means that this blog is now part of the establishment. If supporting Cruz makes me establishment in your eyes, then I’m not sure you really understand what the establishment is.
As for pointing out the obvious that Trump cannot beat Hillary, I will continue to do that until he is either the nominee, or the party picks someone else. After that, if Trump is the nominee, I will be attacking Hillary Clinton on this blog. I won’t be bashing the Republican nominee in print, but every time the media trashes him over yet another scandal, and every time a poll comes out showing him losing Ohio, and Florida, and Virginia, and North Carolina, and possibly even Texas, just remember who told you it was going to happen,
If you don’t want Trump to be the nominee, then don’t vote for him. Go advocate for a better candidate. Knock on doors, call your friends. But don’t tell me I have to resign myself to nominating a Democrat to be the Republican nominee after just four primaries.
All this is apparently obvious to mainly you, if you ever had any perspective on this campaign cycle you lost it somewhere along the way. I have absolutely no issue with advocating a specific candidate but your constant haranguing regarding Trump and your oft proven false premises regarding his candidacy and polling performance in the face of consensus professional reporting demonstrating little to no support for your statements is becoming more and more a frequent event. Opinion pieces are opinion pieces and you certainly are fully deserving of yours and to print them but when you so frequently present opinion as stated fact then that is an issue and you join the current establishment wing of the party whose sole modus operandi has also been revising and recycling just such non factual baloney throughout this Republican primary. I’ll leave it to others to draw their own opinions but I don’t believe your frequent articles in TBE on Trump the candidate are accomplishing what you may intend them to achieve.
Nothing is making you read or comment on anything I write, but if you want to go back and review the posts I have made on this race, you will find they are pretty consistent and accurate. I’m sorry if I don’t always agree with the “consensus professional reporting” over at FOX that declares Marco Rubio the big winner in Iowa, or the fawning over Trump at MSNBC and CNN. I didn’t take you for someone that thought those “professional” opinions were unbiased.
I have never hid the fact that I have a dog in this race, but I am also a realist. I have said what Cruz needs to do to stay viable in this campaign. Win his home state, plus a few more to show that Iowa wasn’t a one time thing. I would have preferred he finished closer to Trump in SC, but he didn’t. If Trump sweeps March 1st, it is done. Period.
I have also said I don’t think Rubio has a chance at all to win the nomination. He’s not leading in any state, and he can’t count on all of Cruz’ support to go to him if Ted drops out.
I have said that Trump has not been able to capitalize on other candidates dropping out and he hasn’t. You can try to point to NV as him breaking through his ceiling if you want, but when you are holding caucuses in Casinos the candidate owns, it gets a little bit lopsided.
I certainly hope you aren’t saying my outlining of Trump’s liberal positions isn’t backed up by facts, because you would be dead wrong.
Is it that you just don’t like me beating up Trump? Sorry. I understand we are in the “bandwagon phase” of the “inevitable” campaign. This is where you have people try to claim the race is over after a few contests and badger people to “get on board with the frontrunner.”
Kind of like what you are doing here.
Why do so many conservatives think Trump is going to lose to Hilary? Polls now mean nothing. Once Trump focuses on Hilary, and I guarantee you that he will do the job the liberal press will not, then the race is Trump’s to lose.
Trump will demolish that semi-embalmed old hack.
Pretty simple really. The GOPe talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk. They look forward to a Hillery homecoming.
All you anti-trump folks just can’t stand it, stay with the same ‘ole crap and leadership you now have and VA. will still have every state office run by the D’s, wake up and smell the coffee. The only reason we control the HOUSE is ’cause of Vance Wilkins. Get up off you — and get on the Trump Train. He can’t do any worse than your state R senate leadership or our past R gov.
Yes he can. Trump will give the White House to Hillary Clinton.
I’m not advocating staying with the establishment leadership that got us into this mess. I am advocating that you vote for the one candidate the establishment hates more than anyone else…Ted Cruz.
From the looks of things, the only ones being gutted are everyone besides Trump. Kind of like dead men walking not realizing the crap on the ground came from them.
The only dead man walking is Trump in the General Election. He is driving our party right off the cliff.
So why don’t you help out the GOP and make the party proud. Ballot for Bernie on Tuesday.
Mick– Cruz isn’t going to be the nominee. That isn’t going to happen. I like Cruz. I want him to be the next Supreme Court Justice. He is not an intellectual light weight like Roberts. But he isn’t going to win the nomination. Get off the Trump hate wagon. If you are going to spill vitriol all over someone–that would be Rubio. A lying Sack of excrement that is nothing but GOPe. Did Trump try to shove massive amounts of immigration down your throat? And did he lie about his involvement in the effort… no he didn’t. Let’s make America Great again with Trump in the White House. Immigration Enforcement. Let’s have a trade policy that favors America not the rest of the world. And let’s put Cruz on the Supreme Court where he can work for conservatism for decades.
Trump just told you on Thursday night that he hires illegals instead of Americans. Trump has a long history of turning his back on American workers. He defended the idea of hiring illegals instead of Americans. How can you honestly believe he is going to do ANYTHING to stop illegal immigration??
Trump cannot and will not ever be President. What Cruz and Rubio did to Trump in 2 hours will be nothing compared to what the media does to him over the three months between the Republican Convention in July and the General Election. I don’t know why you can’t see it. The media give him hours and hours of free media to promote himself, just like they did with Romney, and just like they did with McCain. They pretend to like him now so that they can keep propping him up to be our nominee. After that the hammer will fall, just like with McCain, and just like with Romney,
Trump will lose worse than Carter lost to Reagan, and he will take a lot of our Senate candidates with him, giving Hillary free reign to pack the Supreme Court and destroy what’s left of our Constitutional rights.
I agree with this. The risk of Trump is far beyond the Presidency. Trump will keep more conservative leaning people home that either Romney or McCain, neither of which I appreciated as a presidential candidate. The Democrats know how to help this along and they will expose Trump’s liberal background and push him that way again as hard and they can, if he wins the nomination. The only way Trump goes all the way is if this reality TV type campaign keeps rolling where he is able to be on every side of every issue and it does not matter … because it is just a reality show. It sure looks like that is how he is playing it and it looks like a large number of voters have fallen into the reality TV entertainment mode with this election. But if his show somehow works for the long haul and he manages to get elected, which reality will he bring to various situations is anyone’s guess.
Why anyone who is fed up with the politics of today would take such a risk when Ted Cruz is an option is unreal. It just makes no sense at all.