Posting another decisive victory in Nevada’s Feb. 23 caucus, 69-year-old real estate tycoon Donald Trump crushed his competition, taking 45.9% of the vote, besting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) by 22% [23.9%] and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) by 24.5% [21.4%]. Neither Rubio nor Cruz can claim anything from the dismal second and third place finishes because of Trump’s huge margin of victory. Rubio and Cruz talk about lining up more voters but the last three primaries speak volumes with whopping Trump victories. Cruz told supporters last night that he’s the only one to beat Trump in Iowa by only four percent under the dark cloud of shady campaign practices, telling Iowa Caucus goers before voting that retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson had dropped out. After defending fraud allegations, Cruz fired his communication director Rick Tyler over a phony video of Rubio.
Facing Super Tuesday March 1, none of the remaining GOP candidates have much of chance of winning any of the states in play, other than Cruz showing a slight lead in his home state of Texas. Fresh with momentum from Nevada, it’s questionable whether Cruz can defend his home turf. Trump shows an uncanny appeal in Southern states, all now leaning in his direction. Throwing the Republican establishment for a loop, Trump’s growing appeal offers the best possible candidate to defeat Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton in the general election. After a dismal performance in Nevada, Cruz and Rubio still insist that they’re best positioned to represent the GOP establishment. Most mainstream media outlets have begun to accept Trump’s imminent nomination, once thought so unthinkable, no one gave him a chance to win the nomination.
Conventional print, Internet and broadcast media outlets posted only bad news about Trump before Nevada caucus-goers spoke loudly. On the night before the primary the New York Times reported Trump was being sued for fraud in San Diego for misrepresenting Trump University in 2005. How that case relates to the present election campaign is anyone’s guess. Fox News and CNN like to raise Trump’s past bankruptcies as proof of his incompetence, as if that means anything to the billionaire businessman. Trump, himself, had nothing to do with Trump University’s real estate training seminars, all done by remote surrogates. Yet the New York Times published a front-page story about Trump’s alleged fraud, showing “all the news fit to print.” Since announcing his candidacy June 16, 2015, Trump survived an unprecedented attack by the media and political establishment.
CNN felt inclined to make controversy out Trump’s Nevada victory speech last night. “We won the evangelicals. We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love poorly educated,” said Trump. Yet CNN wanted only to underscore, “I love the poorly educated,” said Trump, as if he was manipulating blue-collar voters. CNN analysts, disparaging Trump’s appeal, like to point out he does better with high school educated or college dropouts. Pundits from all networks and cable news questioned Trump’s ceiling, insisting he couldn’t get beyond 35%. Capturing nearly 46% of the vote in Nevada proved Trump has no ceiling, disputing claims that as more candidates drop out Trump would lose more votes. Mainstream media—and the Republican Party—hasn’t accepted Trump as the inevitable GOP nominee.
Cruz and Rubio insist that Super Tuesday states will somehow break differently than South Carolina. All current polling shows the same trends in Super Tuesday states, leaning heavily toward Trump. Even if former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who dropped out immediately after the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary, endorsed Rubio, there’s no guarantee that Jeb’s supporters would go to Rubio. If Trump cleans up on Super Tuesday, it’s unlikely Rubio would prevail March 15 in his home state of Florida. Cruz keeps hyping his narrow Iowa win over Trump as proof he’s the only one left capable of beating the real estate magnate. Rubio points to his second, third and fourth place finishes as proof he’s making progress. With the CNN GOP debate looming Feb. 25, Rubio and Cruz are in do-or-die situations, promising to generate heated exchanges among the candidates.
Trump’s got a wind at his back heading into Super Tuesday when Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, North Dakota and Wyoming go to the polls. With Trump gaining momentum from New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, Cruz has his best shot of winning his home state of Texas, with its 155 delegates apportioned by congressional districts. Even if Trump loses Texas by a small margin, Cruz won’t pick up enough delegates, since he’ll wind up splitting delegates With 595 delegates at stake Super Tuesday and Trump already winning 81, he’d be well on his way to getting the 1,200 needed for the GOP nomination. Without big wins on Super Tuesday by Cruz and Rubio, there’s no mathematical path to the nomination. Remaining candidates like Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will have to drop out.
