Hitting real estate mogul and GOP front-runner Donald Trump with everything but the kitchen sink, the Republican Party hasn’t been able to take down his surging campaign. Not liked because he avoids lobbyists and special interests, Trump’s not the kind of candidate easily controlled by Party insiders. Today’s headline has Trump connected to the Atlantic City mob, continuing the last-ditch assault before the March 15 all-important winner-take-all Florida primary. Of the remaining GOP presidential candidates, including, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Marco Rubio (R;Fl.) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, no one other than Trump has any path to the GOP nomination, let alone beating 68-year-old Democratic front-runner former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. With Kasich winning no primaries, Rubio only two minor contests, and Cruz losing steam, Trump’s the last man standing.
Much was made of Cruz’s two primary victories in Maine and Kansas over the weekend, something pundits say Trump should have won. But where the primaries counted most for Cruz, in two key Southern states of Louisiana and Kentucky, Trump won. What’s significant is that Trump beat Cruz’s Southern bible-belt strategy, taking the lion’s share of the South. Looking ahead the delegate math gets more dicey for Cruz in the Upper Midwest, Northeast and West Coast, where California looms as the biggest prize. Cruz has little chance of racking up delegates in the nation’s most populous and delegate-rich states. Without winning 102 delegates in his home state of Texas March 1, Cruz would only have 202 delegates, despite winning five other contests. Running about 15% behind, Rubio faces an uphill climb in Florida, in effect ending his presidential campaign March 15.
Fearing that Trump’s on a glide-path to the nomination, the mainstream media and Republican establishment continue to manufacture more horror stories about Trump. After ripping Trump in the March 3 Fox News debate, saying he’d destroy the Republican Party, conservative movement and the country, all three remaining candidates were asked if they’d support him as the GOP’s nominee. All three said, “yes,” attesting to the phony attacks, only seeking to score points. If Trump were really as bad as Ted, Marco and Kasich say, they could not in clear conscience support him, regardless of their pledge to the Party.. Former House Speaker New Gingrich (R-Ga.) ripped 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney for denouncing Trump one day before the Feb. 3 Fox News debate. Calling Romney’s remarks “nasty and vitriolic,” Newt said Romney disqualified himself from any “brokered” convention.
Romney revealed his true motive, attacking Trump March 3, saying he wouldn’t turn down his Party’s nomination at a brokered convention. Kasich also admitted his only path to the nomination is a brokered convention. With the GOP exploring every angle to stop Trump’s march to the nomination, time is running out. When you hear European leaders weighing in against Trump, you know he’s doing something right. Reports of world leaders from Asia to Latin America concerned about a Trump presidency, displays the media’s last-gasp attempt to sabotage his campaign. Trump’s supporters and those planning to join the bandwagon are more galvanized by the many obstacles in his path. Voters jumping on the bandwagon know that Washington can’t take four more years of partisan gridlock, displaying to the world the failure of American democracy.
Foreign and domestic objections to Trump parallel those of Ronald Reagan whose campaign heard endless warnings, at home and abroad, of racism and war mongering. Reagan proved his critics wrong, including his VP former President George W. Bush, who once called his economic plans “Voodoo Economics.” Most historians record that the U.S. prospered by all reputable metrics under the Reagan presidency. “European diplomats are constantly asking about Trump’s rise with disbelief and now, growing panic,” said an unnamed NATO official, precisely the same kind of warnings made about Reagan. What NATO fears is that Trump thinks for himself, not the knee-jerk U.N. bias, seeking more clout for socialist states of European Union, Latin America and Asia. Trump isn’t inclined to rubber-stamp the U.N., instead expecting the U.S. to lead in international affairs.
Attacks against Trump’s presidential campaign come from many sources, domestic and foreign. On the home front, Trump’s rivals, say almost anything to score points as he stands at the threshold of wrapping up the nomination. If Trump upends Rubio in Florida March 15, the GOP establishment will be forced line up behind his candidacy. If Rubio lives to see another day, the GOP primaries could drag on until the June 7 California primary. Without winning Florida, the anti-Trump movement led by Romney would be given new life. Spending some $50 million in negative ad buys in Florida, the GOP party establishment hopes to turn the tables on Trump. Losing in Kansas and Maine on Super Saturday, gave the anti-Trump crowd a glimmer of hope that their anti-Trump campaign was working. Cruz hopes to make inroads in Florida, making Marco’s attempt to hang on more difficult.
