Fox News host Megyn Kelly held a love-fest with 45-year-old Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) the night before the Wisconsin GOP primary. Talking about what-ifs before the July 18 Cleveland Republican National Convention, Cruz told Kelly they’d be a “revolt” if GOP insiders disenfranchised millions of primary voters and pick an alternative candidate like 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney or his former VP pick, House Speaker Paul Ryan. What the GOP doesn’t get is that Ryan hurt Romney’s ticket, picking the former House Budget Committee Chairman who was responsible for the Jan. 1, 2013 government “sequester,” eviscerating the federal budget, imposing cuts on the military and domestic social programs. Ryan’s Tea Party-type budget resulted in the Oct. 1 to 16 2013 government shutdown, tossing 800,000 federal workers out of work, imposing the 2013 Budget Control Act.
Ryan left a comfortable post as Chairman of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee before reluctantly accepting House Speaker Oct. 29, 2015. Ryan’s stated emphatically he’s no interest interfering with GOP front-runner real estate tycoon Donald Trump, Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who’ve battled for the nomination capturing hard-earned delegates at the ballot box. Cruz told Kelly GOP voters would “revolt” if GOP Party insiders stole the nomination from him or Trump. Showing how Kelly and Fox News continue their vendetta against Trump, Kelly ripped Trump March 16 for suggesting voters would “riot” if the election were stolen by Republican insiders. Whether using the word “revolt” or “riot,” Cruz and Trump spoke metaphorically, not suggesting that voters should start marching with torches, burning tires or turning over police cars.
Trailing Trump by 262 delegates, Cruz has been already mathematically eliminated from winning the GOP nomination. Kasich, who’s only won his home state of Ohio has only 142 delegates, continues as the GOP’s spoiler, hoping to take enough delegates from Trump and Cruz to deny them the magic number of 1,237 delegates. “It ain’t going to happen,” Cruz told Kellly April 4 regarding the GOP stealing the nomination at a brokered convention. “If it [GOP] did, the people would quite rightly revolt . . . “ said, Cruz, making the same point as Trump March 16, yet getting no objections from Kelly. Since her dust up with Trump at the first Fox News debate Aug. 7, 2015l, essentially calling him a misogynist, Kelly violated every known journalistic principle, letting her vendetta get in the way of her reporting. Kelly hoped to push Cruz over the top today in Wisconsin.
With a small Republican Party in Wisconsin, controlled by former GOP candidate Gov. Scott Walker, Cruz has real advantage over Trump. GOP officials hope that a Cruz victory, no mater how close, will keep Trump to hitting the magic number needed to win the nomination. Prospects of a contested or brokered convention intrigue candidates like Kasich or outsiders like Romney, scheming to find a backdoor way to the nomination. “If Washington said, ‘we had elections in 50 states but we, the dealmakers, don’t care what the people voted for, we have some else who’s going to go along and get along and keep the cronyism going, the voters would naturally say, ‘To heck with you, we’re staying home,’” Cruz told Kelly. Poised to pick up a majority of Wisconsin’s 44 delegates, Cruz hopes to generate some momentum heading into Trump territory in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Talk of a contested convention has given Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus fits in recent weeks. Priebus insists that it’s highly likely that Trump, Cruz or Kasich will emerge as the eventual nominee, if no one gets the 1,237 magic number by June 7. Neither Trump nor Cruz believe that Kasich should continue in the race, having less delegates than when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) dropped out March 15 after losing the Florida primary. Like Kasich, Rubio also promised to stay in the race no matter what. Kasich won Ohio’s open primary March 15 because thousands Democrats crossed over to sabotage Trump. If Ohio were a closed GOP primary, Kasich would have lost his home state. Playing spoiler to keep Trump from winning the magic number shows the GOP’s civil war. GOP establishment insiders and media elites, like Fox News, would do anything to sabotage Trump.
Whatever happens in Cleveland, the RNC needs to rein in the anti-Trump faction led by former candidates Flordia Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and 2012 nominee Mitt Romney. No matter how they detest Trump, Priebus has a responsibility to GOP primary voters to get the nominee that collected the most delegates and popular votes. Whatever polls say about Trump’s chances against Hillary have nothing to do with whom collects the most delegates and popular votes. No poll at this stage of the race can say who’d win in November. What’s known today is who’s won the most primaries, collected the most delegates and secured the biggest chuck of voters. “You know what? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” said Cruz regarding the 2012 Ron Paul rule, requiring the eventual nominee to have won a certain number states, something clearly ruling out Kasich.
