Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Sunday avoided saying whether or not he’d support Donald Trump if Trump wins the primary election.
Cruz repeatedly dodged questions over his support for Trump from Meet the Press host Chuck Todd in a pre-taped interview that aired Sunday.
“You’ve spent this entire interview trying to eviscerate Donald Trump,” Todd said at the end of the interview, during which Cruz had said that “the only thing [Trump] knows how to do in any given circumstance is he yells, he screams, he curses, or he insults,” and that Trump and Hillary were “flipsides of the same coin.”
“If he’s the nominee, I take it you can’t support him anymore, can you?” Todd asked.
“Chuck …. what I’m going to do is beat him,” Cruz said after repeated questioning from Todd. Cruz avoided saying one way or the other whether he’d support Trump if Trump wins the nomination, instead pivoting to talk about Trump’s immigration and foreign policies and how “the media has given $2 billion of free advertising to Donald.” Still, Todd pressed Cruz for an answer.
“Are you going to support Donald Trump if he’s the nominee?” Todd asked.
“I am going to beat Donald Trump,” Cruz responded. “We are headed to a contested convention, and we’re gonna win, and I’m not willing to concede this country. Listen, this is my kids’ future, Chuck. It’s not — it’s not simply a game.”
“You still didn’t answer the question about supporting him,” Todd said. “Don’t you think it’s important to take a stand? You just said, it’s a time for choosing. If it’s a time for choosing, say it. For him or against him as the nominee? It’s a time for choosing, is it not?”
“You know what, Chuck, you’re welcome — you’re welcome to lobby for support for Trump as much as possible. We are going to beat Trump because Trump’s winning the nomination loses the country,” Cruz said.
Media Matters has the video of the exchange:
Watch Ted Cruz Repeatedly Duck Chuck Todd’s Questions About Whether He’d Support Trump As The…Edit descriptionmediamatters.orgTrump has been Cruz’s primary opponent in the race to the Republican nomination, though so far, Cruz is trailing Trump, who’s won 957 delegates to Cruz’s 546. Last week, Cruz and fellow Republican runner John Kasich both issued statements saying they’d split up their focus on the upcoming states, with Cruz targeting Indiana and Kasich targeting Oregon and New Mexico. This was seen as an attempt for Cruz and Kasich to form an “alliance” to stop Trump from winning these states, though Cruz has downplayed that idea.
“I recognize that the media is all eager to talk about an alliance. There is no alliance. Kasich and I made a determination where to focus our energies. Where to focus our assets, where to focus our resources,” he said Thursday in Indiana. He also said that beating Trump was essential because the candidate “may be the only person on earth that Hillary Clinton can beat.”
Some in the Republican establishment have been fighting to defeat Trump, spending millions on anti-Trump groups that have run ads in key states. These groups want to prevent Trump from winning the 1,237 delegates he needs to gain the Republican nomination.
“It’s the only real way to stop Trump,” Vin Weber, Republican lobbyist and former Minnesota lawmaker, told Politico in March.
Donald Trump’s History Of Saying Offensive Things And Then Pretending They Didn’t HappenPolitics by CREDIT: AP PHOTO/RICARDO ARDUENGO Donald Trump is severely misunderstood. Nearly every time he talks about…thinkprogress.orgTrump’s extreme and offensive rhetoric — especially towards women, Hispanics, Muslims, and immigrants — could turn potential voters away from the party, some Republican strategists worry. That means the Republicans’ hold over the House of Representatives could be in jeopardy, if Republican members of Congress lose voters who are turned off by Trump’s remarks.
“The idea that Trump is going to help with federal races is like putting lipstick on a pig,” Republican strategist Jason Roe told Politico. “To deal with that, most people with a brain are cutting and running, redirecting resources from the presidential to keeping control of Senate and House.”
Cruz has been disparaging of Trump throughout the campaign, once calling him a “sniveling coward” after Trump insulted Cruz’s wife. But Cruz’s interview on Sunday makes clear that, despite his campaign trail remarks about Trump and his worries about the country’s direction under a Trump nomination, he still won’t completely rule out supporting Trump if he does secure the nomination.