Donald Trump Takes the Rein Of a Divided Republican Party

Donald Trump assumed control of the Republican Party on Wednesday as its presumptive presidential nominee after Ohio Gov. John Kasich exited the race, moving swiftly to consider vice-presidential prospects and plan for what is expected to be a costly and vicious six months battle for the White House against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump who has proudly touted how he has self-funded his campaign, said he would begin actively seeking donations for his campaign and raise money for the national party, part of the arduous task of coalescing a party deeply divided over his toxic brand of politics.

Party leaders are scrambling to stave off a parade of prominent Republicans endorsing Clinton, but already there were notable defections. The two living Republicans past presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, have no plans to endorse Trump, according to their spokesman.

In the swing state of Nevada, Gov. Brian Sandoval, a moderate Republican and rising Latino star, said he plans to vote for Trump despite their disagreements on some issues. But Sen. Dean Heller (R.Nev.) said that "I vehemently oppose our nominee" because he disparaged women, Hispanics and veterans - although Heller insisted he would not vote for Clinton.

Democrats rushed to exploit the moment. The Clinton campaign released a brutal video mash-up of Republican rivals condemning his character and fitness for office, while the former secretary of state called him "a loose cannon" and invited Republicans and independents seeking an alternative to Trump to join her.

"Let's get off the red or the blue team. Let's get on the American team," Clinton said on CNN.

In states and coasts, meanwhile, Democrats tried to link embattled Republican senators and other officeholders to Trump in hopes that the shrapnel from his polarising candidacy would impair Republicans down the ballot. Some Republicans tried to keep mum about Trump, othes gave puzzling statements that sought to walk on tightrope between embracing him and distancing themselves from him.

As some conservative commentators lit up social media with images of burning GOP registration cards, some party elders called for a healing process and sought to quiet talk of an independent protest candidacy.

"Life is a series of choices, and this choice looks like one between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton," said Haley Barbour, a former Mississippi governor and national party chairman. "Anybody who proposed a third party is saying, 'Let's make sure Clinton wins.'"

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) stood with Trump. "As the presumptive nominee, he now has the opportunity and the obligation to unite our party around our goals," McConnell said in a statement.

Trump said he was hardly fretting about whether leading Republicans, such as 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, would eventually back him.

"I believe that the people are going to vote for the person," Trump said in an interview. "They love their party, but until this year the party was going in the wrong direction... We've made the party much bigger."

Trump spent Wednesday holed up in his soaring New York skyscraper, plotting ways to repair his image and destroy the opponent he calls "Crooked Hillary." He said he was shell-shocked by his sudden emergence as the Republican standard-bearer, having anticipated that his fight with Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Kasich would continue until June's California nominating contest. Both left the race in the wake of Trump's resounding primary win Tuesday in Indiana.

"Who would have thought that I'd be here and we'd be waiting for Hillary?" Trump said, referring to Clinton being locked in a primary fight with Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.). "I was all set to move to California for a few weeks."

Kasich, a career politician whose sunny campaign failed to gain traction in a year donimated by anti-establishment anger, suspended his bid Wednesday in an emotional speech ttinged with wistful anecdotes about town-hall meeting he called "absolutely magic."

"The people of our country changed me," Kasich said in Columbus, Ohio. "The spirit, the essence of America lies in the hearts and souls of us. You see, some missed this message. It wasn't sexy. It wasn't a great sound bite."

With Kasich and Cruz out, Trump and his advisers began making decision about the general election. Though he has repeatedly touted his ability to self-finance his campaign, Trump said that he would seek donations going forward, especially small-dollar contributions from grass-roots supporters.

Trump acknowledge that he would have to liquidate some of his real estate holdings to muster the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to self-fund a credible fall campaign. "I mean, do I want to sell a couple of buildings and self-fund? I don't know that I want to do that necessarily," Trump said on MSNBC.

So far, Trump has given or loaned his campaign more than $36 million and accepted an additional $12 million in donations.

Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post that he would enter a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee and has scheduled a meeting Thursday with advisers to review the deal and finalise his finance strategy.

The arrangement would require him to seek support from a donor class that he has repeatedly excoriated. Top GOP financiers conferred privately about backing Trump. Among those still weighing his 2016 plans: hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, who supported an anti-Trump super PAC and has not come around to the real estate tycoon, according to a person familiar with his views.

"He's starting in a hole," GOP campaign finance attorney Charlie Spies said of Trump. "He's attacked all these people and said that are corrupt lobbyists."

Recent White House nominees began assembling their fundraising operations as much as two years before the general election.

"I don't see any way they can raise the hard dollars to be competitive," said Fred Malek, who served as Sen. John McCain's national finance chairman in 2008. "So unless Trump is willing to put in a substantial amount of his own money, he is going to have a mammoth financial disadvantage."

Trump's efforts could be bolstered by an allied super PAC, the Great America PAC, which the Trump campaign disavowed during the primaries. But in recent days, the group added professional operatives and now plans to court major contributors with Trump's apparent blessing. The super PAC's leaders held a donor conference call - which included retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a trusted Trump ally whose participation was seen as a de facto blessing - to signal it was now the go-to super PAC for wealthy Trump friends.

Ed Rollins, who managed President Reagan's 1984 reelection and has joined the super PAC as senior adviser, said on the call: "He's going to need help. The Democrat world is going to raise extraordinary sums of money. They're licking their chops."

Rollins said in an interview that the group is considering activities beyond advertising, including field organising in battleground states, research and polling. "There are big donors who have said to me in the last couple of days, 'Listen, we don't want to waste our money. We wnat to help trump,'" he said.

As presumptive nominee, Trump will help shape the programming of the party's July convention in Cleveland, and the convention and Trump staffs will begin working together.

The Trump campaign will quickly expand beyond what has been a relatively skeletal staff to do battle with Clinton's sprawling operation. "Everything is a priority," campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said.

Trump said in the POst interview that he is weighing potential running mates. He said he prioritises someone with governing experience and with whom he has a good rapport, citing Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as a model. He said he will hire a law firm in the coming days to oversee the vetting process and that Carson will be part of the selection team.

"In all fairness, when Obama chose Biden, it was an odd choice, and yet they have very good chemistry together and therefore it was a good choice for them," Trump said. "So having good chemistry is very important."

Trump said he has his eyes on Kasich, saying that during intermissions at debates the two gravitated toward each other. "I've always liked him and I've always gotten along with him," Trump said. Is he on the short list? "Let's put it this way," Trump said, "he's rising rapidly."

Trump said he is eager to start receiving regular classified intelligence briefing from the U.S. government - a tradition for party nominees - and said he hopes to work with GOP congressional leaders to coordinate a cohesive policy agenda for the fall campaign.

"I'm very much a team player, and I look forward to working with Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy and everybody," Trump said. He said he aims for "total cooperation," though noted their clear differences on trade.

But Trump dismissed the idea of toning down his rhetoric and vowed to stand by his earlier, controversial calls to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States and to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

"I really feel that it's important that I do what's right as opposed to necessarily cater to what's going to to play to the voters," Trump said. "Because nobody really knows what plays with the voters, and I'm an example of that. If I tested some of the things I say out in polling, I probably wouldn't do very well."

Source: The Washington Post

As Voting Begins, Trumps Sees A Decisive Indiana Victory, Demise of Cruz, Kasich Candidacies

INDIANAPOLIS - As voting began Tuesday in Indiana's critical primary, the state appeared poised to move Donald Trump closer to locking up the Republican presidential nomination rather than denying him crucial delegates.

While Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and his allies have used every resource and maneuver at their disposal in the state in a last-ditch effort to block the real estate mogul, voters here said they see the businessman as best positioned to challenge the nation's political establishment.

"He's the only candidate who is really going to change the system. Everyone else is in bed with the Republican leadership," said Justin Stinson, 48, a Bloomington software engineer who voted for Trump at a precinct near Indiana University.

The GOP front-runner wrapped up his campaign across the Hoosier State with characteristic gusto, boasting Monday about his polling lead and endorsements from local celebrities and relishing a fight with likely Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Certain that victory was at hand, Trump predicted Tuesday's balloting would bring the demise of the candidacies of top rivals. From here, he said, it is on to the general election.

"If we win Indiana, it's over," Trump declared at a boisterous Monday afternoon rally in Carnel. "They're finished. They're gone."

In an interview with "Fox & Friends" Tuesday, the billionaire again pounded against Cruz as a symbol of the political establishment and someone who "makes stuff up."

"These people are smart people, and they haven't been taken care of properly by the government," Trump said. "What's going on now is an amazing thing."

Michael Malone, a 48-year old truck driver, proudly cast a vote for Trump in Elkhart and echoed the sentiment that Cruz was pandering to voters.

"In the last 10 days, he came clearer on his foreign policy, and it became more evident that Cruz would say anything to get a vote," said Malone, adding he had backed Trump from the start of his candidacy. "Cruz's dishonesty has been proven again and again. Once Trump is president, and people see him in action, they'll say: 'Okay, we got the good deal.'"

The Indiana primary, with 57 delegates at stake, stands in the minds of many Republicans as the last major hurdle in the way of Trump's nomination.

"They not only put all their chips in the Indiana basket, but they made it clear how desperate they've become. They have tried everything imaginable," said Pete Seat, a well-connected GOP operative here whose firm has advised the campaign of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the third Republican left in the race. "It feels like this is slipping away from Ted Cruz pretty rapidly."

On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was closing in on front-runner Hillary Clinton in recent polls in Indiana.

At a large precinct in Bloomington, 42-year-old Anita Sumner said she voted for Sanders because of his positions on income inequality and other issues.

"I'm not just going to vote for someone who has a realistic chance of winning," said Sumner, a receptionist for a Bloomington financial company.

But Sumner, like other Sanders backer, Indiana Univesity staffer Kathy Wyss, said she would not hesitate to back Clinton if she became the Democratic nominee.

Clinton's experience, as well as her ability to forge consensus and more practical views on education, were a selling point for Paula Stapley, a retired criminal defense paralegal.

With Clinton far ahead in delegate count, a Sanders win here is unlikely to affect the ultimate outcome of the nomination.

On a frenetic final day of campaigning here, Cruz faced uncomfortable questions about the viability of his floundering candidacy. Although he previously held up Indiana as a must-win state, the Texas senator argued Monday that he could sustain a loss and still force a contested party convention and wrest the nomination from Trump in Cleveland.

The last two public polls here showed Trump with double-digit leads over Cruz. Kasich - who brokered a stop-Trump deal with Cruz to bow out of Indiana so long as Cruz cedes upcoming contests in Oregon and New Mexico - is running a distant third.

Trump has been buoyed in Indiana by two main forces. First, his populist message about trade deals that hurt workers and a "rigged" and "corrupt" political system has resonated in a state whose manufacturing economy is hollowing out. All spring, Trump has hammered Carrier for shuttering its Indianapolis furnace factory and relocating to Mexico - a plant closing that has gotten considerable local news attention.

Mark Laine, a 54-year-old electrical engineer in Indianapolis, said he backed the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s. But after setting up systems in China - and then coming home to see factories leave - he said he liked Trump's promise to overhaul the trade deals President Obama has negotiated.

"He says what he means, just like I do," Laine said. "I was for NAFTA. I was for free rade. Now I"m like: Holy, crap, what did we do?"

Trump also is benefiting from his newfound aura of inevitability. Nine in 10 Republicans now think Trump will be their party's nominee, according to a CNN-ORC national poll released Monday.

"You cannot underestimate the impact that Trump winning all counties last week in the 'Acela primary' had on Indiana," veteran GOP strategist Scott Reed said, referring to five Northeast primaries that Trump swept. "A month ago, Cruz was leading Trump by 20 per cent in Indiana. Trump's wins, coupled with landing his plane in state, has driven voters into his column."

Cruz came face-to-face with the forces working against him outside a campaign stop in Marion, where he approached a handful of Trump supporters who had been heckling him from across the street with jeers like "Lyin' Ted" and "Hey, Cruz, do the math."

Cruz appraoched and engaged the demonstrators. One of them told hiim, "Indiana don't want you."

"Sir, America is a better country -" Cruz said, at which point the man interrupted to say: "Without you."

In Osceola, where Cruz shook every hand at the Bravo Cafe, he told reporters that the election in Indiana was boiling down to a choice between crudeness and decency - "a choice about our national character" that Hoosiers could get right.

"I trust the good people of Indiana to differentiate," Cruz said. "We are not a country built on hatred. We are not a country built on anger, built on pettiness. We are not a country built on bullying. We are not a country about selfishness."

The sparring between the top two Republican contenders took a bizzare turn Tuesday, when Trump suggested on Fox that voters should ignore attacks from the senator's father because he was spotted with Lee Harvey Oswald around the time of the murder of President John F. Kennedy.

"His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald being, you know, shot," Trump said during a telephone interview. "I mean the whole thing is ridiculous. What is this? Right? Prior to his being shot. And nobody even brings it up. I mean, they don't even talk about that - that was reported. And nobody talks about it."

Trump seemed to be talking about a photo published last month by the National Enquirer that shows Oswald and another man distributing pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans in 1963. The tabloid claims that the second man in Rafael Cruz, the senator's Cuban-born father, an explosive accusation that has not been corroborated.

Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier dismissed the accusation in a statement Monday, saying "the media is willfully enabling" Trump "to cheapen to value of our democratic process."

"Trump is detached from reality, and his false, cheap, meaningless comments every day indicated his desperation to get attention and willingness to say anything to do so," she said.

Ken Nich, a Bloomington resident who works in sales, said he voted for the senator Tuesday in part because "he's more civil than the other candidates," adding that Trump is not "president as far as his rhetoric. He doesn't seem to be as nice of a person."

However, when asked if he would support Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee, Nich added: "Sure, I would vote for him>"

And the fact that Cruz and Kasich forged a non-compete agreement in states including Indiana irritated voters, such as Stinson, even though it fell apart.

"Everything else that has been done to stop him is anti-democratic," he said. "Why would you vote for a candidate who is depriving the people of their franchise?"

Source: Washington Post

GOP Elites Are Now Resigned to Donald Trump as Their Nominee

Throughout the Republican Party, from New Hampshire to Florida to California, many leaders, operatives, donors and activists arrived this week at the conclusion they had been hoping to thwart or at least delay; Donald Trump will be their presidential nominee.

An aura of inevitability is now forming around the controversial mogul. Trump smothered his opponents in six straight primaries in the Northeast and vacuumed up more delegates than even the most generous predictions foresaw. He is gaining high-profile-endorsements by the day - a legendary Indiana basketball coach Wednesday, two House committee chairmen Thursday. And his rivals, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texa and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, are making the kind of rushed tactical moves that signals desperation.

The party is at a turning point. Republican stalwarts opposed to Trump remained fearful of the damage the unconventional and unruly billionaire might inflict on the party's down-ballot candidates in November. But many also see him as the all-but-certain nominee and are exhausted by the prospects of a contested July convention, according to interviews this week with more than a dozen party figures from coast to coast.

"People are realising that he's the likely nominee," said Tim Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor and onetime endorser of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. "The hysteria has died down, and the range of emotion is from resignation to enthusiasm."

In Colorado - where Cruz outfoxed Trump in a series of glamorous meetings earlier this month to win all the state's 34 available delegates - former state party chairman Dick Wadhams said, "Fatigue is probably the perfect description of what people are feeling."

He continued: "There is an acceptance, a resignation or whatever, that Trump is going to be the nominee. More and more people hope he wins that nomination on the first ballot because they do not want to see a convention that explodes into a total chaos. People just want this to be over with - and we need a nominee."

With likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton pivoting to a general election and her well-funded allies readying for a full-out assault, Republicans are eager to unite quickly. Some are fearful that waiting until the convention in Cleveland to pick a nominee would put the party at a disadvantage in raising money and engaging the Democrats.

"The lion's share of Republicans want the process settled," said Mike Dennehy, a veteran New Hampshire-based party strategist. "There's anxiety setting in about the process, and that's what people are tired of. They just want it done, they want the fighting to stop, and they want a general-election campaign to begin in a meaningful way."

So does Trump. Celebrating his sweep in Tuesday's primaries, he declared himself the "presumptive nominee". At a rally the next day in Indianapolis, he proclaimed, "We're just about ready to put it away, folks."

Cruz is pushing back on the idea that Trump is nearing a lock on the nomination. He took the unusual step Wednesday of choosing a running mate, businesswoman Carly Fiorina. The new ticket, as well as independent group opposed to Trump, see Indiana's primary on Tuesday as their best - and perhaps last - chance to derail the front-runner and deny him the nomination.

Opposition to Trump still runs strong in parts of the GOP establishment. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, a vocal Trump critic and former presidential candidate, praised Cruz's pick of Fiorina in a CNN interview that aired Thursday - in part because he said "she takes on Trump really well."

Speaking to reporters Thursdays in Fort Wayne, Ind., Cruz predicted that Trump will not win the majority of delegates - 1,237 - and blamed the mainstream media for bestowing what senator considers a false sense of inevitability on Trump's campaign.

"Donald, sadly aided and abetted by media network executives who are all liberal Democrats, who are all rooting for Hillary, are quick to say that the race is over," Cruz said. 

The race is not over, but both Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are already mathematically eliminated from clinching the nomination on a first ballot and would need a convention floor fight to win. Trump has won 992 of the required 1,237 delegates so far, according to the Associated Press. Cruz has 562, and Kasich has 153. If he falls short, Trump could persuade unbound delegates to lift him over the threshold on the first ballot at the convention.

"Trump has become a fact rather than a problem," said Newt Gringrich, a former House speaker who has offered informal advice to Trump but has not endorsed him. "Show me mathematically how you're going to stop him. This all assumes, by the way, that the guy who wrote "The Art of the Deal can't figure out a way to make a deal with the undecided delegates."

Republican consultants across the country are signing the same tune. Reed Galen in Southern California said: "Is it a done deal? It's certainly looking that way." In Georgia, Tom Perdue said, "If you go to barbershops in Atlanta, you'll hear people say they never thought he'd end up being the nominee, but for most part people think he will be the nominee."

On Thursday, Trump's top campaign adviser, Paul Manafort, was on Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and press his case that Trump is becoming the de facto GOP standard-bearer.

Two prominent GOP establishment congressmen - Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, and Jeff Miller of Florida, who chairs the House Veterans' Affairs Committee - endorsed Trump on Thursday.

"It's time for our party to unite behind Donald Trump and focus our time and energy on defeating Hilary Clinton," Shuster said in a statement.

That echoes what Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday in a Facebook posting calling for an end to the "Never Trump" movement among conservatives: "Donald Trump is going to be our nominee, and he is going to be on the ballot as the Republican candidate for President. The Republican leaders in Washington did not choose him, but the Republican voters across America did choose him. The voters have spoken."

Brian Ballard, a Florida-based lobbyist whose clients have included Trump's real estate company and who also was a top fundraiser for the Bush and Rubio campaigns, said many donors in his state are ready to give to Trump and the Republican National Committee for the general election.

"I think he has earned the nomination, as far as I'm concerned," he said of Trump. "The folks that I talk to are moving towards him rapidly, though there's going to be holdouts till the very end who are bitter about what happened."

At last week's RNC meeting in Hollywood, Fla., many party officials seemed resigned, if not thrilled, with the idea of Trump as the GOP candidate.

"More and more Republicans are believing that Trump is the inevitable nominee," said Ron Kaufman, an RNC member from Massachusetts who is close to 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and former presidnet George H.W.Bush. "They're accepting the fact that he's the nominee and looking forward to moving on."

Source: Washington Post

On His Home Turf, Donald Trump Again Defends 'New York Values'

NEW YORK - A black-tied Donald Trump took the stage at the New York State Republican Gala with a relaxed confidence. He was in his city, standing before his people in a hotel that he helped to build decades ago.

"Welcome home," a woman yelled as the Republican front-runner grinned.

On the campaign trail, Trump will often try - sometimes too obviously - to pepper his remarks with local observations, talking cars in Michigan and tractors in Iowa. At the Thursday night Manhattan dinner, which featured all three GOP presidential candidates ahead of the state's primary on Tuesday, Trump just talked about himself and the projects he has worked on across the city.

He began with the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the 1970s when the city was in a bad stretch. He spoke extensively about the difficulties of preparing ice in a skating rink without a freon leak, as he did at Wollman Rink in Central Park. He told old stories that made the crowd laugh, he name-dropped, he wondered why "all of my construction friends" were seated in a back corner. He even deemed politics "boring." And he forcefully defended "New York values," a concept that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has tried to use against him.

Trump was restrained as he trumpeted the virtues of his city. He glanced down at prepared notes and started listing what he considers "New York values." At that, a woman in the historic ballroom shouted: "Yeah baby," waving her white cloth napkin in the air. Trump made no mention of Cruz, seeming to assume everyone in the room knew about Cruz's earlier attack line deriding Trump for supporting "New York values."

New York values, Trump said, means a work ethic, devotion to family and energy so big that if former Florida governor Jeb Bush moved to town "he'd have much more energy than he has right now." New Yorkers are builders who make things happen, he said, and who are courageous and have a tremendous sense of community service.

"New York values were on display for all to see in the aftermath of 9/11, a strike at the heart of the city and our nation," Trump said, seemingly to read from a rare script. "In our darkest moments as a city we showed the world the very, very best in terms of bravery and heart and soul that we have in America."

Trump added, "These are the values that we need to make American great again. We need these values to bring America together again and to heal America's wounds again." 

Trump's appearances at the gala prompted hundreds of protesters to gather outside the hotel with signs declaring him racist, Islamophobe and a capitalist, while also calling for an increase in the minimum wage. Hours before he spoke, organisers said that 10 protesters were arrested outside, according to local reports. Trump noted that he had seen the protesters on his way into the hotel and was struck by their professionally produced signs.

Trump's closing comments made him sound more like a mayor-for-life than a presidential candidate: "Enjoy the hotel. Enjoy this great, great city." He received warm applause and many in the room stood, while half a dozen people rushed up to the stage to see their local celebrity up close.

The reception Cruz received was strikingly different. Guest chatted with each other and some milled about the ballroom as the senator delivered a variation of his stump speech, struggling to keep the audience's attention or at times even be heard over the noise.

Cruz made no mention of his previous diss of "New York values," but began his speech --- as he usually does on the campaign trail -- by declaring "God bless the great state of New York." He later called New York City "hallowed ground" because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Referencing Trump, Cruz said, "I haven't built any buildings in New York City, but I have spent my entire life defending the Consitution and the Bill of Rights."

Cruz ticked through many of his policy priorities, from job growth to a flat tax to foreign affairs. Then he made an electability pitch that seemed designed to cut into Trump's support here. Cruz warned that if Republicans nominate a candidate with unfavourable ratings among key demographic groups, the party cannot take back the White House.

"The choice we face is simple: We either unify or we die," Cruz said. "If we remain divided, we lose."

But it was Ohio Gov. John Kasich who made what seemed to come across to this crowd as the more convincing case on electability.

"I am the only candidate who beats Hillary Clinton on a consistent basis -- every single time. Every time," Kasich said, drawing applause.

He cited a recent state-by-state electoral college projection that showed Trump and Cruz losing badly to Clinton, but, ini Kasich's words, "I crushed Hillary Clinton."

Shortly before the gala began, Kasich won the endorsement of George Pataki, a former three-term New York governor and unsuccessful presidential candidate. In his remarks, Kasich did not single out Trump or Cruz for what earlier in the week he denounced as campaigns leading down a "path of darkness." But, he warned, "If you feed on the negative attitudes of people, you're going to have high negative ratings. Go and try to sell something when people don't like you and don't trust you."

Source: Washington Post

Ted Cruz Declares Wisconsin 'A Turning Point' in the GOP Campaign

MILWAUKEE - Ted Cruz rolled into a landslide victory Tuesday in Wisconsin's hotly contested Republican presidential primary, capitalising on a difficult stretch for Donald Trump to cut into the front-runner's overall delegate lead and deliver a psychological blow to the billionaire mogul.

Through the senator from Texas is reviled by many party leaders for his explosive and polarising brand of politics, Cruz won over establishment Republicans as well as grassroots conservative activists across this state who had come together in an urgent push to stop Trump. Late returns showed him leading Trump by a wide margin.

Cruz hopes his Wisconsin win transforms the trajectory of the race. Wisconsin adds an important Midwestern bellwether to the basket of mostly Southern or rural states he has won to date, giving the Texan evidence that he can appeal beyond ultra-conservative and religious voters.

Savouring his biggest night since winning the kickoff Iowa caucuses in February, Cruz declared before cheering supporters here in Milwaukee: "Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry. It is a call from the hardworking men and women of Wisconsin to the people of America: We have a choice - a real choice."

Trump remains in a favourable position nationally, but Cruz now has fresh momentum heading into future contests and Tuesday's results increase the possibility that the nomination battle spills onto the floor of the party's July convention in Cleveland.

Only 42 delegates were at stake in Wisconsin, however, meaning Tuesday's primary will not significantly alter the delegate count, in which Cruz had been trailing Trump by roughly 250. To secure the nomination, candidates need 1,237 delegates.

"Either before Cleveland or at the convention  in Cleveland, together we will win a majority of the delegates - and together, we will beat Hillary Clinton in November," Cruz told supporters.

Trump spent the evening with his family in New York monitoring the returns and made no public appearances. His campaign issued a statement that read, in part: "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet - he is  Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond."

Trump is planning a large rally Wednesday night on Long Island and a visit in California later in the week.

Ohio Gov, John Kasich, who has been fending off calls from Cruz and Trump to quit the race, finished a distant third. He now looks to the April 19 primary in New York and contests later this month in Maryland, Pennsylvania and other states along the East Coast.

Kasich's chief strategist, John Weaver, wrote a memo distributed Tuesday night that predicts a contested convention. "Tonight's results will solidify the fact that no candidate will reach Cleveland with 1,237 bound delegates," Weaver wrote.

Cruz used his victory speech to draw unmistakable contrasts with Trump's incendiary campaigning. "We are not her to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us... to a safe and sane future," he said. Then Cruz brought his wife, Heidi, the subject of a nasty feud with Trump and his fans, to the podium and showered praise on her.

For Trump, the loss here in a state where he had campaigned vigorously and which he vowed to carry caps a bruising few weeks. Since a March 15 romp in Florida and other states that seemed to position him as nearly unstoppable, Trump suffered a series of self-inflicted wounds from which he is struggling to recover.

In Wisconsin, Trump ran into a wall  of hostility from influential conservative talk radio personalities as well as from Gov. Scott Walker and his loyal coalition of party activists, who had lined up behind Cruz.

Nearly half of voters in the GOP primary were looking for a president with experience in politics, according to preliminary exit-poll results reported by ABC News. That is an increase from earlier states that have voted, where only about four in 10 Republicans looked for someone with experience. Of those, just 7 per cent backed Trump.

Trump's previous wins have been fueled in part by voters who support his hard-line immigration position. But the exit polls show that in Wisconsin more than six in 10 Republican primary voters think undocumented immigrants should be offered a path to legal status - one of the highest of any state voting this year, according to ABC.

In the closing days of the Wisconsin race, Trump burrowed in to try to close a polling deficit with Cruz. He staged a series of relatively intimate rallies and town hall meetings and popped into diners to greet locals.

Trump played up his opposition to trade deals, which he thought would resonate with Wisconsin's blue-collar voters - just as it had last month in neighbouring Michigan, whose primary he won convincingly. And he was characteristically relentless in his criticism of Cruz and his allies, calling the senator "Lyin' Ted" and belittling Walker by imitating him riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Trump also deployed his wife, Melania, to make a rare campaign appearance Monday night in Milwaukee - a move seemingly orchestrated to soften his image with women after a series of misstatements on abortion policy.

But it was not enough. In the exit polls, fully 35 percent of Republican primary voters said they would feel "scared" if Trump became president and another 20 per cent expressed concern. Just over half singled out Trump for running the most unfair campaign and over one-third said they would not support him in a hypothetical general election.

Sensing a big win within his reach, Cruz spent the past week barnstorming the state with a caravan of well-known Republican supporters. They framed the primary as a pivotal moment in the push to deny Trump the party's nomination.

Walker, himself a candidate before dropping out last fall, was a constant presence at Cruz's side during the final 48 hours. The governor built intense loyalty from Republican voters here through his battles with the legislature and organised labour, including a brutal recall campaign in 2012 and reelection in 2014.

Walker tried to bestow his supporters to Cruz, introducing the Texan at large gatherings in Green Bay and Waukesha. Together they visited a touristy cheese shop in Kenosha, where Cruz sampled local cheddar, and posed for selfies at an Italian market in Milwaukee as Cruz and his family ate gelato.

Introducing Cruz on Tuesday night, Walker said, "This victory is bigger than just Wisconsin. This is the night when we can look back and say that was the time that turned the tide in this election."

As Trump struggled for several days to explain his position on abortion, Cruz spotlighted hi wife Heidi and former candidate Carly Fiorina to help make his soft pitch to women voters. Heidi Cruz and Florina staged their own series of meet-and-greets across the state.

Rolling across the state in his campaign bus through chilly weather and the occasional dusting of snow, Cruz called on Republicans to unite behind his candidacy and framed the contest as a one-on-one fight between him and Trump.

Still, Cruz and his allies were also keeping a close eye on Kasich, who was campaigning hard in Wisconsin and sought to project a positive message. The Cruz team was worried that Kasich might do well enough here to deprive Cruz of some delegates and gain a head of steam as the contest turns to the Northeast, seen as more favourable territory for Kasich.

But the real battle was between Trump and Cruz, who benefited from the outright disdain that influential conservative talk radio hosts like Charlie Sykes and jerry Bader showed toward Trump.

Bader spoke with disgust about the New York businessman at the Cruz rally in Green Bay on Sunday. The next day, Sykes appeared with Cruz in Waukesha, where the talk-show host lambasted Trump. "We have to be the firewall of common sense," Sykes told the crowd.

Source: Washington Post