Trump Walks Back GOP Loyalty Pledge
Breaking up is hard to do… or not
Seems like mere months ago, Donald Trump was cozying up with the Republican Party, signing pledges, and promising to support the eventual nominee.
But that was September.
The Donald has since had a change of heart.
Politico reported Trump’s response Tuesday’s CNN town hall:
Donald Trump has rescinded his pledge to support the Republican nominee for president.
Asked during a CNN town hall whether he stood by the earlier pledge — which he signed in September after meeting with party chairman Reince Priebus — Trump said: “No, I don’t.”
“We’ll see who it is,” he told moderator Anderson Cooper.
Trump said he had been treated “unfairly” by the Republican National Committee and the GOP establishment. He said he was unsure whether the Republican establishment was plotting to take the nomination away from him during the convention in Cleveland.
He also said he didn’t need Ted Cruz to promise to support him should Trump win the nomination.
“I’m not asking for his support,” Trump said.
“I don’t want his support; I don’t need his support; I want him to be comfortable,” Trump said, taunting Cruz for dancing around the issue of whether he would support Trump if Trump were the nominee.
Here’s the clip:
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Comments
Think of it as another bankruptcy.
Just like Obama, every T-rumpian pledge or giving of his “word” has a (very short) expiration date.
Just like Obama, nose in the air saying he doesn’t need anybody else’s help. He’s doing it all by himself. Bridge the divide in America? Unite the party? Unite the country on common grounds? Fuhgettaboutit!
Where’s the reporting that Cruz and Kasich refused to support Trump if he’s the nominee.
What despicable bias.
Give up reading for Lint…???
“I don’t want his support; I don’t need his support; I want him to be comfortable,” Trump said, taunting Cruz for dancing around the issue of whether he would support Trump if Trump were the nominee.
No worries, Donald….whether Ted supports you or not, I won’t, and while I hate to use the word “never”, I don’t need to use it to describe my feelings towards the Lhasa apso killer or my position on voting for him at the moment.
It’s “Lent”. “Lint” is something you pick out of your belly button or clothes dryer. 🙂
This article leaves the impression that Trump started it.
I did not watch the show but another article I read gave this sequence:
Ted: I would have a hard time supporting Trump.
Trump: that’s OK, he doesn’t have to support me. And I feel like the Repubs are not treating me fairly so I back away from the pledge.
Gov K: I made that promise at the first debate and it was a mistake to promise. I can’t support someone who’s divisive.
That’s translated humpspeak for, “I don’t think I’m going to get to 1237 so I need a fallback position to scare them with since the rule for 1237 delegates was in place when we started. I’ll just say I’m not being treated fairly, were ‘fairly’ can only mean ‘heads I win, tails you lose’, pre-existing rules be damned.”
Hey Jim, are you married? If I did to your wife what Trump did and said about Heidi Cruz would you support me? I think not so climb down off the high horse with your fake indignation.
Trump-Haters’ Myopic World View When This Happened:
Yesterday on TV, Kasich & Cruz both implicitly refused to state they would back Trump if nominated.
Good. Just that many more slots in the Trump administration which will not be filled by them or their cronies, friends, spouses or families.
May as well make it a GOP Establishment-Proof Administration top to bottom.
Just a thought, you might want to at least get the nomination, which he hasn’t done, before you start collecting resume’s.
You actually doubt Trump will be on the ballot in the general election?
Unless he gets the GOP nomination, I doubt he will be on a ballot this November.
Between the sore-loser laws (which RodFC and I discussed somewhat civilly) and the fact he is not going to blow any more of his money when he has no chance of winning, his campaign will go on the Al Gore Victimhood Tour where he will lecture us on how the nomination was taken away from him by the GOP and that President Cruz/Kasich/Other is a thief).
Did he get 1237 delegates when I wasn’t looking? Simple fact is that Trump does not have the nomination and it is increasingly likely that he will be unable to secure enough delegates before the convention. If he goes to the convention with 1236 delegates, he is not the nominee, chances are he will arrive there with significantly fewer delegates than that.
So no there is no guarantee that his name will be on the general election ballot.
To Spartan & Gremlin,
I have zero, and I mean ZERO, doubt Trump will be on the November ballot.
Either as the GOP nominee or as an Independent.
The choice is up to the GOP elites.
In fact it may turn out to be a four way with Sanders going Indy also.
People are fed the hell up with the establishment.
“Either as the GOP nominee or as an Independent.”
Which in both cases will ensure that Hillary wins the election. Trump does not have majority support of the party and I don’t believe he can gain it.
“Implicitly”? Another non-English speaker heard from.
Not so fast, SDN…
im·plic·it·ly
imˈplisətlē/
adverb
adverb: implicitly
1. in a way that is not directly expressed; tacitly.
Think of it as balance for all the rest of the media out there giving trump false legitimacy or downright bias. Don’t like it, well you know the rest.
Hey, Cruz & Kasich made that “pledge” with their fingers crossed behind their backs, so it didn’t count.
It’s not at all like pledging “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” nah. That’s real old-fashioned, ya know! Besides, that pledge was only supposed to screw over one particular anti-establishment candidate, not anyone else.
It’s how the establishment does business!
I guess you have forgotten that Trump has never stopped insulting Cruz and his wife have you not? It’s one thing to call me out for my positions but when you go after my family that’s it for me. I will never endorse you or vote for you for any reason. Is that too hard to understand? Carson endorsed him but Trump might not be too happy with his endorsement after Carson has been on a couple of talk shows. Wow
! I’ll take an old fashioned enemy any day over that!
Well, you say “Trump has never stopped insulting Cruz and his wife” while I’d phrase that as “Trump has never stopped telling the truth about Cruz and his wife.”
But then, perhaps you support the globalist agenda & a lying sleazeball who will promote it; I don’t.
“But then, perhaps you support the globalist agenda & a lying sleazeball who will promote it; I don’t.”
I am confused if you are a trump supporter then you are doing just that.
Because Cruz didn’t do that? And spare me the explanation of how you don’t speak English trying to prove otherwise.
The GOP political ‘aristocracy’ have treated Trump horribly.
If they had put half the effort into going after Hillary that they have in going after Trump he’d be a shoe-in for the Presidency.
I don’t blame him a bit.
He’s a real, honest-to-God RINO! I understand perfectly why they don’t want to support him. What I don’t understand is, if they couldn’t support him, why did they allow him to run as a Republican?
Actually he is a liberal Democrat who is lying through his teeth to try and fool republicans, which worked for a while, but now the real Donald is shining through.
I think of Trump as a snake oil salesman.
I do not trust him. that said if he is the
nominee, I will vote for him.
if he does not get enough delegates and goes
3rd party I will not vote for him.
he is more Dem then anything (that might explain
all the dem cross over votes … not sure they
will stay for the general.)
How could they stop him? Anyone can run as a Republican. Michael Bloomberg did. Al Sharpton could, if he wanted to, and there’s nothing they could do to stop him.
GOP Royalty views Hillary & Sanders in high esteem but outsider Trump, not so much.
That’s the snootiness of the GOP Ruling class and their fiefs and vassals along with the GOP kingdom’s loyal surfs and peasants.
That right there is why their attacks on Trump, which they view as a blue-collar billionaire, will take Trump to backlash victory.
Voters are sick to death of being lied to and forsaken by both sides and now being hounded and attacked.
I think this saga will be studied for a hundred years.
“Voters are sick to death of being lied to”.
That is Trump’s modus operandi and he lies almost by the minute. The old saying of “How can you tell if Trump is lying, his lips are moving” is so appropriate.
That is your opinion, Rudy. Others’ mileage varies greatly from that opinion.
We have been consistently lied to by the #DCCartel, as Cruz kept repeating till he was endorsed by the #DCCartel.
What is Congress’ approval rate? 8%?
Anybody here think the DC Establishment is all that and a bag of chips? If so, show yourself.
With the establishment hierarchy in the GOP openly talking of rebooting the nomination process at the convention disregarding any results from the primaries, any paper signed by Trump or Cruz has been invalidated by party officials. The Republican Party is taking on the aura of the Russian Communist Party … or in American terms… the Democrat Party. It is in the bag for Hillary since day one, but does the GOP have to be Dem-Lyte AGAIN? The real question is who can beat Biden-Warren ticket? That is the REAL question.
Go back and check out the convention rules. The primaries/caucases are the first ballot and if there’s no majority holder at that ballot then there’s a second ballot etc. it’s not discarding the primary results, it is the continuation of delegate commitment, and although a higher delegate count gives an advantage it does not guarantee a winner.
Yes, Zachary, true. But those of us on the sidelines find it bizarre that Republicans are savaging their own front runner. Bizarre that high-profile “conservatives” say they’ll vote for Hillary if Trump is nominated. Bizarre that the majority of objections are vapid accusations of incompetence and ignorance, plus invoking the KKK and Nazis. You would expect all this from Democrats.
All of the above makes the pledge Trump took plain old rope-a-dope.
Apparently Trump thinks so too. He was scammed and is acknowledging it.
Well said!
Fully aware of the convention rules. However, this telegraphing of party elite intent rather than letting the primaries make or break a candidate prior to the convention is the issue. If Trump and/or Cruz don’t make the threshold, then after that first vote let the wheel’n and deal’n begin.
By the way…. my wife asks the question…. were the “Cruz affairs” bisexual? I can see a wife sitting by the curb crushed by affairs, especially when it is more than women.
You sir are a Trump clone who has no class or intelligence. I can only hope that you never experience anything bad within your family because you obviously are not mentally prepared to handle it. You are a vulgar and a nasty person who should leave this site.
Absolutely Bob.
Many of us didn’t trust him at the time. We didn’t take the bait, or the hook, line or sinker. Sadly, too many did.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/GuyBenson/2016/03/30/marquette-wisconsin-poll-n2141092
40 Cruz and 30 Der Donald. It will get worse for Mr. Establishment, The Man From WrestleMania…
Based on 471 people, with an error of 5.8%? That seems kinda dinky, but polls are polls.
All three of them essentially renounced the pledge.
BTW: if the GOP doesn’t kick #nevertrump, (just the name is disloyal) then they do not deserve loyalty from anybody.
THIS NEEDS TO STOP!
All THREE of the GOP candidates have disavowed the “pledge”.
What Bill Whittle has had to say is more along the lines of what I expect from this website, not the crap that repeatedly has been posted.
And Kemberlee, you are the worst.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBG6Xds7ifA
I’m out of here. After 5 or 6 years of support, readership, sharing, and hundreds of dollars donated.
Goodbye.
Are you going to let these clowns make you leave? I am so sorry, even I knew that the all three Rep candidates had basically dropped the pledge. It was on Fox this morning. Kemberlee is just trying to get your goat. Basically she, and most of ĹI are annoyed at the way things have turned out. I don’t understand all the insults and attacks that are condoned, even encouraged. So sorry Janitor.
Nooooooo don’t goooooooo.
You’ll be back.
If you aren’t too far on your voyage, I just wanted to provide a little link for you to watch while you’re busy going away.
Btw I agree with Bill, and I also agree with Adam.
http://youtu.be/eE6ica0t95Q
Are you asking for a safe space in this site? Ah, the edged weapons used here are sharp, not airsoft.
Damn, first we lost Voting Female, who also stormed out in a childish huff vowing never to return, and now Janitor. Damn.
Did you forget HandyGandy?.. I think he got booted though.
I’m teasing about the common practice of commenters stomping off in a huff, never to return, when 90% of the time they’re back within 24 hrs, if not 24 minutes. There’s even a cutesy name for it, which escapes me at the moment.
“Flounce!”
Gotcha! A bit of humor is a good thing.. esp now.
Amen to that. Ever since this website expanded to multiple commentators, there have been fewer quality posts. Ms. Kaye’s posts are severely lacking in any critical thought and she rarely provides context for her trashing of public figures. William Jacobson and Andrew Branca posts are the only two contributors I can rely on for consistent quality posts.
I agree with your assessment on the one, but everyone else is good to go, professional and trustworthy. IMHO/FWIW and all….
Why should he, or any other candidate, abide by the pledge when the GOP is now making going out of its way to invalidate the primary process. They aren’t even pretending to be any different from the democrats any more.
Another good tactical move by Trump.
It’s easy to see why, but not so easy if you insist that he’s some kind of buffoon who doesn’t know exactly (well, almost exactly) what he’s doing.
The guy’s control of combination shots is phenomenal.
Nobody thinks you’re sincere when you say you’ll support someone who just ran $100m in attack ads against you in order to trash the character and reputation you spent a lifetime building, but you say it anyway, because your political future and the party’s future depends upon a unified front. So if Trump loses somehow and really doesn’t support the ticket, that means he’s pretty much washed his hands of the Republican party I would assume.
“that means he’s pretty much washed his hands of the Republican party I would assume.”
For the third or is it forth time. When you continue to bounce between the two parties it is really hard to take you serious. Of course that is just like Trumps stands on issues. Just wait a few days and he will change it again.
Trump has played all parties to get his way in business. Gee… that would make him a political animal ….. right now he is selling himself on the National Apprentice Show. Having seen the Dems and GOPe sell out this country for personal gain…. what is new? Maybe someone who “has it all”… save the nuclear option …might really be for the country. Anyway one looks at it… this is a bump ride Bettie Davis would not have imagined.
Twitter Feed:
FOX Business
@FoxBusiness
.@RealBenCarson: “[@tedcruz]… has not demonstrated the ability to pull in people from the middle and the left.”
http://pic.twitter.com/9X6IiFzyBi
2:07pm · 30 Mar 2016 · Twitter Web Client
18 Retweets 18 Likes
Establishment huggers don’t want to look at the reality that Cruz is failed candidate walking.
No way in hell can he win against the Democrat Political Machine b/c they can paint him as a far-right extremist.
If he pivots? His conservative backers will have been betrayed and who knows how that reaction will play out.
GOP needs to listen to Kenny Rogers…
You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done.
Pray tell how Trump will fare better against the democrat political machine with his “war on women” and Trump U hanging out there? Fighting back against hillary will just get him bitch slapped for being to mean to “little ol me” as she is doing to Bernie right now and did to Lazio when she ran for congress.
The war on women charge gets leveled against every Republican candidate.
Trump gave his answer in the first debate “I hate PC” he went up 20 points in the polls.
Cruz has never answered the war on women smear. What will he say? He piled on Trump, so he can’t use Trumps answer. No other GOP hit with the smear has survived.
T-rump IS Mr. PC…
“We have to take care of the women.”
That IS the very essence of PC. Along with sexist, condescending, and creepy.
Commercial:
What did Donald Trump do for women?
ABC went to work for Donald Trump for ten years. Now runs her own business worth $5 billion. DEF went to work for Donald Trump for five years is now CFO at Acme Corp. ….
Donald Trump has mentored many women to successful careers.
And Hillary?
“I did not have sex with that woman.”
Don’t waste your time with her. None of the Trumpets seem to understand that Trump is only doing well with about 40% of the voting Republican base not the American public. He has insulted Hispanics, blacks, women, muslims and his dishonesty/stupidity has turned off a large part of the white men. Just who do these Trump supporters think are going to vote for him?
If you have to ask that question you are beyond having the ability to understand the answer. Not being harsh with you rather, I’m just saying a closed mind is what it is.
No what you are doing is being a typical trumpet and avoiding answering his question and not defending your position.
In your world, rivers flow from the sea to the mountains, Gmac.
So let me see if I have this correct. You cannot logically support Trump so I am illogical.
RRRRRRIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTT
Your argument is just as good as the one Trump had the other night on CNN. Yeah the one where Anderson Cooper said Trump was arguing like a 5 year old.
Funny, since there has not yet been a national poll that shows Trump actually being able to beat Hillary. However, there have been several where Cruz beats her.
Another article explaining the appeal and the importance of Trump. A lot of Repub and conservative voters will later regret turning the country over to Hillary, a supine Congress, a compliant media, partisan federal departments and a stacked deck of progressive SC judges.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/03/understanding-trump-part-2.php
The commentary by Bill Whittle linked to above is excellent. It’s nice to listen to a grown-up speak.
Campaign pledges, whether of the anti-tax sort or this support pledge, are stupid on their face, and if I were announcing a run for the WH, among the first things I’d do is state I’d be making no pledges of any kind. It’s all just stupid.
Yes. I thought the whole “loyalty pledge” thing was cringeworthy from the beginning.
BTW, I haven’t ruled out running, you know, in case somebody wants to draft me. Hint. Hint.
Draft? Well sure, in then spirit of unity hereya go…
http://blog.schneider-electric.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Beer-Glass1-240×300.jpg
lol I get downvoted for buyin Hawkins a beer? oh well
Naw, you got down-voted for a bad pun, lol.
Trump cannot withstand the onslaught from all sides and the media.
He has not helped himself either.
Hopefully, 2020 will not be too late for business as usual to be finally laid to rest.
“The problem is we have the Geneva Conventions, all sorts of rules and regulations, so the soldiers are afraid to fight,” Trump said at an afternoon town hall during remarks on torture.
“We can’t waterboard but they can chop off heads,” Trump said, referring to the United States and the Islamic State, respectively. “I think we’ve got to make some changes, some adjustments.”
Well, there’s another fine mess he’s gotten himself into.
Poor old guy. I think the rigors of the campaign are more than the poor soul can bear.
Walk-back in 3…2…1…
I will concede that Trump holds one talent like no other candidate, past or present – walking backwards. If it were an Olympic event, he’d own 6 tons of gold.
Scream all you want. Implicit in the pledge is that he be treated fairly by the GOP. However: After Super Tuesday in 2008,2012 we were told that McCain and Romney were inevitable. In 2016 we get Romney telling us #neverTrump, despite the fact that Trump outperformed both
McCain and Romney.
Then on miniSuper Tuesday, when McCain and Romney won we were told that the stragglers should just give up. Trump did better then others and we got a $100 million dollar campaign to stop him.
No objective observer can say that Trump was treated fairly. Not only that every objective observer would probably say Trump was probably the most unfairly treated GOP candidate in the last 50 years, if not all time.
Given this the only people who could be expected to hold him to his pledge are GOPe,
I have already said once Cruz is eliminated mathematically ( one or two states from now ) Trump should suspend his campaign and run as a third party candidate .
“No objective observer can say that Trump was treated fairly.”
Which candidate has Trump treated fairly? You get what you give, and in Trumps case that is a whole lot of nasty. Your Trump pity party wont take effect here because we have watched what he has done the entire campaign. To me the 2 most important aspects for choosing a candidate are character and policy. Trump doesn’t have a position that he hasn’t flipped on since the start of his campaign and his character leaves a lot to be desired. Bottom line, do the country a favor and talk him into running third party. Maybe he will split the Democrat vote since that is what he is.
Unfortunately even this fine site has been infected with the same nastiness we have seen among the candidates. It has gotten to the point that most political forums should give up the pretense of being open to civil exchange of opinions and just include in the forum heading which candidate’s supporters are insulted without reproach.
And whom do we owe the reason for this decline in civility? Why its Mr. Trump. It started out funny and kind of exciting and then it never stopped. He didn’t get any smarter and makes the same dumb statements and insults again and again. Then he attacks those who point out his answers are stupid. Can any of you really deep in your hearts see this narcissist as our president?
And somehow you think Trump is to blame for the behavior of posters on this messageboard?
Can you explain why my comment that you answered warranted 3 thumbs down from our fellow posters? And your reply already has been given 1 thumb down – and it wasn’t from me.
We have a couple of trolls that come through and thumbs down everything. The thumbs up or down don’t really mean much here so just ignore them.
I’ve never seen the value of an up or down vote because they are anonymous. If I make a post and it gets 20 up votes, those could come from neo-Nazis or nuns, for all I know. Quantitative sans qualitative = 0.