On GOP Support
- Trump on Friday: “We have tremendous support- tremendous support. The party is actually liking me.”
- Trump on Saturday: “It would be helpful if the Republicans could help us a little bit. You know, OK? Just a little bit."
On reports of a “GOP delegate revolt”
- Trump Saturday: "Believe me. By these people right here, it's all made up by the press. OK? It's all made up. It's, it's, it's a hoax, I'm telling you, these are the most dishonest people."
- Trump later Saturday: “ I read about this ‘insurgent group,’ you know the same group that I beat is insurgent. There are a couple of guys trying to get delegates. I thought they already tried that. I mean I could give you names but I won’t because it’s meaningless. First of all it’s illegal, second of all you can’t do it."
- Trump even later Saturday: “Jeb is working on the movement, just so you understand. And the other one should be obvious to you, but we'll figure that out very easily (Cruz)."
Trump in FN interview after Saturday rally goes after GOP and media, Mitch McConnell, “Morning Joe” Scarborough.
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Things are rapidly falling apart for Donald Trump. It can be seen clearly from the escalation of comments Trump has made from Friday to today:
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On Friday Trump boasted that Republicans give him tremendous support, and that the party likes him quite a bit.
USA Today:
Trump: Republicans are liking me
- Donald Trump wrapped up a two-day fundraising tour of Texas by telling supporters Friday that Republicans are coalescing around him.
Really, Donald? We are seeing a lot of Republicans distance themselves from you, not coalesce around you.
"Let me tell you folks, we have tremendous support — tremendous support," Trump told thousands of backers at a hotel-convention center complex in a suburb of Houston.
The self-described "outsider" who is on his way to the Republican presidential nomination said that "the party is actually liking me."
But on Saturday he whined that he gets no support from Republicans whatsoever, which is the exact opposite of what he said on Friday. Which is it, Donald?
Donald Trump says reports about delegate revolt is a "hoax"
"We're gonna beat Hillary, and it would be helpful if the Republicans could help us a little bit. You know, OK? Just a little bit."
Poor Donald. The Republicans love him so, so much, but they are not willing to help him, not even a tiny little bit.
Not with money. Not with surrogacy. No vocal support, no backing of any kind. Not one little bit on anything. They SURE like you as far as they can throw you, Donald.
Of course, in another quick reversal the Donald at first claimed that the delegate revolt that is happening right before his eyes is nothing but a media hoax, then later in the day defiantly rips the GOP for going that route and vows to self-fund:
"Believe me. By these people right here, it's all made up by the press. OK? It's all made up. It's, it's, it's a hoax, I'm telling you," Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas.
Trump said he watched a report about the effort on CNN on Friday.
"Breaking news! There will be this and that at the convention," Trump yelled, mocking the network's report. "Who are they gonna pick? I beat everybody. But I don't mean beat. I beat the hell out of them, right? Beat the hell out of them."
However, later, and at the same event no less, Trump apparently came to terms that there really IS an effort ongoing to derail Trump at the convention, that the whole thing isn’t merely a media hoax after all:
Boston Herald:
Donald Trump: I’ll fund my run
GOP candidate rips push to change delegate rules
Donald Trump’s vow to self-fund his campaign after threats of a delegate revolt at the Republican convention fired up his base yesterday as tension in the GOP party threatened to challenge his candidacy once again.
At a rally in Las Vegas, Trump blasted the “insurgent group” behind a push to allow delegates pledged to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to vote for another candidate, saying it wasn’t allowed by party rules. Trump added he would self-fund his campaign if the Republican party didn’t support him.
“Who are they going to pick?” Trump said of delegates planning to vote against him. “I beat everybody, and I don’t mean beat, I beat the hell out of them. We’re going to beat Hillary and it would be helpful if the Republicans could help us just a little bit.”
And despite his talk otherwise, Trump needs that help, strategists said.
“ ‘I’m going to do it on my own’ sounds great, but it’s problematic,” GOP strategist Ford O’Connell told the Herald. “People like Trump because he’s the antithesis of the GOP establishment. He represents a giant middle finger to the Washington establishment ... but he still needs 90 to 92 percent of registered Republicans to vote to win in November.”
Several delegates are looking to change convention rules by adding a conscience clause that would allow delegates to vote for someone else even if they are attached to Trump because of his primary and caucus victories. The Republican convention is slated for July 18-21 in Cleveland.
And NBC News reported that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said, “The last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that’s contrary to their conscience” in an interview that will air on “Meet the Press” this morning, fueling speculation that party leaders would support the plan.
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Politicususa:
Trump Attacks ‘Illegal’ GOP ‘Insurgency’ at Vegas Rally
“You know, I read about this ‘insurgent group,’ you know the same group that I beat is insurgent. There are a couple of guys trying to get delegates. I thought they already tried that. I mean I could give you names but I won’t because it’s meaningless. First of all it’s illegal, second of all you can’t do it. Third of all, we – not me – we, got almost 14 millions votes in the primary system. So, that’s more votes than ever received in the primaries in the history of the Republican Party, okay? We beat a lot of people. 16 people. There were a total of 17 including myself. One after another, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It was a beautiful thing to behold, okay? A beautiful thing. It was a beautiful thing.
“So, it was a beautiful thing to behold. But think of this. So we get almost 14 million votes. We won 36, 37 states. Others won none. People who won none are saying ‘Maybe we can get something at the convention.’ It doesn’t work that way folks. You would have, because one of the things the polls say we have the most loyal followers by far…So when we get 37 states, when we get 37 states…we won 14 million. We beat Ronald Reagan who we love, we beat Richard Nixon, we beat Dwight D. Eisenhower, we beat the Bushes…
“And now you have a couple of guys that were badly defeated, and they’re trying to organize maybe a little bit of a delegate revolt, maybe. Reince Priebus…and the Republican National Committee they put out a statement saying you can’t do it. How would you like to have a party…where myself and others travel the country and worked for a long time…and I beat them fair and square…and wins not only the vote…not only wins 37 states and nobody else was even remotely close, I mean some of these guys won none. How would you like to have that…[And here Trump lost focus and went after Hillary Clinton and never quite gets back to his original point]. So how would you like to be in a party where Trump wins?”
The Week reports:
Trump complains the GOP isn't helping him and Jeb is fomenting revolt
"It would be helpful if the Republicans could help us a little bit" on the campaign trail, he said, adding, "You know? Okay? Just a little bit."
Next, Trump turned his ire to former candidate Jeb Bush. Speaking of a rumored "revolt" against him in the ranks of GOP delegates, Trump insisted "Jeb is working on the movement, just so you understand." He alluded to someone else also allegedly fomenting revolt, but declined to name that person.
Washington Post is on the Jeb Bush angle as well:
Trump accuses Jeb Bush of plotting against him and appears to slam Cruz
Donald Trump voiced annoyance Saturday at continued resistance to his presumptive presidential nomination from some Republicans as he accused former Florida governor Jeb Bush of trying to undermine his candidacy and appeared to take aim at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
"We are going to beat Hillary. And it would be helpful if the Republicans could help us a little bit," said Trump. "You know? Okay? Just a little bit."
After complaining in general terms about talk of a "revolt" against him, Trump later suggested that Bush was involved in an opposing "movement" and that another well-known Republican was also plotting against him.
"By the way, Jeb is working on the movement, just so you understand. I love competition like that. I love it," said Trump. He added: "And the other one should be obvious to you, but we'll figure that out very easily."
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"There's a little movement. And I just heard today where it's coming from. It's coming from people that have been badly defeated," said Trump. At another point, he cited "a couple of guys who were badly defeated" who are "trying to organize maybe like a little bit of a delegate revolt."
While he did not spell out who was the second person he was talking about, Trump at one point appeared to take an indirect swipe at Cruz, who was effectively the runner-up to the real estate mogul in the primary race. He attacked Republicans who said he could not clinch the necessary delegates to win the nomination, adding: "One of the people, who probably hasn't quite given up yet ... was trying to buy up all of the second ballot people." As a candidate, Cruz made an effort to woo convention delegates to support him in a scenario in which the convention was not decided on the first ballot.
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Interview with FoxNews following Las Vegas rally:
Trump hits 'hostile' media, 'rogue' Scarborough, 'disappointed' in McConnell
Donald Trump views himself as battling an intensifying wave of “media hostility” and is “disappointed” in the growing chorus of criticism from Republican leaders.
In an interview, Trump shrugged off his slippage in the polls, boasted of his big crowds and predicted he would win “big league,” even though he says the critical media attention is hurting him.
Trump wouldn’t admit to any mistakes, even in tone, after the Orlando massacre. And he is particularly puzzled by the way Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is chiding him.
In short, even as pundits and many in his own party are clamoring for a course correction and a softer rhetorical style, the presumptive nominee made clear he doesn’t plan any major changes.
Ignoring several polls that show him trailing Clinton by six to 12 points, Trump cited a One America survey that has him at only a 2-point deficit.
The only hint that things have hit a rough pitch came when Trump told me that “maybe certain things we’re not 100 percent happy with” in his “very young campaign,” but he declined to elaborate. He conceded the challenge he faces on the electoral map, saying, “The Democratic road is very much easier than the Republican road to the White House.”
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“I’m so surprised at Mitch (McConnell),” Trump told me. “You’d think he’d be very positive. I always thought I had a good relationship with Mitch, but perhaps I don’t.”
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“I’m disappointed that some of the Republicans aren’t more positive, but I think in the end they will be…You wonder why they’re doing that.”
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Perhaps his strongest words were reserved for MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. The former Republican congressman, who regularly interviewed Trump and talked up his chances during the primaries, has turned harshly critical in recent weeks. The candidate says he’s stopped watching “Morning Joe.”
“As soon as I won the nomination,” Trump said, “he went essentially to the Democrats’ side. He went totally rogue. He was embarrassed to be so high on a Republican…It’s very dishonest what he’s saying.”
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Trump, for his part, sees a different motivation in Scarborough’s shift. “I’m sure MSNBC puts tremendous pressure on him and he wants to keep his job,” Trump told me.
But Scarborough said he was forecasting Trump’s nomination last year: “If the liberal network MSNBC had any influence on us, they certainly would have asserted it and suggested we not be so far out in our predictions on Donald Trump.”
Donald looks to be losing it. He is resorting to bitterly complaining about the media, the GOP leaders, his former opponents conspiring against him in an insurgency, complains about the GOP not helping him, vows to go it alone. One big whine fest.
Donald, you are floundering because you are facing a great candidate from the Democratic Party and because you are a buffoon. End of story.