Donald Trump says an extraordinary collaboration between Sen. Ted Cruz and John Kasich aimed at unifying the anti-Trump vote in some remaining primaries is a desperate move by “mathematically dead” rivals.
Such collusion would be illegal in many industries, the Republican presidential front-runner said, but it’s illustrative of “everything that is wrong in Washington and our political system.”
Under the arrangement outlined late Sunday, Kasich, the Ohio governor, will step back in the May 3 Indiana contest to let Cruz bid for voters who don’t like Trump. Cruz, a Texas senator, will do the same for Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico.
The arrangement does not address the five Northeastern states set to vote Tuesday, where Trump is expected to add to his already overwhelming delegate lead. Yet the shift offers increasingly desperate Trump foes a glimmer of hope in their long and frustrating fight to halt the billionaire’s rise.
“It is big news today that John Kasich has decided to pull out of Indiana to give us a head to head contest with Donald Trump,” Cruz told reporters as he campaigned in Indiana on Monday. “That is good for the men and women of Indiana. It’s good for the country to have a clear and direct choice.”
Kasich sent mixed messages, however, as he addressed the pact for the first time while campaigning in Philadelphia.
Asked what Indiana voters should do next week, the Ohio governor just 13 hours after the arrangement was announced urged them to vote for him.
“I’ve never told them not to vote for me. They ought to vote for me,” Kasich said in a Philadelphia diner. He said he simply agreed not to spend “resources” in Indiana.
The announcement marks a sharp reversal for Cruz’s team, which aggressively opposed coordinating anti-Trump efforts with Kasich as recently as late last week. And the agreement applies only to Indiana, Oregon and New Mexico – three of the 15 states remaining on the Republican primary calendar. As Kasich backs out of Indiana, Cruz promised he would not compete in Oregon on May 17 and New Mexico on June 7.
Although Kasich heads to Oregon newly free of competition from Ted Cruz, many of Oregon’s voters already know more about Cruz than they do Kasich.
Kasich’s team never submitted his biography to the secretary of state’s office, which prints out a voter pamphlet each year bearing information on each candidate.
This year, the pamphlet includes Kasich’s name followed by an asterisk indicating that he didn’t submit any information. Cruz and Donald Trump, meanwhile, each get a full column explaining their positions and personal histories.
Kasich’s campaign late Monday sent out a statement saying the Ohio governor is on the ballot in Oregon “and the campaign will do its part to educate voters about why they should vote for him the primary.”
Kasich’s chief strategist, John Weaver claims, “Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee.”
Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said in a statement explaining the new plans that Trump would be soundly defeated by the Democratic nominee, whether it’s Hillary Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans,” he said.
Speaking to several thousand people Sunday evening in Maryland, Trump stressed repeatedly that he expects to win the 1,237 delegates needed in the first round of voting in Cleveland to stave off a contested convention.
“I only care about the first,” he said. “We’re not going for the second and third and fourth and fifth.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
What a bull shit story Kasick is a ass hole. Fish face boring old fuck head, and that ass wipe Jeb Bush. This country is in deep shit and the guys that want to run the show are so fucked up.
I agree with you but am highly offended by your choice of words in expressing yourself, You can do better than that!
Ditto!
I agree. You don’t need to use four letter words. What you said is true, but tone it down.
I agree with you David but I also agree with Dolored Tamoria and Kimberly! Isn’t it time to begin trying to restore moral values to the country by finding a way to express our thoughts without resorting to obscene language?
Either Kasich didn’t have the smarts to realize what Ted was getting him into or he had second thoughts. What ever, it was a dumb move and he is wise to ignore it. Americans don’t like schemers and Cruz is a schemer, just ask Ben Carson. Ted released a report that Ben was leaving the race and to switch their votes to him. It wasn’t true at that time. Cruz swears he’s for legal immigration but he was down at the border with Glen Beck handing out supplies to Illegals as they crossed our borders. If Ted can’t win up front he will look for a back door. Even if Trump couldn’t win, we don’t need Ted for our president. Vote American. Make America Great Again!
YOU’RE SPOT ON VICTORIA…
CRUZ IS A DEVIOUS SCHEMER…
I SAW HIM ON TAPE WITH MONEY IN HIS HAD PAYING OFF A DELEGATE TO VOTE FOR HIM!
FOX NEWS CAN EXPOSE HIM AND BLOW THE LID OFF OF THE DC MADAM SCANDAL WHICH HE IS PROVEN TO BE A PART OF. HE WAVES THE BIBLE AROUND, EVEN CALLED MARCO UNCHRISTIAN IF YOU RECALL AND “CRUZ IS THE BIGGEST HIPPOCRIT OF THEM ALL!!!
FOX’S RATINGS WOULD BLOW THROW THE ROOF WITH ALL OF THIS!!!
Charlene wrote: I SAW HIM ON TAPE WITH MONEY IN HIS HAD PAYING OFF A DELEGATE TO VOTE FOR HIM!
WOW, Charlene ! I would love to see that tape. It would make a great Facebook post. Would you post it or tell us how to find it? Thanks.
I,m pretty sure a lot of Ohioans would like to see their given back in Columbus trying to do what they elected him for and stop screwing up the Grand Old Party
There is no more collusion going on between Cruz and Kasich than with Trump Christy and Carson.
I thought this action should have been done before going to the east coast which would have possibly resulted in the Trumpster losing his BLUE home state. Not likely as most of the votes Trump received were from the Red-dog democrats. Blue Dog Democrats – Moderate to Conservative coalition. Pink Tu-tu Democrats – Dance and Roll over for the GOP, Purple Democrats – DINOs (a la Barney)reference 3, Gold Democrats – Northeastern usually comes with lots of money, and Green Democrats – Environment is the priority. As these people truly believe he is there golden son! In addition, he is sustained by the uneducated who will never see the truth even if it hits them like a runaway subway train, and by the liberal republicans who lean toward the democrats more than conservatives.
Trumps inveterate propensity of insulting others faults with complete disregard to his own, proves beyond any reason of doubt, why he is not now, nor ever will be fit to become the leader of this nation.
It is disconcerting to see so many citizens who are supporting this type of behavior as tolerable, willing to allow him to enter the governance of our nation without remonstration, or being accountable for his actions.
No more is right. Now that he is naming Carly Fiorino as his running mate. A bit premature I think but nevertheless Kasich will not be the presumptive running mate.
That Kasich teamed up with the Bush Crime Family´s Cruz to deceive supporters of Trump, suggests that Kasich is also a “brown-noser” to the Bush Crime Family.
For details, see “THE IMMACULATE DECEPTION: THE BUSH CRIME FAMILY EXPOSED,” 1992, by former OSS general, Russell S. Bowen.
I think John Kasich has woken up to the FACT that Sen Cruz’s Plan was to ROB HIM of as many delegates as possible therefore making HIM a WEAK choice for a 2nd or 3rd Ballot candidate! This makes the DEVIOUS DUO fall apart and may torpedo the AXIS of EVIL Plan Now on to Plan “B”
The Trump candidacy has benefited from a weak GOP field. Rubio, Cruz, Scott Walker were inexperienced and didn’t understand the political game. Kasich does have a record of helping Newt’s Congress balance the budget with Bill Clinton. I thought he’d get more traction on this point, but it didn’t happen. And the GOP has so many of their ‘base’ voters angry because of broken/ignored promises. I’ve often compared Trump to Andrew Jackson. They are surprisingly similar. Jackson ran against the Virginia-dominated establishment of his time. He also started a new political party. Look up what I’m referring to.
What I would like to know is why are the other nominees not speaking up for Ted Cruz or do they want to see the GOP lose what is the story with them what rock are they hiding under. They should if they were men come out and back him up unless they are like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz. By not coming out for Ted Cruz if in the future they decided to run I wouldn’t vote for any of them considering how cowardly they are in time of backing up Ted fighting for the nomination for the President of the U. S. What is that saying NO GUTS NO GLORY.
i have to admit enjoying a bit of schadenfreude at Kasich and Cruz’s expense; hell, they announced their “alliance” on Monday and it’s falling apart on Tuesday? What a pair of losers.
And they SHOULD lose: Cruz for being a damnable liar and hypocrite and CANADIAN trying to replace the Current Ineligible Occupant with another, and Kasich for the fact that he drove businesses out of Ohio and no one hardly will vote for him; in fact, there are quite a few questions about how he “won” Ohio in the first place. And LOL funny is the fact that he STILL HASN’T CAUGHT UP WITH RUBIO, who ain’t even been IN THE RACE for a month or so! ROFL.
Dumb and dumber on a stick. Go home, clodhoppers, it ain’t yer day/week/month/year/decade/century.
Amen….
The Rhino Republicans are showing the electorate just how out of touch, and how much they don’t care about the feelings and beliefs of the voters. The time may have come to replace the republican party with a truly conservative party that is both fiscally, and socially conservative. Or, we can wait, and let the likes of Bernie completely take over and transform us to the USSA (United Socialist States of America)
At this point the alliance may be too little too late. While I think Kasich would probably be the best equipped to govern, most Republican voters don’t feel the same way. Even if he managed to get the nomination what makes him think he would be more able to win the general election when he has been unable to win the primary.
With each passing state it appears that Donald Trump is the inevitable Republican nominee.