Skip to footer

GOP conundrum: candidates decry and vow to support Trump in same debate

As businessman Donald Trump continues to dominate the race, the Republican party is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

|
Paul Sancya/AP
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump makes a point as Sen. Marco Rubio, (R) of Florida and Sen. Ted Cruz, (R) of Texas, listen during a Republican presidential primary debate at Fox Theatre, Thursday in Detroit.

Thursday was a strange day for the Republican establishment, as some of the party's most prominent voices alternately decried presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and flocked to support him.

In a speech in Salt Lake City on Thursday, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney warned about what the future of the party, and the nation, would look like if Mr. Trump was selected as a nominee. Arizona Senator John McCain, who campaigned in 2008, echoed similar sentiments, as did House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who was Mr. Romney’s running mate in 2012.

Then, during Thursday night’s Republican debate in Detroit, the remaining contenders for this year’s Republican nomination said that they would support the business mogul if he wins the nomination.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who dropped out of the running himself just last month, has endorsed Trump after sharply criticizing him during his own campaign. Governor Christie's abrupt about-face showcases the bind that the Republican party finds itself in following Super Tuesday. Trump picked up 321 delegates during that day’s voting, the most of any of his rivals and 98 more than his closest competitor, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Senator Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio spent the first part of the evening leveling personal attacks against Trump. Rubio called Trump a con artist for promising business success through his Trump University program, and Trump countered by saying Rubio “scammed the people of Florida” by skipping out on Senate votes.

However, as the evening wore on, both senators reluctantly conceded that they would support him if he were nominated. They asked wide-ranging questions about Trump’s conservative beliefs and his apparent flexibility on policy. On immigration policy, Trump said that he had changed his mind, and is interested in bringing in skilled workers from overseas.

Trump dismissed Romney’s speech as a thinly-veiled attempt at political relevancy, calling the former Massachusetts governor a “failed candidate” who could have won against President Obama four years ago but lost.  

Trump does not yet have enough delegates to secure the nomination. He has 46 percent of the available total, and he would need 51 percent in order to make it to the Republican national convention in July. However, leaders within the Republican party do not see much possibility for preventing him from becoming their presidential nominee, although ideas about a contested convention and a possible third-party candidate have been floated.

The Democratic field is relatively calm compared to the chaos that now surrounds the Republican party. Hillary Clinton picked up 1,058 delegates on Super Tuesday to Bernie Sanders’ 431, and has also support from leaders within her party. Senator Sanders’ odds for securing the nomination are becoming increasingly slim, but he has pledged to continue campaigning.

This report contains material from The Associated Press.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to GOP conundrum: candidates decry and vow to support Trump in same debate
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0304/GOP-conundrum-candidates-decry-and-vow-to-support-Trump-in-same-debate
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe