Pub Establishment Strategy - tank Cruz first, and then dump the Donald

[Torie]

The theory being that it will be easier to put down Trump, as opposed to Cruz, after Cruz has been disposed of. As the headline says, that's "playing with fire," but it has been obvious to me that that is what is going on. Does Branstad, or Dole, and so forth, really have any use for Trump? Of course not. It's part of an orchestrated strategy. If it succeeds, Nate Silver can say, hey I told you so, Lief!

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

Cruz is literally our best shot at beating Trump

[Lief 🗽]

Well, most of Ted Cruz's supporters have TRUMP as their second choice so this seems like a terrible plan.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

But when Trump starts talking about the Rubio rumours, it's over, right?

[yankeesfan]

But when Trump starts talking about the Rubio rumours, it's over, right?

It's be over in like 2 minutes

[Skye]

Not likely. If they weren't able to defeat Trump before, they won't be able to do it now. Unless a single establishment candidate emerges and Trump somehow hits a ceiling, but it's not a good strategy.

[EliteLX]

Poor idea on their part because they are now out of time.

Unless they can tank a candidate in seven days and miraculously revive a moderate establishment voice in a primary that is extremely hostile towards them, Trump has it on lock once he takes Iowa.

[mencken]

This will be as successful as Ron Paul's strategy of attacking Santorum first so that he could be the last man standing against Romney.

[Cruzcrew]

Cruz is literally out best shot at beating Trump

[Clark Kent]

That is a terrible strategy. We should take out Trump at all costs, while Cruz should remain a "In Case of Trump" final resort.

[°Leprechaun]

First they have to unite behind one candidate, the obvious frontrunner (of the establishment) being Rubio. Does Rubio have the right stuff to win the nomination?

[Cory]

This will be as successful as Ron Paul's strategy of attacking Santorum first so that he could be the last man standing against Romney.

[Maxwell]

Where do they think Cruz's supporters go?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

[BlueSwan]

Idiotic strategy. If they do succeed to take Cruz down, Trump wins Iowa and New Hampshire and will then be extremely hard to stop.

The best shot for the establishment is to let Cruz win Iowa and Trump win New Hampshire and then coalesce around the establishment guy who does the best in New Hampshire.

[Torie]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

LOL. If you hate Cruz the most, and Trump slightly less, but still hate him, what is a better plan, that is, ah, legal?

[Maxwell]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

LOL. If you hate Cruz the most, and Trump slightly less, but still hate him, what is a better plan, that is, ah, legal?

Have them both split the angry, anti-establishment vote (60% of the vote at this point I'd guess) while the 40% or so of regular Republican voters coalesce around some regular Republican. duh.

[tpfkaw]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

LOL. If you hate Cruz the most, and Trump slightly less, but still hate him, what is a better plan, that is, ah, legal?

Have them both split the angry, anti-establishment vote (60% of the vote at this point I'd guess) while the 40% or so of regular Republican voters coalesce around some regular Republican. duh.

Exactly. Try to keep Cruz and Trump roughly neck and neck while bribing and threatening the establishment also-rans to drop out. But that would be much too smart a strategy for the GOP establishment.

[Torie]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

LOL. If you hate Cruz the most, and Trump slightly less, but still hate him, what is a better plan, that is, ah, legal?

Have them both split the angry, anti-establishment vote (60% of the vote at this point I'd guess) while the 40% or so of regular Republican voters coalesce around some regular Republican. duh.

Ah, and how do you implement that? I mean, it is not like Torie is in command of 40% of the Pubs, and can send out a twitter commanding my 40% to unanimously vote for Rubio, because he's the cutest of the establishment Pubs, and I love his boots. So how does that work? Get everybody but one of them to drop out? Who does that?

And who do you push to get out? I think the idea is to see the results in NH, and if Rubio has a clear lead over the other three, then squeeze hard. But suppose that two or three of them are close together? Then what? Wait until SC I guess, and if the polls show Christie, Kasich and and Bush getting next to nothing, push hard then. It is not as if the GOP has a CEO or something.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Idiotic strategy. If they do succeed to take Cruz down, Trump wins Iowa and New Hampshire and will then be extremely hard to stop.

The best shot for the establishment is to let Cruz win Iowa and Trump win New Hampshire and then coalesce around the establishment guy who does the best in New Hampshire.

I agree with this. There may be some Cruz supporters who would go to Rubio if Cruz were to lose Iowa, but most would probably go to Trump. The establishment needs Cruz and Trump to divide their support more or less evenly going into South Carolina, and for Cruz and Trump to be beating the crap out of each other and tearing each other down, for someone like Rubio to have a chance in South Carolina or Nevada.

That being said, even a well executed strategy may not be sufficient to get Rubio (or Bush/Christie/Kasich) the nomination at this point.

[Maxwell]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

LOL. If you hate Cruz the most, and Trump slightly less, but still hate him, what is a better plan, that is, ah, legal?

Have them both split the angry, anti-establishment vote (60% of the vote at this point I'd guess) while the 40% or so of regular Republican voters coalesce around some regular Republican. duh.

Ah, and how do you implement that? I mean, it is not like Torie is in command of 40% of the Pubs, and can send out a twitter commanding my 40% to unanimously vote for Rubio, because he's the cutest of the establishment Pubs, and I love his boots. So how does that work? Get everybody but one of them to drop out? Who does that?

And who do you push to get out? I think the idea is to see the results in NH, and if Rubio has a clear lead over the other three, then squeeze hard. But suppose that two or three of them are close together? Then what? Wait until SC I guess, and if the polls show Christie, Kasich and and Bush getting next to nothing, push hard then. It is not as if the GOP has a CEO or something.

That's better than allowing Trump to basically acquire a majority of the GOP electorate, which this strategy almost guarantees.

[Nyvin]

The obvious problem with this is that if they take down Cruz...it makes Trump's numbers "rise" and would make him really hard to stop come March 1st.

[Torie]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

LOL. If you hate Cruz the most, and Trump slightly less, but still hate him, what is a better plan, that is, ah, legal?

Have them both split the angry, anti-establishment vote (60% of the vote at this point I'd guess) while the 40% or so of regular Republican voters coalesce around some regular Republican. duh.

Ah, and how do you implement that? I mean, it is not like Torie is in command of 40% of the Pubs, and can send out a twitter commanding my 40% to unanimously vote for Rubio, because he's the cutest of the establishment Pubs, and I love his boots. So how does that work? Get everybody but one of them to drop out? Who does that?

And who do you push to get out? I think the idea is to see the results in NH, and if Rubio has a clear lead over the other three, then squeeze hard. But suppose that two or three of them are close together? Then what? Wait until SC I guess, and if the polls show Christie, Kasich and and Bush getting next to nothing, push hard then. It is not as if the GOP has a CEO or something.

That's better than allowing Trump to basically acquire a majority of the GOP electorate, which this strategy almost guarantees.

What's better?

[Maxwell]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

LOL. If you hate Cruz the most, and Trump slightly less, but still hate him, what is a better plan, that is, ah, legal?

Have them both split the angry, anti-establishment vote (60% of the vote at this point I'd guess) while the 40% or so of regular Republican voters coalesce around some regular Republican. duh.

Ah, and how do you implement that? I mean, it is not like Torie is in command of 40% of the Pubs, and can send out a twitter commanding my 40% to unanimously vote for Rubio, because he's the cutest of the establishment Pubs, and I love his boots. So how does that work? Get everybody but one of them to drop out? Who does that?

And who do you push to get out? I think the idea is to see the results in NH, and if Rubio has a clear lead over the other three, then squeeze hard. But suppose that two or three of them are close together? Then what? Wait until SC I guess, and if the polls show Christie, Kasich and and Bush getting next to nothing, push hard then. It is not as if the GOP has a CEO or something.

That's better than allowing Trump to basically acquire a majority of the GOP electorate, which this strategy almost guarantees.

What's better?

Mine > Pub Establishment.

[Torie]

This "Establishment Strategy" is plan that has not been matched in quality since von Papen convinced Hindenburg to appoint a new Chancellor.

LOL. If you hate Cruz the most, and Trump slightly less, but still hate him, what is a better plan, that is, ah, legal?

Have them both split the angry, anti-establishment vote (60% of the vote at this point I'd guess) while the 40% or so of regular Republican voters coalesce around some regular Republican. duh.

Ah, and how do you implement that? I mean, it is not like Torie is in command of 40% of the Pubs, and can send out a twitter commanding my 40% to unanimously vote for Rubio, because he's the cutest of the establishment Pubs, and I love his boots. So how does that work? Get everybody but one of them to drop out? Who does that?

And who do you push to get out? I think the idea is to see the results in NH, and if Rubio has a clear lead over the other three, then squeeze hard. But suppose that two or three of them are close together? Then what? Wait until SC I guess, and if the polls show Christie, Kasich and and Bush getting next to nothing, push hard then. It is not as if the GOP has a CEO or something.

That's better than allowing Trump to basically acquire a majority of the GOP electorate, which this strategy almost guarantees.

What's better?

Mine > Pub Establishment.

So the establishment should not have gone so hard to knock Cruz out? But they don't want to risk Cruz getting too much traction, so if you hate Cruz the most, you are back to where we were.