From the last Morning Jolt of the week . . .
Rep. Pete King: ‘I Don’t See Malice in Trump like I see with Cruz.’
For everybody shouting this is now an Establishment newsletter… I’d argue that in Washington’s coming blizzard of the century, when we’re all reduced to cannibalism, we eat the Establishment first:
This week, the New York Times quoted another major Republican figure — former Senate majority leader and presidential nominee Robert J. Dole — as saying he would prefer Trump to Cruz. “Nobody likes him,” Dole said of Cruz, adding that the senator would bring on a “cataclysmic” loss as the GOP’s nominee.
Many have decided that Trump — for all his faults — is better. For one thing, many Republicans in Congress especially despise Cruz, who has a history of picking long-shot fights and blaming other Republicans when is unsuccessful.
Beyond that personal hostility, there’s a political calculation. If Cruz is nominated, they say, he could alienate swing voters with his brand of scorched-earth conservatism. If he’s elected, they fear, Cruz would shut Republican moderates out of power.
“Between Trump and Cruz, it’s not even close,” said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a longtime House moderate who has not endorsed a candidate. “Cruz isn’t a good guy, and he’d be impossible as president. People don’t trust him. And regardless of what your concern is with Trump, he’s pragmatic enough to get something done. I also don’t see malice in Trump like I see with Cruz.”
No, really, some are telling reporters the prefer losing with Trump to winning with Cruz:
Of course, this willingness to accommodate Mr. Trump is driven in part by the fact that few among the Republican professional class believe he would win a general election. In their minds, it would be better to effectively rent the party to Mr. Trump for four months this fall, through the general election, than risk turning it over to Mr. Cruz for at least four years, as either the president or the next-in-line leader for the 2020 nomination.
When I see sentiments like that, I’m thinking, “why wait for the blizzard?”
The Establishment looks at Trump and sees a completely different man than I do – agreeable, conciliatory, eager to take advice:
If Mr. Cruz were the party’s nominee, said Charles R. Black Jr., a lobbyist who has worked on numerous Republican presidential campaigns, “what would happen is a lot of the elected leaders and party elders would try to sit down and try to help Cruz run a better campaign, but he may not listen. Trump is another matter.”
“You can coach Donald,” Mr. Black said. “If he got nominated, he’d be scared to death. That’s the point he would call people in the party and say, ‘I just want to talk to you.’”
Am I awake?