Establishment Republicans are coming out for Donald Trump, but "what it really signifies is their hatred for Ted Cruz," radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said
on his program Thursday.
"It's the most incredible thing to sit here and watch all of this," Limbaugh said. "They literally despise Ted Cruz.
They are beside themselves with hatred for Ted Cruz that goes beyond the rational."
It is rational, though, "if you understand the establishment's absolute hatred and distaste for conservatism," Limbaugh continued. "These people are out there, some of them are actually saying that they would actively, publicly support and vote for Hillary Clinton over Ted Cruz. Other elected Republicans are saying so, Republican consultants, typical establishment members, even some donors."
"Bob Dole has come out and said, paraphrasing, 'oh, yeah, Donald Trump, far, far, far more preferable than Ted Cruz," Limbaugh continued, noting that he has a story in his "stack of stuff" from
The Hill that "Republican donors are quietly coming around to the idea that Donald Trump could be their party's nominee for president."
There are many GOP donors who can't abide the idea of Trump as their standard-bearer, and remain "flat-out in denial" about his candidacy's strength, interviews with GOP business leaders suggest attitudes are changing, The Hill's story says.
"I don't know if Trump said he wouldn't accept any money in a general election," said Limbaugh on Thursday. "I don't know. He might have only meant the primaries when he said he wasn't gonna take any money. Who knows. But it is kind of coincidental, the timing."
But if there is an establishment shift to Trump, said Limbaugh, "it is to cut Cruz off at the pass."
"They clearly think that they could make deals with Trump," he said. "If they look down the road and they see Trump as president, they think they'll be able to go to Trump and make deals and agree with the Democrats and come up with compromises and so forth. But they are aware that no such deal-making that damages the country will occur with Ted Cruz. And so they are telegraphing their fears, letting it be known exactly where they come down on all this. "
The establishment, said Limbaugh, hates Cruz because "they don't doubt Cruz is an outsider, and they don't doubt Cruz is gonna change the way things are done. Don't you find it interesting that this move toward Trump comes the day after he signs on to the ethanol thing? This the kind of stuff insiders like."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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