Bill Kristol is horror-struck at the prospect of a race for the White House between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, telling
Newsmax TV a contest between the billionaire developer and former secretary of state would turn into a tasteless wrestling smack down.
"I'm so appalled at the thought of a Hillary Clinton/Donald Trump race. I mean really this country can do a lot better than both of them," Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, said Wednesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"God knows what will happen with the two of them. I mean it's like such a Worldwide Wrestling Federation match. I mean I can't even predict what that will look like. I don't know."
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The latest national presidential polls show Trump remaining the Republican front-runner by a wide margin and Clinton keeping her lead as the top Democrat for the nomination.
But Kristol is holding out hope for a third-party candidate to waltz into the chaos and capture American voters' attentions.
"I do think an independent candidate might be able to win the presidency if they just get some decent, calm, soft spoken guy or woman who wants to do the right thing for the country. Let Trump and Hillary tear each other up," Kristol said.
But is that a realistic possibility?
"It's very unlikely, but I don't think it's quite as out of the question as everyone else thinks," Kristol told Steve Malzberg.
"It has to be someone decent and reputable and patriotic. You know some form of military person. Maybe someone who served in public office in a good way and isn't just part of a problem in Washington.
I'm not sure who it would be though honestly. I personally love [former Vice President] Dick Cheney. I'm not sure he'd be the contentious candidate in this respect."
Kristol said he's been watching the latest polls,
published by Real Clear Politics, with interest.
"Trump's hanging in there and he's increasing his lead a little bit in most of the polls. [Sen. Ted] Cruz [of Texas], though, is really gaining it," he said.
The only three candidates that have gained in this month of December are Trump … doing a little bit better, Cruz quite a good gain, actually, and [New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie.
"[Christie is coming] from a very low base but beginning to emerge out of the [Ohio Gov. John] Kasich, [former Florida Gov. Jeb] Bush, Christie [group] … kind of second tier and possibly entering up there as an alternative.
"I kind of think Trump, Cruz, Christie and then [Sen. Marco] Rubio [of Florida], who sunk a little bit, remains viable."
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