RUSH: Rex in Penns Creek, Pennsylvania. Great to have you on the program. I’m glad you waited. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush, good talking to you. Mega dittos from Steelers country.
RUSH: Yes, sir.
CALLER: Hey, I had a commented sort of along the line of the last caller. I’m a Ted Cruz supporter. I saw a couple of weeks ago that Ted Cruz said that if Trump were to get out of the race, then he thinks that he would get the lion’s share of Trump’s supporters. I just wanted your opinion on that. I found it interesting, the way that Cruz has treated Trump. He’s almost gone out of his way not to attack him. I don’t know if that’s because of Cruz’s style and character or if it’s a political calculation. And I actually think that Cruz probably is, in many ways, the most similar candidate that we have in the GOP to Trump, even though there are obviously other stark contrasts.
RUSH: Why do you think Trump is gonna get out of the race?
CALLER: I don’t think he is.
RUSH: Oh, I thought —
CALLER: I was just… And I’m not necessarily anti-Trump. I would put him about fourth on my list. But I was just… The article that I saw actually on Ted Cruz’s Facebook page, it quoted him as saying that he thought that he would get most of the Trump supporters at that time.
RUSH: Well, I think… Again, just off the cuff here. I’ve not spoken to Ted Cruz about this. But you’re right. Cruz has refrained from joining the crowd piling on Trump. And I do think it’s strategic, because I think Ted Cruz sees himself as the Donald Trump of the Republican Party. He’s an outsider inside. He has hit them and hit them hard, as though he is an outsider, even though he’s in the Senate, is an elected Republican.
And I think he thinks that he is probably in the same vein as Trump and is not exactly running a similar kind of campaign, but is occupying the same place. I’ve seen stories, too — I forget where and I don’t remember authorship — that some people think Cruz would be the natural heir to the Trump constituency if Trump ever got out. That talk is gonna have to stop at some point, Trump getting out. And I know you said you didn’t say that.
Trump is building his lead and Carson is staying right with him, and then the lower tier is fluid. The whole thing remains fluid, and the reason it does is because of Trump. Trump is clearly running the daily news cycle of the Republican presidential campaign. The media is not. And that is another reason why there is overwhelming support for Trump, is that he’s running the agenda. He’s in charge of it, he’s putting the media through hoops, and he’s the first candidate on the Republican side that’s coming along and been able to do this.
I know a lot of Ted Cruz fans, and they’ve been curious why Trump — Cruz (I’m sorry to conflate them) — why Cruz hasn’t done better in the polls than he is, and it’s because Trump has come along and basically occupies that position, but he genuinely is an outsider. Anyway, I’m up against it on time here so I have to interrupt myself. But, Rex, I appreciate the call.
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