Chuck Todd: If Trump Goes Independent, He Saves the Republican Congress

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

GEIST: “Chuck, jumping on a conversation we had a few minutes ago which was, Jeb Bush said yesterday, I think to you actually that —“
TODD: “Yeah.”
GEIST: “Donald Trump is not going to be the nominee. There is that sort of idea that it’s —“
SCARBOROUGH: “So, we keep hearing.” 
GEIST: “And we hear from Democrats and Republicans. And we’re just talking about data. This is not an endorsement of Donald Trump, but we realize it’s possible. He is not the nominee, but if you’re looking at raw data and the state of play in this campaign how can you say that there’s no way he’ll be the nominee?”
TODD: “Well only if the field stays crowded. One thing we learned yesterday, with everyone who spoke out, that the Republican Party is not going to let Donald Trump be nominated without an excruciating and ugly fight. What does that mean? Maybe it goes to the convention, maybe there’s a consolidation. Maybe it ends up making Ted Cruz more acceptable to them. The establishment, they only get to disqualify one of these guys. They’re not going to be able to go after both Trump and Cruz — say we can’t win with him, or him.”
SCARBOROUGH: “In this case, they hate the devil they know more than the devil they don’t know. The animosity on the hill for Ted Cruz is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. He couldn’t find a second Senator —“
TODD: “If I was a U.S. Senate candidate running in the state of Florida, I would at least know what Cruz is going to do. If you don’t know what Trump is going to do.”
SCARBOROUGH: “If I were Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, and I had to choose between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, I’d hold my nose and say get me Trump.”
TODD: “I’d tell you what you really want, if I was a republican U.S. Senator at this point, give me more places for Republicans to vote and show up to the polls, because there aren’t three way races in the Senate. Maybe it costs you the White House, but the irony here is Donald Trump’s independent candidacy would save the Republican House. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.”