‘Morning Joe’: Trump Skipping Debate Is ‘Nightmare Scenario for Cruz’

SCARBOROUGH: “So what is it about Donald Trump that everybody supposedly loves, even though his favorabilities are starting to shoot up, that taking on Trump is like Kryptonite to these Republican challengers. Everybody that takes on Trump dies, right?”
JORDAN: “It’s not a great trend. Certainly you look at — I mean it was around December 21, and those numbers for Cruz just started to go down and actually I think Cruz has the most to lose if Trump doesn’t participate, because then on the stage he’s the highest in the polls so he becomes the pinata for everybody else. So he gets more pleasure —“
SCARBOROUGH: “That’s a great point. That actually is a nightmare scenario for Cruz because then Jeb, Marco, Rand, everybody —“ [crosstalk]
JORDAN: “Exactly, they’re going to be pile it on even more. And he’s already —“
SCARBOROUGH: “— are going to be killing.”
JORDAN: “Cruz just peaked a little too early and he — now, if he doesn’t win in Iowa it’s going to be seen as a loss for Cruz whereas Trump is seen as an upset. So he really does have, the stakes are very high for Cruz, I think ”