Sabato on Trump: ‘How Does a Party Deny the Nomination to a Guy Who Has Dominated?

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

KILMEADE: “Well, a dramatic Super Tuesday. Super Tuesday 2 or 3, that leaves the GOP race down to three. Some say in two. Marco Rubio was routed in Florida, calling it quits after getting crushed by Trump in his own state. Let’s bring in Dr. Larry Sabato, director for the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He has his own crystal ball that predicts things like this. What should we conclude as we look at map?”
SABATO: “Well, for Donald Trump it was a titanic Tuesday, because he swept except for Ohio. That keeps John Kasich in the race, but look at this map, Brian. How does a party deny the nomination to a guy who has dominated the map to this point and probably will a very significant share of the remaining 19 states to vote? That’s the dilemma facing the Republican Party or I should say the anti-Trump part of the party. You know, they’re wanting to move into a contested convention to deny him. But there could be a meltdown in Cleveland if they do it.
KILMEADE: “I’ll tell you what, you know, Donald Trump has just said there will be riots in the streets if he’s denied the nomination. Here’s what he said about the negative advertisements directed against him. Let’s listen.”
[clip starts]
TRUMP: “Nobody has ever — ever in the history of politics received the kind of negative advertising that I have. Record, record, record. By the way, mostly false. I wouldn’t say 100 percent, but about 90 percent. Mostly false. Vicious, horrible. They said it was 18 million the first week. Meaning last week. And 25 million, it added up to over $40 million. And you explain it to me because I can’t. My numbers went up. I don’t understand it. Nobody understands it.”
[clip ends]
KILMEADE: “Do you understand it, Dr. Sabato?”
SABATO: “Well, I understand this much. By the way I credit him for admitting 10 percent of it’s true. Very few candidates will admit anything in a negative ad is true, but look, I wouldn’t say it’s a record amount, loads of candidates have had massive negative advertising aimed at them. But he’s right about this. He’s had an awful lot of negative advertising directed at his campaign and he has not spent very much to answer it and he doesn’t have Super PACs to spend money to answer its, and yet he keeps winning. What does that tell you? It tells you he has a very, very strong core of supporters who aren’t moved by the messages in negative ads.”
KILMEADE: “Do you blame Cruz for not stopping and Kasich for continuing? Would you do the same thing if you were in their camps?”
SABATO: “Well, look, they put their heart and soul into this for months or years. So you can’t tell a candidate to get out. As long as they can see a path to victory, even if it’s a daydream, you know, you can see why they continue. If I can just make one key point, Brian. People are forgetting about the 40 days — 40 days — between June 7th when the primaries end, and the mid July start of the republican convention. That’s a lot of time for negotiation. And it’s going to happen. That’s why you don’t have to have a contested convention.”
KILMEADE: “Right. If you have — you have to get to 1,237, but if Donald Trump is a great deal maker see if he cuts a great deal maker. Dr. Sabato this is really testing you and your students. Thank you very much.”
SABATO: “Thank you so much Brian.”