Tuesday on “CBS This Morning,” Wall Street Journal columnist and former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan Peggy Noonan said the growing discontent between Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and the so-called establishment wing could “break” the party.
Noonan said, “You know, the Republican consultant class and the Republican Party decided nine and six and even three months ago this whole thing is going to go away and we don’t have to take it on, we don’t have to attack. When they finally realized, ‘Oh, my God, Trump and Trumpism are real, he could win,’ they suddenly thought they had to adopt his style and be tough and pugilistic. My sense is it doesn’t make anybody look better. I always thought Rubio and Cruz should be going at Trump having a conversation about policy rather than insulting each other. So I’m all for consultants beating themselves up but I’m not sure if they moved earlier, it would have worked.”
When asked if Trump could bring down the GOP, Noonan added, “He could break it. He could break it. Imagine what happens if he racks up a lot of delegates, they get to the convention, it looks like Trump has won, and the party machinery finagles it away from him. Trump supporters would blot the Republican Party. At the same time if Trump waltzes to the nomination, there is a major sliver, and maybe not just a sliver, at the top of the Party that will start a Republican Party in exile. Or you can quite imagine that happening. So we’re seeing something big. ”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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