Newt: It’s ‘Either Trump or Cruz, I Don’t Think There’s Any Path for Anybody Else’

Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich downplayed any prospect of someone other than either Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) receiving the Republican nomination.

Gingrich told Hannity after the results of tonight’s GOP primary contests, the path for either Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) or Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) becomes less clear. The one exception he said would involve one of several scenarios at the GOP convention this summer, to which Gingrich suggested was unlikely.

Partial transcript as follows:

Mr. Speaker, here’s the interesting thing. Mitt Romney is doing robocalls in Ohio for John Kasich, He’s doing robocalls in Florida for Marco Rubio.

GINGRICH: I think it’s kind of silly for the old Republican establishment, the past, to try to get together at a time when tomorrow night, you watch, almost 80 percent of the delegates are going to be either Trump or Cruz. And the nominee’s going to be, I think, either Trump or Cruz. I don’t think there’s any path for anybody else after tomorrow.

And candidly, I think that Romney’s robocalls probably hurt Rubio and Kasich because it sends exactly the wrong signal. You don’t want to be the nominee of the old order, the nominee of the team that lost, and that’s exactly what that is signaling. And

if you watch in Florida, from the day that Mitt got involved, Rubio’s gotten in more trouble. And I think that John Kasich, had he asked me, I’d have said, I wouldn’t accept that kind of endorsement not about Mitt Romney as a person but just because the old order is what’s being repudiated in this election…

HANNITY: But don’t…

GINGRICH: Yes?

HANNITY: But I think — I could point out to you — the path to convention chaos — that was in Politico, 15 dirty tricks the establishment can use to stop Trump or Cruz. GOP establishment elites discuss how to stop Trump. All he has — get this. All he has going for him is a lot of votes.

So if Rubio stayed in after losing Florida, if these polls turn out to be right, wouldn’t he be staying in to siphon off 10 delegates here, 15 delegates here, even if — even if Kasich wins Ohio, he doesn’t have a path to get the nomination. He’s not even on the ballot in Pennsylvania!

GINGRICH: They have a path to be — not to be negotiators with a block of delegates, which is totally legitimate. But the people are going to negotiate with — and this will be well before the convention. It’ll be right after the last primary.

The two people they’re going to negotiate with are Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. There’s not a third person. And I guarantee you, if Ted Cruz and Donald Trump think some totally illegitimate person who hasn’t been in the debates, hasn’t been in the primaries, hasn’t paid his dues or her dues, tried to show up, the two of them would get together, guarantee that they were the ticket and run over everybody else.

I mean, nobody is going to be able to take on these two guys if they decide that they would rather be a team than let anybody else, you know, who hasn’t paid their dues — let’s be clear here. Whoever gets this nomination is going to have been through a long, grueling, difficult process.

HANNITY: But if Kasich or Rubio…

GINGRICH: Right now, you have…

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: … and they come in and say, Well, he’s the consensus guy. Look, I’ve seen a lot of dirty tricks in my life.

GINGRICH: He can’t be the consensus guy — I know, but the two guys who are going to have 80 percent of the vote…

HANNITY: They have…

(CROSSTALK)

GINGRICH: … are called Donald and Ted.

HANNITY: All right.

(CROSSTALK)

GINGRICH: Now, I mean — I mean, one of them could turn and pick up (ph) the other two guys…

HANNITY: Yes.

GINGRICH: … and then that guy would get to be the nominee. So you know, Trump wrote “The Art of the Deal,” so hopefully, he’s going to be doing it. Cruz is a very good negotiator. He’s going to be trying to do it. That’s legitimate.

But there’s not going to be a third person. It’s not possible. The entire party would rebel if somebody tried to do that.

HANNITY: OK. Mr. Speaker, good to see you. It’s funny to watch the establishment…

GINGRICH: Good to see you.

HANNITY: … have a meltdown in front of the entire country, but that’s what’s happening. Thanks for being with us.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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