Cruz on Kasich Alliance: ‘The Trump Campaign Is Scared’

Monday in Indiana, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) explained the alliance between himself and his opponent Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) to take on the current party front-runner Donald Trump.

Partial transcript as follows:

CRUZ: It is abundantly clear that nobody is getting to 1237. We are headed to a contested convention. And at a contested convention, Donald Trump is in real trouble. Why? Because he cannot earn the support of a majority of the delegates elected by the people. Donald has had consistently a hard ceiling of about 40% that he can’t break. Donald has been a minority candidate, a fringe candidate. Now, he’s benefited early in the race by having a multitude of opponents where the opposition to Donald was diffuse. But what we have seen happening over the last month is the Republican Party uniting behind our campaign. Indeed, of the 17 candidates who started this race, five have now endorsed our campaign. Rick Perry, Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Carla Fiorina. We are seeing the full spectrum of the Republican Party uniting. And let me say something about the Hoosier state. There is a common sense sensibility about this great state. You’ve had leaders like governor Mitch Daniels, like governor Mike Pence, who roll up their sleeves and solve problems. Who understand that when you cut taxes and lift regulations, the result is small businesses grow and jobs expand. We need a president in the spirit of Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence. that is exact low what this campaign is based on. My number one priority as president is jobs and economic growth. If I’m elected president, we’ll repeal every word of Obamacare. We will pass a simple flat tax and abolish the IRS. We will rein in the EPA and the federal regulators, especially the EPA that is killing the coal industry, killing tens of thousands of jobs here in the state of Indiana. And we will stop amnesty and end sanctuary cities. And the effect of all of that is that we’re going to see millions and millions of new high-paying jobs coming back to America. We’re going to see wages rising again. We’re going to see manufacturing jobs coming back to Indiana, coming back from China, coming back from Mexico. We’re going to see young people coming out of school having two, three, four, five, job opportunities again. That’s what this election is all about.  last question.

REPORTER: To voters who have watched you run as an outsider all these months now see you making this deal to John Kasich, how do you justify that as not collusion?

CRUZ:  Listen, I have been from day one an outsider. And the proof is in the pudding —  but now you’re –he proof is in the pudding. The voters can ask who has stood up and led the fight against the Washington cartel from day one. I am the only candidate who has taken on not just Democrats but leaders in my own party over and over and over again. When I ran for senate, I promised the people of Texas I would lead the fight against Obamacare. That’s what I did in the senate, much to the annoyance of the Washington cartel. As president, I’ll repeal every word of Obamacare. When I ran for senate in Texas, I promised the voters I would lead the fight against amnesty. That’s what I did in the senate, leading the fight against the gang of eight amnesty bill. At the same time that Donald Trump was funding the gang of eight, giving over $50,000 to the proponents of amnesty, I was leading the fight and we defeated amnesty in congress. as president. I will stop amnesty. We’ll secure the borders, we’ll end sanctuary cities and we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally.

REPORTER: Respectfully, sir, how is it not collusion? What do you say to those people who say that it’s collusion? Donald Trump is saying that you are colluding and we expect to hear from him again and again.

CRUZ: I understand that Donald will whine. That’s what he does. Donald is a sore loser. When he lost five states in a low in landslide elections, Donald through a tantrum. His response is to attack the voters. His response is to attack the people. Yes, I get that the Trump campaign is scared. They’re scared of Indiana. If Donald wasn’t scared, he’d show up in Indiana and have a debate. But he would much rather hide in Trump Tower. He’d much rather stay in northeastern states that tend to be more liberal than actually come to the Midwest, come to the heartland and defend his policies. The past week Donald Trump agreed with Hillary Clinton on raising taxes. In the past week Donald Trump came out and agreed with Hillary Clinton that adult grown men should be able to go into little girls restrooms. And in the past week, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, who is a long-time Washington lobbyist, and this is important for people to understand, the entire Trump campaign is run by Washington lobbyists. it is the Washington cartel. It is the lobbyists who are running his campaign. His lobbyist campaign manager went and talked to the top brass of the RNC and said Donald is just putting on an act. This is a role he’s playing. He’s just on stage. He’s just pretending. He doesn’t mean what he said. Now, at first the Trump camp denied that. That’s their standard is to deny everything. Unfortunately for them, it was actually caught on tape, so we have the tape of Donald Trump’s lobbyist campaign manager saying this is all an act, this is all a fake, he’s a phony. Interestingly enough, that’s almost the exact same thing Donald Trump told “The New York Times” back in January when he sat down with “The New York Times” editorial board. Trump told them he doesn’t believe what he’s saying on immigration, he’s not going to build a wall, he’s not going to deport anyone. Once again, “The New York Times” has a tape. Now, the Trump campaign denies he says that but won’t let “The Times” release the tape. If he didn’t say he’s not going to build a wall, he’s not going to deport anyone and he’s simply faking it on immigration, then Donald should release the tape. His supporters should demand that he release the tape and prove his innocence. Donald won’t do that for the same reason that he won’t show up at a debate. because this is a fraud that the lobbyists in Washington are attempting to perpetuate on the American people. This is a fraud. The stakes are too high for us to get fooled again. And we’re all used to politicians who betray us after they get elected. Donald is betraying us before he gets elected and he’s telling us he’s lying to us. And so we are fighting to beat Donald Trump for the nomination. We are going to beat Donald Trump for the nomination. No one is getting to 1237, we’re headed to a contested convention. And at that convention the nominee will be decided by whoever can earn the support of a majority of the delegates elected by the people. And I  believe the only candidate who will be able to do that is me. And when we earn the support of a majority of the delegates we’re going to go forward and beat Hillary Clinton in November. Donald can’t — it would be a disaster for Republicans, for conservatives and for the country.

And, yes, I understand that the Trump campaign is going to scream and cry. That’s what they do. whining is what they do. because you notice, it is never, ever, ever Donald’s fault. Can anyone think of any instance when Donald has ever said he’s done anything wrong? It does not appear that he thinks that’s possible, that Donald could do something wrong. So it’s always the voters’ fault. It’s always the people’s fault. It’s always somebody else’s fault. But Donald J. Trump you know what, we need a president who understands the principle of the buck stops here. Donald Trump needs to learn to take some responsibility for and if he wants to make the case, show up and debate. Don’t hide behind your media surrogates. Because you’re terrified of scrutiny. Answer the questions from the voters. Have it be a town hall, real Hoosiers asking real questions about real problems. And if Donald is too terrified to answer the questions asked by the people of Indiana, how on earth is he going to stand on a debate stage with Hillary Clinton. If he’s scared of the voters now, how bad do you think he would be in a general election. and by the way, we’ve all seen a candidate in a general election who’s a loose cannon who will say any given thing on any given day. Who will wake up one day and say as Donald trump did that he thinks women should be punished for having abortions. That’s an absurd position. — Every day if Donald Trump were the nominee, we would see a circus of loose cannon statements that he tries to walk back the next day. d that would result in disaster for Republicans across the country. Now, I get that Hillary Clinton would be thrilled to see the Donald Trump train wreck in the general election. I get that the media, the network execs in just about every network are card-carrying Democrats, they are ready for Hillary. Nothing would thrill them more than a bloodbath that elects Hillary Clinton and gets great ratings while it’s happening. That is the perfect storm from a media network executive’s view, but it is a terrible outcome for the people. And this election is going to be decided by the people. And the Hoosier state, the entire country, its eyes are on this great state to choose between path do we want to go down. Do we want to go down the path of nominating a candidate whose entire campaign platform consists of yelling and screaming and cursing and insulting anyone and everyone it can find. Or do we want instead a positive, optimistic, forward-looking conservative campaign with real policy solutions to the challenges facing this country.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN