Glenn Beck was left “steamed” after Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump crashed his caucus speech at a Nevada high school Tuesday evening, where the talk radio host had been speaking in support of Sen. Ted Cruz.
A small audience at Palo Verde High School in Summerlin listened as Beck stumped for Cruz ahead of the final voting. Under Nevada caucus rules, a designated surrogate is allowed to speak on behalf of a presidential candidate for up to two minutes while caucus-goers consider their votes.
In his speech, Beck, who last week invited supporters to fast for a Cruz victory in the Nevada caucus, said he’d spent five years watching Cruz “carefully.”
“America was great not because of a president, but America was great because of two reasons,” Beck said. “The Constitution of the United States, and that its people were good. We have almost lost our country and our Constitution.”
But as Beck spoke, Trump arrived at Palo Verde High School, drawing the crowd and the network TV cameras quickly away from Beck’s speech.
MSNBC happened to have live cameras rolling when Trump entered the room:
Roll Call’s Emily Cahn posted several tweets in the aftermath of the interruption:
.@glennbeck is speaking on behalf of @tedcruz in Summerlin. #Nevadacaucus pic.twitter.com/dFMxgWOC2F
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) February 24, 2016
.@realDonaldTrump shows up as @glennbeck speaks. Room goes wild! #Nevadacaucus pic.twitter.com/FhN3rMLhjI
— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) February 24, 2016
Chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” rang out as the Republican frontrunner entered the high school and spoke to supporters, who virtually mobbed the candidate in the hopes of speaking with him.
In an interview on Fox News Wednesday morning, Trump said he hadn’t intended to crash Beck’s speech.
“When I walked in, I saw he was at the podium and there were thousands of people in the room. Not too many people were listening to him — he’s not a very good guy to listen to, frankly, he’s boring,” Trump said.
“And so when I walked in, everybody saw me, the place went crazy. They all ran away from him, his whole crowd, and he was standing up there talking to nobody, and he steamed out of the room,” Trump added. “And I didn’t do it on purpose, but I happened to be there, and I’ll bet you 95 percent of the people in that room in that particular area were with us.”
Trump ultimately won the Nevada caucus by a massive margin, edging second-place finisher Sen. Marco Rubio by a full 22 points. Cruz finished third with 21.4 percent.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter @dznussbaum.
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