***Horse Race LiveWire*** Ted Cruz Fights On

Texas Senator and Republican Presidential Hopeful Ted Cruz speaks during the annual Conser
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Breitbart News

Welcome to Breitbart News’s daily live updates of the 2016 horse race.

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All times eastern.

6:33: Sanders concedes Missouri to Clinton by not asking for a recount.

6:23: Trump’s Senior Policy Adviser says that Trump will hammer Clinton on trade and will frame Clinton as a candidate who is siding with Wall Street and big business. Miller says the GOP establishment and members of the conservative industrial complex are lining up behind Cruz because “they don’t want anything in Washington to change.”

6:20: Miller: If Lindsey Graham writes a book it should be titled How to Shrink the Republican Party. He says Graham is the expert in shrinking the Republican Party and wonders if Cruz will reject his endorsement. Miller says Graham came up with the foreign policy that ruined the GOP and the immigration policies that have hollowed out the middle class and made the party less attractive to blue-collar voters.

6:18: Miller says the GOP has been shrinking by pushing away blue-collar voters and the GOP should embrace the opportunity to grow. He says the campaign is building a bigger Republican Party by embracing blue-collar voters that have not felt at home in either party.

Miller says the “rich and powerful” are panicking because they are losing control of the GOP and Trump is returning the party to the people.

6:08: Trump Senior Adviser: Conservative Industrial Complex Worried ‘Gravy Train’ Will Shut Down if Trump Gets Nomination.

On CNN, Trump’s Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller says the campaign is feeling “very confident” they can secure the nomination before the convention. Regarding members of the conservative industrial complex who are plotting a third-party run, Miller says that they are trying to deny tens of millions of patriotic Americans control of their economic futures. Miller says these people are worried that the “gravy train” will shut down if Trump gets the nominee.

Miller says their motivation is “selfish, economic interests” like bad trade/comprehensive amnesty deals Trump’s voters are revolting against.

Miller says, “to be candid, most people watching today are thinking, ‘who is Erick Erickson?'”

Miller says the reality is that the average Republican voter has been killed by the offshoring of jobs, open borders, and a terrible foreign policy. He says they are saying “please, give us relief from these terrible policies.”

Miller says people are “terrified” and “desperate” that they are losing control of a party they thought they controlled. Miller says the steelworker–not the person with a $2 million salary lobbying Washington and members of the conservative industrial complex–will be in charge if Trump win the White House.

Miller says the “stop Trump” movement is about one thing — “people trying to retain their own power.”

5:00: Tech world doesn’t like Trump: Cisco’s GOP CEO will back Kasich or Clinton:

4:55: Cruz counters:

 

4:20: On MSNBC, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson says he is worried that “a lot of Reagan Democrats” will vote for Trump over Clinton.

4:05: Labor leaders freaking out their members are supporting Trump. A similar dynamic  may occur in minority communities:

3:59: Rush Limbaugh on why the GOP establishment and the conservative industrial complex hate Trump:

You would not believe the number of people not even in politics who are threatened by this thing Trump is doing. Naturally people in politics feel threatened by it at every level and for all kinds of reasons, but there are people in media who feel threatened by this.

Trump is showing he’s better than practically anybody in media in attracting an audience, in holding an audience, and he doesn’t need a producer and he doesn’t need a writer or writers and he doesn’t need a director. There’s a whole lot of people threatened by this on a whole lot of different levels. Like I discussed yesterday, Donald Trump has turned the standard operating political formula upside down. There’s a formula in professional politics about how you get elected.

You have to hire a consultant. You have to hire pollsters. You have to hire data analytics people. You have to hire spokesmen. You have to hire get-out-the-vote people. I mean, you have to hire, hire, hire, hire, and then you have to get the best who do what they do, and you have to listen to them. You have to plan to the Nth detail every minute of the day, every appearance. Trump’s done none of it and has, in the process, illustrated that may — if I were in the professional politics business, I would feel so threatened right now because I’m looking at somebody who has demonstrated that my expertise isn’t necessary.

I would think, if I’m a consultant, if I’m a spokesman, if I’m a policy analyst, I’d look at this whole Trump phenomenon and go, “I’m not needed. People are gonna realize it. People are gonna realize I’m not needed.” Let’s say you’re a foreign policy advisor for candidate X. Trump doesn’t have any. He’s leading the pack. So it’s no wonder he’s gonna be criticized for everything he’s doing. People have turf to be protected here, folks. This is huge, what’s happening here, in all kinds of ways.

So explaining the anger, the envy, the resentment, the jealousy, the fear, I mean, it’s all there. People are afraid of Trump, people are envious, people are jealous, people are frightened, people are fearful, people are threatened. It depends on where you go, but all those facets are accurate, and it’s upsetting and unnerving, which is why so many of these people are hoping and praying that Trump implodes. They are hoping and praying that Trump loses in a landslide.

They are hoping that disaster comes to Trump, because if disaster comes to Trump in one way or another they will be validated as still necessary. They’ll be able to say, “Trump, he tried to do it without us. He tried to do it without a consultant. See what happens to you? He tried to do it without a good spokesman. See what happens you? He tried to do it without a foreign policy. See what happens to you? He tried to do it without the pollsters.” That’s what they want to be able to say down the road.

Here’s another thing that scares them. Trump is improv. (interruption) What are you whispering about in there? What are you whispering about in there? No, I’m serious. He is improv. There is no speechwriter. That’s another group of people that aren’t employed by the Trump campaign. There’s no writer. And have you noticed other campaigns where there are speechwriters, have you noticed no matter when the candidate speaks, it’s the same speech? It’s called the stump speech. And have you noticed that it’s practically word-for-word at every stop.

3:53: Sanders campaign manager tells MSNBC that “this race is going all the way to the convention” and by June 7, “we will pass Secretary Clinton in pledged delegates.”

3:50: Pro-Sanders group apologizes for saying Hillary Clinton won “Confederacy.”

3:47: Fox’s Chris Wallace points out Kasich has complained about not getting enough time at the debates yet decided to skip Utah’s debate.

3:45: Trump turning out voters even though he is not using “words that work.”

3:32:  LAURA BUSH: ‘Don’t Ask’ if I will Vote for Trump.

“I’m not going to answer,” she told USA Today. “Don’t ask that.”

3:27: On CNN, Christine O’Donnell says she prefers Cruz to Trump but says she doesn’t want Cruz to leave the Senate.

3:25: New Cruz ad in Arizona:

2:41: Black Lives Matter activists annoyed their agitating isn’t swaying public opinion on Trump.

2:37: Trump sends out casting call on Instagram:

2:36: Rubio: Supporting Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill ‘Not The Reason’ Why I Lost

Delusional Rubio says immigration was just a “factor” in his loss. He says “it was not the reason” why he lost. He also said it was an “open question” whether Trump can secure enough delegates to win the nomination before the convention.

Rubio also claims going in the gutter didn’t hurt him politically because he “almost won Virginia.” Had he not gone in the gutter, he may have won Virginia.

2:35: Rubio says he does not want to be Cruz’s vice president. He says he will be a “private citizen” in January and will not run for governor/re-election to the Senate.

2:25: Lindsey Graham’s past comments on Cruz:

2:01: Socialists uniting. Rep. Raul Grijalva (R-AZ) ad for Sanders in Arizona

1:56: Failed, stale, unimaginative consultants and wanna-be influence peddlers in the Twitter world want to blame the media for the rise of Trump. Not so fast.

As Howard Kurtz points out: 

The current complaints center on the fantasy notion that news organizations have failed to aggressively report on Trump.

But I have read hundreds of articles, and watched thousands of segments, about Trump’s business setbacks; his casino bankruptcies; allegations of mob ties and racial discrimination; the use of foreign workers to staff his properties and make his merchandise; how he gave large sums to Democrats, including Hillary Clinton; how he changed from liberal positions on abortion and health care; even accusations that he cheats at golf.

I have consumed many fact-checking efforts about erroneous or questionable statements he has made, about how much Medicare spends on prescription drugs, or having watched reports of thousands of Muslims celebrating on 9/11 in New Jersey.

I have read or seen a long line of commentators accusing Trump of being racist, sexist, misogynist, xenophobic, of being ignorant on policy, of encouraging violence.

And yet he keeps winning primaries. The negative media attention and fact-checking attempts bounce off him like rubber arrows.

There are limits, it turns out, to the mighty power of the press. Voters don’t much trust the media these days, and they get to decide which candidates they like.

Another former member of the mainstream media elite–Marc Ambinder–also had some takes on this. He rightly points out that the media should have tried to understand why ordinary Americans were drawn to Trump’s message:

 

 

1:54: Mike Murphy = simply a clown (at least he has realized he is not good at campaign management–will not run campaigns anymore after Bush’s embarrassing loss)

1:49: None other than Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is now backing Cruz:

1:48: Paul Ryan told Boehner to “knock it off” about supporting Ryan to win the nomination:

1:47: Obama reportedly implied to donors that it’s time for Sanders to get out of the race:

1:45: Pro-Clinton Super PAC responds to Trump’s Video that Attacked Clinton:

1:27: Trololol.

1:23: “Conservatives Against Trump” group endorses brokered convention strategy against Trump and is keeping other options open in case that fails.

We call for a unity ticket that unites the Republican Party.  If that unity ticket is unable to get 1,237 delegates prior to the convention, we recognize that it took Abraham Lincoln three ballots at the Republican convention in 1860 to become the party’s nominee and if it is good enough for Lincoln, that process should be good enough for all the candidates without threats of riots.

We encourage all former Republican candidates not currently supporting Trump to unite against him and encourage all candidates to hold their delegates on the first ballot.

Lastly, we intend to keep our options open as to other avenues to oppose Donald Trump.  Our multiple decades of work in the conservative movement for free markets, limited government, national defense, religious liberty, life, and marriage are about ideas, not necessarily parties.

1:12: Data.

12:56: He did pivot to NAFTA pretty late in the game.

12:53: Trump’s Twitter has been on a tear against the Wall Street Journal.

12:39: Trump is a point of tension between Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly–and Megyn’s gone public to shame her colleague.

The longstanding tension between star Fox News personalities Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly has gone public.

In an interview, Kelly said O’Reilly should have done more to defend her against Donald Trump’s attacks.

“I do wish that O’Reilly had defended me more in his interview with Trump,” Kelly told More Magazine. “I would have defended him more.”

Kelly was referring to an interview from January when Trump told O’Reilly that he had “zero respect” for Kelly, and described her as “highly overrated.” O’Reilly made no move to defend his colleague, a decision Kelly supporters viewed as a betrayal.

12:29: Kasich releases Twitter statement accusing Donald Trump of promoting violence.

12:18: Navarro supported Bush.

12:15: California poll: Trump 38.3%, Cruz 22.4%, Kasich 19.7%.

11:58: Boston Globe: Trump is beginning a charm offensive on newly unbound delegates, like Rubio’s from Puerto Rico.

There are potentially hundreds of so-called unbound delegates, who can vote for whomever they want at the convention. And they are scattered in often overlooked places around the country.

“If you’re an unbound delegate you’re going to get to know Donald Trump,” said Barry Bennett, a Trump senior adviser. “He’s about to start the personal lobbying campaign. Especially where we think there could be blocs of voters.”

11:56: Rubio implies: media hype brought expectations too high for my campaign.

11:42: Are we seeing some lasting damage done to the consultant class?

11:39: The Kremlin isn’t happy with how Trump’s Instagram ad portrayed Putin:

Reuters) – The Kremlin on Thursday hit out at a pre-election video promoting U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump at Hillary Clinton’s expense, complaining that it demonized Russia.

“I saw this clip. I do not know for sure if (President) Vladimir Putin saw it. (But) our attitude is negative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a teleconference with reporters.

The video attempts to cast doubt over Clinton’s ability to deal with Putin, whom it casts as a U.S. foe.

…

“It’s an open secret for us that demonizing Russia and whatever is linked to Russia is unfortunately a mandatory hallmark of America’s election campaign,” said Peskov. “We always sincerely regret this and wish the (U.S.) electoral process was conducted without such references to our country.”

11:19: Cruz to reveal foreign policy team today–prominently featuring the Center for Security Policy’s Frank Gaffney.

11:13: Rubio tells Minnesota backers Cruz ‘only conservative left in the race’

Former presidential candidate Marco Rubio told a group of Minnesota supporters Wednesday he is hoping one of the remaining candidates for president will stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican nomination — and that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz could be the best option for conservatives.

Rubio, who dropped out of the race Tuesday after losing his home state of Florida, didn’t endorse any of his former rivals in a conference call with dozens of Minnesota supporters. In the call, he explained his decision to leave the race and why he felt his presidential campaign didn’t do better, and suggested he might run for office again at some point in the future.

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