Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh argued that the criticisms directed at Donald Trump by some Republicans “just further might push somebody to third party,” which would win the election for Hillary Clinton on Monday.
Rush, while he said, “Nobody knows what’s really gonna become of Trump, how long Trump’s gonna hang in.,” argued “You’ve got some Republican establishment types now getting very, very worried that all these assaults on Trump are gonna lead to him going third party. And if he goes third party, you can say hello to Hildebeast, because that’s what’s gonna happen. If any of these guys goes third party, it’s hello Hildebeast. But here’s one thing, folks, those of you who are for the Trumpster, this is something I need you to hear me say. I need you to actually hear this. We’re told that in a standard, ordinary, everyday campaign, it’s fair game for all the Republicans to go for the grand prize. And, in the process of a primary, it’s impossible not to attack your opponents. You have to. You have to beat your opponents. Sometimes the attacks, even within the party, get pretty vicious. But they’re never so vicious that, when it’s all over, they can’t unify. And it’s a very fine line. It’s a very close line everybody has to watch. You can’t go so overboard in criticizing anybody that, if they get the nomination, you can’t walk it back with credibility. Well, I’m here to tell you that is happening with Trump.”
He continued, “You’ve got people on Fox, you have Republican Party establishment types, you’ve got Republican consultants, who are out there now saying things about Trump that will be impossible to walk back, meaning they’re going so overboard in their criticism of Trump right now, that if Trump happens to stay in this, and if Trump wins this, these people are not going to be able to just automatically rally, which is what everybody says the party does after the nominee is chosen.”
Rush added, “You remember when Huckabee got together with McCain and basically pulled the rug out from Romney in 2008? This happened in West Virginia. Romney was on the way, and then all of a sudden Huckabee decided to get out and throw all of his delegates at the time, happened in West Virginia, I think, to McCain, which put McCain over the top. At that point, Romney could have just launched on those two guys, and he could have told everybody what a bunch of reprobates he thought they were. But he didn’t. He didn’t go personal. He didn’t go overboard. He didn’t go over the top, because he knew he was gonna seek the nomination again, and he couldn’t say things in the heat of that moment that it would be impossible to walk back at a later date, such as, ‘Mr. Romney, you said that John McCain would be the absolute worst thing that ever happened to this country if he got elected. How can you support him now?’ That’s something they won’t do. Well, they are doing it with Trump is my point. A lot of Republicans are doing it to the point that they can’t walk it back. And that, if Trump is ultimately serious about this, that just gives him maybe even more desire, energy to go third party. If Trump is aware that all of these other Republicans, or enough of them, are saying such outrageous things that they can’t walk ’em back and eventually support him if he becomes the nominee, if they’re making it clear they won’t support him if he becomes the nominee, which is the same thing as saying outrageous things you can’t walk back, then that just further might push somebody to third party.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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