Ted Cruz on his strategy to topple Donald Trump
The exit polls offer some ammunition for Donald Trump's Republican opponents. Seventy-four percent of non-Trump voters said they will not be satisfied if he is the party's nominee. Sen. Ted Cruz wants those voters to get behind him.
"What I hope and believe will happen coming out of this is that we will see Republicans unifying and coming together in this election, coming together that the strongest campaign to beat Donald Trump is our campaign," Cruz told "CBS This Morning" co-host Charlie Rose on Tuesday night.
But Rose pointed out that Trump was the big winner of Super Tuesday, and he beat Cruz in states people thought would support Cruz, including Alabama.
"Listen, nobody predicted Donald Trump a year ago, and Donald Trump is a unique political phenomenon," Cruz responded. "His voice is loud and angry and insulting. But I think when the voters examine Donald, they'll discover he actually embodies Washington corruption, the Washington deal-making that they're so angry about."
"Here is perceived reality, and you tell me if you differ with it. The Republican establishment does not like you that much," Rose said.
"I think that's fair to say," Cruz said.
"And you need them to beat Donald Trump," Rose said.
"Well, we need to unify the Republican Party and all of this primary is about winnowing it down," Cruz said.
To gather more support behind Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. John Kasich would have to bow out of the race.
"I think every candidate is going to look at the results in this election, is going to reflect on it and consider it and make a decision. And for candidates to go forward, they have to see a path that makes sense for them. They have to see a path that gives them some viable option at winning the nomination," Cruz said.
But what's clear, he said, is if the Republican party remains divided, Trump's path to the nomination "becomes all the more likely," Cruz said.
"I think Donald may be the one candidate in America that Hillary Clinton can beat in the general election. And the consequences of that would be absolutely catastrophic," Cruz said. "We'd lose the Supreme Court for a generation. We'd lose the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment and religious liberty."