Up until a couple of weeks ago, Trump and most of the pundits expected him to win in Wisconsin, possibly putting Cruz away for good.\u00a0 Kasich was expected to do well and this was expected to split the no-Trump vote.\u00a0 Just tonight, Bill O\u2019Reilly said that he thought Cruz \u201cmight\u201d win but it would be close.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t close.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t even close to being close.\u00a0 The highest poll, prior to the election shows Cruz beating Trump 42% to 32%.\u00a0 The average was Cruz 39.2%, Trump 34.5% and Kasich 20.7%.\u00a0 One poll, taken over the weekend had Trump winning 42% to 32%.\u00a0 The actual results were shockingly different. With 97% of the vote counted the results are: Cruz 48.5%, Trump 34.9% and Kasich 14.4%.\u00a0 No one, and I do mean no one, was predicting that Cruz would approach 50% of the vote.<\/p>\n
In addition, the turnout was at record levels, which was supposed to help Trump.\u00a0 But, heavy turnout benefited Cruz, not Trump.<\/p>\n
If you are wonder how bad it is, read the following excerpts from an e-mail send by the Trump campaign to the Washington Post tonight:<\/p>\n
\u201cTed Cruz is worse than a puppet \u2013 he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump,\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNot only was he propelled by the anti-Trump Super PAC\u2019s spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating with his own Super PAC\u2019s [sic] (which is illegal) who totally control him.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This is nothing short of sour grapes by a sore loser.\u00a0 But there is something else going on here that the main stream media has missed.\u00a0 Ted Cruz has been in a lot of town hall meetings lately, where he had the chance to give long reasoned answers to difficult questions. If you have watched any of these, Ted Cruz has knocked it out of the park.\u00a0 He is far more eloquent that his critics realize. Last night, there was an incredible exchange during a town hall moderated by Megyn Kelly:<\/p>\n First the question:<\/p>\n I consider myself a moderate Republican, and I\u2019m pro-choice. One of my fears and concerns is that if you become president, you may make abortion illegal nationwide. So what\u2019s your message to me and other women and men regarding that issue and that fear?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Cruz responded with the following:<\/p>\n My whole life I\u2019ve been a passionate defender of the Constitution, and I think judicial activism is wrong. One of the worst things about the Supreme Court in 1973 stepping in and seizing this issue is it took it out of control of the people. It said that five unelected judges will decide this issue rather than 330 million Americans. I believe under our Constitution we have a democratic society and that if someone wants to pass legislation limiting or expanding abortion, the way to do that is to convince your fellow citizens to make the case at the ballot box.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAnd my view, I\u2019m pro-life,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> he said. \u201cI believe that we should protect every human life, and we should protect every life from the moment of conception.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n But Cruz added that he would not make abortion illegal because he believes the issue should be decided in the states, according to the Constitution.<\/p>\n Making the case \u201cat the ballot box,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> he said, is \u201cultimately the check for both your views and my views, that you\u2019ve got to convince our fellow citizens.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBut I think all of us should agree that it\u2019s a much better system to have important public policy issues decided by the people, at the ballot box, rather than five unelected lawyers just imposing their views on everybody else,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> he added.<\/p>\n He continued:<\/p>\n And I will say there is more and more consensus we are seeing on this issue, as we see, for example, people coming together to bar extreme practices, things like partial-birth abortion, where we\u2019re seeing a large consensus of American people saying this practice is gruesome; it\u2019s barbaric. It is my hope that we see people\u2019s hearts and minds change, but this is an issue where it\u2019s going to take time for people\u2019s hearts and minds to change\u2013that if you\u2019re gonna change a major issue of public policy, the way to do so, I believe, is at the ballot box.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Cruz addressed the issue of pregnancy resulting from a rape \u2013 often held up as a necessary \u201cexception\u201d to laws that restrict abortion. He explained that, as solicitor general in Texas, he handled many cases involving rape. Cruz said he argued before the Supreme Court in defense of state laws imposing capital punishment for the worst child rapists.<\/p>\n \u201cRape is a horrific crime against the humanity of a person and needs to be punished and punished severely,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> adding:<\/p>\n But at the same time, as horrible as that crime is, I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s the child\u2019s fault. And we weep at the crime and want to do everything we can to prevent the crime on the front end and punish the criminal, but I don\u2019t believe it makes sense to blame the child.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Kelly said some would say Cruz\u2019s view would force a woman who had been raped to go through the trauma of carrying her rapist\u2019s baby for nine months.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to convince your fellow citizens,\u201d <\/em><\/strong>Cruz repeated. \u201cThat\u2019s ultimately the check of a democratic society, is you\u2019ve got to convince 330 million Americans. And before\u00a0<\/em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>, it was a question state by state, so here it would be a question for Wisconsin.\u201d \u00a0\u201cWhat should the laws be, governing abortion?\u201d <\/em><\/strong>he asked. \u201cIf\u00a0<\/em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>was not the law, it would be up to the people of Wisconsin to decide, and the people of Wisconsin might decide to allow some exceptions, to not allow some exceptions.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cEveryone agrees you always want to protect the life of the mother,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Cruz stated.<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cBut if you trust the people \u2013 it\u2019s one of the reasons why the Constitution and Bill of Rights can be such a unifying document and approach because ultimately the Constitution entrusts the people with making these decisions, not having them forced on us by unelected judges.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Even Ronald Reagan, the great communicator, was never capable of giving this kind of reasoned response to such a difficult question.\u00a0 Most Republicans become defensive and fall into the liberal trap of focusing on the exception rather than the fundamental issue.\u00a0 Others resort to trite sounding religious clich\u00e9s.\u00a0 Cruz did neither. He not only did not back down, he brilliantly focused attention back on the real issue which is whether or not we chose to value life itself and why voters, rather than activists judges should decide.\u00a0 Ted Cruz is uniquely qualified to explain conservative positions simply and eloquently without becoming defensive.\u00a0 It would be a huge mistake to underestimate this man.<\/p>\n TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Up until a couple of weeks ago, Trump and most of the pundits expected him to win in Wisconsin, possibly putting Cruz away for good.\u00a0 Kasich was expected to do well and this was expected to split the no-Trump vote.\u00a0 … Continue reading