Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time Page #5

Has the establishment simply

been too little, too late?

Did they slowly wake up

to Donald Trump and say,

"Oh, my God,

he could be our nominee"?

[wind whooshing]

rousing dramatic music

[woman] A huge night

for Donald Trump,

winning seven states.

[man] Big wins

from Alabama to Vermont.

[woman] Does this now

make him unstoppable?

[cheers and applause]

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Donald Trump's victory

could mean

the end of the Republican Party

as we know it.

[bird squawking]

omney] Hi, how you guys doing?

[woman] Hi. Good, how are you?

- [Romney] Good. Hi.

- [man] How are you?

[Romney] Good. How are you?

Hi, good to meet you.

- Good to meet you.

- Hi. Thanks.

Hey, guys, how you doing?

Good to see you.

Hi, how are you?

- [man] How you doing?

- [Romney] Good.

Good to see you.

Hi.

I'm afraid there's probably

not gonna be enough room

- for this crew here.

- Don't say that.

- [groaning]

- [Romney] I apologize.

[man over speaker] Will you

please join me in welcoming

Governor Mitt Romney.

[cheers and applause]

[Romney] Thank you.

I'm not here to announce

my candidacy for office.

[scattered boos]

And I'm not going to endorse

a candidate today.

Instead I'd like

to offer my perspective

on the nominating process

in my party.

- [laughs]

- Back in 19...

That's Romney-speak for

"I'm about to beat

the living sh*t out of someone."

[Romney] And let me

put it very plainly.

Donald Trump is a phony,

a fraud.

His promises are as worthless

as a degree

from Trump University.

[cheers and applause]

eilemann] I've been doing this

r, you know, 25 years.

The idea of a national

political party's

most recent nominee

to stand up and give a speech

devoted to attacking

the front-runner

of the current election

is off the hook.

He inherited his business.

He didn't create it.

Dishonesty, the bullying,

the absurd

third grade theatrics.

He's playing the members

of the American public

for suckers.

He gets a free ride

to the White House,

and all we get

is a lousy hat.

brooding dramatic music

Romney] I understand the anger

Americans feel today.

We want to bring America

back to the people!

[Romney] Mr. Trump

is directing our anger

for less than noble purposes.

This is the very brand

of anger

that has led other nations

into the abyss.

John Adams wrote this:

"Remember,

democracy never lasts long.

There never was

a democracy yet

that did not

commit suicide."

[Heilemann] The Republican

establishment

and the candidates who

represented the establishment,

they've looked up

and they've said,

"Oh, my God,

this is really, actually,

potentially happening."

Now they've all kind of

come to the realization

that, "Oh, sh*t,

we should've tried

to take this guy out

months ago.

It might be too late.

But it might not be too late."

Given the current

delegate selection process,

that means that I vote

for Marco Rubio in Florida

and for John Kasich in Ohio

and for Ted Cruz

or whichever one

of the other two contenders

has the best chance of beating

Mr. Trump in a given state.

The Stop Trump forces

basically have two weeks.

They have from now into--

until Ohio and Florida.

If they can't stop him

between now and then,

they can't stop him.

ambient music

At the end of the day,

it's getting down

to kind of Florida and Ohio.

[man] Do you support

this idea that

to stop Trump, the best

course of action for voters

is pick whichever candidate

is strongest in any state,

just from a delegate standpoint?

I mean, that was

sort of Mitt Romney's...

What kind of a question

is that? A good question.

- Tricky question, okay.

- [chuckling]

But I gave you the answer.

I'm gonna spend

a lot of time in Ohio

and I'll bet Mr. Rubio's gonna

spend a lot of time in Florida.

- That's it.

- [Rubio] A voter in Ohio

that doesn't want

Donald Trump to win Ohio

may very well conclude

that the best way

to stop him in Ohio

is to vote for John Kasich,

and I respect that.

The only one

who has a chance to beat

Donald Trump in Florida

is me.

But if you want to stop

Donald Trump in Florida,

any vote but a vote for me

is a vote for Donald Trump.

All right, guys.

[Cruz] You know,

there are a lot of people

who like Marco Rubio,

who like John Kasich.

They're both good, honorable

men whom I respect,

but neither one of them

has any plausible path

to the nomination.

It's becoming abundantly clear,

if you want to defeat

Donald Trump,

our campaign is the only one

who can do it.

All right, thank you, everyone.

[reporters all talking at once]

pensive music

[police radio chatter]

[crowd commotion]

eilemann] It's chaos out here.

On a snowy debate night

in Detroit,

madness takes its toll.

They're trying to stop Trump.

So where will they stop him?

Will they stop him

with TV ads?

Will they stop him in, uh,

some caucuses on Saturday?

Most likely,

they're gonna stop him

in the Fox Theatre.

[Heilemann] And the truth is,

there's no other time.

This is the time,

this is the moment

if they're gonna get it done.

[cheers and whistling]

[Baier] Senator Rubio,

three weeks ago, you said,

"I don't do

the personal attacks

because I think it's beneath

the office that I'm seeking

but also because I don't

want to embarrass my kids."

But in the past week,

you've mocked

Mr. Trump's tan;

you've made fun

of his spelling;

you called him a con artist;

you suggested he wet himself.

- [crowd booing]

- So what happened?

[Rubio] Yeah, you know, Bret,

let me say something.

If there's anyone

who's ever deserved

to be attacked that way,

it's been Donald Trump

for the way he's treated people

for the last campaign.

- Rubio!

- Whoo!

[Rubio] But let's be honest,

too, about all this.

The media has given

these personal attacks

an incredible amount

of coverage.

Let's start talking again

about the issues

that matter to this country.

I'm ready to do that starting

right here, right now, tonight.

[Baier]

Mr. Trump, your response?

[crowd cheering]

[Trump] I have to say this.

I have to say this.

He hit my hands.

He referred to my hands,

if they're small,

something else must be small.

I guarantee you,

there's no problem.

I guarantee.

[laughter and commotion]

[man] Good.

Speed, speed.

[text message whooshes]

[Heilemann]

#DickDebate.

And my guess is,

knowing America,

they probably like Donald Trump

talking about his penis

is my guess, given our--

given our country.

[Halperin] If the establishment

looked at this debate

as, like, one of the last

chances to derail Trump,

they haven't stopped him yet.

brooding music

Heilemann] At a campaign rally

in Fayetteville,

North Carolina,

one of the Donald supporters

in the audience

coldcocked a protester.

[crowd commotion]

[Halperin] These don't happen

at other candidates' events.

[Heilemann]

The mood in these crowds

is-is something

that I have not seen

in doing this

for the past 25 years.

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