During a panel discussion on Wednesday’s NBC Today, political analyst Nicolle Wallace recalled South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham recently telling her “it is more important to maintain the principles and the dignity and honor of the conservative movement with someone like Ted Cruz, who he acknowledged may lose in November, than to roll the dice with someone like Donald Trump...”
Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd chimed in: “You didn't do the bumper sticker.” Wallace obliged: “I shared this rumor or this talk around Washington that ‘Lose with Cruz’ is becoming a bit of a punch line at these end of these grim conversations.” Todd proclaimed: “Better to lose with Cruz...than to ‘Stump with Trump’ or to get ‘Thumped with Trump.’”
Co-host Matt Lauer decided: “We'll wrap it up on that note.” Fellow co-host Savannah Guthrie joked: “Wow. We're going to break out our rhyming dictionaries for the next one.”
On Friday, a panel of CNN analysts were similarly delighted by the motto, even suggesting it could be the GOP campaign slogan heading into the general election.
Earlier in the Today discussion, correspondent Andrea Mitchell expressed panic over the Democratic race. Lauer wondered: “Even though Bernie Sanders wins Wisconsin, he gets ten delegates. But if you're in the Clinton campaign this morning, how are you feeling coming out of Wisconsin?” Mitchell warned:
You should not be feeling as good as they probably are feeling because he is just hammering away at her trustworthiness. If you look at those exit polls, she has got a real problem going forward. She's going to be a bruised nominee. And she has to figure out how to get rid of Sanders, and now she can't. He has the money, he has the will, and he has the belief in himself now, and he is not going to let up. And this is becoming a really nasty campaign. It is a battle for New York. If she wins big in New York, maybe he re-thinks it. But he now believes that he can persuade the super delegates and even the pledged delegates that she is so damaged, she should not be the frontrunner.
Here is a full transcript of the April 6 segment:
7:06 AM ET
MATT LAUER: Alright, why don’t you join us over here, where Nicolle Wallace joins us. And Peter Alexander has turned into Andrea Mitchell.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Magically.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Cruz & Sanders Win Big in Wisconsin; Front-Runners Trump & Clinton Falter in Key Contest]
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: The magic of television. Alright, I'm going to give you guys a headline, you fill in the blank, okay? Wisconsin just did what to the race? Andrea?
MITCHELL: Made it much more likely there's going to be a contested convention on the Republican side. On the Democratic side, you are going to have a just bruising fight over her trustworthiness. Sanders is going to keep coming at her.
GUTHRIE: Nicolle?
NICOLLE WALLACE: Wisconsin just delivered Donald Trump an epic blow, the first one that he's really had to absorb since launching his campaign in June.
GUTHRIE: And when we talked about this yesterday, the big question was, okay, what would he do? How would he react? Will he be graceful in defeat and pivot, and the answer was? Otherwise known as the battle between Chuck and Nicolle.
CHUCK TODD: Well, Nicolle? Well, what do we say?
GUTHRIE: Nicolle said people change, Chuck said they don't.
TODD: Well, and last night, Donald Trump puts out this vitriolic statement. That we know how he does this, he dictates this stuff of what he wants said. Immediately refers to Ted Cruz as “Lyin’ Ted Cruz.” Accuses the party, essentially, of being in cahoots with everybody to take it away from him. He is – the only way he becomes the nominee is if he makes nice with party bosses. And what does he do? He completely insults them and insinuates that they are trying to steal it from him.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Big Win for “Stop Trump” Movement?; Cruz Victory Moves GOP Closer to Contested Convention]
LAUER: But Nicolle, not to steal your thunder here, but if you're Donald Trump and you've gotten to this lead in the delegates, you think you got there by being Donald Trump.
WALLACE: And that is the internal divide in the very small circle of people around him. That when they go to him and say – and there are people close to him that would like to see him be more presidential, that would like to see him do more things like the AIPAC speech, where he read from a teleprompter, or some of his events where he stood in front of all of the flags at Mar-a-Lago. They'd like to see more of that Donald. And I think the push-back and people that enable the behavior that’s more bellicose, if you will, are the people that listen to Donald, who says, “I got this far by being me.”
LAUER: Andrea, let's bring you in here. Chuck just laid something out dramatic. Even though Bernie Sanders wins Wisconsin, he gets ten delegates. But if you're in the Clinton campaign this morning, how are you feeling coming out of Wisconsin?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Sanders Win 7 of Last 8 Contests; He and Clinton Turn Attention to Key NY Primary]
MITCHELL: You should not be feeling as good as they probably are feeling because he is just hammering away at her trustworthiness. If you look at those exit polls, she has got a real problem going forward. She's going to be a bruised nominee. And she has to figure out how to get rid of Sanders, and now she can't. He has the money, he has the will, and he has the belief in himself now, and he is not going to let up. And this is becoming a really nasty campaign. It is a battle for New York. If she wins big in New York, maybe he re-thinks it. But he now believes that he can persuade the super delegates and even the pledged delegates that she is so damaged, she should not be the frontrunner.
GUTHRIE: Chuck, was this a big night last night for Ted Cruz or for the “Stop Trump” forces? Because I see a lot of northeastern states that wouldn't typically be Cruz country.
TODD: I think this was big one for the Stop Trump forces. I mean, it was interesting, Lindsey Graham is probably the best perspective. He’s puts out a tweet that says, “Congratulations, Ted Cruz. We've done it. We are going to be able to deny Donald Trump a majority at the convention.” It wasn't, “Congratulations, Ted Cruz. You're on your way to becoming the next President of the United States.” No, there is a – and that’s what I think you're going to see in the next few days. I think a whole bunch of Stop Trump, Never Trump people come out of the closet. There’s ones that have been quiet about it. And that's what this Wisconsin loss for Trump could mean on that front.
LAUER: Give you the last word here. You know what surprised me? A number in the exit polling that only 32% of people in Wisconsin consider themselves very angry at Washington. Those numbers have to be higher for Donald Trump to win.
WALLACE: They have to be higher for Bernie, they have to be higher for Donald Trump. But I think what's so interesting about last night, and Lindsey Graham is always a great vessel into this because he lets it all hang out. He came and sat with us and said that it is more important to maintain the principles and the dignity and honor of the conservative movement with someone like Ted Cruz, who he acknowledged may lose in November, than to roll the dice with someone like Donald Trump who on matters of national security is too big of a risk for the party and the country.
TODD: You didn't do the bumper sticker.
WALLACE: Well, they did buy me a domain name last night when I shared this rumor or this talk around Washington that “Lose with Cruz” is becoming a bit of a punch line at these end of these grim conversations.
TODD: Better to lose with Cruz.
WALLACE: Better to lose with Cruz, yeah.
LAUER: We'll wrap it up on that note.
TODD: Than to “Stump with Trump” or to get “Thumped with Trump.”
WALLACE: I didn’t hear that.
GUTHRIE: Wow. We're going to break out our rhyming dictionaries for the next one. Guys, thank you so much. Late night, early morning.
GUTHRIE: She’ll freestyle.
