Indiana Republican says Trump can and should be stopped

Donald Trump says "you'd almost have to be sick" to twist comments he made about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. Critics have called him sexist and called for an apology. USA TODAY

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Indianapolis attorney John Hammond (right), a member of the Republican National Committee, is shown with Gov. Mike Pence.(Photo: Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar)Buy Photo

WASHINGTON — Indiana Republican leaders haven’t embraced GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who extended his lead with wins in seven of 11 states voting on Super Tuesday.
But few have been as blunt as Indianapolis attorney John Hammond, one of Indiana’s two representatives to the Republican National Committee, that Trump's nomination would be bad for the party and country. Hammond, who initially backed Jeb Bush and has not endorsed another candidate since Bush's withdrawal last month, explains in an interview with IndyStar why he thinks Trump still can — and should — be stopped.
Question: Trump continues to win most of the states that have voted, and he has big leads in upcoming states. Is it inevitable he will be the nominee?
Answer: It’s not inevitable. He got 36 percent of the Republican vote in those races, which means 64 percent did not vote for him.
Certainly he has a strong lead. But unlike previous cycles, people are not rallying around the leader necessarily, at least in certain parts of the party. I think a large part of the party is looking for an alternative.
Q: ​How much of that is hopeful thinking on your part versus rational thinking?
A: I think the math is pretty rational. Sixty-four percent is a pretty big number. It gives me a lot of hope that common sense and rationality will ultimately prevail.
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INDIANAPOLIS STAR

Tully: Young, conservative and fearful of Donald Trump



Q: One scenario for stopping Trump is that enough of his rivals will drop out, allowing the anti-Trump vote to consolidate. Another is that everyone continues to divide up the delegates, denying Trump a majority and sending the decision to the Republican National Convention. Could either happen?
A: I think the scenario is that they all stay in at the moment. ... There’s a stronger likelihood today of a contested convention. ... But right now I don’t anticipate (Ted) Cruz, (Marco) Rubio or (John) Kasich dropping out. I don't know about (Ben) Carson. (Carson said later Wednesday that he sees no path forward and will not participate in Thursday's Republican debate.)
Q: How likely is it that the race will still be going on when Indiana votes May 3, after 80 percent of the GOP delegates will have been chosen?
A: There’s a possibility, a greater possibility this year than probably any time in my adult life in working this arena. We’ll know a whole lot more, of course, on March 15. (Five states vote March 15, including Florida and Ohio, which award their delegates on a winner-take-all basis.)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on Super Tuesday primary election night at The Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. A recent Michigan poll finds Trump with a 10-point lead ahead of the state's primary Tuesday, March 8, 2016. (Photo: Andrew Harnik, AP)


Q: Will it be good for either Indiana, or for the GOP nationally, if Trump hasn’t secured the nomination before May?
A: It’s a good thing if the Republicans here will have an opportunity to make a difference in the outcome.
Secondly, and this is more a view of my own, Donald Trump is unfit to be the president of the United States. Common sense would dictate that we spend as much time as possible and go through whatever efforts necessary to find a standard-bearer that, one, can win in November and, two, will run this country in a responsible manner.
My father once said, 'If everybody were jumping off a cliff, would you jump with them?’ Of course I said 'no.’ My dad had a lot of common sense. I think that kind of common sense needs to be exercised throughout the rest of the Republican nomination process.
Q: Does that mean if Trump is the nominee that you won’t support him?
A: I cannot support Donald Trump at this moment. He’s not proven to me to be someone who is ready to serve in the presidency. It’s too early for me to say whether I’d support him or not (if he becomes the nominee). I’m a rock-ribbed Republican, and my inclination is to support the nominee, whoever that might be. But right now I don’t think it’s inevitable that it’s Donald Trump.
Q: There’s been record turnout in the GOP contests so far, and Trump says he’s expanding the party. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio say Trump is hurting the party. How do you assess it?
A: I think the brand is being destroyed by Donald Trump. I think he panders to nationalistic instincts and nativists' fears, which makes him a dangerous president, potentially.
Q: It sounds like you are more of the view that Trump has hijacked the Republican Party as opposed to another view that Trump is the best reflection of where the party is today, at least at the grass-roots level.
A: I’d say 64 percent of those who voted yesterday don’t think he’s where the party is.
Q: Exit polls show large numbers of Republicans say they feel “betrayed” by their party. Why do you think that is, and what can the party do about it?
A: I do think there’s that element, for sure. Any party leader who doesn’t pay attention to that is going to be very much disappointed in outcomes.
People are angry. There’s a lot of anxiety about the state of the economy, about the direction of the country, which certainly I share. They just want some strong man to come in and fix it. It doesn’t matter how complex the solution might be, or some of the difficulties and hurdles that might have to be crossed, and the skills that may be required to do so. They just want it fixed.
All Republican Party leaders, elected or otherwise involved in the party structure, need to pay attention, wake up and listen to it.
Q: Is the GOP going through a realignment? Could there be a very different Republican Party at the end of this year?
A: I don’t think we can determine the fate of the Republican Party until we see the outcome in November of the election.
Q: What are your discussions like with fellow Republican National Committee members about whether more needs to be done to stop Trump or whether it’s time to unite behind him?
A: Most of our members have not committed one way or the other to a candidate. Certainly the chairman, Reince Priebus, is putting in place the infrastructure to support whoever the nominee becomes. … And that’s the responsible way for him to lead.
But there’s certainly no groundswell of an effort to come in and coalesce around Donald Trump. … But there’s no organized effort to prevent the Trump nomination or to direct it to another candidate.
Q: You were on the committee that changed the GOP nomination rules to streamline the process. That was a reaction to the protracted 2012 nominating process. Did the changes end up boosting Trump?
A: The rule changes were good ones. ... Whether it’s helped Trump or helped someone else, the rules are the rules. I don’t think they were designed to help or hurt any particular candidate.
We have two phenomena at play. One is the absolute anger that seems to exist within the American electorate, frankly in both parties, with the actions of their governments and the direction of the country. The second is the phenomenon that relates to the continuing coarsening of our culture, which would allow Donald Trump to be popular.
You have to ask the question, what is happening in a society that prefers to admire the rich and famous over the noble and honorable? We’ve got to answer that question for ourselves as a culture.
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/02/indiana-republican-says-trump-can-and-should-stopped/81216154/

Lol, he's going after the same o same o...lol