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| Campaign live: Trump lords South Carolina win over rivals as Bush drops out of the race | Campaign live: Trump lords South Carolina win over rivals as Bush drops out of the race |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 4.05pm GMT | |
| 16:05 | |
| Martin Pengelly | |
| John Kasich is standing by for CBS. So there’s something new. | |
| The only governor left in the race is on in the TV equivalent of “under the fold” – when some CBS stations have left Face the Nation. That’s pretty telling, although as everyone has said, Kasich pretty much abandoned South Carolina to focus on states more friendly to him, such as Michigan. | |
| Should “moderates” stick with him, not switch to Rubio? | |
| “I’m starting to get known in the country,” Kasich says. “We’re getting big crowds everywhere we go – Vermont, Massachusetts, Virginia.” He also says he exceeded expectations in South Carolina, particularly with late deciders. | |
| “Everybody just hang on, things are going to settle down,” he says. | |
| Where does he have to win to have a shot? Vermont, Massachusetts, Virginia, Mississippi… “the midwest whether it’s Illinois or Michigan.” | |
| Kasich plans to hang on in there and get momentum, he says, because – and he cites Bernie Sanders – it’s a proportional race. | |
| “We’re the engine that can,” he says, before adding: “We now have some Bush people that have come our way both from a political view and a fundraising view.” | |
| He’ll also beat Hillary Clinton, he says, and he still thinks a proposed ban on Muslim immigration is not a good thing, despite exit polls in early voting states which suggest many Republican voters think it is. | |
| And that’s that. | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.10pm GMT | |
| 4.03pm GMT | |
| 16:03 | |
| Speaking of Texas, here’s one of the state’s senators, Ted Cruz, who finished a close third in South Carolina yesterday. | |
| How does it feel to be called a liar by everybody, Chuck Todd asks Cruz. | |
| “I will not respond in kind, I do not intend to insult the other candidates,” Cruz says. It’ll only be substance and the issues. Then he criticizes Donald Trump and Marco Rubio as candidates who can’t handle criticism. | |
| “There’s a reason that they scream liar, when you point out their own voting records, their own words, their voting records are inconsistent,” he says. He notes that Trump threatened a defamation suit over an ad that included clips of Trump himself talking. | |
| Todd calls Cruz out on this, noting that the senator once held a 30-minute press conference to criticize Rubio and Trump. Cruz says nope, he’s as much “a happy warrior” as ever. The senator says he’s mostly just blissful about what an incredible evening he had in South Carolina, where he placed third. | |
| The NBC host is clearly tired of candidates describing their defeats as victories, and asks how Cruz can possibly see this as good news. | |
| “Our path to victory from the beginning was always do well in the first four states and then have a strong, strong night on Super Tuesday on March 1.” | |
| Todd is muttering through all of this. “Yup. All right. OK. Yup. Yeah.” He’s just audible over Cruz’s spiel. | |
| The host finally cuts in: “Are you going to beat Donald Trump in Texas on March 1?” | |
| Cruz says he hops so. Todd escapes to commercial. | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.05pm GMT | |
| 3.56pm GMT | |
| 15:56 | |
| Chuck Todd shows Sanders a clip of Clinton railing against the power of Wall Street and the yawning inequality of modern America. Familiar, ain’t it, Todd says. | |
| “We’re looking into the copyright issues here,” Sanders cracks. “Those are our words!” | |
| He says that Clinton recognizes “The American people are extremely angry about the power of Wall Street.” | |
| The NBC host then asks about Sanders’ strategy as the Super Tuesday primary elections (14 states on one day) approaches. | |
| “Well, we’re studying that issue very closely, obviously, as to where we allocate our resources and my time,” Sanders says. | |
| “I think we have a good shot in Colorado, a good shot in Minnesota, a good shot in Massachusetts, looking pretty good in Oklahoma. I think we got a shot to win there. I think we will surprise people in some other states as well.” | |
| What about the math? Don’t you need to win large states such as Texas? | |
| Sanders: “At the end of the day what your’e saying is true, you need delegates. As you know these are state by state proportional [delegates handed out]. | |
| “We think we have a pretty good shot in parts of Texas,” he finishes. “We are in this race to the convention, I think we’ve got some states coming down the pipe that we’re going to do very, very well on.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.07pm GMT | |
| 3.54pm GMT | |
| 15:54 | |
| Bernie Sanders hits the NBC carousel of talk show candidates. How does he feel about the loss in Nevada? | |
| Sanders weaves a little stump speech into the answer. “Our message of a rigged economy” and a corrupt campaign finance system, he says, “those are the issues that are resonating.” | |
| “I wish we had had a larger voter turnout,” the senator concedes. But he adds “we did phenomenally well with younger voters” and well with working class voters. | |
| “She knew Nevada a lot better than we did. I’m proud of the campaign that we ran,” he says. “At the end of the day I think she gets 19 delegates, we get 15 delegates, we move on to the next states.” | |
| 3.54pm GMT | |
| 15:54 | |
| Martin Pengelly | |
| Bernie Sanders follows the Republican cavalcade, on to CBS. Not sure where he is, statewise, but he has a nice lamp behind him. | |
| Rebuttal of the Clinton single-issue attack line first: “This is not a message campaign,” he says, “we’re here to win.” | |
| John Dickerson asks about his chances with African American voters in South Carolina, voters who favour Clinton heavily over him. Sanders says he is making inroads but there is a lot of work to do. | |
| “I think as people become familiar with my ideas, we’re going to do better and better.” | |
| 3.49pm GMT | |
| 15:49 | |
| Martin Pengelly | |
| …and it’s Ted Cruz now on CBS, from South Carolina. Rubio is in Tennessee, Trump in Florida. | |
| All is well despite not winning in New Hampshire and South Carolina, after winning in Iowa. This we knew Cruz would say. | |
| “We won young people in South Carolina,” Cruz says, trumpeting similar successes in Iowa and New Hampshire and among “Reagan Democrats” – working class voters. He trumpets past evidence that you have to win an early state to take the nomination, which he has done, and he says: “You can’t beat Donald with a candidate that has supported amnesty.” That’s Rubio, that’s immigration. Cruz is the man to beat Trump, he says. | |
| The questioning-Cruz’s-Christianity issue comes up again. “Both Donald and Marco got very personal and very nasty … they scream ‘liar, liar, liar’, they attack your character. I’m not going to do that. I will happily praise Donald Trump and Marco Rubio.” | |
| Butter wouldn’t melt, and etc. And Rubio and Trump are soft on immigration, he adds. | |
| 3.48pm GMT | |
| 15:48 | |
| Marco Rubio is on the show now, with his name emblazoned at an empty hall somewhere in South Carolina. | |
| Todd asks him about Trump’s many statements that would have been thought apostasy among Republicans a few years ago– eg “neutrality” in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, his criticism of the Iraq war. | |
| Rubio says that Trump will say whatever springs to mind, and that there’s no way of knowing what he actually believes or would do. He says that with his campaign, in contrast, “you know what you’re getting, so there’s some level of accountability here.” | |
| “That’s a big difference in this campaign between Mr Trump’s and mine.” | |
| Todd then asks him if he actually intends to win a state, rather than finish second and third and spin those defeats as wins. | |
| “I’m not going to reveal to you today our campaign playbook,” Rubio says, “but obviously I’m going to be in a lot of different places today.” | |
| He doesn’t say which states he plans to invest in. “We have a national campaign, and I feel great about it especially after last night.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 4.06pm GMT | |
| 3.43pm GMT | |
| 15:43 | |
| Asked about the Iraq war, Trump lambasts George W Bush’s decision to invade, saying “we get nothing” from the trillions spent, thousands of lives lost and “carnage” wrought upon the country. | |
| Another foreign affairs question: explain what you mean by “neutral” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump is asked. | |
| “I was head of the Israeli Day Parade a couple of years ago,” Trump says. To further show off his pro-Israel bona fides, he says he once did a commercial for Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. | |
| But the Palestinian conflict, “that probably is the hardest deal your’e going to make,” Trump says. “People are born with hatred, they’re taught hatred, and I gotta say it’s motsly on the one side than the other.” | |
| “I will try the hardest I can,” he says, “to try and solve that puzzle. You’re not going to solve it if your’e on one side or the other. If I’m going to solve that problem, you’ve got to go in with a clean slate.” | |
| Updated | |
| at 3.44pm GMT | |
| 3.43pm GMT | |
| 15:43 | |
| Martin Pengelly | |
| …and Rubio, again. Similar tactics from me here – will he say anything new? | |
| He still says it’s a smaller race, down to three people “practically speaking” – change from Fox, where he said it was “literally” down to three. He also praises Kasich and Carson. Subtle recalibration there. | |
| He also wants actual policy from Trump, from here on: “On everything, on healthcare. We all agree we’re going to repeal Obamacare but how would you replace it?” | |
| Rubio wants policy from Trump on “almost every issue facing this country that is in the purview of the federal government”, because if he doesn’t have it “the Democrats are going to eat our lunch”. | |
| Finally, is he in danger of being everyone’s second choice? Nope. “We’re in real good shape, we’ve got to keep working hard.” | |
| 3.39pm GMT | 3.39pm GMT |
| 15:39 | 15:39 |
| And now we’re back to Donald Trump on NBC’s Meet the Press. Host Chuck Todd asks whether Trump believes what he’s telling voters, for instance regarding healthcare. | And now we’re back to Donald Trump on NBC’s Meet the Press. Host Chuck Todd asks whether Trump believes what he’s telling voters, for instance regarding healthcare. |
| “We’re gonna repeal and replace Obamacare, it’s a complete disaster, it’ll be gone,” Trump says. “You can call it whatever you want, people are not going to die in the middle of the street, people are not going to die on the sidewalks, if I’m president.” | “We’re gonna repeal and replace Obamacare, it’s a complete disaster, it’ll be gone,” Trump says. “You can call it whatever you want, people are not going to die in the middle of the street, people are not going to die on the sidewalks, if I’m president.” |
| He says he’s not going to call it “a mandate”, but that he prefers “common sense”. I’m really talking about people that can’t afford it. We’re not going to let people die in squalor because we are Republicans.” | He says he’s not going to call it “a mandate”, but that he prefers “common sense”. I’m really talking about people that can’t afford it. We’re not going to let people die in squalor because we are Republicans.” |
| Trump says that Republicans got into this mess alongside Democrats. | Trump says that Republicans got into this mess alongside Democrats. |
| “That’s part of the problem with Republicans is somehow they got fed into this horrible position. They’re gonna have great plans,” he says, vaguely as usual. “They’re gonna be private, they are going to be lots of different options.” | “That’s part of the problem with Republicans is somehow they got fed into this horrible position. They’re gonna have great plans,” he says, vaguely as usual. “They’re gonna be private, they are going to be lots of different options.” |
| He adds his own take on Planned Parenthood – which is, somehow, a hair more nuanced than his rivals’. Cruz and Rubio have said they will defund the program without conditions. | He adds his own take on Planned Parenthood – which is, somehow, a hair more nuanced than his rivals’. Cruz and Rubio have said they will defund the program without conditions. |
| “Planned Parenthood does a really good job in a lot of different areas, but not in abortion,” Trump says, “but I would defund as long as they’re doing abortions.” | “Planned Parenthood does a really good job in a lot of different areas, but not in abortion,” Trump says, “but I would defund as long as they’re doing abortions.” |
| Updated | |
| at 3.40pm GMT | |
| 3.37pm GMT | 3.37pm GMT |
| 15:37 | 15:37 |
| Martin Pengelly | Martin Pengelly |
| …and now The Donald is on The CBS. It’s all a bit like that bit in Sherlock when Moriarty turned up on every screen in Christendom and says: “Did you miss me?” | …and now The Donald is on The CBS. It’s all a bit like that bit in Sherlock when Moriarty turned up on every screen in Christendom and says: “Did you miss me?” |
| Let’s see if Trump says anything new. It’s not terribly likely, I know. | Let’s see if Trump says anything new. It’s not terribly likely, I know. |
| He won’t say the nomination is his. Check. “I was always against the war in Iraq.” Check. “They didn’t knock down the World Trade Center. It was other people.” Uh… check. Familiar ground if a bit odd. “Someday they should open the report and take a look.” Um… | He won’t say the nomination is his. Check. “I was always against the war in Iraq.” Check. “They didn’t knock down the World Trade Center. It was other people.” Uh… check. Familiar ground if a bit odd. “Someday they should open the report and take a look.” Um… |
| The pope spat and whether Trump gets to question people’s faith. “I never questioned Ted’s… anything having to do with his religion.” | The pope spat and whether Trump gets to question people’s faith. “I never questioned Ted’s… anything having to do with his religion.” |
| Also: “The pope was very nice by the way, and I appreciated it.” | Also: “The pope was very nice by the way, and I appreciated it.” |
| 3.34pm GMT | 3.34pm GMT |
| 15:34 | 15:34 |
| And now it’s Reince Priebus, the cthulhulically named chairman of the Republican National Committee. | And now it’s Reince Priebus, the cthulhulically named chairman of the Republican National Committee. |
| He says that Trump’s victories are a sign that voters are “sick and tired of politics in general, sick and tired of Washington DC. I think it’s just a general feeling out there that’s real, I wouldn’t deny it.” | He says that Trump’s victories are a sign that voters are “sick and tired of politics in general, sick and tired of Washington DC. I think it’s just a general feeling out there that’s real, I wouldn’t deny it.” |
| So is he worried about schisms in the party should Trump win the nomination? | So is he worried about schisms in the party should Trump win the nomination? |
| “Winning is the antidote to a lot of things,” Priebus says. “So the name of the game is winning in November. If we win in November a lot of those armchair quarterbacks will fall in line.” | “Winning is the antidote to a lot of things,” Priebus says. “So the name of the game is winning in November. If we win in November a lot of those armchair quarterbacks will fall in line.” |
| Are you ready for a brokered convention, if no candidate can win enough delegates to secure the nomination – or if the party truly revolts against the voters’ choice? | Are you ready for a brokered convention, if no candidate can win enough delegates to secure the nomination – or if the party truly revolts against the voters’ choice? |
| “We’re going to support whomever that is” that wins the nomination, Priebus says, adding that he’s reading for “anything”, brokered convention or not. “We will be prepared if that happens but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.” | “We’re going to support whomever that is” that wins the nomination, Priebus says, adding that he’s reading for “anything”, brokered convention or not. “We will be prepared if that happens but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.” |
| Updated | |
| at 4.08pm GMT | |
| 3.29pm GMT | 3.29pm GMT |
| 15:29 | 15:29 |
| Martin Pengelly | Martin Pengelly |
| And now, Rubio. Does he have to win a state to win the nomination? | And now, Rubio. Does he have to win a state to win the nomination? |
| “We do and we have to win more than one,” he says. “It’s been difficult because up to now we’ve had so many people in the race.” | “We do and we have to win more than one,” he says. “It’s been difficult because up to now we’ve had so many people in the race.” |
| Rubio thinks the non-Trump 70%, previously split between Bush-Kasich-Cruz-Rubio-Carson-Fiorina-and-presumably-the-one-guy-in-Nashua-who-liked-Jim-Gilmore will start to coalesce behind him. The race is down to “literally three people”, so I guess he doesn’t think John Kasich and Ben Carson count anymore. Is he calling for them to drop out? | Rubio thinks the non-Trump 70%, previously split between Bush-Kasich-Cruz-Rubio-Carson-Fiorina-and-presumably-the-one-guy-in-Nashua-who-liked-Jim-Gilmore will start to coalesce behind him. The race is down to “literally three people”, so I guess he doesn’t think John Kasich and Ben Carson count anymore. Is he calling for them to drop out? |
| “I’m no one to tell anyone to drop out,” says Rubio, refusing to say if their exits would be better for the party. | “I’m no one to tell anyone to drop out,” says Rubio, refusing to say if their exits would be better for the party. |
| His first line against Cruz is that the Texas senator is weak on national security. He also says “he’s literally every day making up things”. Then back to national security weakness, which Rubio says cost Cruz in South Carolina. | His first line against Cruz is that the Texas senator is weak on national security. He also says “he’s literally every day making up things”. Then back to national security weakness, which Rubio says cost Cruz in South Carolina. |
| About that Photoshopped pro-Cruz ad showing “Rubio” shaking hands with “Barack Obama”. Does Cruz have the integrity to be president? | About that Photoshopped pro-Cruz ad showing “Rubio” shaking hands with “Barack Obama”. Does Cruz have the integrity to be president? |
| Rubio says … no. Basically. Those robocalls come up again. Some of them in Spanish to English-speaking households in South Carolina. “He did robocalls on the Confederate flag in South Carolina,” says Rubio. | Rubio says … no. Basically. Those robocalls come up again. Some of them in Spanish to English-speaking households in South Carolina. “He did robocalls on the Confederate flag in South Carolina,” says Rubio. |
| There’s a robocalls/robo-Rubio joke here but that New Hampshire debate was a long time ago so let’s all move on. | There’s a robocalls/robo-Rubio joke here but that New Hampshire debate was a long time ago so let’s all move on. |
| Rubio also has to defend his former mortgage arrangements and his Senate attendance record, both familiar issues raised against him in this campaign cycle. So he does. | Rubio also has to defend his former mortgage arrangements and his Senate attendance record, both familiar issues raised against him in this campaign cycle. So he does. |
| Last: Governor Haley as a Rubio VP pick? Rubio says he has become friends with Nikki Haley “over the last three days”, since her endorsement of him for president. He also says that Haley’s support and that of Tim Scott, South Carolina’s African American senator shows the GOP is a diverse GOP. | Last: Governor Haley as a Rubio VP pick? Rubio says he has become friends with Nikki Haley “over the last three days”, since her endorsement of him for president. He also says that Haley’s support and that of Tim Scott, South Carolina’s African American senator shows the GOP is a diverse GOP. |
| But is she a running mate? “She will certainly be at the top of any list.” | But is she a running mate? “She will certainly be at the top of any list.” |
| So she’s on his shortlist? | So she’s on his shortlist? |
| “She’s someone that people are going to be paying attention to.” | “She’s someone that people are going to be paying attention to.” |
| So she is, then. | So she is, then. |
| 3.25pm GMT | 3.25pm GMT |
| 15:25 | 15:25 |
| Ted Cruz is now on the show. He’s competing with Marco Rubio for being the person who Donald Trump attacked most. This is a strategy that did not go well for Jeb Bush. | Ted Cruz is now on the show. He’s competing with Marco Rubio for being the person who Donald Trump attacked most. This is a strategy that did not go well for Jeb Bush. |
| But Cruz says Rubio’s being a coward about Trump. “For whatever reason he’s afraid to take on Donald Trump,” he says. “If you want to beat Donald Trump you’ve got to go with the only campaign that has shown it can [beat] him. | But Cruz says Rubio’s being a coward about Trump. “For whatever reason he’s afraid to take on Donald Trump,” he says. “If you want to beat Donald Trump you’ve got to go with the only campaign that has shown it can [beat] him. |
| The Texas senator then repeats what he said on CNN earlier this morning: that Donald Trump has a record of supporting Democrats and non-Republican causes, such as abortion rights and the Wall Street bailouts (he omits that those were initiated by a Republican president). Stephanopoulos takes it to commercial. | The Texas senator then repeats what he said on CNN earlier this morning: that Donald Trump has a record of supporting Democrats and non-Republican causes, such as abortion rights and the Wall Street bailouts (he omits that those were initiated by a Republican president). Stephanopoulos takes it to commercial. |
| 3.22pm GMT | 3.22pm GMT |
| 15:22 | 15:22 |
| So how come you can’t seem to get any unity, if you’re the candidate of unity, Rubio is asked. | So how come you can’t seem to get any unity, if you’re the candidate of unity, Rubio is asked. |
| “We had seven to eight people” running, Rubio says, although there were six candidates in yesterday’s primary. “You can only take on so many people at one time. And this is not about taking on Donald Trump, I know people are obsessed about that.” | “We had seven to eight people” running, Rubio says, although there were six candidates in yesterday’s primary. “You can only take on so many people at one time. And this is not about taking on Donald Trump, I know people are obsessed about that.” |
| Rubio says that Trump is “the frontrunner when you have seven to eight people running and he’s dividing the vote.” The senator does not mention that had he won all of the votes that went to former governor Jeb Bush, who finished fourth, he would not have beaten Trump for first. | Rubio says that Trump is “the frontrunner when you have seven to eight people running and he’s dividing the vote.” The senator does not mention that had he won all of the votes that went to former governor Jeb Bush, who finished fourth, he would not have beaten Trump for first. |
| Stephanopoulos asks would Rubio support a nominated Trump. | Stephanopoulos asks would Rubio support a nominated Trump. |
| “I’m going to support the Republican nominee,” Rubio says, “but I don’t believe he’s exhibited and understanding of foreign policy. And just to say I’m going to surround my self with really smart people, that’s not enough … You have to make judgments. … | “I’m going to support the Republican nominee,” Rubio says, “but I don’t believe he’s exhibited and understanding of foreign policy. And just to say I’m going to surround my self with really smart people, that’s not enough … You have to make judgments. … |
| “Vladimir Putin’s not going to have a six-month honeymoon period, the world’s not going to wait until you can catch up.” | “Vladimir Putin’s not going to have a six-month honeymoon period, the world’s not going to wait until you can catch up.” |
| He finishes with his usual stump speech argument that he’ll bring the party together, though he won’t create “unanimity” he could still be “someone who will seek to unite Americans and not pit us against each other”. | He finishes with his usual stump speech argument that he’ll bring the party together, though he won’t create “unanimity” he could still be “someone who will seek to unite Americans and not pit us against each other”. |
| 3.18pm GMT | 3.18pm GMT |
| 15:18 | 15:18 |
| Marco Rubio is up next on the ABC program, and he says Donald Trump’s tactics of saying ridiculous things to get free airtime have played out. | Marco Rubio is up next on the ABC program, and he says Donald Trump’s tactics of saying ridiculous things to get free airtime have played out. |
| “It’s not going to work anymore,” the senator says. “I’m going to spend zero time with his interpretation of the constitution with regard to eligibility.” | “It’s not going to work anymore,” the senator says. “I’m going to spend zero time with his interpretation of the constitution with regard to eligibility.” |
| “The consequences are extraordinary if we get this election wrong,” he adds, before again saying that youv’e got to get out there and see his website at his name dot com. | “The consequences are extraordinary if we get this election wrong,” he adds, before again saying that youv’e got to get out there and see his website at his name dot com. |
| Stephanopoulos asks whether it’s true that 2012 nominee Mitt Romney intends to endorse Rubio. The senator says he’s spoken to Romney and the report is nonsense, though he’d like the endorsement if it were to ever arrive. “If he were we wouldn’t be announcing on the Huffington Post.” | Stephanopoulos asks whether it’s true that 2012 nominee Mitt Romney intends to endorse Rubio. The senator says he’s spoken to Romney and the report is nonsense, though he’d like the endorsement if it were to ever arrive. “If he were we wouldn’t be announcing on the Huffington Post.” |