Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol Tuesday insisted that his efforts to find a third-party candidate are "going fine," but accused CNN in an interview of wanting to see a race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to keep its ratings going.
"You guys would love a Trump-Clinton race," Kristol told CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota on the
"New Day" program. "[It's] fantastic news every day, two unattractive candidates fighting stupidly about their personal lives, fighting with The New York Times. I'd like someone to run who could really do better for the country."
Camerota replied that her job is to serve as a "reality check" for the news, not to act "as a cheerleader for your effort," and told him that she was interested in hearing who he and other anti-Trump forces are talking to.
"In public people have said, thanks, but no thanks," she told him. "We've heard John Kasich, Mark Cuban."
Trump clinched the nomination just a week or two ago, Kristol told her, and there are people doing "due diligence" to see how "doable" a third-party bid would be.
"I don't want anyone to jump in and realize it's not the right thing to do," said Kristol. "If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm just working on it. People are entitled to say, gee, it's difficult. It is difficult."
Kristol said he and others behind the effort will know if there will be someone serious stepping up, even if the deadline has passed to put that person on the Texas ballot, "a legal challenge against the Texas early deadline would succeed," as a similar challenge succeeded in the 1980s.
Kristol noted that some of these people who have been asked include retired Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, but told Camerota that 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, who has been very vocal about the need for a third-party candidate, has told him that he "feels strongly" about the matter, but "I think he's trying to recruit other people."
He said that some with the effort have also talked to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but the does not think "running for office is the best use of her abilities."
Kristol also dismissed a Breitbart article that called him a "renegade Jew" and a "Republican spoiler" in its headline for opposing Trump, saying he had not read it and did not intend to.
"I'm a proud Jew, a strong supporter of Israel, I don't think I've ever been called a 'renegade Jew' before, that's something new," Kristol said.
"And 'Republican spoiler' — I worked in the Reagan and Bush administrations, I've always voted for a Republican for president," Kristol said, but he's not happy that he "can't vote for the Republican nominee" this year.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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