Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz said the the nine GOP presidential candidates who will take the debate stage Thursday with frontrunner Donald Trump will be wise not to take him on.
"Donald Trump is going to win any confrontation," Dershowitz said Tuesday on
"CNN Tonight."
"He's a populist," Dershowitz said of Trump. "He doesn't have to worry about what he says."
Republican voters love the billionaire real estate developer because he doesn't have speechwriters, and anyone who takes him on is going to lose, Dershowitz said.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the establishment favorite, should simply present himself as a statesman, he said, "as somebody who does not make comments that can be easily rebutted, as somebody who can responsibly take on Hillary Clinton."
Bush, whom Dershowitz called "the real leading Republican candidate," is actually benefitting from Trump attacking the other rivals, "so I don't think he wants to get him out of the race," Dershowitz said.
Trump is "a very shrewd guy," who is within the tradition of American populists who appeal to the public despite their lack of statesmanship, Dershowtiz added.
"So the Republicans have to take him seriously, but not take him on," he said. "He's also vengeful. If you take him on, he'll take you on."
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