Donald Trump has the Republican Party eating out of his hand thanks to the cunning strategy he's used to strengthen his presidential candidacy, GOP political consultant Roger Stone tells
Newsmax TV.
Stone said the billionaire developer employed the techniques he described in his bestselling business-advice book,
"Trump: The Art of the Deal," to bolster his run for the White House and charm the GOP elite who shunned him at first.
On Thursday, Trump met with the Republican National Committee and finally signed the party’s pledge not to run as a third-party candidate if he doesn’t win the GOP nomination.
"This is the art of the deal. Donald Trump has run a brilliant strategy here," Stone, a former adviser to Trump’s campaign, said on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
Story continues below video.
Watch Newsmax TV on DirecTV Ch. 349, DISH Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system — Click Here Now
"Only a month ago, the New York Times is reporting that [Sen. Marco] Rubio, [former Florida Gov.] Jeb Bush, and [Wisconsin Gov. Scott] Walker's campaigns were in discussions about boycotting the Fox debate if Trump were in it.
"All Trump really was doing here was, in my opinion, running a bluff or let's call it a threat, that if he was not given equal access to the process, if he was blocked from the debates, if he was excluded, that he would run as a third party candidate."
The GOP is powerless to stop Trump and his populist campaign anyway, Stone believes.
"Donald Trump has struck fear in the hearts of the political establishment, both Republican and Democrat in this country, because he's promising real reform, he can't be bought, and he can't be bullied," he said.
While noting that the three leading GOP candidates – Trump, physician Ben Carson, and businesswoman Carly Fiorina — are all political outsiders, Stone proposed a ticket involving two of them.
"Now that I think if it, Trump-Carson is a pretty attractive ticket," he said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.