Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump participates in a CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper in the historic Riverside Theatre, March 29, 2016, in Milwaukee.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast, AP)
It turns out loyalty oaths were made to be broken.
All three remaining Republican presidential contenders retracted their pledges to support whomever becomes the eventual Republican nominee during a CNN town hall Tuesday.
This was obviously a rude awakening for those<span style="color: Red;">*</span>who imagined<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Donald Trump would quietly accept the GOP handing the party's nomination to someone else.
The Republican front-runner told CNN's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Anderson Cooper he no longer promises to support a non-Trump nominee.
"Do you continue to pledge to support whoever the Republican nominee is?" Cooper asked.
"No,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>I don't anymore," Trump replied.
Back in September the mercurial mogul signed a pledge promising to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>back the eventual Republican nominee, even if it wasn't<span style="color: Red;">*</span>someone he sees in the mirror every morning.
At the time Trump said, "I have no intention of changing my mind," and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"I see no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge."
USA TODAY
Trump signs loyalty pledge to Republicans
That position has now, um, evolved and Trump's new view is that his support is conditional on who ends up being the eventual nominee.
"I'll see who it is," Trump said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"I'm not looking to hurt anybody. I love the Republican party."
Trump explained he was rescinding his vow because he feels he has been<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"treated very unfairly" by "the RNC, the Republican party, the establishment."
The billionaire businessman said a lot of people would<span style="color: Red;">*</span>be upset if he was deprived of the nomination.
"When somebody goes in and wins the election and gets less delegates than the guy that lost,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>I don't think that's right," he added.
Ted Cruz was quite clear that he would not support Trump for president. "I'm not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and my family," Cruz said. "I think nominating Donald Trump would be an absolute trainwreck. I think it would hand the general election to Hillary Clinton."
John Kasich said he wants to "see how this thing finishes out" before promising to back anyone. Kasich said he still hopes his campaign, "the little engine that can," keeps going and he becomes the one the other candidates rally to support.
"Frankly, all of us shouldn't have even answered that question," Kasich said of the loyalty oath. "I've got to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>see what happens. If the nominee is somebody that I think is really hurting the country, and dividing the country, I can't stand behind him."
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