Ted Cruz and John Kasich Team Up Against Donald Trump to Prevent His Nomination

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 25, 2016   |   9:31AM   |   Washington, DC

Two of the pro-life Republican presidential candidates are teaming up against Republican hopeful Donald Trump to prevent the businessman from getting the Republican nomination. The move comes after leading pro-life advocates said they are not happy about Donald Trumps’s support for changing the Republican Party’s platform to support aborting babies conceived in rape or incest.

The two announced an unprecedented deal in which Kasich will not contest Indiana while Cruz will steer clear of Oregon and New Mexico to maximize chances to beating Trump in each state and denying him the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the Republican nomination

Cruz and Kasich agreed in statements Sunday to cede states to the other candidate.

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“Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans,” said Cruz’s campaign manager Jeff Roe. “To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico, and we would hope that allies of both campaigns would follow our lead.”

“Due to the fact that the Indiana primary is winner-take-all statewide and by congressional district, keeping Trump from winning a plurality in Indiana is critical to keeping him under 1237 bound delegates before Cleveland, said Kasich campaign chief strategist John Weaver. “We are very comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana already, and given the current dynamics of the primary there, we will shift our campaign’s resources West and give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana.”

“In turn, we will focus our time and resources in New Mexico and Oregon, both areas that are structurally similar to the Northeast politically, where Gov. Kasich is performing well,” Weaver added. “We would expect independent third-party groups to do the same and honor the commitments made by the Cruz and Kasich campaigns.”

The Kasich campaign later confirmed to Fox News that it had canceled two campaign events in Indiana scheduled for Tuesday as part of the deal.

Neither Cruz nor Kasich have the ability to get a majority of the delegates before the convention in Cleveland but they each hope to prevent Trump from getting the majority and hope a majority of Republicans who don’t want Trump to be the nominee will unite behind one of them as the nominee.

Dan Scavino, the Trump campaign’s social media director, respondedwith a tweet denouncing the deal.

“Two losing candidates joining in an attempt to stop @realDonaldTrump,” Scavino wrote. “Americans are so tired of you POLITICIANS!!!”

The Washington Examiner explains the deal further:

Kasich, who has won just one state (his home state of Ohio), has amassed 148 delegates (1,089 short of the nomination), and has won 267,263 fewer votes than Marco Rubio, who quit the race more than five weeks ago, has long been mathematically eliminated from any chance at winning the nomination before the GOP convention. Cruz, who has won 11 contests, amassed 559 delegates, and has won 2,382,967 fewer votes than Trump, will be eliminated by all counts on Tuesday. Their new pact is an attempt not to win but to keep Trump below those 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination going into Cleveland.

As LifeNews.com reported last week, Trump said he “absolutely” wants to change the Republican party’s current pro-life platform to promote abortions in cases of rape or incest.

“Yes I would. Absolutely, for the three exceptions, I would,” he said. Trump was then pressed further and asked if he would make an exception to protect the “health” of the mother. “I would leave it for the life of the mother, but I would absolutely have the three exceptions.”

As LifeNews reported, Lila Rose, president and founder of the pro-life organization Live Action, told LifeNews.com she takes issue with Trump on supporting the aborting of babies not conceived lovingly.

“Rape and incest are horrific injustices, and those who commit these acts should always be punished to the full extent of the law. U.S. law forbids the use of the death penalty as a punishment for rapists, yet current law permits killing the innocent preborn children conceived in rape.  Abortion should not be held up as a pathway to healing from rape or incest, as it doesn’t undo the crime; it just adds more violence to what the survivor has already endured,” Rose explained.

Rose continued: “If you are pro-life, you can’t say certain lives are less worthy or don’t deserve protection because of how they are conceived.  To say children conceived in rape are somehow less human and shouldn’t be allowed to live is a grave injustice.  Survivors of rape and incest and their children must be shown compassion and be supported by their communities.  While some mothers choose to keep their children, adoption is the option for those who don’t.”

Over 1000 medical professionals from around the world have publicly declared that abortion is never medically necessary to save a mother’s life.  While life-saving medical treatment may result in the death of the child in a mother’s womb, there is a fundamental difference between providing that legitimate treatment and elective abortion,” she concluded.

Trump’s platform comment is the latest in a long line of comments from Trump upsetting pro-life voters — including multiple remarks praising the Planned Parenthood abortion business, saying abortion laws should not be changed and saying women should be punished for having abortions and flip-flopping hours later.