Bob Schieffer: 'Republican Party We Used To Know Will Be Replaced By Something New'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- CBS News contributor Bob Schieffer believes a new Republican Party will rise after this year's presidential election.
The former "Face the Nation" host told "CBS Evening News" Monday that Republicans are seeing a "changing of the guard" as Donald Trump is the front-runner for the GOP nomination.
"If Trump wins the nomination before the convention, and it looks like he probably will, it will turn the Republican Party on its ear. If it goes to an open convention, it will be a bloody fight that could break the party into two parties," Schieffer said. "In either case, the Republican Party we used to know will be replaced by something new. Exactly what that will be is uncertain, and that's the scary part. Because the one thing that never bodes well in politics, or economics, or national security matters is just that – uncertainty."
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Schieffer said Trump could actually win the presidency, but that nominees who have come from outside their party mainstream historically do poorly.
"When Republicans split over civil rights in 1964 and nominated Barry Goldwater, they went down to a historic landslide defeat. When Democrats kicked out party regulars and nominated George McGovern in 1972, he lost every state but Massachusetts. Under the old rules it would be coming down to a couple of basically flawed candidates – but in today's politics who knows what that means or where this is going," Schieffer said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told reporters Monday that a brokered Republican convention would "spark an absolute revolt."
"The answer is not to cry in your beer about the support Donald has received and the answer is not to do what the Washington establishment hopes to do in their fevered dreams, which is they envision a brokered convention where the convention deadlocks and suddenly in from Washington the dealmakers parachute in with an establishment candidate who is their salvation," Cruz said. "That is not going to happen and it would park an absolute revolt, quite rightly, from the voters."
Heading into Tuesday's crucial primaries, Trump leads his Republican rivals with 457 delegates. Cruz is in second at 365, while Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is third at 159. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 61 delegates.
