Newt Gingrich on Wednesday said that Donald Trump has softened views of GOP presidential rival Ted Cruz as an extreme, anti-establishment candidate.
“Cruz a year ago would have been seen as the outsider, extreme, unacceptable, anti-establishment [candidate],” he told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.” “Trump has now normalized Cruz.”
{mosads}The former House Speaker also said he is unsure if Cruz can capitalize on his victory in Tuesday’s GOP presidential primary in Wisconsin.
“Certainly the size of the victory helped him tremendously,” he said. “I think that it has to trouble Donald Trump and his team a great deal.
“The challenge for Cruz is, how do you take this new momentum and turn it into enough votes in places like New York and Pennsylvania and ultimately get to California?” Gingrich asked, citing upcoming voting contests. “It’s not clear yet he can do it.”
Gingrich added that establishment Republicans have virtually no options for stopping a Cruz or Trump nomination.
“All this speculation about someone magically showing up, it ain’t going to happen,” the Georgia Republican said.
“Over 80 percent of the delegates are going to be committed to either Trump or Cruz,” Gingrich added. “Do you think Trump or Cruz are going to sit there and go, ‘oh yes, why don’t we change the rules?’
“It’s not going to happen. We’re going to play under the rules as they are now because they’re to the advantage of Trump and Cruz.”
Cruz’s win in Wisconsin raises the odds of a contested Republican National Convention, which takes place in July in Cleveland.
Trump, the Republican front-runner, has predicted “riots” if he fails to secure the party’s nomination despite his leads in both delegates and voter support.