Former Kansas senator, vice presidential nominee and 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole said in an interview that nominating Ted Cruz would be "cataclysmic" for the party and that the Republicans would suffer "wholesale losses" if Cruz managed to win the nomination. Dole went on to say that and that Donald Trump would be a better choice.
"I question his allegiance to the party. I don't know how often you've heard him say the word 'Republican'-not very often. I don't know how he's going to deal with Congress. Nobody likes him," Dole said, according to TPM. Dole also said that while Cruz prefers to be called a "conservative," he (Dole) thought that "extremist" was a better definition for Cruz.
"If he's the nominee, we're going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures," said Dole, according to The New York Times.
According to Dole, the only person who could defeat Cruz to win the nomination was Trump. Dole also thought that Trump could "probably work with Congress, because he's, you know, he's got the right personality and he's kind of a deal-maker," reports The New York Times.
Additionally, many Republicans feel that between Cruz and Trump, Trump is a lesser evil. "If Trump loses we wash our hands of him. Cruz will think we need to be more crazy and be a long-term nightmare," said a GOP strategist, according to CNN.
