What It's Like to Be Beaten by Donald Trump

The heads of 3 vanquished GOP presidential campaigns look back
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 15, 2016 3:40 PM CDT
What It's Like to Be Beaten by Donald Trump
Donald Trump's vanquished foes are speaking out.   (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

The Huffington Post sat down for a 90-minute conversation with the heads of three vanquished Republican presidential campaigns to find out "what it's like to lose to Donald Trump." Forty or so days after Trump became the presumptive nominee, the representatives of the Bush, Cruz, and Rubio campaigns have had time "to process what the hell happened," and all three are still angry at Trump. During their conversation, “they spoke with unusual candor about which strategies they pushed that they now regret, how they believe network executives conspired against their candidates, what a disaster the Republican convention will be, and why a Hillary Clinton blowout may be upon us.”

As an example, here's what they had to say about "which rival candidate pissed off" their campaign the most:

  • Alex Conant, Rubio's communications director: “Honestly, probably the Jeb campaign for spending as much as they spent against us. … There is no question that having tens of millions of dollars spent against you in Iowa [sucks].”
  • Danny Diaz, Bush's campaign manager: “Quite obviously Donald Trump’s personal slurs against Jeb and against his family were and remain totally and completely outside the bounds of what is appropriate in discourse. And I feel like, looking back now, he was appealing to a certain kind of element within the electorate.”
  • Jeff Roe, Cruz's campaign manager: “I mean I’m upset at, routinely, all of the other candidates. But in reverse order: I do not know why John Kasich did not get out after Wisconsin, I don’t know why Marco didn’t get out after March 1, I don’t know why Ben Carson didn’t get out after Iowa. Actually, I was sad, more than mad, watching him be used by other campaigns.”
Read the full piece here. (More Jeb Bush stories.)

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