Donald Trump is responding to the announced alliance between [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] and John Kasich by calling it a “horrible act of desperation.”
In statement, Trump said: “Collusion is often illegal in many other industries and yet these two Washington insiders have had to revert to collusion in order to stay alive.”
Both the Cruz and Kasich campaigns announced plans late Sunday to avoid certain states to help each other take on Donald Trump one-on-one. Under the deal, Cruz will have Indiana to himself while Kasich will focus on New Mexico and Oregon. (RELATED: Kasich And Cruz Campaigns Team Up To Stop Trump)
“It is sad that two grown politicians have to collude against one person who has only been a politician for ten months in order to try and stop that person from getting the Republican nomination,” Trump said.
“Because of me, everyone now sees that the Republican primary system is totally rigged,” the GOP front-runner said. “When two candidates who have no path to victory get together to stop a candidate who is expanding the party by millions of voters, (all of whom will drop out if I am not in the race) it is yet another example of everything that is wrong in Washington and our political system.”
On Sunday, Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said having Trump “at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans.”
“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,” Roe said.
Kasich’s chief strategist John Weaver said: “Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the Party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee.”
“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,” Weaver said.