Buchanan: GOP must respect anti-establishment vote

Former Republican presidential candidate explains

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," December 14, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Ban Muslims, soar in the polls. I'm being a little flippant to at least indicate what is the latest news in a survey, a national survey of Republican voters that now has Donald Trump at the strongest support he has enjoyed since entering this race.

Look at that lead he has -- this is nationally -- over his closest opponent, Ted Cruz. Just dwarfs the guy by a factor of three.

Former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan says that should be telling us something and efforts, we're told, anecdotal, we're told, Washington Post news items, we're told, that the establishment wants to find a way to stop this train called Trump, might be hurting itself, might be hurting the party.

Mr. Buchanan, good to have you.

What do you mean by that, that Trump would be good as the nominee and as the most effective candidate of the candidates? What are you saying?

PAT BUCHANAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS: Well, what I do mean, Neil, is that if the establishment, as they had that gathering up at the Source restaurant on Capitol Hill, attempts to frustrate the nomination of Donald Trump, if he has won the most delegates and the most votes, I think that would be political suicide for the Republican establishment.

CAVUTO: Right.

BUCHANAN: Because if you take the anti-establishment vote, you add Cruz and Carson to Trump, you're talking about 70 percent of the party right now.

Look, the establishment is being repudiated by this party. And to see the establishment attempt to reimpose one of its own on the party, I think, would tear the party in half.

CAVUTO: Now, that's what Ben Carson was saying to me on Friday.

BUCHANAN: Sure. He would walk out.

CAVUTO: Why he was frustrated with that, because the sound of it was very party boss mentality.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: But even though the party operatives supposedly involved are saying, no, we're not trying to fix anything, we're just looking at the possibility of a brokered convention, where no one has acquired the delegates, very likely in this scenario now, to be the nominee. So what would be the harm in looking at a strategy or alternatives?

Abe Lincoln got the nomination in such an environment.

(CROSSTALK)

BUCHANAN: But, look, let me tell what would happen.

CAVUTO: And you covered Abe Lincoln. I remember that. Yes, you did.

BUCHANAN: Sure.

(LAUGHTER)

BUCHANAN: Let me tell you would happen.

Let's supposed Donald Trump comes into the nomination leading in delegates and votes and Cruz is second. Neither has got enough. Rubio is third, and Carson is fourth. What happens is, the Donald calls up Cruz and says, would you like to be my vice president in return for your delegates?

And if Cruz says no, then the Donald says, what is Marco Rubio's phone number? And so the two leaders would get together or two people with enough to win it, get together as the ticket. The establishment -- look, this is 10 minutes to midnight for the establishment.

And, really, what they're talking about is not only absurd. It is stupid because of what it -- the message it's sending to this party.

CAVUTO: All right, I'm going to put you down as a maybe on this strategy.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: But here's something that I want to ask, Pat.

BUCHANAN: Sure.

CAVUTO: Their fear seem to be born in these other numbers that show, in a matchup one to one with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump would lose, he would lose Latinos, he would lose more women, he would lose constituents that are already dicey for Republicans as things stand now.

Now, the flip side is he would gain more that have never voted Republican, never voted in the past for anyone. So there is that. But what do you make of their concern that he would lead the party, as Senator John McCain has said, to calamity?

BUCHANAN: Well, look, there's a possibility -- look, there's a clear possibility Hillary could beat him. There's 18 states that have gone Democratic six straight times.

CAVUTO: Right.

BUCHANAN: And they got 242 electoral votes.

But what Trump has going -- even though he runs behind Hillary in most head-to-heads, is Trump excites the country and various parts of it. He has got a dynamic personality. And he's not a typical Republican.

And I think some of the typical Republicans or the breakdowns that you know about might not well occur. And, look, let me say this. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but Hillary Clinton could be the Sonny Liston of the Democratic Party, who drops down -- who is feared, and who is going to win every one, but who suddenly drops in the first round.

CAVUTO: Very good point. It could be. It could be.

I love your analogies, Patrick. Thank you very, very much.

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