Bob Dole: Better Trump Than Cruz

The GOP's 1996 nominee for president is worried that Ted Cruz might get the nod in 2016—and he thinks Donald Trump could be the only candidate who can stop him. Bob Dole tells the New York Times that he questions Cruz's allegiance to the party, and he believes the GOP will suffer "cataclysmic" losses in state and congressional races if Cruz is on the ticket. "I don't know how he's going to deal with Congress," the former Senate majority leader says. "Nobody likes him." Trump, however, could probably work with Congress because he's "got the right personality and he's kind of a deal-maker," Dole says.

Dole tells the Times that he strongly supports Jeb Bush and also likes Marco Rubio and Chris Christie, but Trump seems to be the only candidate strong enough to stop Cruz. Hillary Clinton would be a "pretty easy target" in the general election if the GOP has the right candidate, but she'll "win in a waltz" if the opposition is Cruz, he warns. In a CNN interview Wednesday night, Trump agreed that Cruz would have a hard time making deals with Congress, the Hill reports. "Everybody dislikes him. I mean, he's a nasty guy that everybody dislikes," he said. Trump doubled down on his argument that Cruz's birthplace makes him an unsuitable nominee, saying: "He's got a very big problem because he was born in Canada." (In 2012, Dole warned against voting for Newt Gingrich.)