When Donald Trump was asked in last night's debate why he would not pledge not to run as an independent thereby all but guaranteeing a Democratic victory, lost in his answer was the word “leverage”.
Here is the transcript from that portion of the debate:
BAIER: And that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton.
You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge?
TRUMP: I cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. [The Washington Post - Annotated transcript]
For Trump, this whole process is a negotiating game. His goal is to win the GOP nomination to run for President. In pursuit of this goal, he is spending a lot of his own money. But here is the real question: what if Trump doesn’t win GOP nomination? Then what?
Trump will still be left with leverage. Leverage to negotiate something from the eventual nominee. Yes, Trump can negotiate all his campaign costs away. What’s $100M in a presidential campaign that will cost the GOP nominee between $1B - $2B. A super PAC supporting the nominee or a billionaire backer can ensure Trump not mount an independent run for President.
Ah Trump…always one step ahead