Donald Trump, already in the middle of a hostile takeover of the Republican party, hinted at last night’s GOP debate that he now plans to hold the entire party hostage if he doesn’t get his way.

One of the moderators of the debate, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, directed a question to Texas Senator Ted Cruz, asking what he would do, should the GOP handed him the nomination at a brokered convention, to keep Trump’s “very passionate supporters from bolting the convention and sabotaging the fall election.”

Before Cruz could respond, Trump interjected:

“Make me president.”

Cruz had perhaps the best line of the evening, telling Trump:

“Donald, you are welcome to be president of the Smithsonian.”

The Senator from Texas, who is about as well-liked by his Senate colleagues as an abscessed tooth, then went on to say:

“There are some in Washington who are having fever dreams of a brokered convention. They’re unhappy with how the people are voting and they want to parachute in their favored Washington candidate to be the nominee. I think that would be an absolute disaster, and we need to respect the will of the voters. It’s one of the reasons why, in the course of this election — listen, everyone up here has worked very, very hard, but Donald is right: There are only two of us that have a path to winning the nomination, Donald and myself.”

But it was the implied threat from Trump that no doubt will linger with the GOP power brokers as they get ready for their convention in Cleveland this July. Will his supporters bolt the party (or even resort to violence) if their savior is not handed the crown and declared the standard-bearer for Republicans? That alone should make the convention worth watching for the first time in many years.

Here’s the exchange from last night’s debate:

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.