Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., grudgingly admitted that Donald Trump is the top seed for Republicans this year, and compared other candidates to college teams in the NCAA tournament that probably won’t win.
Speaking on NBC Sports about March Madness, radio host Dan Patrick sucked the 2008 GOP nominee into comparing the 2016 presidential race to the tournament, asking him to put the candidates into brackets.
When speaking about Yale’s stunning win over Baylor on Thursday, McCain said picking Yale to win was like picking Trump to win the GOP nomination before his meteoric rise.
Patrick jumped on the opportunity: “Would you say, senator, that he is the No. 1 seed”?
“I’m afraid he is my friend, I’m afraid he is,” McCain responded.
Patrick kept the analogy running, and asked which schools are like Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. McCain said Cruz is most like the University of Oregon.
“We all dislike Oregon out west here, getting all that money from that billionaire,” which makes it like Cruz, he said.
Phil Knight, founder of Nike, is an Oregon alum and major donor to the Ducks. Nike’s headquarters is in Portland, Ore., a short drive from the Eugene campus.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is in the “Gulf Coast category,” McCain said, referring to Florida Gulf Coast, which got a birth in the tourney but as a No. 16 seed had to take on No. 1 seed North Carolina and fell to the basketball powerhouse on Thursday, much like McCain assumes will eventually happen to Sanders in his primary contest with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
And Rubio?
“Marco is probably Mississippi State,” McCain said. “Everybody likes the coach; they’ve got a good record but they’re not quite gonna make it this time.”
When asked if he would support Trump if he wins the nomination, McCain said, “I have to support the nominee of my party.”
Patrick also asked if he would he shake the reality TV star’s hand after Trump’s disparaging remarks about the Vietnam prisoner of war in particular and POWs in general. McCain said he can accept sincere apologies from most people, but said, “I would not expect that of him any time soon.”
McCain suggested he could take Trump in a fight if he had to, “because he’d have such a priority to keep his hair in place.”
