--- title: Donald Trump Jr: Ted Cruz Can Only Win by Bribing Delegates description: Donald Trump’s oldest son on Sunday said Ted Cruz could only win the Republican nomination if he bribes the delegates. canonical: https://time.com/4305868/donald-trump-jr-ted-cruz-bribe/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-24T15:07:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:32:03.301Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump’s Son Says Ted Cruz Could Only Win if He Bribes Delegates og:description: “Ted Cruz has no chance of winning this without bribing the delegates" og:url: https://time.com/4305868/donald-trump-jr-ted-cruz-bribe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltced15133b8639281/69889074cf40a83489c42f57/donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Hosts Nevada Caucus Night Watch Party In Las Vegas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump’s Son Says Ted Cruz Could Only Win if He Bribes Delegates twitter:description: “Ted Cruz has no chance of winning this without bribing the delegates" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltced15133b8639281/69889074cf40a83489c42f57/donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Jr. Says Ted Cruz Could Only Win if He Bribes Delegates  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 24, 2016 3:07 PM UTC  Donald Trump Jr. looks on as his father, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, speaks at a caucus night watch party at the Treasure Island Hotel Casino in Las Vegas on Feb. 23, 2016. Donald Trump Jr. looks on as his father, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, speaks at a caucus night watch party at the Treasure Island Hotel Casino in Las Vegas on Feb. 23, 2016.Ethan Miller—Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 24, 2016 3:07 PM UTC Donald Trump’s oldest son on Sunday said Ted Cruz [could only win the Republican nomination](http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/24/politics/donald-trump-jr-ted-cruz-bribery/) if he bribes the delegates. Donald Trump Jr. made the comments during an appearance on CNN’s _State of the Union_, adding that [the Texas senator](http://time.com/4302097/ted-cruz-2016-time-100/?iid=sr-link1) lacked other options because he’s “not an appealing candidate” to the general election voters. “Ted Cruz has no chance of winning this without bribing the delegates. That’s his game at this point,” he said. The businessman’s son also blasted the delegate allocation process, saying his billionaire father could bribe delegates if he wanted to but preferred not to win that way. “He could send his private plane and send them down to Doral, they could play golf for a week and then we win that delegate. That’s not the way this country should be run,” the younger Trump said. \[[CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/24/politics/donald-trump-jr-ted-cruz-bribery/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4305868/donald-trump-jr-ted-cruz-bribe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4305868/donald-trump-jr-ted-cruz-bribe/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Jr. Says Ted Cruz Could Only Win if He Bribes Delegates","datePublished":"2016-04-24T15:07:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:32:03.301Z","description":"“Ted Cruz has no chance of winning this without bribing the delegates\"","url":"https://time.com/4305868/donald-trump-jr-ted-cruz-bribe/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltced15133b8639281/69889074cf40a83489c42f57/donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltced15133b8639281/69889074cf40a83489c42f57/donald-trump-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Hosts Nevada Caucus Night Watch Party In Las Vegas","caption":"Donald Trump Hosts Nevada Caucus Night Watch Party In Las Vegas","creditText":"Ethan Miller—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4305868/donald-trump-jr-ted-cruz-bribe/","name":"Donald Trump Jr. Says Ted Cruz Could Only Win if He Bribes Delegates"}}]}] ```