Rick Santorum had some advice Friday for Ben Carson amid reports that Republican Party officials may "broker" next summer's national convention if Donald Trump sweeps the state primaries: fight.
"This is nothing new," the former Pennsylvania senator told
Neil Cavuto on Fox News. "The establishment plays hard ball, and they play for real — but the idea that you're going to walk away from the party?"
"What are you going to walk to? Where are you going? Are you going to go to the Democratic Party?"
"This is a time to fight, not to talk about 'if they don't treat me right, I'm going to leave,'" Santorum continued. "You stand up there and fight for what you believe in."
Carson said Friday that he might leave the GOP if party officials wage a floor fight next July in Cleveland to rally delegates around an establishment candidate, but that he would not run as an independent.
Santorum told Cavuto that during the 2012 primary race, the Republican Party "cabal" spent as much as $40 million "torching me across the country in defense of Mitt Romney when I was the leading competitor."
"We had the state of Michigan when the state party actually changed the rules the day after the primary to take a delegate away from me," he said. "I've seen all this before."
Noting that "I'm not very high in the polls," Santorum asked, "Am I complaining? No."
"You go out and fight and deliver the message and make sure you're doing your best to represent those people by getting your ideas across and standing up to the powers that be."