Ron Paul: I wouldn't support Trump as GOP nominee

Trump has connected with voters' fear: Ron Paul    9:54 AM ET Wed, 24 Feb 2016

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Three-time candidate for president Ron Paul said Wednesday he does not like any of the remaining GOP candidates in the 2016 race, and would not support Donald Trump if he were to win the Republican nomination.

Trump has been able to tap into the anger and fear of a large "minority" of voters, Paul told CNBC's "Squawk Box." He said the billionaire businessman acts like he has all the answers but "zero" realistic solutions to the problems facing the nation.

"I hear the ability of politicians to capitalize on the worries," the libertarian Republican continued. "They're able to use the blame game." Paul served 12 terms as a U.S. congressman from Texas.

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Trump was the projected winner of Tuesday's Nevada caucuses by a wide-margin, his third-straight victory with the Super Tuesday contests less than a week away. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was seen edging out Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas for second place in Nevada.

Paul admitted that Trump has the momentum in the early contests, but said there's a long road of primaries and caucuses before the GOP's nominating convention in July.

The race for the White House has become "Trump-ism versus Sander-ism," said Paul, referring to Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. He said both approaches are "not a whole lot different" in their wrongheadedness.

Sanders wants to make the government bigger and Trump wants to be the government, said Paul, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012. He also ran in a failed bid for the White House in 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party.

Paul's son — Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who had sought to take up his father's mantle — dropped his presidential bid earlier this month after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses, the first-in-the-nation nominating contest.

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Cruz — who beat Trump in Iowa and then racked up three third-places finishes in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada — is making the case that he's the most electable anti-establishment candidate.

In the establishment lane with Rubio, who was third in Iowa, fifth in New Hampshire, and second in both South Carolina and Nevada, is Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Kasich got a boost from grabbing the No. 2 spot in New Hampshire after getting off to a slow start in Iowa.

"We're going to do very well on Super Tuesday," said Tom Ridge, the national co-chairman of Kasich campaign. "We are going to do quite well in the weeks ahead."

Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania and ex-director of the Homeland Security Department, played down Kasich's fifth-place finishes in South Carolina, and Nevada.

"We're going to win Ohio [on March 15]," Ridge said, despite the latest poll showing Kasich slightly behind in his home state to Trump. "And [in] some of those 'purple states' we're going to see the value of having a proven leader with a consistent conservative record."

Ridge insisted that Kasich has the best chance to beat Trump and capture the GOP nomination, Ridge said. He touted the candidate's service to Ohio, currently as a second-term governor and as a longtime U.S. congressman who was chairman of the Budget Committee from 1995 to 2001.

"When people start focusing, I think they're going to pay a lot more attention to records rather than rhetoric," said Ridge, who had been a supporter of Jeb Bush before the former Florida governor dropped out of the race.