Longtime readers know that I am no fan of Trump. His populism fuses the worst elements of the political right — the nativists, the alt-right, and the neoreactionary wing — and while I viscerally disagree with everything he stands for?
…you don’t cheat the man and rig the process in order to spear him.
So it would appear that at the 55th minute of the 11th hour that Kasich and Cruz — two men who share nothing in common — have chosen to link arms in a last-minute gamble for power.
The extraordinary moves reflect the national strength Trump has shown and the inability of Republicans who oppose the New York billionaire to come together to stop him. Dividing up some of the remaining primary states by putting forward one strong alternative to Trump in each could be enough to take away delegates and curb Trump’s run to the nomination.
Trump is the only candidate who can realistically get a first-ballot victory — there’s no mathematical path for Cruz or Kasich to clinch the nomination heading into the convention. The billionaire is poised for a strong performance Tuesday, when Republicans in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island head to the polls.
It’s not just that — Virginia will select 11 delegates plus national committee slots next weekend in Harrisonburg during a convention that was supposed to go smoothly, but instead has been pock-marked with its own series of process violations and dirty tricks in the run-up to the RPV Convention.
The net effect? This will feed right into the narrative that the party process is rigged from the word go. Just so happens that today — in the hands of clumsier imitators — it is more self-evident than in times past.
Again — and I cannot stress this enough — I have nothing but disdain for the anti-free trade, protectionist, anti-immigrant, pro-abortion, pro-Planned Parenthood candidacy of Donald Trump. The man stands diametrically opposed to most everything I believe as a Catholic and as a free-market conservative.
Yet fair is fair. Trump is playing by the rules, and two candidates are colluding actively to rig those rules in a process that is actively being gamed by insiders right now. If the objective is to shatter every piece of china in the closet before Trump can inherit, by all means continue… but let’s be honest. None of the remaining candidates can inherit the mantle of Reagan, Kemp, Goldwater, or the voice of the liberty movement.
Catholics used to have a tradition of recusancy during the Tudor era (and beyond) in England, as Catholics did not believe they could participate in the political order. In an era of “loyalty oaths” and rigged nominations? Pardon me… but I owe no one my vote. To the contrary, it is the responsibility of the party and its leadership to explain to me why these candidates deserve (not command) my respect and assent. Virginia Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians were familiar with the tradition during the time of the American Revolution, as the Church of England stomped out all competitors. Perhaps it’s time to revive a fine American tradition in the face of what can only be outlined as corruption and stupidity?
Games such as these make such a tradition more and more compelling every day.
UPDATE: Kasich campaign staff John Weaver issued the following:
Donald Trump doesn’t have the support of a majority of Republicans – not even close, but he currently does have almost half the delegates because he’s benefited from the existing primary system. Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the Party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee. We believe that will be John Kasich, who is the only candidate who can defeat Secretary Clinton and preserve our GOP majority in the Congress.
Color me unimpressed.
UPDATE x2: Trump pushes back with his own release, in the voice of the candidate:
Collusion is often illegal in many other industries and yet these two Washington insiders have had to revert to collusion in order to stay alive. They are mathematically dead and this act only shows, as puppets of donors and special interests, how truly weak they and their campaigns are. I have brought millions of voters into the Republican primary system and have received many millions of votes more than Cruz or Kasich. Additionally, I am far ahead of both candidates with delegates and would be receiving in excess of 60% of the vote except for the fact that there were so many candidates running against me.
Because of me, everyone now sees that the Republican primary system is totally rigged. When two candidates who have no path to victory get together to stop a candidate who is expanding the party by millions of voters, (all of whom will drop out if I am not in the race) it is yet another example of everything that is wrong in Washington and our political system. This horrible act of desperation, from two campaigns who have totally failed, makes me even more determined, for the good of the Republican Party and our country, to prevail!
What’s the old Hemingway line… ending a sentence with an exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke?
