It was the Tuesday night stunner: Ted Cruz, the longtime spoiler of the Republican Party, suddenly suspended his campaign after a devastating loss to Donald Trump in Indiana. Minutes later RNC boss Reince Priebus tweeted that Trump is now the “presumptive nominee.”
We’re not sure if John Kasich got the memo, but the party that only weeks ago was a chorus of “Never Trumps” appears to be doing what once was unimaginable — coalescing around the front runner. As you saw in Priebus’ epic tweet, he closed it with the “rally around your nominee” hashtag of #NeverClinton.
Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton herself (or whoever writes her tweets, which are often in the third person) then weighed in:
Texas Senator Cruz earned his notoriety – and infamy – standing up to “Establishment” Republicans in Washington, alienating former allies on the Hill and building support from grassroots conservatives, with lofty speeches and all-night filibusters, doomed to legislative failure, but successful in propelling Ted Cruz to the Tea Party’s Congressional front line.
Many in the GOP had expected Cruz to bring his characteristic, if self-aggrandizing, style to the remaining primary contests, but it was not to be.
Cruz was so upset, he accidentally elbowed his wife in the head.
Sore loser Mitt Romney didn’t seem to get the memo about rallying around Trump … sending out a grudging tweet that didn’t even mention the Donald.
And then there was Rosie O’Donnell, who Trump has called “crude, obnoxious and dumb”:
For Romney, Rosie and the rest of the firmament, Tuesday night was nothing short of stunning.
Cruz had been working cunningly for a year to marshal delegates, which most insiders took to mean Cruz would attempt to force a contested convention even if he was mathematically eliminated from the nomination. As of yesterday, Cruz’s campaign was still hard at work in California, and just last week, Cruz announced Carly Fiorina as his ‘running mate,’ presumably strengthening his pull with convention delegates unbound after the first ballot. Tuesday morning, Cruz issued his most acerbic statement against Donald Trump of the campaign.
There are few in the GOP camp who aren’t confused by the Senator’s sudden change of heart.
Cruz’s gambit is unclear. Although he controls delegates on the Rules Committee, it’s unlikely he’d force a vote to unbind the delegates before the first vote. It’s also unlikely that the outspoken, firebrand Ted Cruz will be content to wait out the first term of President Donald Trump or President Hillary Clinton in an effort to look like the “logical” candidate for 2020.
According to staffers, Ted Cruz, who spent months on a Quixotic crusade to defund the Affordable Care Act, knowing his efforts were destined for failure, was simply lacking in courage, and “couldn’t see a path forward.”
John Kasich, who lagged behind Ted Cruz by hundreds of delegates, will remain in the race.