It is simple math: Either Ted Cruz and John Kasich work together to win enough delegates in the coming weeks, or Donald Trump will head to the Cleveland GOP convention having clinched the nomination.
1,237 is the magic number for Trump. He is at 846 with a big bunch of states he’s expected to win tomorrow.
So it should surprise no one that the Cruz and Kasich camps have announced they are in collusion for the rest of the primary season.
Politics does, indeed, make strange bedfellows.
As part of this collusion, Kasich has removed all his campaign resources from Indiana. Cruz is removing his from Oregon and New Mexico.
“We would hope that allies of both campaigns would follow our lead,” Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said in a statement.
“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,” said Kasich chief strategist John Weaver.
As part of my own informal poll, I asked a Kasich supporter today whether they would vote for Cruz. “Not in a million years” was the reply.
I then asked a Cruz supporter if he would vote for Kasich. “Kasich is as good as a Democrat, I would never vote for him,” was the response.
Based on my own informal poll, this collusion will never work.
Trump wasted no time slamming the partnership.