Time for a Cruz/Rubio unity ticket
As I write this, the votes are being tallied on Super Tuesday. While Donald Trump is grabbing the headlines (and the largest share of the delegates) by finishing first so far in all but three or possibly four states, it's worth stating that in all but two of those states the combined vote totals of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio exceed Trump's. It's likely Donald Trump has the most passionate supporters - I can vouch for it on my Facebook feed - but the question is that of whether he has reached his ceiling. Polling has indicated that in a two-person race both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio would prevail in a head-to-head matchup with Trump.
So the time is now for one of them to get out, and based on the results of tonight it's Marco Rubio who should be voted off the island. Now I know that Rubio backers will argue that states where he projects well have still not voted yet, and Marco will get on the winning board tonight in Minnesota. But Cruz has three wins under his belt and has generally outperformed Rubio overall. There's no clear second place winner, but Cruz seems to have the advantage and we need to break up this logjam if there's any hope of saving the Republican Party from the absolute disaster a Donald Trump nomination would present.
Over the last few days I've heard a lot of people say the GOP has had it coming - their inaction and lack of principled opposition to the Obama agenda has placed the rank-and-file voter in a position where they demand a tough-talking outsider to roll into Washington and unclog the sewer. I get it, but Donald Trump ain't Roto-Rooter.
Instead, he would just replace one dictatorial regime with another while presenting another classic problem for the Republican Party - how do conservatives oppose the President who is the titular head of your party? When Trump puts forth the wall with the "big, beautiful door" that lets the illegal immigrants we have stay here and encourages thousands more, what conservative can oppose him? And if he doesn't get his way with Congress rewriting libel laws to suit his fancy, do you honestly think The Donald wouldn't write executive orders so he can sue his press opponents into oblivion? The First Amendment seems strictly optional to him, unless you favor him in a "yuge" way.
The longer three of the other four non-Trump candidates linger, the more possible it is for Donald Trump to win the nomination without polling over 50 percent in any one state. Unfortunately, this primary season has been an argument that we need to change the system but that won't happen until 2020 at the earliest, and by then it may be too late to save the Republic. 12 straight years of ultra-liberal rule did a lot of damage to us during the Depression, and we're in a far more weakened condition this time around.