By KH
Seeds: As the Republican National Convention (RNC) draws ever closer, a rift within the Republican Party is forming. Some, such as GOP chairman Reince Priebus (don’t even try and pronounce this guy’s name), have urged the members of the party to rally around Donald Trump if he is to become the nominee. Others, such as the Stop Trump Super PAC, Our Principles, have stated that they do not believe Donald Trump is a good representation of the Republican Party and therefore does not deserve its backing.
Core: In an effort to make Trump’s path to the nomination more difficult, the campaigns of Republican candidates Governor John Kasich and Senator Ted Cruz have decided help each other in certain states in an effort to prevent Donald Trump from earning the number of delegates necessary to win the nomination. In Indiana, the Kasich campaign will step aside and allow the Cruz campaign to accumulate as many votes as possible. Alternatively, in New Mexico and Oregon, the Cruz campaign will step aside. By doing this, they are trying to avoid both Cruz and Kasich campaigning in one state because it splits up the non-Trump vote, which ultimately would allow Trump to take the lead in the race for delegates.
Skin: The media has paid close attention to this unprecedented collaboration between the candidates. Usually, at this point in the nomination there are only two popular candidates left (as we have seen in the Democratic race with Sanders and Clinton), but this race has showed us what can happen when no one candidate is able to win a true majority of voters. In addition, the media has loved to watch Trump’s reaction to the adversity. Yesterday evening and this morning, Trump took to Twitter to say: “Wow, just announced that Lyin' Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!” and “Lyin' Ted Cruz and 1 for 38 Kasich are unable to beat me on their own so they have to team up (collusion) in a two on one. Shows weakness!”
Leaves: At this point in the race, Ted Cruz knows that it would be mathematically impossible for him to reach the correct number of delegates by the time of the RNC. Therefore, the only way he can win the nomination would be for him to also prevent Trump from winning the necessary 1,237 delegates. Will this plan to stop Trump work? Only time will tell.
Food For Thought: Do you think Cruz and Kasich should be allowed to conspire against Trump like this? Do you think this plan will work? What do you think will happen at the Republican National Convention?
Still Hungry? The New York Times (1), The New York Times (2), Politico
Think we missed something? Tell us in the comments.
