Trump Wins Indiana. Cruz Quits Race. It’s Over.

Today, Donald Trump beat Ted Cruz in Indiana by a whopping 16 points. Trump’s decisive win in Cruz’s presumed bastion was enough; Cruz has suspended his campaign. Last I knew John Kasich was still holding out, sort of like Joe Johnston hanging on briefly in North Carolina after Appomattox. But the race is over. Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee.

And let’s be fair. He has won going away. As the campaign went on and voters learned more about Trump’s presumed flaws–not being a conservative was at the top of my list–he grew stronger, not weaker.

Some #NeverTrumps are talking about dredging up a respectable candidate for an independent race, but I think that would be a terrible mistake. Trump has won the Republican nomination fair and square. If there are Republicans who would rather vote for Hillary, they should go ahead and do so. But they are a small minority, and for them to put up a third candidate who couldn’t possibly win, but might be the one deus ex machina that could land Hillary in the White House, would be worse than pointless. It would be a betrayal of their fellow Republicans and, I think, a disaster for the country.

For my part, I think Trump can beat Clinton. I will be surprised if he doesn’t.

While Trump is rising, Hillary stumbles toward the Democrats’ rigged goal line. She lost, narrowly, to Sanders in Indiana. Which, if you think about it, is astonishing. Who would have expected Indianans–even Democratic Indianans–to vote for socialism? Not me. But don’t worry, Hillary: superdelegates and behind the scenes fixes will no doubt give you most of the delegates, even though you lost the election. What a weak platform from which to enter the general election!

In any event, the die is cast. The 2016 presidential election will be between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Trump will win, in all likelihood, I believe. It is too bad that there won’t be a conservative in the race, but we can still have fun covering it!

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses