It’s very safe to say that Ted Cruz had a very bad night Tuesday when the returns came in from the New York primary. Cruz, who was still trying to live down his earlier criticism of “New York values,” wound up a distant third among a field of three. Even John Kasich, who has only managed to win his home state of Ohio, performed better than the Texas Senator, who had written off New York weeks ago, despite showing up long enough to make a few photo ops last week.
With Donald Trump’s win last night in New York, Cruz is now mathematically eliminated from clinching the GOP nomination before the Republican convention in July. That news must have many in the Stop Trump movement quite anxious this morning once their hangovers wear off.
Trump won at least 89 of the 95 delegates at stake, and Cruz won zero. Not a single delegate for Cruz in a state the size of New York. Wonder how Teddy Boy feels about New York values now?
There aren’t enough delegates left in future contests for either Cruz or Kasich to reach the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination. Their only hope–the GOP establishment’s only prayer–is to block Trump from gaining 1,237 and force a contested convention. Should Trump not secure a first ballot victory at the convention, a wild free for all will be set off in which delegates could then switch allegiance and nominate anyone they wish. Which leaves them in quite a quandary: Nominate Trump and lose badly in November or not nominate him, rip the party apart, and lose badly in November.
Looks like the GOP convention promises to be filled with more plot twists than an Agatha Christie novel. Should be fun watching the Republicans experience their existential crisis on national TV.
At one time, before Trump got into the race, some pundits had suggested this would be a boring election year. Now it appears far from it.
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