Just one day after it was announced, it seems there is already trouble in the alliance between Ted Cruz and John Kasich. In a deal announced yesterday, the two GOP candidates agreed that Ted Cruz will focus on Indiana while Kasich will concentrate on Oregon and New Mexico. This is aimed at stopping front-runner Donald Trump from reaching the 1,237 delegates milestone that would secure him the Republican nomination.
However, it appears that John Kasich is getting the jitters. In an exchange with reporters on Monday in Philadelphia, Kasich said that his supporters in Indiana should still vote for him:
“I’ve never told them not to vote for me; they should vote for me. I’m not over there campaigning and spending resources. We have limited resources. Mine is like the people’s campaign. I have a campaign where, you know, we’ve been outspent basically 50-to-1.”
John Weaver, Kasich’s Chief Strategist, quickly took to Twitter to try and repair the damage:
We're not telling voters who to vote for in IN, only where we are going to spend resources to ultimately defeat Hillary. They get it.
— John Weaver (@jwgop) April 25, 2016
Naturally, the Donald would seize on even a whiff of trouble in paradise. He immediately poked fun at Kasich and his deal with Cruz on Twitter:
Kasich just announced that he wants the people of Indiana to vote for him. Typical politician – can't make a deal work.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016
The Cruz-Kasich pact is under great strain. This joke of a deal is falling apart, not being honored and almost dead. Very dumb!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2016
For his part, Ted Cruz was forced to defend the logic of his alliance with Kasich. He insisted that if Trump wins the Republican nomination, their party would suffer heavy losses in the general election:
“This is about winning the votes of the Hoosier State, giving Indiana the opportunity to choose, and we’re at a fork in the road. We’re at a fundamental fork in the road. And I’ll tell you, here in the state of Indiana, Donald Trump at the top of the ticket losing in a landslide would cost Republicans seats all throughout the state of Indiana.”
Well, it’s safe to say that the circus in the Republican party isn’t letting up. Expect to see more desperation, political fumbling, and downright un-presidential rhetoric, like Trump focusing on Kasich’s eating habits:
“I’m always telling my young son Barron, I’m saying — and I, always with my kids, all of them — I say, children, small, little bites. Small. This guy takes a pancake and he’s shoving it in his mouth. It’s disgusting. Do you want that for your president? I don’t think so. Honestly, it’s disgusting.”
With such candidates, who would want to vote Republican?
Featured image by DonkeyHotey, available under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 license.
