This week, presidential candidates John Kasich and Ted Cruz teamed up to take down their primary opponent: Donald Trump. Kasich and Cruz fall well behind Trump in the delegate count, but their hope is to combine their efforts to rack up enough delegates to prevent Trump from receiving the delegates necessary to solidify the nomination. The question that then arises is whether their unorthodox move is a well-thought out strategic maneuver that can actually achieve its goal, or if it’s a hasty plan emerging from a sense of desperation.
Individually, neither Cruz nor Kasich have a chance to receive the outright nomination, but both hope to take away enough momentum and delegates from Trump to bring about a contested convention. Cruz has had big wins in Iowa and Texas, but Trump’s domination in many other states has shattered the Texas conservative’s chances of success. Kasich has won only Ohio, and both Cruz and Trump have called on him to exit the race in order to leave room for a more viable candidate to emerge. But now that Trump has continued winning states, especially this Tuesday in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, it appears Cruz and Kasich have realized they can’t stop Trump on their own. It seems that the Texas senator and Ohio governor had no other choice but to team up. But can it actually work?
I don’t think so.
Ted Cruz is a southern conservative who won in Iowa and Texas because the voters in those states decide heavily based on moral and social issues, which favors the Southern Baptist, hard-right senator. Kasich, on the other hand, is a center-right Republican who won in his home state, where the Republicans tend to be more moderate. Their fundamental differences, therefore, may hurt their alliance in the end. The fact that the candidates intend on vying for each other in certain states, despite their differences, reeks of desperation. The two disagree on many things and have repeatedly attacked each other prior to their alliance, as their teamwork appears to be based on their fear of Trump rather than mutual agreement on policy issues. Voters who support Kasich likely won’t vote for Cruz just because Kasich told them to, and vice versa. Their huge gap on the partisan spectrum and past attacks on one another present an image of flip-flopping and hypocrisy rather than a well-intended effort to elect a deserving commander in chief.
Assuming all goes to plan and they reach a contested convention, I don’t believe their alliance will pay off in the end. Even if their goal of blocking the outright nomination for Trump works, it likely won’t do much to spur convention delegates from voting for him. Kasich and Cruz have both modified their campaigns to revolve around this convention, and both think they have a viable shot if they reach it. But even if Trump doesn’t get all 1,237 delegates, he’ll likely roll into the convention with close to that many — likely at least 1,100. At that point, chaos would ensue if the delegates at the convention choose Cruz or Kasich as the nominee given their substantial lack of delegates won in primaries prior to Trump, thus bringing their plan to a halting defeat. I commend Cruz and Kasich in their effort to stop a candidate who many see as unfit to represent Republicans on the general election ticket, but their plan simply has little chance of succeeding. This is a sign of desperation and defeat, not a well-thought out effort.
Kyle Campbell is a sophomore government and politics major. He can be reached at kcampbelldbk@gmail.com.
