Vote for the Non-Crooks. It's Important.

Donald Trump must be slowed and then stopped. It begins tomorrow. You can help.

 

Tomorrow, I'm going to vote for Marco Rubio, or if the polling average corrects slightly, Ted Cruz. I will do this despite enormous reservations about both men. (See below for more.) I will do this despite the fact that neither is even my third choice.

 

I will do this because forcing Trump to go to the convention is more important than my ego. You must, too.

 

I do not care if the first thing you do when you wake up is to mutter or yell, "GANG OF EIGHT." I do not care if you think Ted Cruz took us to a dangerous precipice for his own career advancement in 2013. I don't care about which one lied about what or who or whatever during a campaign. You must not, either.

 

Tomorrow, Donald Trump is going to win every state except possibly Texas. Maybe. But the story on leaving tomorrow must be, "TRUMP'S MOMENTUM BLUNTED." The message for everyone paying close attention must be, "TRUMP WITHOUT NEARLY ENOUGH DELEGATES TO GET THE NOMINATION AND IT AIN'T GETTING BETTER."

 

At this point, Cruz fans will say that Rubio hasn't won a primary and won't win Texas so why are you so pro-Rubio? Rubio fans will note that Cruz is fading and there isn't another Iowa or Texas coming, so get on board, Cruz-lover.

 

To both camps: Put on your big-boy pants and stop squabbling like infants. This is no longer about either man winning outright or either man being the anti-Trump. One or both must be so long as Trump is slowed. He lives off of the perception of invincibility, and if you crack that -- as we saw last week -- he shows how weak and defensive he is.

 

Right now, Republicans nationally are starting to coalesce around what they see as the strong horse. We must show them that the strong horse is actually headed for the glue factory by the fall.

 

If you live in a state where your first choice is running first or second, bully for you and I'm serious. Run with it. But if not, vote for the other guy. This is infinitely more important than your own precious ego or preferences. Our movement, our party, and our nation are at stake. Grow up, stop telling us who started it, and be the responsible adults the Founders somewhat ridiculously imagined would be running the show even now.

 

FULL DISCLOSURE TIME:

 

I don't yell "GANG OF EIGHT" because I'm a non-moron, but Rubio's decision to back and push it was dumb dumb dumb. It was not a lie; that's the dumbest thing Cruz supporters and Trump's merry band of morons say. It was awful political judgment, reinforced by the ridiculous 2012 postmortem from the GOP, and a sign that Rubio's principles can be overridden by advisers. He shouldn't apologize for the bill, he should apologize for the absolute lack of judgment about his party's needs on the eve of vital midterms it showed. I have grave concerns about what a President Rubio would be, but I know exactly what a disaster a President Trump would be.

 

As for Cruz: His foreign policy is that America should not involve itself in every war, but should only involve itself where its interests lie. This is also, wisely, Israel's policy. I mention this because in 2014, while Christians being hunted by ISIS gathered in Washington to try to build support for Western intervention, Ted Cruz popped in to chide them for supporting Hezbollah (at war on the edges with ISIS) and not with Israel (openly saying, "Let's you and him fight."). He essentially chided them for not loving Israel more than themselves. When publicly called out for this, his response was to apologize to his critics for suggesting they didn't care enough about Middle Eastern Christians, which is kind of like apologizing to a man for chipping his mother's precious cutlery while sawing off her head. This, to me, showed an incredibly skewed set of priorities: America won't help those Christians (who are icky and use altars and believe Christ is present in some bread), but they'd better get right with Israel or it gets worse. As a Christian, this moved him to the bottom of the non-Trump and non-Kasich pile; but even so, I'll hold my nose and vote for the unctuous little hobbit because as bad as this is, Trump might bomb those same Christians if they won't agree to build one of his new casinos there.

 

Finally, I know whereof I speak when I tell you to vote for someone you don't like in a primary: I voted Perry in 2012 and was going to do so this year even though he was out by the time my state came/comes around. Historically, I vote for the Republican who can get elected and be conservative there. This year, I'm voting to stop a psychopath, and then I'll be nauseous after.