KKK rally port-a-potty holding tanks Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have teamed up against the real enemy: John Kasich.
The two campaigns are collaborating to keep the Ohio governor off the ballot at the Republican National Convention in July, according to MSNBC, signaling that they might be preparing for a contested convention—the result if neither candidate wins the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
Since there is no chance Kasich can win delegates, being on the ballot at the RNC is his only option to get the nomination.
NBC News reports:
While Trump and Cruz are locked in a bitter battle, aides to both men tell MSNBC it is in their mutual interest to keep Kasich off the ballot. The convention rules control whoever is on that ballot—and thus eli gible to win the nomination…
[The Rules Committee] which writes the rules governing an open convention, is made up of 112 Republican delegates from around the country. Operatives for Cruz and Trump say they will have major sway over what the committee does.
“The Cruz people and Trump people are fighting hard to make sure their hard-core delegates get on the committee,” said Barry Bennett, a Trump adviser.
Both candidates have been publicly horrible to the third candidate, with the Cruz campaign launching full-fledged attack ads against him:
“Despite having no path to the nomination, Kasich insists on continuing his quixotic auditioning tour to become Donald Trump’s vice president,” said Cruz’s spokesperson Catherine Frazier. “So far, his greatest strength has been anonymity—we’re simply shining some light on his record.”
On Sunday, Trump said that Kasich “shouldn’t be allowed to continue, and the RNC shouldn’t allow him to continue,” because it’s “very unfair” to Trump: “He doesn’t have to run and take my votes.”
But as we all learned in high school, if two bullies are willing to scheme to take out one enemy, they sure as shit are scheming to take out one another too. On Friday, Politico reported that, of the 168 Republican National Convention Committee members (who also function as convention delegates), only one is a public Trump supporter, and Cruz has been working to make sure that number stays low, “meaning that the Texas senator could triumph through delegates who are freed to vote their own preferences on a second ballot, regardless of who won their state.”
“Ted Cruz also has no possibility of accumulating enough delegates and Trump also will not receive a majority of delegates before the convention,” said Kasich spokesperson Chris Schrimpf according to the New York Times. “Since he thinks it’s such a good idea, we look forward to Trump dropping out before the convention.”
Image via Getty.
