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Special Bulletin. After New York: What To Do About the Weevils?

Although the result of Republican primary in New York was unsurprising, that made it no less unpalatable. Donald Trump was widely predicted to do well and he did indeed. At last count he had captured at least  89 of New York’s 95 delegates. That does not guarantee that he will command a majority of delegates before the convention but that goal is certainly in sight. The Trump ego was sufficiently assuaged that in his Tuesday evening remarks he seemed determined to focus on attempting to “sound Presidential” and hence he passed up the ritual insulting of rivals that has been his regular practice. For our part, we were quite unmoved by the newly applied patina of civility.

Senator Cruz had a distinctly bad evening, finishing a distant third in the voting and winning no delegates. Moreover, his prospects in the next round of primaries are not generally thought to be promising. Nevertheless, he had already amassed sufficient delegates to make it a virtual certainty that he will remain in the race until Trump has a majority of delegates.

Governor Kasich fared better than Cruz in finishing second, but was far behind Trump with only a handful of delegates (apparently four, with two remaining undetermined). As a result, there could be increased pressure on Kasich to withdraw.  Even before the New York results, Governor Romney had argued that if both Cruz and Kasich remained in the race, Trump would be nominated. Romney did not identify who he thought should drop out, but since Kasich is well behind Cruz, the remark seemed pointed primarily at him. We continue to believe that Kasich should continue his campaign, and that Romney was wrong on two counts. First, if Kasich withdrew, some and possibly many, of his supporters would move to Trump, and it is not at all clear that Cruz would be the net beneficiary. Second, we do not accept Romney’s implied premise that Cruz would be preferable to Trump, as a candidate and as President. As we have made clear, we believe that both are unacceptable (“Scylla and Charybdis”).

On Wednesday morning, The New York Times expressed concern that pressure to withdraw would be applied to both Kasich and Sanders within their respective parties, and urged both to remain active in the race. So far as Republicans are concerned, the Times is a dubious source of counsel and its encouragement of Kasich was distinctly lukewarm. Nevertheless, it suggests the reasons why Kasich would be the strongest Republican candidate in the general election and, if elected, best suited to serve as President:

Mr. Kasich is not an exciting candidate, or even a political moderate. But he is the most sane-sounding individual in the Republican field, and has been from the start. Unlike his rivals, he’s shown a willingness to play by the rules. His presence in the race offers moderate Republicans a palatable alternative in the primaries and caucuses, and also if there is a real fight at the convention.

In terms of the election, the strength of Kasich—and the weakness of Trump and Cruz—was underscored by the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. The poll put Trump’s net favorability rating at minus-41. An astonishing 65 percent of registered voters view him unfavorably, versus 24 percent with a positive view, making him the most unpopular major party presidential candidate ever recorded. Cruz is at minus-23, with 49 viewing him negatively and 26 percent in a positive light. Kasich, in contrast, has a net positive favorable rating of +12. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and a negative rating of -24 compared with a positive rating of +9 for Sanders. Looking at the ratings of the two front-runners, it is not surprising that some observers described the coming election as an “unpopularity contest.” Clearly, Clinton is vulnerable, but it is highly unlikely that either Trump or Cruz will be successful in exploiting that vulnerability.

In viewing the contest between Trump and Cruz, it is one that has frequently been described as an effort to choose the lesser of two evils. This brings to mind the memorable scene in Master and Commander in which the Master explains to the ship’s surgeon that it is always the practice of the navy to select the lesser of two weevils. (Readers who missed the movie, and may not get the joke, can view the scene on ever-helpful YouTube. ) So, we are left with the thought, Trump and Cruz, what a pair of weevils. Nevertheless, some of us cling to the hope that the GOP will somehow find a way to nominate a candidate who is not a weevil at all. And if not Kasich, we ask, who—and how?

The Lesser of Two Weevils, by White Noise.

The Lesser of Two Weevils, by White Noise.

5 thoughts on “Special Bulletin. After New York: What To Do About the Weevils?”

  1. April 25, 2016:

    A breaking news bullletin in today’s NewYork Times (“Ted Cruz and John Kasich Have Agreed to Team Up in Key States to Slow Donald Trump”) states that Governor Kasich will not compete in several primaries, including Indiana, so that TED CRUZ may be enabled to defeat Donald Trump in those primaries and, supposedly, deprive Trump of the GOP presidential nomination.

    Kasick has made a deal with the devil. Surely he is playing with fire.

    Cruz, as you have said for months, is every bit as bad as Trump. (i actually think he may worse.) If Kasich helps Cruz win the nomination, what will that say about him?

    This is a truly shocking development.

    May I suggest that you start a Republicans for Hillary club without further ado.

    Kasich helps Cruz win the nomination? How does that benefit the GOP or the American People?

    Kasich has made a deal with the Devil.

    How did this happen? Please explain.

  2. Another great post. I read there are over 60,000 species of beetles in the Weevil family but, surely, Trump and Cruz are among the most hideous. Sadly, Trump had a big win in the NY primary. Happily, he lost in the borough of Manhattan. Not sure where the Republican party goes from here. Looks like the extremists have highjacked it, perhaps for a long, long time. Anyway, I don’t blame you for clinging to the wreckage.

  3. Frederick Eberstadt

    A born and bred Republican, if a wavering one at times, W and Cheney made an independent of me. The disaster they produced should act as a warning to us all. Little did they realize the real “regime change” they were producing is in DC.
    However, it seems likely that Trump might make that hapless duo seem like Wisdom and Integrity. I suppose we will suffer through with Hillary as well as a Democratic Senate and House.

  4. In defense of the NYT (God forbid?), it is a bit unrealistic to expect the Editorial Board to be — or become — enthusiastic about Governor Kasich. That said, give credit where credit is due. They recognize that a weevil is a weevil, whatever its size. Similarly, they recognize that the Governor has not acted or sounded like a weevil and for that we should all be thankful.

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