David, I agree that anyone who cares about conservatism or the Republican party or America should do everything they can to deny Trump the nomination. But if that’s the goal, why is Cruz investing time and money and resources on campaigning in Florida, a winner-take-all state that he has absolutely no chance of winning? As a Cruz staffer has admitted, the idea is to concede Florida’s 99 delegates to Trump in return for knocking Rubio out of the race.
If Cruz had left Florida alone, Rubio would have had a decent shot at denying Trump those 99, thus increasing the chances of a contested convention. But that’s the last thing Cruz wants. He’d rather have Trump become president than some compromise choice, because that way Cruz can spend four years attacking Trump and then be the obvious man to replace him in 2020.
Short term or long term, Cruz is not concerned with what’s best for the country; he’s concerned with what’s best for Ted Cruz. Nothing wrong with that; this is politics, after all. But I don’t see why anyone else should cooperate with Ted Cruz to deny Trump the nomination when Cruz himself is not making much of an effort to do so.