(CNN)The gloves are off.
In what will either go down in history as a brilliant strategy shift or an embarrassing, losing gambit, GOP opponents John Kasich and Ted Cruz have announced they are joining forces to take down their common rival, Donald Trump.
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Trump’s response was fast and “on brand.” In a tweet he wrote that it was desperation for the two to “collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination.”
For months pundits and politicians have speculated that there would be backroom dealings aimed at denying Trump a first-ballot win and a brokered Republican Convention this summer. That speculation is over; there is going to be a public brawl. You thought politics couldn’t get more interesting, nasty or sink any lower.
This is like two parents divorcing and begging the kids to pick favorites. It’s public, it’s ugly, it’s confusing — and it’s going to blow up in Kasich’s, Cruz’s and the GOP’s face.
What on earth is the Republican Party doing?
Once again, on all things strategy, Trump is 100% correct. Is this an act of too-late desperation? Yup. Is it collusion? Textbook. And how are Cruz and Kasich joining forces? “Game of Thrones” style: They are trading states to consolidate delegates, in hope of beating their common enemy, Trump.
Kasich is telling his voters to back Cruz in Indiana, and likewise, Cruz will not compete against Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico.
Instead, this GOP “Anyone-but-Trump” strategy will hand the election to Hillary Clinton, as it games the system, demonizes Trump, antagonizes his supporters–and fractures the party even further.
Apparently the GOP does not want to face the reality that it has become so out of touch on social policies that it can’t attract moderates. Much of the GOP’s rhetoric scares people; it doesn’t even try to attract Democrats and can’t attract independents. Trump is succeeding at all of the above because he is uniting people on one simple belief: politicians are a phony, stuck up lot.
The irony is this, and I’ve been saying it for months: Trump is the GOP’s only shot at the White House, and by “joining forces” against him because he’s not a “true” conservative (what’s that again?), they have just caused their own party to implode.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/25/opinions/kasich-cruz-trump-robbins/index.html