In the past, the practice seemed to be that candidates with no practical path forward dropped out "for the good of the party." This time, the Party got beat, but the victors haven't resolved amongst themselves how to finish the job.
If "the good of the movement" were the priority, the laggard would drop out to clear the way for the leader. If personal ambition were the priority, then the laggard stays in and hopes for either a fumble by the leader or a bad call by the referees.
Early campaigning here was typical boosting for preferred candidates. It has since turned antagonistic as the candidates became antagonistic as a clear leader began to emerge, but the campaigns became scorched earth instead of "well played" and a gracious exit.
I think tension is heightened by the intransigence of the Cruz and Kasich campaigns. I had hoped some pressure would be released by Rubio's departure, and others would follow his lead as the next primaries played out and paths forward became clearer. This has not happened. The spoiler campaigns have dug in.
Raising tensions even more is the steady news of the GOPe planning to manipulate the process to coopt the voters and wrest control of the convention to insert someone else at the end of the race. Freepers like me see the Cruz and Kasich campaigns as being stooges for a GOPe that individually convinces that the Party will have their back in a floor fight, but fears a reneging when the time comes.
I see the only way to preempt the beaten GOPe as Cruz dropping out so that Trump wins an overwhelming majority of delegates that cannot be tampered with by rules shenanigans. Why Cruz and not Trump? Because Trump has the dominant lead. If the places were reversed, I'd call for Trump to drop out.
For the trailing candidates to not drop out at this point is head-scratching. The motives are clearly personal and Pyrrhic now. We're in "if I can't win, then nobody will" territory. In my opinion, Cruz is becoming Ahab; he's so obsessed with destroying Trump that he's blind to the actual damage that he's causing to the movement to oust the establishment from Washington.
And it is this last "for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee" behavior from the lagging Cruz that feels like we're again about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
-PJ
That’s good analysis. I think it would be interesting here to see if JimRob sees a big difference in this season vs. previous seasons.
Cruz is in effect just a spoiler now. There’s no way he can head up a conservative revolution if that is what he truly wants (which I doubt). Instead, it’s just the destruction of Trump. That’s all his campaign is now.