An Open Letter to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to Save the Country

Gentlemen:I should say from the outset in writing this letter that I strongly suspect I am sending it too late. We will, of course, find out if this whole Trump thing has been much ado about nothing soon enough, but alas, even with a Cruz win in Iowa, the current plan for those who believe Trump is a disaster candidate for the GOP appears to be to, um, make sure the other candidates do not win. What’s worse, that appears to be a conscious and calculated decision based on the fantasy-land belief that if somehow all the non-Trump candidates are defeated, he will magically defeat himself, and all the voters will flock to someone else despite that person being in a battle royal with other non-Trump candidates. It is a horrific miscalculation, and I am pleading with the two of you to join forces as laid out below in an effort to save the party from both Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton. I am convinced this suggested prescription would work. I plead with you for the sake of our movement and the country we love to give this due consideration.The premises behind this suggestion are very simple:(1) The combined Cruz and Rubio support is amply adequate to dethrone Donald Trump, even more than the present polls indicate (which themselves are adequate to win). The combination, though, would be exponentially bigger than the present sum of parts when virtually all of the other candidate support would coalesce around your combination should be it announced. The number one factor most people care about is WINNABILITY – people have the luxury of going 4% to Bush and 5% to Christie (or whatever) – not to mention all the 1%-3% support for Paul, Kasich, Carson, Fiorina, etc. – because they don’t see ANY alternative as being formidable anyways (when Trump is sitting where he is in the polls). Your combined force changes the electability narrative immediately, and virtually becomes an inevitability narrastive.(2) I do not see any path for Cruz to win the general, and barely a path for him to win the primary. I see barely any path for Rubio to win the primary, which means he obviously can’t win the general. You would have no reason to consider consolidation if one of you were going to go on to win anyways. It is highly unlikely to happen, and even if it were, it would take a miracle of passive happenings to bounce your way. The stakes are too high for hope to remain the guiding strategy. This is proactive, and it will win.(3) Why do I not see Cruz winning the primary or the general? He will have to go to WAR with Trump to do it, which will decimate his own base. He is the top choice for those who are self-identified tea party evangelicals, but that will not secure enough delegates before the convention. And should he maneuver and campaign his way to a nomination, it will be a hyper-divided party and a top-of-ticket candidate who, contrary to popular belief, does not have the majority of the American people on his side. I know most tea party evangelicals believe that the whole country is tea party evangelical, and just waiting for the right candidate to show up in droves, but that is based on anything other than raw empirical support. It just isn’t true. But Cruz and Rubio together? Game over.(4) Why do I not see Rubio winning the primary? Because he needs Cruz and Trump to split each other and split each other and split each other, and then magically end up with enough delegates despite the fact that the math will not pencil until the convention, especially if Christie, Bush, and Kasich all stay in after New Hampshire. This continues this despicable cycle of these guys all beating each other up while Trump just gets stronger, and stronger, and stronger. Everything Rubio needs to do to win the primary will likely catapult Trump. It is a no-win situation.So what am I saying? I am saying that Rubio and Cruz announce a joint candidacy, NOW. You pick who is top and who is bottom, because now, I don’t care. It will be 16 years of the White House, and you both have half of your lives ahead of you, so who cares? Look at polls, look at strategery, and figure that part out. Run as a co-ticket, and watch a mathematical force take over that will take over this election. Tea party support? Check. Evangelicals? Check. Purple states? Check. National defense conservatives? Check. The only demographic you would lose are the 38 isolationists still left, and you’ll be okay without them. The Trump demographic will disintegrate when the inevitability, top of polls narrative falls apart. You can tap into their anger with Washington (Cruz) with sensible, grown-up solutions in a new century (Rubio). It is a no-brainer.I know it is complicated (how to get voters to vote for one of you when both names will be on each ballot), but come on – that’s pretty easy. The egos will have a hard time deciding who is top and who is bottom, but I say flip a coin for it. Like I said, it is 16 years. There will be 16 years in the White House to reform entitlements, to walk back fiscal collapse, to beef up the military, to enact sensible long term immigration solutions, to keep leftist radicals off the Supreme Court, to re-do the tax code, and to generally make America great again. Oh wait, was that someone else’s line?Guess what – if you follow this prescription, that guy’s hat will be a mere souvenir!