Ted Cruz for President

Readers know that I have been a devout Marco Rubio supporter since he first entered the race, and very much hoped he would be the GOP 2016 nominee for the Presidency. That support was based on the fact that I believe he was the best candidate running, is a rock solid and reliable conservative, and carried an aspirational message that I believe is the primary need of the hour in the climate in which we find ourselves. He possesses the worldview we need in a President when it comes to national security, he is a voice for the future and not the past, and most of all, he would have (in my opinion) literally decimated Hillary Clinton in a general election, possibly in the biggest landslide since 1984. A very crowded field and the utter craziness of this Trump phenomena kept Rubio from prevailing in his primary fight, and though I remain thoroughly convinced that he is going to be my President one day (he can run for seven more general election cycles before he becomes Hillary Clinton's age), this proved to not be the year for him. One of the most ridiculous things that has come from the last nine months of this twilight zone race is the idea that Marco Rubio was a part of the "establishment". That idea is just recklessly and hopelessly stupid. That's me being charitable.We now face a code red situation as conservatives, and I do not know if there is time to do anything about it. Donald Trump is not a the inevitable candidate, and if he fails to secure the 1,237 delegates needed to win (what the rules say), I would hope that the delegates tasked with securing a nominee would do the right thing and not select him. I have learned a lot the last few months about who the real conservatives are in my orbit, who the real patriots are in our national media, and who are, for lack of a better word, for sale. There are others on my #NeverTrump isle, and I hold them in higher regard than you would believe. Donald Trump is the biggest disaster for conservatism and for the Republican party to come along in my lifetime. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are a disaster for our country, but they are not a threat to our movement. Trump is attempting to hijack a movement rooted in Constitutional government, a belief in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the aspirational society. Conservatism is a political philosophy; it is inherently ideological. Donald Trump could not spell philosophy or ideology, but I am sure he would try "T-r-u-m-p ..."). Narcissism, a lack of moral virtue, a contempt for public decency - these are Trumpian hallmarks, and they are not even his worst attributes. He lacks any ability to articulate what he stands for, what he believes, and how he will do the things he has said he will do. While the cultural background that has given way to such a decrepit populism is not a surprise to me, the fact that so many are buying out in the political sphere, and even within our own movement, is sickening. I am keeping a list, by the way. And I have no intention of forgiving or forgetting.Donald Trump has a good idea with cutting corporate taxes, but there is no meat on the bone in anything I care about with his economic agenda. He has both consciously and sub-consciously staked his value proposition on the idea that he is a dealmaker. He is not for limited government; he is for better government, meaning, one that has him cutting deals. That value proposition requires a constant appeal to his ridiculous biography, none of which is rooted in fact. There is no appeal to me in a juvenile trust fund kid with no ideological backbone or maturity of character. Sorry folks. I'm not supporting this clown, ever.So here we are. The man I fear the most is the leader in delegates, and the man I liked the most is out of the race. The inevitable conclusion is that is time to work around the clock to get Ted Cruz the nomination. I may have questioned Ted's electability in the past, and I still believe he will have significant issues to overcome in that capacity if he were to prevail with the nomination, but I believe he (a) Gives us a very good shot against a truly evil and incompetent Democratic frontrunner; and (b) Will not represent the hijacking of every single important principle we have cared about as conservatives for decades. He has a path to pass Trump in delegates, though that is a long shot. He has a path to make it close with delegates, and that is somewhat more possible. And he certainly has a very good path to keep Trump from getting 1,237 delegates. If we keep Trump from that mark, I believe we can stop his nomination. Donald Trump is going to lose to Hillary Clinton in the biggest landslide of my adult lifetime, as every poll says, as every favorable/unfavorable says, and as every demographic analysis says. Speaking the way I do about Trump and fighting the way I will for Cruz is not strengthening Hillary Clinton, because the only candidate she is guaranteed to beat is Donald Trump. Cruz and Clinton will be a tough race, but it is winnable. And can you even imagine what Cruz would do to her in a debate? Dear Lord. I want to expand campaign finance limits just thinking about that!Ted Cruz cares about national security. He is wicked smart. He will be rock solid on judges, and perhaps more so there than anyone. He has a deeply aspirational story himself (much more so than that whole inheritance thing, where the most profitable endeavor of his life was leaving his mother's womb). I wish that shutdown nonsense had never happened. But a Ted Cruz Presidency would mean that the GOP surely kept the House and Senate as well, which would mean actual ball-moving progress for this country. I won't use this article or my efforts of the next two months to articulate the negatives. The stakes are too high. The time is now to defeat Donald Trump, and the only path to do that by is to nominate Ted Cruz. The delegate counts, the politics, the process, the gamesmanship, and all that jazz are going to be highly complex. But this much is simple: Our country must not elect Hillary Clinton. Our party must not nominate Donald Trump. Ted Cruz for President.