Trumped!

The talk of the town just now is the reprehensible Donald Trump. He is a profound embarrassment and is seriously chipping away at the chances of a conservative government in the forthcoming election. It is not so much that he could win, he cannot, but in his denial of this fact he may opt to run as a third party candidate. The result would be a sufficient draw on otherwise republican votes to decisively cut into their chances. As demographics now stand, whoever runs on the democratic ticket will win owing to their slightly superior numbers. A strong and appealing republican candidate could sway voters into supporting the man rather than their party, but only marginally. Trump could pre-empt that margin and the threat of such action strikes terror into the hearts of the republican political machine.

 

Then we have the God-fearing, clean living ultra conservative Ted Cruz. Old Ted is a man of principle and honor, or so he claims. Taking this to heart, he stood up in the Senate this week and loudly and without mitigation called the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, a liar. Nobody is quite far enough to the right to satisfy Ted and so, in his own version of political megalomania, he trespassed onto every senate rule and convention by publicly insulting a sitting colleague.

 

There is, of course, no doubt that Ted's accusation was blatantly true, but Mitch staunchly denied it and fellow senators quickly abandoned Ted like bees in a hive on fire. No loss, as Ted could not get sufficient political oxygen on his extended limb to breath life into himself let alone his party. So Ted is left with whatever self-satisfaction the self-righteous can muster and perhaps to mull an arrangement allowing him to join up with Donald to form a bête noir party.