Jace Brady
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The Republicans held their upteenth presidential debate on Feb. 25, and it was the first time I sat Donald Trump flustered. Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio brutalized the man in a blend of verbal blows from Rubio, who seemed to relish in the blood sport,
class=”s4″>and methodical traps set by Cruz. Trump has dominated the last three primary elections, and if neither Rubio nor Cruz can stop him on Super Tuesday, it seems unlikely they ever will.
The evening was the first night I had hope that either Rubio or Cruz may be able to prevent a Trump presidency. Trump, however, managed to parry the blows on the morning of Feb. 26 with a surprise endorsement from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Up to this point, Trump has received very few endorsements from sitting politicians, and Christie likely restored any momentum Trump lost in the debate.
With the exception of Christie, the Republican establishment has worked tirelessly to try to stop the Trump train from arriving at the convention with the 1,237 delegates needed to capture the nomination. This week, former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney went on the attack, demanding that Trump release his tax records. He claims that Trump is not as rich as we all believe or there is some corruption to found in his records. To pile on, Cruz and Rubio both released additional years of tax records this year, but Trump has maintained that since he is under audit by the IRS, he is unable to do so.
Any attempt to coalesce the field has also fallen on deaf ears. Ben Carson seems content to bore America with his dreadful responses at debates, and John Kasich isn’t going anywhere until the Ohio primary. While a Rubio-Cruz pact may have been able to stop Trump, Rubio declared this week that such a thing would never happen as long as he was running. Though all these individuals failing to drop out is most likely detrimental to stopping Trump, we can console ourselves with the possibility that together, they can prevent Trump from reaching the magic number of delegates.
Trump has been able to dodge every blow, survive every crisis, and it seems more and more likely that he will be the one left standing to face Hillary Clinton in November. Republicans miscalculated Trump’s staying power and waited too long to try to attack him. Now on the eve of Super Tuesday, it is most likely too late.
Trump is poised to win all the states but Texas on Tuesday, and if he does so by the commanding margins of the last three states, this race is essentially over. Rubio will hope to win Florida, where he trails badly in the polls and Kasich Ohio later in March, but Trump has real opportunity to wrap up the nomination. Cruz and Rubio, the new faces meant to revitalize the Republican Party, will be sidelined, and Republican voters will walk into the booths in November forced to choose between a Trump-Christie ticket or to cross over and vote another Clinton into office.
