South Carolina Speculations

Not many returns are in but Decision Desk will eventually have some numbers.

Ben Shapiro notes something, maybe unintentionally, that I've noted -- pushing Rubio will get you Trump.

Cruz is a non-lunatic candidate who is even more fluent with the issues -- and more conservative on them as well -- than Rubio.

And he's acceptable to people who are against Rubio. Rubio, obviously, is not. He remains firmly committed to amnesty, despite what his online saleseman claim.

Rubio's own words -- which they're not fond of quoting -- establish him as firmly, resolutely pro-amnesty and pro-pathway-to-citizenship... as soon as there's a "plan" for border security in place and as soon as the country has a president the people trust on amnesty.

Presumably Rubio thinks he's the latter, and the "plan" for border security can be done in one day, so yes, Rubio not only intends to bring back the Gang of Eight, but intends to do so on an expedited schedule.

So Cruz is an acceptable candidate to most (even Rubio supporters will always say "Well now you know I agree more with Cruz"), but apparently we're going to push Rubio as the only non-Trump candidate because of Rubio's less than two percent stronger performance in hypothetical, way-down-the-line matchups with Hillary and Bernie.

Cruz beats them too, in these polls. But Rubes beats them by 1.8% more, so apparently that's enough to push an amnesty candidate on a party which is largely very strongly against amnesty.

Instead of conceding that small matter to the rest of the party, the Establishment and Establishment-friendly of the party are going to try to win on every single point, thereby telling the majority of the party -- which is against amnesty -- to go eat a dick.

This will not result in people coalescing around Rubio; if you knock out the only other anti-amnesty candidate, it will result in people coalescing around Trump, much to their own chagrin and with great reluctance.

But coalesce they will.

But do go on, Smart Set. Go on, being all smart enough to spite half the party over an issue they consider a priority.

Those who are absolutely unwilling to compromise or concede an inch can expect the same policy in return.

A Tweet From Pro-Amnesty Shill Rupert Murdoch:

Rupert Murdoch tweets: If Trump beats Cruz by ten plus or Rubio runs 2nd it's over for Cruz. And if Sanders beats Hilary in Nev curtains for her.

Yes that's what they're hoping -- get Cruz out of the race, get people to get behind Rubio while disagreeing with his amnesty position, and get your precious amnesty, over the objections of half the party.

This is what they do. They won't forthrightly argue on behalf of amnesty -- they'll just argue for some collateral concern ("electability") and get their amnesty by default, without having actually ever made the argument or convinced anybody.

At least that's their plan.

We'll see if the party that is, in their opinion, Poor, Uneducated, and Easily Led falls into line like they're expecting.

posted by Ace at 04:11 PM

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