Should Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz say they won't vote for Donald Trump?
Are the #NeverTrump folks really serious about the 鈥淣ever鈥� in their hashtag? And if they鈥檙e not, does that blunt the sting of their critiques of Donald Trump?
The conclusion to Thursday night鈥檚 Republican debate in Detroit sparks these questions. Their answers could determine just how much a Mr. Trump candidacy would really split the GOP.
Endorsements are the issue here. At the end of the debate Fox host Bret Baier asked Sen. Marco Rubio (R) of Florida, Sen. Ted Cruz (R) of Texas, and Gov. John Kasich (R) of Ohio whether they would support Trump if he wins the nomination. Each answered 鈥測es.鈥�
Senator Rubio said he would back Trump because the Democratic alternative would be either a socialist (Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont) or someone under FBI investigation (Hillary Clinton).
Senator Cruz said he would back Trump because earlier in the campaign he鈥檇 given his word that he would.
Governor Kasich talked around the issue for a bit and then said 鈥測es鈥� to Trump too.
鈥淪ometimes he makes it a little bit hard, but you know I will support whoever is the Republican nominee for president,鈥� Kasich said.
Here鈥檚 the problem: Rubio and Cruz had just spent two hours attacking Trump to an extent seldom if ever seen at the intra-party level. They鈥檇 gone after his judgment, his policies, his business legacy, and his demeanor.
Kasich was much less combative. But collectively this trio is the stop-Trump crowd鈥檚 best hope. If they had joined in with the spirit of the hashtag, and vowed that they would never vote for Trump, it would have been a serious expression of the depth of feeling of many in the party about the dangers of a Trump nomination.
Rubio in particular has embraced the #NeverTrump theme, including the hashtag in his social media posts and selling #NeverTrump stuff on his campaign website.
But Rubio, and to some extent Cruz, fumbled the moment. If they think Trump is as bad as they were saying during the debate, why not demonstrate the courage of their opposition?
Mitt Romney has. He鈥檚 said he will likely write in a third name if his ballot choice is Trump or Mrs. Clinton. (Yeah, yeah, it鈥檒l be 鈥淩omney.鈥� Cheap joke.)
A few others in the Republican opposition to Trump have said the same thing. Sen. Ben Sasse (R) of Nebraska has vowed to not vote for Trump. So has former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R) of New Jersey.
All the GOP foreign policy experts who signed an opposing Trump also all but said they鈥檇 never cast a ballot for The Donald.
If Trump鈥檚 remaining GOP opponents had joined this band, it would have brought home how seriously they viewed the situation. Instead, they indicated it was all politics as usual 鈥� pro wrestling fake, per New York Times Magazine national correspondent Mark Leibovich.
鈥淕iven all the noise and delirium of recent weeks 鈥� and some of the things Trump has also said about Cruz and Rubio 鈥� this still struck me as a monumental walk-back,鈥� .
It鈥檚 true that presidential primary campaigns can be very combative. At the end the winner and losers shake hands and are expected to unite for the good of the party. That鈥檚 what happened with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in 2008.
The 2016 GOP race just seems ... different. Romney and the GOP establishment seem committed to denying Trump a majority of delegates, if possible, and then contesting his nomination on the convention floor.
That could cleave the Republican Party into pieces. Then it would be, as Romney said in his Thursday anti-Trump address in Salt Lake City, 鈥渁 time for choosing.鈥�
