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Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio spent 119 minutes Thursday night savaging Donald Trump as fundamentally unfit to be the Republican nominee. Then, in the final minute of the 11th Republican presidential debate, they changed their tune --- totally.
Asked whether they could and would support Trump as the GOP standard-bearer in the fall election, both Rubio and Cruz (and John Kasich) said yes.
"I'll support Donald if he's the Republican nominee, and let me tell you why," Rubio said. "Because the Democrats have two people left in the race. One of them is a socialist. . .the other one is under FBI investigation."
"Yes, because I gave my word that I would," offered Cruz.
I understand why both men pledged to support Trump. Because they knew that the moderators would eventually ask Trump -- as they did -- whether he would pledge to back the Republican nominee in the event it wasn't him. And neither Rubio nor Cruz wanted to give Trump any wiggle room on that question.
They got what they wanted, sort of. "Yes, I will. Yes. I will," Trump said when pressed on the question by moderator Chris Wallace.
But, but, but. This is Donald Trump we're talking about. Do you think that if he goes into the Republican National Convention with the most delegates and somehow winds up not winning the nomination that he will say to himself, "Well, I can't run as an independent because I said at that debate I wouldn't?" No chance.
Instead of trying to put Trump in a box on the question of a third party bid, what Cruz and/or Rubio should have said is some version of this:
"'I have been a Republican and a conservative all of my adult life. I believe deeply in the principles on which this party was built and on which it still stands. Because of my commitment to those principles, I cannot in good conscience support Donald Trump if he is the Republican Party nominee. I simply do not believe he is either a Republican or a conservative.'"
That could work! It would paint Cruz or Rubio as a principled defender of what the party stands for as opposed to just another sour grapes politician. And, most importantly, it wouldn't fundamentally undermine the entire case that both men spent not only Thursday's debate but much of this campaign making: That Trump is simply too flexible on issues and policies to represent the Republican Party in the fall.
Neither man did that. Missed opportunities, which, in a lot of ways, is the two-word summary of this race for all of the not-Trump candidates.
Previously:
• 03/04/16: Winners and losers from the 11th Republican presidential debate
• 03/03/16: The Republican establishment waited too long to stop Donald Trump. Now they probably can't
• 03/02/16: Winners and losers from Super Tuesday
• 02/29/16: Why Donald Trump is remarkably dangerous to the Republican Party
• 02/29/16: 4 reasons why Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump
• 02/26/16: Winners and losers from the 10th Republican presidential debate
• 02/24/16: Donald Trump is on course to win the 1,237 delegates he needs to be the GOP nominee
• 02/23/16: This Donald Trump explanation of his Iraq position is just so mind-boggling
• 02/22/16: Jeb Bush never really had a chance in the 2016 presidential race
• 02/18/16: Senate Republicans will never hold a Supreme Court vote this year. This poll shows why
• 02/17/16: South Carolina isn't Bush Country anymore
• 02/12/16: Winners and losers from the 6th Dem debate
• 02/10/16: Winners and losers from the New Hampshire primary
• 02/06/16: Winners and losers from the fifth Democratic presidential debate
• 01/29/16: Winners and losers from the 7th Republican presidential debate
• 01/27/16: Ranking the Republican 2016 field
• 01/25/16: Trump is the favorite to be the Republican nominee. Period
• 01/22/16: Who had the worst week in Washington? Hillary Clinton
• 01/18/16: Feeling bad for Jeb Bush
• 01/15/16: Winners and losers from the sixth Republican presidential debate
• 01/12/16: Here's exactly how Bernie Sanders can beat Hillary Clinton
• 01/11/16:The fantasy scenario that could become reality for Hillary
• 12/30/15: The five big lessons from a weirdly watchable year of politics
• 12/21/15: Winners and losers in the third Democratic presidential debate
• 12/16/15: Winners and losers from the 5th Republican presidential debate
• 12/16/15: Cruz, not Trump, looking like GOP favorite for 2016
• 12/04/15: Ted Cruz is the sleeping giant in the Republican race
• 11/24/15:Trump is leading an increasingly fact-free 2016 campaign
• 11/23/15: A ranking of GOP presidential candidates who can still make a case --- and the nominee
• 11/16/15: The remarkably unappealing anger of Donald Trump
• 11/11/15: Winners and losers from the fourth Republican debate
• 11/02/15: Jeb Bush says he still doesn't get why his terrible debate performance matters so much
• 10/29/15: Winners and losers from the third Republican presidential debate
• 10/22/15: Paul Ryan might be saving his party. But at what cost?
• 10/20/15: Six things we know Joe Biden is thinking
• 10/19/15: Who had the worst week in Washington? Lincoln Chafee
• 10/14/15: Winners and losers from the first Dem presidential debate
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