still praying for "a surprise"

Submitted by Anne Julienne (Australia), May 3, 2016 at 20:53

Referring to Daniel's tweet: "#Trump won #Indiana. Short of a surprise, this ends the #Republican presidential contest & sends party & conservatives to historic disasters"

I'm still praying for a surprise.

I thought Trump was finished when he alleged that Cruz had multiple mistresses and when he attacked Cruz's wife herself. However, Trump was hiding behind stories in the National Enquirer and he could claim that the allegations were not his own. Now, in the case of the vilification of Cruz's father, Trump was out in the open, not simply relying on the Enquirer alone.

Why would he do such a thing? He was well ahead in the polls. He had Indiana in the bag. So why this character assassination of Cruz's family?

I remember when Obama was first up for election, a lot of people accused him of being a narcissist and a neo-fascist. This simply sounded like "too much". And the recollection of that put me off Daniel's anti-Trump article. I'm no longer so sure it was all that much of an exaggeration. Maybe the GOP is simply putting forward its own narcissist since this seems to be what Americans like to have in the WH.

To me, looking in from far away, this is not a disaster only for the party and for conservatives. This is a disaster for America, a disaster for the country itself.

The only way that I can see a surprise developing is if the GOP can start backing Cruz, despite his being down. It's not enough to be *against* Trump, you have to be *for* a viable alternative. And so far, the GOP has been reluctant to back Cruz.

It's always been on the cards that, if Trump failed to win the nomination due to strange rules at the convention, then he might go forward as an independent. I think he'd even do quite well that way. It would make him even more of an outsider.

However, perhaps Cruz could do this. I think he'd have the energy to do it but he'd need backing, big backing. That would be a big surprise.

Anything can happen, though. Trump might suddenly die of a heart attack. You never know.

A surprise is a surprise and by its very nature difficult to imagine.

Still, I'm praying for a surprise.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".