Cruz and Kasich team up in a hapless effort to stop Trump

Donald Trump swept five of five primaries Tuesday night, thus making the new alliance of necessity between Ted Cruz and John Kasich look hapless, if not hopeless.

Over the weekend, the only two Republican candidates who have yet to be swept away by the Trump tide put out word that they are coordinating their efforts to keep their campaigns afloat. Cruz, the Texas senator, is ceding Oregon and New Mexico to Kasich, the Ohio governor whose less-doctrinaire conservatism might be more appealing to Republican voters in those states. For his part, Kasich pledged to back out of Indiana, where a big share of evangelical Hoosiers might be attracted to Cruz’s militant social conservatism.

Given the increasing momentum of the Trump insurgency, this division of territory seems like a long shot, at best. Trump is no longer stuck with just a third of the GOP primary vote that, earlier in the campaign, appeared to be a hard ceiling of his support. He is now racking up commanding majorities in state after state. A third of the vote is now the typical margin of victory between Trump and whichever competitor is in second place.

At this point, Trump’s delegate lead appears likely to crush the schemes Republican Party leaders have for a contested convention in which the nomination could be snatched away from the New York real estate mogul. It is hard to imagine Kasich pulling off surprise wins in Oregon and New Mexico or Cruz suddenly catching fire in Indiana. Only in California might the composition of the Republican electorate and the complexities of the delegate selection mechanism — divided, as it is, between the state’s 53 congressional districts — give the Cruz-Kasich alliance a chance to pull off some surprises.

As the prospects for any alternative to Trump dim, chatterers on cable news keep predicting that Trump will switch to a more “presidential” demeanor to avoid sabotaging himself. Trump, though, says he is not about to change. With Kasich suddenly in his sights, thanks to the state-splitting deal with Cruz, Trump has renewed his bully-in-the-schoolyard taunts. With theatrical face contortions, he recently described the way Kasich eats food as “disgusting.” And Trump ridiculed Kasich for saying -- after making the compact with Cruz -- it would be fine if folks in Indiana still chose to vote for him.

Trump is simply who he is and his fans love him for it. Meanwhile, Trump’s opponents have failed to match the breadth of his appeal and their weakness is a significant factor in his success. Though a third of Pennsylvania Republicans said in a new Fox News poll that a Trump presidency would be scary, more than 50% feared the results of putting either Cruz or Kasich in the White House.

In comments after his five victories Tuesday, Trump said Kasich and Cruz “really, really hurt themselves with this faulty deal.” His own campaign plan is more straightforward: win the nomination ahead of the convention.

“When the boxer knocks out the other boxer,” Trump said, “you don’t have to wait for a decision.”