Ted Cruz: Kasich Campaign ‘Pulling Out of Indiana’ – Kasich: ‘Vote for Me, Indiana!’

It looks like the deal that Ted Cruz and John Kasich struck in order to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination is in danger of collapsing like a papier-mâché border wall. Each campaign released statements this weekend indicating that they would allocate resources in upcoming states in order to help the other, but on Monday, both Cruz and Kasich took very public steps in opposite directions.

While the Kasich campaign’s statement said they were “comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana” and would shift resources to give Cruz a “clear path” in the state, Ted Cruz told reporters on Monday that it’s “big news that John Kasich has made the decision to pull out of Indiana, and give us a head-to-head contest with Donald Trump.”

Kasich didn’t get the memo that he was “pulling out” of the state, and told reporters that voters in Indiana should still vote Kasich:

Something has clearly been lost in translation here, because according to the Kasich campaign’s statement on the deal, they clearly expect to emerge from Indiana with delegates, and from Cruz’s comments, it seems he clearly expected Kasich to push every vote his way. It remains to be seen what effect Kasich’s remarks have on the Cruz campaign’s pledge to “in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico,” but it probably ain’t good. When the campaigns were working out their joint statements, someone probably should have asked the Kasich folks what the hell “comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana” is supposed to mean.

During the balance of that Cruz presser, the candidate studiously avoided responding to the charge of “collusion,” which means that if the deal falls apart, all Cruz and Kasich will have done os feed Donald Trump another attack line.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.