Ted Cruz To Endorse Trump?

According to various sources including some close to the Trump campaign, Ted Cruz is in what is being described as final talks on the logistics of a coming endorsement by Cruz of Donald Trump.

It could happen as early as Monday, before the debate.

This is fairly credible for one simple reason...Ted Cruz has finally realized the extent of the serious damage he did to his own future political prospects by his behavior at the 2016 GOP convention and his failure to honor the pledge he and other contestants made to endorse the eventual nominee, which was Donald Trump.

As I reported here, even many of Cruz's supporters at the convention went ballistic over Cruz's failure to endorse Trump.

That fallout continued after the convention. Last month, a poll showed that 43 percent of Texas Republicans wanted a different 2018 Senate nominee, with former Gov. Rick Perry getting a majority if he ran against Cruz in the primary. George P. Bush, the state's elected land commissioner and a popular figure in the state broke with Ted Cruz and his own family last month and heartily endorsed Donald Trump. And just a week ago, Cruz's own; campaign chairman in Texas, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick blasted Cruz by name and 'NeverTrumpers' in general for not getting on board, accusing them of helping Hillary Clinton get elected.

The final straw was RNC chairman Reince Pribus announcing that former primary challengers who’ve refused to support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump are likely to face difficulties getting the RNC to allow them to make another run for president.

I have a feeling that really got Ted Cruz's attention.

So, if this comes off, what difference will it make? It might have made a large difference if Cruz had kept his word and endorsed Trump at the convention, especially if he did what Scott Walker's doing and actually campaigned for Trump. That would have meant a far more unified Republican party going in, because it would have delegitimized a large portion of the #nevertrumpers. Now,the differences are going to be fairly minimal.

The #nevertrumper stance is fairly dug in, particularly among the paid for punditocracy and the GOP establishment. They like the idea of Hillary winning, because it means business as usual for them.

Polls show that Trump, without Cruz's endorsement, has the support of 80% of likely Republican voters, while Mrs. Clinton has the support of 81%. There are no polls showing how many Democrats are crossing over to vote Trump and vice versa for Mrs. Clinton, but based on the state poll numbers as well as Trumps inroads into the Latino and black vote, it's fairly easy to extrapolate those numbers going Trump's way, especially when you realize that Trump has energized a lot of people who haven't voted in some time and aren't likely voters. Many of the pollsters have mentioned this and it's driving them nuts.

So overall, a Cruz endorsement could add a couple of points to Trump's numbers in some places, if that. It certainly won't stop the attacks on Trump from the usual 'conservative' suspects, but then a lot of us stopped caring about what they had to say a long time ago.

But the real beneficiary, of course, isn't Donald Trump but Ted Cruz. If he endorses Donald Trump and then simply sits the campaign out, he can make another run for the presidency,  if he manages to survive being primaried in Texas. That, my friends is exactly why Cruz is coming out with this last minute endorsement.

Here's hoping Trump didn't promise him a position in the Trump administration for this gesture. Ted Cruz has already proven amply that he's no team player and that his word isn't worth much.