Yes, last night Marco Rubio and John Kasich divided the anti-Trump vote. Exit polls in Missouri and North Carolina indicate that Ted Cruz would have won both states in a head-to-head matchup, but just barely. (The question wasn’t asked in Illinois, and he would have lost Ohio and Florida to Donald Trump head to head.)
The main message our message-disciplined candidate has been sending is “unite behind me to defeat Donald Trump.” It’s not enough.
Like “TrusTed” that appears behind him, it is a narrow and internally focused message that does not tell voters how they and America will be better off under a Cruz presidency.
Trump is going to increasingly take aim at Hillary Clinton, the Left is going to increasingly take aim at him, and voters are (as the result of the last set of organized Democratic provocations at Trump rallies) going to rally to Trump in disgust at the Left’s constantly expressed hatred at the white working and middle classes.
Trump’s blaming immigrants and China for America’s economic woes is the flip side of the Democrats blaming white privilege. They feed each other in an awful downward spiral for the United States we love.
Can Cruz hone a message that lifts us above that spiral? It cannot be about Ted or about Trump. It has to be about America.
Maggie Gallagher is a senior fellow at the American Principles Project and can be followed on Twitter @MaggieGallaghe.
