re: #208 Big Beautiful Door

Anyone want to speculate on if Rubio will withdraw this week? I’m betting he plays it out and hopes lightening strikes for him in Florida like it did for Bernie in Michigan. But man, Rubio had a bad night; only the most delusional could think he has any shot left at the nomination now.

It’s not just that Trump is winning, however improbable that seemed for so long. It’s that Trump is winning and just eviscerating his opponents. He pretty much got rid of Jeb over the Summer with that one quip about “low energy”. Jeb basically never competed in any of the contests once voting started. And now, Rubio, Little Marco, who has collapsed like a concrete block dropped into a kiddie pool.

And it hardly seems as if Trump is really even trying.

Jeb, Marco, Perry, Jindal, Walker, these were, or were thought to be, capable politicians, most of whom had won re-election in their states. And Trump—who apparently does not even have a polling operation—has just flattened them.

Yes, it may say something about how weak the GOP field really was. But if Jeb or Rubio had won the nomination, either would have put Florida in play for the general election. Same with Kasich in Ohio. So despite the field’s now apparent weakness, it’s far from clear to me that Hillary would have beaten most of them decisively.

Not panicking. Yet. But Trump will be a tougher out in the general than I once imagined. And he’d be tougher than Cruz, who I think Hillary actually would crush.