Full Steam Ahead

When last we metaphorically met Jeb Bush was plotting his long-term plans to take the nomination through a strong showing in South Carolina. He dropped out within a few hours of the polls closing. It couldn't have been an easy decision but it was the right decision, the man who would be king finally realized it was never going to happen.

Ben Carson finished in an even weaker position and he has failed to catch fire in anyway in any of the contests so far. Here's the big reveal, he never will. He too should have already dropped out but he just can't bring himself to end his vanity campaign. Perhaps he thinks he can be a Vice-Presidential contender but that too is not going to happen. He wouldn't bring anything of value to the ticket.

John Kasich is simply never going to build the enthusiasm necessary to succeed. He will be irrelevant, if not gone, after Super Tuesday.

Ted Cruz came in third in South Carolina, proving that his alleged strength with evangelicals is not what he thought. There is a sleeze factor to the Cruz campaign that is causing him to lose some support. He has a nasty quality that is unusual for a Canadian. He was never going to be and never will be the nominee.

Marco Rubio, the boy wonder who has won nothing but is a solid, well wobbly, distant second is poised to be the first to taste Donald Trump's dust. Rubio calls himself a Reagan disciple but he clearly has not learned the true teachings of his master. He is as obstructionist in his attitude as Cruz. He fails to recognize that Democrats are not his enemy and that you must negotiate to get as much as you can, cut the deal and move on to your next objective. He may have a shot at Vice-president but he'll need to show proper deference to the King.

I have said in previous posts that this is a tough year to predict, but it has become very clear. Donald Trump will be the nominee of the Republican Party. There will be no brokered convention that supplants Trump. This is a numbers game and the numbers are delegates. The Republican Party is not as complicated as the Democratic Party in delegate acquisition. They have more winner take all States and Trump's current lead is going to keep growing. The theory that as candidates bow out their support will go to Cruz or Rubio is nonsense, most of them will go to Trump.

The next myth that needs busting is the spin from both the media and the other candidates that if only the race could be winnowed to a one on one battle that Trump could be stopped, that defies the reality of what we have already seen.

I cannot yet predict if Trump will become the 45th President of the United States but I can state with certainty that I stand ready to serve as Ambassador to Canada for his entire administration. I've begun practicing my Canadian, "hello, you have beautiful moose."