The Ted Cruz-John Kasich Deal Seems Flawed Already

In a somewhat unlikely alliance, two opposing presidential candidates have actually joined forces. Sort of. John Kasich and Ted Cruz's campaigns announced that the two candidates would be teaming up in hopes of stopping Donald Trump once and for all. At the time, the plan sounded pretty solid, and if nothing else, it showed that Kasich and Cruz were serious about preventing a Trump presidency. However, less than 24 hours after their announced plan, the deal between Kasich and Cruz was ruined.

Originally, Kasich and Cruz teamed up with a plan to coordinate their upcoming campaign strategies so that they advocate for the other one in their neighboring states. For example, Cruz vowed to campaign in Indiana in order to make way for Kasich to perform well in Oregon and New Mexico. Kasich's camp released an identical statement proving that the Ohio governor was ready for the ultimate presidential candidate collaboration.

However, leave it to Cruz and Kasich to ruin their plan to stop Trump before it could even get started. Either Kasich and Cruz were confused about their game plan, or they weren't ready to champion for the other guy just yet, because in some of his first interviews since the announcement, Kasich showed he's still Team Kasich.

Wait. What just happened? On the night before this interview, Kasich and his campaign were seemingly on board with the Kasich-Cruz alliance, all in an attempt to stop Trump from gaining momentum. But the first chance Kasich got to talk about this so-called "deal," he essentially threw it away.

Telling voters in Indiana to vote for him is the exact opposite of his plan with Cruz — you know, the place where Kasich For America Chief Strategist John Weaver said they would leave open for Cruz's success.

Due to the fact that the Indiana primary is winner-take-all statewide and by congressional district, keeping Trump from winning a plurality in Indiana is critical to keeping him under 1237 bound delegates before Cleveland. We are very comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana already, and given the current dynamics of the primary there, we will shift our campaign’s resources West and give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana.

Kasich clearly doesn't understand how these deals work. When he wasn't walking back the essence of his deal and, for some reason, telling voters to support him (not Cruz) in Indiana, he told reporters the complete opposite. Apparently, this "deal" is not about voting, but rather about campaigning, according to Kasich. I hate to break it to you, Johnny, but simply campaigning differently in these states doesn't seem like the most effective strategy to stop Trump.

So basically this once-promising deal between Kasich and Cruz is not actually about helping the other candidate gain votes, but instead it's only about campaigning or not campaigning in their respective neighboring states. Kasich's flawed interview responses showed the deal slowly unraveling, but once Trump realized his opponents failed at stopping him, it will only go downhill from here.

To Campaign or Not To Campaign: Our Republican presidential hopefuls' biggest question this year.