The more I think about Senator Cruz’s stunning announcement last night that he is suspending his campaign, the more brilliant I think it is. The No. 1 political handicap he had in this campaign is that people thought he was too nakedly ambitious, too laser-focused on his own advancement, as opposed to, e.g., the good of the party. But in one fell swoop last night, he managed to put paid to this idea. He could have stayed in the race and played a backroom guerrilla war for the next couple of months, delegate by delegate. But he looked at the Indiana results . . . and stepped away.
In future years – and even later this year, if something cataclysmic happens to Trump and Republicans need another nominee — conservatives, and the GOP, will not remember just the Ted Cruz whose ambitions many of them distrusted earlier in the year. They will also remember the man who showed a hell of a lot of grace in bowing out. Cruz looks pretty good as Cincinnatus at the plow.
Ted Cruz’s Political Masterstroke