Marco Rubio and his allies know who is to blame for the fact that Rubio is struggling so badly in the Republican presidential primary. It’s not Rubio, for being a candidate who doesn’t appeal to enough voters. It’s not Donald Trump, for being a candidate who appeals to way more voters. It’s John Kasich, for taking votes that should belong to Rubio.
Rubio himself had a particularly precious take on his second-place finish in Virginia: “If I didn’t have to share the ballot with two or three other people, I would have won.” It’s a statement probably true of any race where you come in second or third, but what Rubio seems to have meant is that Kasich’s fourth-place finish deprived him of his well-entitled win. Because that’s totally how elections work, and in no way logic that could be applied to Rubio’s own string of third-place finishes.
Establishment Republicans are furious with Kasich for their boy Rubio’s failures:
A Senate GOP insider openly questioned in an interview with BuzzFeed News whether Kasich had some inside deal with Trump. “You have to believe Kasich has made a deal with the devil. Why else is he still in the race? Kasich needs to look GOP voters in the eye and tell us whether he has a deal — explicit or implicit — with Donald Trump for a spot on the ticket.”
Other Republicans echoed similar sentiments.
“I like John Kasich, but no one is doing more to elect Donald Trump than Kasich is right now,” said Curt Anderson, who previously ran Bobby Jindal’s campaign. Jindal has since endorsed Rubio.
No one is doing more to elect Donald Trump than Kasich? How about Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s campaign staff, and a whole lot of voters? Also, arguably, Marco Rubio for being a candidate too weak to edge Kasich out by winning—rather than by whining.