How Donald Trump and Ted Cruz both lose tonight

| 7:52 pm EDT October 22, 2018
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Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are about to take the stage together for a political rally in Texas, and anything could happen. They hate each other, they’re both shameless liars, and they’re both – objectively speaking – weirdos. Whatever happens tonight, it’ll be framed in a thousand different ways. Here’s my take: however this rally plays out tonight, Trump and Cruz both lose.

No, I’m not talking about Ted Cruz’s fate in his Senate reelection bid. That’ll play out however it plays out, and I’m not making any predictions. The polls say Cruz is ahead, but Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke has been targeting nontraditional voters, making for the kind of race that’s hard to poll accurately. So we’ll see what happens in two weeks. I’m talking about the fact that Cruz is having to beg for help from a guy who viciously attacked his wife and accused his father of murder. Even if Cruz does hang on to win, he’ll forever be the guy who had to ask that guy to bail him out.

For just a moment, set aside your distaste for Ted Cruz, and try to imagine how low he must feel right now. He’s had to sell out his family and his dignity, and align himself with his personal enemy, just to perhaps slightly improve his uncertain chances of winning reelection as a Republican in a red state. But it’s not just Ted Cruz who’s losing tonight. I’ve seen plenty of narratives about how Donald Trump is getting his revenge against Cruz tonight. Maybe Trump sees it that way, but reality says something different.

Donald Trump desperately needs his party to keep control of the House and Senate, or else the Democratic Party subpoenas are going to start flying until there’s nothing left of him. Trump needs Ted Cruz to win reelection, for reasons of simple math. Despite his arrogant attitude, Trump isn’t on some victory tour with all these rallies. He’s out there trying to save his own neck. By holding a rally for a guy he hates, Trump is tacitly admitting that he can’t afford to thumb his nose at his enemies within his party. Tonight’s rally is a sign of just how weak of positions Trump and Cruz are both in.