Cruz and Kasich gang up against Trump

Donald Trump has a big fight on his hand as two of his rivals for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination Ted Cruz and John Kasich have both announced that they have agreed to co-ordinate strategies against him.

Trump had earlier said that his rivals were ‘‘totally desperate’’ and mathematically dead as Cruz intends to cut campaigning in the Oregon and New Mexico primaries to help John Kasich, while the latter will give Mr Cruz a “clear path” in Indiana.

Both Cruz and Kasich announced their move in near-simultaneous statements.

Mr Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said: “Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans. Not only would Trump get blown out by [Hillary] Clinton or [Bernie] Sanders, but having him as our nominee would set the party back a generation.”

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John Weaver, Mr Kasich’s strategist, said in a statement released on the Team Kasich site: “Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable of uniting the party and winning in November will emerge as the nominee.”

In his reaction to both statements, Trump replied in a tweet saying his rivals are ‘‘totally desperate’’.
Trump further stated that it was “sad that two grown politicians have to collude”.

“Collusion is often illegal in many other industries and yet these two Washington insiders have had to revert to collusion in order to stay alive,” he said.

Trump currently has 845 delegates, Mr Cruz 559 and Mr Kasich 148 but the Republican frontrunner may still fall short of the 1,237 needed to win outright.

If Trump does not reach the 1,237 target, the vote will go to a contested convention – where a different nominee may emerge through negotiations among party figures.

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