Lessons to Be Learned and Schadenfreude

Disclaimer: This is still not me defending Donald J. Trump.
Welcome to Schadenfreude Wednesday. The day after Super Tuesday.  The Trump train is still cruising down the track, and the pundits are starting to "do the math," that tells them that it's going to be hard for Rubio to catch him.  Trump continues to defy logic and now has both liberals and conservatives soiling their trousers.  Let's be honest though, this is much more embarrassing for conservatives. If Hilary manages to avoid indictment for the next few months, Dems who have been feeling the Bern are just going to sigh and vote blue, with maybe a bit of a sad backward glance at an chance we almost had at "political revolution." But it will be much, much worse for Republicans if they have to face the choice between Hilary and the Donald (or Ted Cruz, more on that in a minute).
I'm no political expert, but Rubio seems like the last hope for the GOP.  But he's got problems with the way the game is played these days.  I disagree with Rubio's general ideology, but I will give him a nod as seeming at least a bit sincere in his desire to actually be in the political game.  I also find him, well, a little bit annoying.  If Trump is that arrogant blowhard that's always talking about his Camaro and how much ass he kicks, Rubio is... well... Brainy Smurf, you know the one who always reminds the other Smurfs what "Papa Smurf always says..."
Rubio is also not much older than me, and in the political game that's still wet behind the ears.  He lacks gravitas, I could seriously see Donald Trump and Chris Christie shoving him into a locker and giving him a wedgie (the way this campaign is going that is probably not outside the realm of possibility).  Trump has drug this campaign into a pro wrasslin mindset (see previous post), and that is not a world where sincere little mama's boys play really well except as fodder for a butt kicking.
I can't really root for Rubio, because I fundamentally disagree with the heartlessness of many of his conservative doctrinal positions.  If I needed a reminder of the fact that the Republican race is basically a competition between two different types of repugnance, I need look no further than the, "Hey I won my home state" victory speech of Raphael Edward Cruz.  Cruz launched into a diatribe of Tea Party talking points that makes me absolutely cringe, particularly because they concern our involvement and misadventures in the Middle East.
First was Israel, which I'm aware is a major can of worms.  Cruz is of the opinion that the only truly American position vis-a-vis the modern nation state of Israel is unconditional support.  Never mind that the settlements are against international law, never mind all the humanitarian problems.  Never mind that our unthinking and unyielding support for what has been happening is actually the fuel of so many terrorist groups that... okay, let's just say there are problems. (Disclaimer: I am not saying Israel has no right to exist, they do, but things need to change, and for better or worse, we're probably the only nation on earth that has the influence to make those changes happen, but "unconditional support" precludes that option.)  And furthermore, I happen to know that Tedward's rabid support of such things is due to a peculiar brand of apocalyptic Christianity that has influenced the politics of this issue for decades.  Cruz worries me because he is a true believer, a zealot if you will.  I'm not ever sure what Trump believes in, except for the power of hair spray.  I know what Ted Cruz believes and it's freaking cray cray.
Cruz's follow up to his "Screw the Palestinians and all this wimpy neutrality" plank, was his promise to "Tear up this Iranian nuclear deal on day one."  Now I get really serious really fast whenever I hear the words Iran and nuclear in the same sentence.  I am also of a mind that I really would prefer not having another war in the Middle East.  I have two young men that I am fairly fond of who are in the Marines at the moment, and I don't want them getting in harm's way.
I am of the opinion that brokering any kind of deal with Iran on the subject of their nuclear capability was practically an act of diplomatic sorcery, and I give my long-faced, boring friend John Kerry big ups for getting that done.  Is the deal perfect? No, no diplomatically negotiated treaty ever is, but it makes us all a lot safer for quite a while, and thaws out one of our last truly frozen international relationships.  It also leads to fewer Iranians suffering privation, which, I believe, eventually leads to fewer terrorists and less violence.
But the Cruz missile thinks it's a bad deal. Why? Well, Obama for starters, oh and money.  I can't do anything with the first part because haters gonna hate, but the second part is easy.  First of all, even if I buy the $150 billion dollar price tag that Cruzites have slapped on this (which is difficult to substantiate and involves mainly what Iran will gain as a result of lifted sanctions and the restoration of frozen assets not some check that we are going to write them).  By contrast, the war in Iraq cost us from $1.7 TRILLION to over $2 TRILLION.  A TRILLION is a thousand billions.  And that, by the way, was financed by the American taxpayer.  I'm no math whiz, but that seems like a pretty thin pretense for calling a diplomatic agreement a disaster.
The thing is that many people in the GOP are so afraid of Trump that they're forgetting that Cruz is the second place guy right now.  It would be trading an arrogant narcissist for a certifiable sociopath.
Now look, if you've got yourself one nutjob that's pretty normal. If he's the front-runner you can make lots of excuses, but when you, as a political party with a long history of being the rational voice of conservatism are faced with this sort of situation in which both options are really bad, maybe you have done something wrong.  Maybe your flirtations with people's fear and prejudice have actually blown up in your face. Maybe in your rush to have God bless America you have let in some of the most cracked and cynical forms of Christian dogmatism.  Maybe the stench of your constant obstruction of our duly elected chief executive finally wafted into the noses of your own constituency and maybe they're supporting Trump, not because they're uneducated rubes, but because they're simply tired of you sitting on your hands while they wrestle with real problems.  Maybe they realize that something is better than nothing.  Maybe they're so fed up that they're just going with the man who entertains them the best.  Any way you slice it, put down the fiddle Nero, Rome is burning.
As much as I enjoy watching you squirm through this, I'm also a little worried about where this is going to go from here, so you know, maybe learn from this?  Just a little?  Pretty please?