Every time I’ve written about the field of 2016 Republican primary candidates, I’ve made the same point. There may have been 17 hats in the ring, but only two people ever stood a chance of beating Hillary Clinton. They were Donald Trump and Rand Paul. Everyone else either had mountains of baggage or lacked the necessary je ne sais quoi to make it across the finish line.
Cruz would have lost, Rubio would have lost, Christie would have lost, and Jeb! would most definitely have lost. To be fair, Paul may have lost too, but if Hillary had been faced with 15 out of the 17 prominent figures on the GOP side of the aisle, she’d definitely be President right now. …And, as we’ve discussed before, she pushed for the one guy she had no way to stop.