Why Bernie Sanders will back Clinton and Ted Cruz might shun Trump

Bernie Sanders will endorse Hillary Clinton — (Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Ted Cruz returned to the Senate on Tuesday for the first time since dropping out of the Republican presidential race, and he pointedly refused to endorse the man who beat him, Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders, bolstered by his win Tuesday night in West Virginia and a friendly slate of states coming up, has said he will stay in the race against Hillary Clinton until "the last votes are counted." But his prospects are pretty dim, given Clinton's near-insurmountable delegate lead. The two senators have different incentives regarding whether to play nice with the candidates who beat them.

For Cruz, the decision on what to do about Trump is wrapped up in his relationship with his fellow Republicans — he is "arguably the most reviled man in Washington, or at least he was before Trump," notes Amber Phillips at The Washington Post — and his hopes for 2020. "Cruz carefully spent years building his into a national brand," chief obstructionist, and "to start from zero would leave Cruz with very little political capital in this town — not to mention risk making him look like a chameleon with no true convictions," Phillips says. That gives him a strong incentive to shun Trump:

Imagine it's Nov. 9, 2016, the day after Election Day. Trump just got creamed by President-elect Hillary Clinton. And Republicans blame themselves for not nominating a true conservative. In that all-too-real possibility, it's easy to see an opening for a guy like Cruz — who has impressively wielded parliamentary tools and committed to bold actions to craft himself as one of the last true conservative leaders in America — to become the party's favored standard-bearer for 2020. [Phillips, The Washington Post]

Sanders, on the other hand, "already has all the reasons he could possibly need to give Clinton his full-throated support," says Matthew Yglesias at Vox. Trump and Cruz disagree on policy, but Clinton and Sanders basically agree, Yglesias says, so a Clinton win would advance Sanders' policy goals. More to the point, Sanders has also made himself into a power player on the national stage — "but essentially all of that influence hinges on Clinton winning the election in November." You can read more at The Washington Post and Vox.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.