So Ted Cruz and John Kasich struck a deal. And just when you thought the manipulation and cynicism of politicians couldn’t get any worse. This one is pretty rank, and it is already falling apart.

In their effort to deny the lazy, tiny-hands bigot Donald Trump the party’s presidential nomination, the two connived to basically take one or the other out of three upcoming primaries. Their thought was that facing opposition one-on-one and not one-on-two, Trump would have less of a chance of winning. Which could conceivably be true –on Mars.

This ignores the mockery involved in telling voters, basically, “don’t vote for me, vote for one of my opponents so Trump doesn’t win.” If you were one of those voters, how would you react? If you are a Kasich supporter, you surely would find Ted Cruz as repellant as most everyone else does and would have no thought of voting for him. Similarly, if you are so deluded as to vote for Cruz, Kasich probably seems something of a party wimp. Which maybe he is.

Anyhow, these two politicians cooked up a pretty shabby arrangement. Not unexpectedly, it took less than 24 hours for it to begin to collapse since neither man actually wanted to tell his supporters to vote for the other guy. And their respective PACs didn’t think much of it either. That really matters. And so, it’s doomed, a failure.

What remains is this: a very shabby plan by two insiders to thwart Trump that is backfiring and exposing them ever more clearly as simply selfish, manipulative, presidential wannabes. They are no more deserving of a major party nomination than lyin’ Donald.”

The whole situation stinks.

But before going, it’s worth remembering what the last week brought us: reassurances from Trump’s campaign handlers that most of what the small-minded candidate has been saying is all part of an act, just entertainment for his admirers. That thing about the wall? Not for real. Waterboard torture? Just a joke.

How does that make people who voted for him feel, I wonder? Maybe cheated? Maybe lied to? Maybe treated as patsies? Maybe laughed at?

There is a joke involved here. And it’s no what Trump says. No, it’s Trump himself.