Last night, Leon reported on an announcement by the Kasich campaign to the effect that it was pulling out of the race in Indiana, to the advantage of the Cruz campaign. In return, the Cruz campaign will withdraw from Oregon and New Mexico:

Due to the fact that the Indiana primary is winner-take-all statewide and by congressional district, keeping Trump from winning a plurality in Indiana is critical to keeping him under 1237 bound delegates before Cleveland. We are very comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana already, and given the current dynamics of the primary there, we will shift our campaign’s resources West and give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana.

In turn, we will focus our time and resources in New Mexico and Oregon, both areas that are structurally similar to the Northeast politically, where Gov. Kasich is performing well. We would expect independent third-party groups to do the same and honor the commitments made by the Cruz and Kasich campaigns.

The first question I had was whether this was an actual deal… or if this was one of the imaginary deals that lazy and inept politicians invent to cover up their laziness and ineptitude by blaming others. Like, for instance, Maine Governor Paul LePage’s bleating about a bogus deal and the Branch Trumpidians claiming another in Minnesota.

This deal seems to the, well, real deal.

HOUSTON, Texas – Cruz for President Campaign Manager Jeff Roe today released the following statement:

“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 Clinton or Sanders, but having him as our nominee would set the party back a generation. To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico, and we would hope that allies of both campaigns would follow our lead. In other states holding their elections for the remainder of the primary season, our campaign will continue to compete vigorously to win.”

Indiana has 57 delegates. Oregon and New Mexico have at total of 52, 28 and 24, respectively. So there is a rough parity in the size of the delegate pot.

Needless to say, the Great Orange One is not happy.

Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016

Lyin’ Ted Cruz and 1 for 38 Kasich are unable to beat me on their own so they have to team up (collusion) in a two on one. Shows weakness!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016

Shows how weak and desperate Lyin’ Ted is when he has to team up with a guy who openly can’t stand him and is only 1 win and 38 losses.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 25, 2016

An older guy like Trump really should try to stay calm. Not only is he 70, but he’s obviously weak and out of shape. This kind of Twitter-rage could cause a stroke and leave his hands even smaller than they are.