For parts 1 and 2 (“How Kasich” and “How Carson Can Win”), see here and here.

You know that the nomination is properly yours. You waited your turn, you checked all the boxes, you lined up all the billionaires and operatives, then launched a “shock and awe” campaign to drown your opponents in money. By rights that should have worked. It did for Mitt. But then the man you ushered into politics, Marco Rubio, jumped in to steal your turn — a shocking betrayal of the mentor/mentee code. And the Party, your family’s party, went off on a drunken bender, consorting with trashy populists and wild-eyed Reaganite purists. For a long time you just seemed bewildered. But now you have a found a happy place, because you have a plan. It’s called:

Stay the Course, and Hope for Chaos

You’ll avoid making mistakes, keep wearing down Marco with ads, and remain the last man standing when all the crazies have pummeled each other into comas. Like a patient father, you will wait for the prodigal son to finish wasting his substance, then come limping back for forgiveness. After a tumultuous brokered convention, you will graciously accept the nomination when it is offered — if they ask you really nicely.

As Dad used to say, you should “stay the course.” Attacking Trump did you no favors, and did him little harm. You can’t take votes from Cruz, and are right to expect that the abrasive Kasich will fade. If Rubio gets the nomination, that’s a profound personal humiliation for you, and you’ll spend the next four years in political Siberia. If Trump is nominated and loses, or elected and a disaster (both decent bets), you could look like an elder statesman, who tried to warn America, but no one would listen. … Sure, some will ask why you didn’t drop out and endorse Rubio. Shoot back at them that he should have dropped out and supported you.

On the other hand, if Rubio continues to malfunction, you have a shot. Trump and Cruz will keep bashing each other, doing significant damage. You have the money, the staff, and the name recognition to hang on through the race, and there’s a chance, just a chance, that the party will turn to you. At the end of a wild night, it’s not Ted Cruz but you who will be the GOP’s buzzkill, its designated driver, its safe way home.