Is this a kamikaze mission? Meaning, have the people running Kasich’s PAC decided that if he’s going down, he’s taking Trump with him? I can’t think of a strategy that would explain targeting Trump instead of, say, Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio or Chris Christie. If Kasich eliminates them, he becomes the default “reasonable, moderate” center-right guy who’s left standing in New Hampshire to do battle with Trump. If he eliminates Trump, he’s still got three other guys just like him except more appealing in front of him.

I can’t believe anyone thinks this is going to work.

John Kasich has attacked Donald Trump relentlessly in debates and now his super PAC is planning to invest $2.5 million in the most aggressive takedown of the poll leader yet — on behalf of an increasingly anxious GOP establishment…

Rather than go after Trump for his business dealings or his past support for liberal causes, as some of his opponents have tried to do, the super PAC will depict Trump as someone who would be a deeply ineffective commander-in-chief and ill-suited for the demands of the Oval Office.

Fred Davis, the group’s colorful Hollywood-based ad-maker who is best-known for producing the “Demon Sheep” ad in the 2010 California Senate race, is working on a pair of anti-Trump TV ads. The commercials, David said, are designed to “accelerate what we believe would be buyers’ remorse” that would arise from a Trump presidency.

The group’s first volley came Thursday, when it released an ad that pictured the billionaire side by side with President Barack Obama. “On the job training for president does not work,” says the ad, which invokes last week’s tragic Paris terrorist attacks. The group is currently spending about $600,000 to air the commercial, though David said more airtime is being purchased.

The strategy here: Don’t attack your opponent’s weaknesses, attack his strength. Anyone who’s still onboard Team Trump at this point probably knows he’s not a true conservative — and may well like it, given that Trump’s base trends “moderate.” Reminding them that he’s not a government-slashing tea partier gets you nowhere. Convincing them that he wouldn’t be a world-beating strongman as president is another matter. The idea, I guess, is that if Kasich can blow up Trump, that’ll shake loose a lot of blue-collar moderate votes and … most of those votes will go to Kasich instead of to Christie or Rubio? Really? Maybe Kasich thinks his big problem in the race is that he can’t get people’s attention — which would explain his performance at the last debate — and if he can somehow bait Trump into a war, that’ll elevate him past Rubio et al. among New Hampshire Republicans as the center-righty with the most stature.

If that’s the plan, I gotta say, it’s working pretty well so far:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/667509134514786308
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/667509177707659264
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/667509279507615748
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/667509409120043008

That’s just a taste from last night’s Twitter counterattack. Kasich is also hitting Trump today over the Muslim registry kerfuffle, which is part of his new talking point that his opponents … think he has “too big of a heart,” one of the most smug, irritating farking bits of self-flattery you’re ever apt to hear in a political campaign. Although, given how Kasich likes to congratulate himself for his own virtue, it’s not surprising.

Mostly unrelated exit question: Is Ted Cruz finally making his move on Trump in the polls? I’m not going to seize one online poll of adults as a smoking gun, but if you’re looking for a bit of evidence that evangelicals are trending away from Carson and towards Cruz, here you go. When do the Cruz Super PACs attack?

Update: On second thought, maybe this is just a fundraising ploy. If Kasich’s Super PAC can dent Trump’s numbers, it’ll quickly become known to the donor class as the place to send money if you want to take down Trump. The PAC can then start using the extra cash to attack not just Trump but all of Kasich’s opponents. The problem with that logic, though, is if Kasich’s PAC sees some success against Trump with attack ads, everyone else’s PAC will start running ads too to try to compound the damage to him. Why give all of your money to Kasich’s team to fund anti-Trump ads if all of the other Super PACs will soon be involved as well?