Is there any alliance more fragile than one built out of political necessity?

I think not.

Donald J. Trump came to Texas this week for a rally in Austin. Someone asked him about reports that former Texas Gov. Rick Pery is considering a challenge in 2018 against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

The Republican presidential nominee said, according to the Texas Tribune: I’ve been hearing a lot about that and I don’t know if he wants to do it, but boy, will he do well,” Trump said of Perry. “People love him in Texas, and he was one great governor.”

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/08/24/donald-trump-encourages-rick-perry-challenge-cruz/

Talk about a clumsy political dance.

* Gov. Perry once was a GOP candidate for president; he dropped out.

* Then he endorsed his fellow Texan, Sen. Cruz, who fought Trump nearly all the way to the convention before he, too, dropped out.

* Perry then endorsed Trump.

* Cruz, meanwhile, declined to endorse Trump when he spoke at the Republican convention, drawing a huge chorus of boos from the delegates who heard Cruz encourage Republicans to “vote your conscience” this fall in the race against Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Now we have Trump visiting Texas’s capital city and all but enticing Perry to make a run for the Senate if he’s so inclined.

It’s becoming something of a parlor game these days to try to understand Trump’s thinking on, oh, just about anything and everything.

Would the party’s 2016 presidential nominee actually endorse Perry over Cruz? Would it matter if he did?

What’s more, is Rick Perry seriously thinking about a campaign against the guy he endorsed for president first?

Or is Gov. Perry among the Republicans who are angry at Sen. Cruz for failing to endorse the party’s presidential nominee?