Today is the Indiana primary, and for those who still think there is a race in either party, this is the do-or-die moment.  It’s really not – the races are over and it is Trump and Clinton.  Cruz has banked everything on taking Indiana, and polls suggest he won’t.

Which makes this new Trump attack even more bizarre:

Donald Trump on Tuesday alleged that Ted Cruz’s father was with John F. Kennedy’s assassin shortly before he murdered the president, parroting a National Enquirer story claiming that Rafael Cruz was pictured with Lee Harvey Oswald handing out pro-Fidel Castro pamphlets in New Orleans in 1963.

A Cruz campaign spokesperson told the Miami Herald, which pointed out numerous flaws in the Enquirer story, that it was “another garbage story in a tabloid full of garbage.”

“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being — you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said Tuesday during a phone interview with Fox News. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don’t even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.”

“I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting?” Trump continued. “It’s horrible.”

Don’t ignore that this accusation comes from the National Enquirer, and that tabloid is run by Donald Trump’s buddy, David Pecker.

Even still, it’s hard to think of a reason why Trump would launch into this bizarre attack. There are only two explanations for Trump’s behavior: Trump either believes virtually every conspiracy theory that he encounters, which makes him unqualified for living outside a mental institution, or he knows a significant number of his followers will believe it which should makes his followers ineligible to vote (if there was any justice).

I tend to think the former.  Trump, after all, is a birther.

Cruz is naturally taking advantage of this.  Moments ago:

“While I’m at it, I guess I should go ahead and admit, yes, my Dad killed JFK, he is secretly Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa is buried in his backyard,” the senator joked.

He went on to say the story originated with the David Pecker-run National Enquirer, which has become a “hit piece” for his friend Trump’s campaign.

“This man is a pathological liar. He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth,” Cruz said of Trump.

To be continued?