Mike Lee (R-Utah) might be the best Senator America has. He’s not bombastic, he’s not a demagogue, he’s honest and sane and yet he’s one of the most aggressive change agents we have in Washington.

And when Lee takes a position he’s going to be steadfast about it. That’s very noticeable when you pay attention to him.

Lee was asked, during an appearance on NewsMax TV, why he hasn’t jumped aboard the Trump train. Here’s what he said…

“We can get into the fact that he accused my best friend’s father of conspiring to kill JFK. We can go through the fact that he’s made statements that some have identified correctly as religiously intolerant. We can get into the fact that he’s wildly unpopular in my state, in part because my state consists of people who are members of a religious minority church. A people who were ordered exterminated by the governor of Missouri in 1838. And, statements like that make them nervous.”

You can call Lee “butthurt” if you want. That’s a description lots of Trump fans have adopted, stupidly, because such an accusation only hardens their opposition to your candidate and also because it disregards the reason for the opposition.

As Lee noted, Trump’s gratuitous attacks on Ted Cruz’ father on the eve of the Indiana primary were some of the most ill-conceived actions in American politics. Efforts to personally destroy Cruz and his family crystallized for a large segment of the Republican party, without which Trump cannot win, that he was unsupportable.

And berating that segment of the party as traitors, or “butthurt,” and blaming them for the impending loss Trump is on the road to suffering in November, is entirely the wrong approach.

Donald Trump should meet with Mike Lee. Trump should EARN Lee’s endorsement, because Lee is one of the conservative movement’s brightest lights and most articulate advocates. His failure to have done so is, frankly, a stupid mistake – polls show that Trump is going to struggle badly to win Utah as things stand, and a Republican presidential candidate who doesn’t win Utah is a dead candidate walking. If Trump were to earn Lee’s support it might help him salt Utah away, and perhaps cure problems he has in other Rocky Mountain states.

This should already have been done. Trump doesn’t even show signs of wanting to do it. This isn’t how you win an election.

This is another reason why we need an open convention in Cleveland. If the delegates still choose Trump, so be it, but they need the ability to weigh other options.