People from all political spectrums are astonished, aghast, and angered at how some Republicans have come to the support of Senator Ted Cruz after consigning him to Dante’s lowest Hell, i.e., the treachery realm. It seems Cruz critics have even endorsed the sign over Dante’s Hell: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” But evidently Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Senator Lindsey Graham of S.C., Reps. Chris Collins, N.Y., and Duncan Hunter, Calif., and other recent converts have not lost all hope — and have entered! They see a glimmer of hope with Cruz.

What would make people turn and run in the opposite direction after being so publicly adamant against Cruz? It’s called desperation. Fearful that Trump’s success would consign the Grand Old Progressives to outer darkness for another eight or more years, the rats (not a good analogy, but adequate) are jumping on board. Of course, a loss by Trump would have the same effect on the GOP — oblivion. With Cruz they would at least have some legitimacy and even in a loss would retain some respectability. Such “conversions” and unusual companionship are not unprecedented as our history proves.

George Washington served two terms as president and refused a third term — and some declare that he could have become king. Washington’s vice president had been John Adams, a Federalist, who became our second president after being endorsed by Washington in the 1796 election. However, Washington thought it not proper to campaign for candidates but his endorsement assured Adams’ election. Adams’ vice president was Thomas Jefferson, a longtime friend and Democratic-Republican. This was the only time in our history when the president and vice president were members of different parties.

Adams and Jefferson had been very close friends before their involvement in presidential politics. They had worked closely together in Congress and while in Pairs on diplomatic assignments their friendship grew. When Jefferson was U.S. Minister to France and Adams was the U. S. Minister to Great Britain, Jefferson (then a widower) crossed the channel to vacation with John and Abigale.

America, as a nascent nation, had knockdown elections although not as lengthy as today. In the election of 1800, John Adams tried to keep his office another four years and Jefferson, his vice president the previous four years, was trying to replace him. Both were aristocrats so decorum required them to stay above the battle; consequently, their hirelings did the dirty work.

During the election of 1800, their friendship cooled somewhat. Adams’ men, wanting to stay in power, took a hatchet to Jefferson, and Jefferson’s surrogates did the same to Adams. Adams was called a monarchist with plans to become America’s first royal family and Adams’ crowd called Jefferson “a weak, wavering, indecisive character.” He was depicted as “a howling atheist” and “infidel.” Some preachers told of Jefferson’s alleged bizarre worship services at his home where Jefferson prayed to the Goddess of Reason and “offered dogs on a sacrificial altar.”

But it got worse! Jefferson’s spokesmen characterized Adams as a “hideous hermaphroditical character” and a “fool” and “criminal.” Adam’s men gave as good as they got with accusations Jefferson was an “atheist, a libertine, and a coward” and was “the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.” No one repudiated such accusations but surely most sane people, like today, were embarrassed.

Jefferson won and Adams became a hermit in the White House during his remaining weeks in office. He had been rejected by the voters, plus he didn’t have a job and was too old to reestablish his Boston law practice. His anger and frustration at losing was strangling him. When it was time to transfer the office to Jefferson, Adams could not be found. Rather than greet the new president and attend his inaugural, Adams arose early while still dark, and caught the four o'clock stage to Boston.

President-elect Jefferson walked from Conrad and McMunn’s boarding house to the Capitol where he gave his inaugural speech, received the congratulations of the attendants, and promptly walked back to his boarding house where “he stood with fellow boarders awaiting a chair so that he might have his dinner.” My, my, the days were so simple back then.

But everyone did not appreciate, approve, or applaud Jefferson’s success. One journal declared that he had ridden “into the temple of Liberty on the shoulders of slaves.” Moreover, he was called the “Negro President.” Like all politicians, Jefferson was both hated and loved and his friends were devoted and some were disloyal. It is interesting that after the bitter battle for the White House, Jefferson and Adams resumed their friendship that lasted until July 4, 1826, both dying on the same day — Independence Day!

The past and present prove that politics makes strange bedfellows. Lindsey Graham is even going to raise funds for Cruz while other former critics are getting into bed with Trump. More shocking, surprising, and even sickening, Ben Carson had a very sudden “come to Trump” moment (or received a great quid pro quo — that’s Latin for, loosely translated, “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine.”). This conversion is all the more unusual in light of Trump’s comparison of Carson overcoming his violent temper as a youth to the difficulty of a pedophilia being cured. Very strange bedfellows indeed.

You can be sure that many other members of the House and Senate will come out of the closet in a steady stream for Cruz any day.

Will Rubio have the next epiphany?

(Boys’ new book, The God Haters, was recently published by Barbwire Books. To get your copy, click here. An eBook edition is also available. Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives and wrote for USA Today for eight years.) Visit his blog here.