A word or idiom to replace "bromance" between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz

Solution 1:

How about alliance of convenience?

There is an old phrase, marriage of convenience, which is defined as:

marriage entered into for a personal or family advantage, as for social, political, or economic reasons, usually without love and sometimes without the expectation of sexual relations.

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This term is often used idiomatically to describe other pragmatic partnerships, such as those between companies or even entire business sectors. For example, see this Financial Times article: "Law and Business: a marriage of convenience".

Leading on from that, I have occasionally come across an evolution of the term to alliance of convenience.

This means an alliance between two political entities that's undertaken for mutual benefit, which serves a purpose under a particular set of circumstances, but which is not founded (solely) upon a shared ideology. Consequently, it will last only as long as it grants benefit to either party.

You can witness the term in publication if you Google it, one notable example is an Atlantic.com article: Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Forge an Alliance of Convenience

Solution 2:

I agree that the word bromance is an ill-fitting description of their relationship. The word bromance is used for people who genuinely like each other and are truly friends. In my opinion, this doesn't fit Trump or Cruz at all.

The idiom "politics makes strange bedfellows." is a good fit but is rather wordy.

I feel the word frenemy is a more apt description of their relationship.

In the ABC headline, it is possible that ABC is using the expression sarcastically or tongue in cheek, as the word has quotes around it. Interestingly, frenemy doesn't have a noun form in the sense of an activity. In other words, frenemy is a person, and bromance is an activity. If the word frenemyship existed then it could replace bromance, and the writer might have chosen it.