Posted on 08/28/2015 6:54:52 AM PDT by VinL
Of all of the curiosities this presidential campaign has produced so far, add to the list a joint-candidate rally featuring two of the most polarizing candidates in the GOP. On Thursday, Ted Cruz announced that Donald Trump would join him at the Capitol next month to protest lawmakers supporting the Iranian nuclear deal. “Glad @realdonaldtrump accepted my invitation to rally in DC to stop the catastrophic #IranDeal,” Cruz tweeted from his campaign account.
It was the surest sign yet that Cruz's apparent strategy of wooing the controversial candidate — and positioning himself to win over Trump supporters if (or when) the businessman flames out of the race — is starting to pay off.
However Trump’s magic-carpet ride through GOP primary season ends, it will be remembered for (among other things) just how ill-prepared his fellow candidates were to take him on. Jeb Bush tried this week, in his characteristically genteel way, to respond to the insults that Trump has been hurling at him like spitballs all summer: “There’s a difference between Donald Trump and me: I’m a proven conservative with a record,” he told a gaggle of reporters last week with his hands clasped uncomfortably in front of him. Trump, not just undeterred but energized by the reaction, told the New York Times that Bush was a “low-energy person” — a phrase he’s repeated several times, knowing that it tweaks the younger Bush brother — and took to Twitter to mock him for rarely using his last name. Scott Walker has tried to ignore him, refusing to answer whether or not he supports birthright citizenship and declaring himself “unintimidated” so often it’s hard to believe him. But the Donald’s diatribes have caused him to slip in the polls, too.
Not so with Ted Cruz, who may be the only top-tier candidate willing to embrace Trump. Yes — Ted Cruz is a top-tier candidate — even though he’s been more or less ignored by the rest of the field since he launched his campaign back in March. The most important poll numbers right now come from Iowa: They’re the first state to caucus, and the momentum a candidate is able to pick up there will be important in determining who moves forward in the race. In Iowa, Cruz is averaging fourth place in polls. (He’s running fifth in the national poll averages.) In the last fund-raising quarter, only Jeb Bush out-raised him in the Republican field.
A key part of Cruz's gambit seems to be maintaining friendly personal relations with Trump. While everyone else is busy dodging, ignoring, or attacking him, Cruz has welcomed the Donald with open arms. "I am proud to stand with Donald Trump,” Cruz recently told one of his TV interviewers. “I like him and respect him." They’ve managed to keep it positive even though both are famously unfriendly with the other figureheads in their party, and even though Trump raised the uncomfortable fact that Cruz was born in Canada when he launched his campaign back in March. The affection goes beyond publicly stated admiration, too: As the Daily Beast’s Tim Mak reported, Trump and Cruz have met up at least five times and continue to keep the back channels open between campaigns. Trump’s madcap trip to the border was almost a joint press event, but Cruz had a scheduling conflict get in the way. Cruz is now trying out the unusual Trump strategy of attacking one of the right’s most beloved journalists, Megyn Kelly. On Tuesday, he responded to Kelly’s line of questioning about how he’d deport undocumented families with an attack: “Megyn, I get that that’s the question you want to ask,” he said when Kelly pressed him. “That’s also the question every mainstream-media liberal journalist wants to ask.”
But for Cruz this is all part of a bigger strategy and a longer game. He’s been working to secure the same voter base as Trump since being elected to the Senate in 2012 — the base of voters who hate the political Establishment so much that being a villain to Democrats and Republicans alike is the entire point. It’s the strategy that motivated his publicity-raising faux filibusters, his efforts to lead a government shutdown, and his most bombastic public statements.
Trump’s temporary advantage over Cruz is that he’s leveraging a well-established and decades-old public persona to appeal to many of the same voters, and he’s doing it in a wildly entertaining (and fact-free) way. But in the long run Trump's strategy can't work: Winning a fifth of the GOP primary electorate and actually being able to win the general election are two very different things, especially if the candidate has shown no allegiance to the party he’s trying to represent, as Jonathan Chait points out.
Cruz surely knows that Trump isn’t built to last, and when Trump finally exits the race, Cruz will be there to pick up his base. Unlike Trump, Cruz is a real conservative — and it’s not inconceivable that he could win the primary. While the rest of the party spends the fall trying to tear Trump down, you can be sure Cruz will keep up the good relations, all while raising millions of dollars behind the scenes and preparing for the inevitable moment Trump exits the race. If the rest of the Republican field isn’t worried about Cruz yet, they should be.
I am a Christian too, and I’m still having some doubts about him.
If you subtract the criminals, Trump as said that he has.
Unfortunately Cruz can’t win in the general but Trump can. Reagan Democrats will vote for Trump but they will not vote for Cruz. Cruz is a dirty word to most democrats and Trump is building his base or Rs and Ds for Trump, not Cruz.
Thats certainly a factor, but Cruz is being a pragmatist in positioning himself for all of the following possible outcomes:
Trump wins the nomination outright: Cruz is positioned to be VP
Trump flames out: Cruz is positioned to pick up his supporters and take the nomination.
Trump flames out, another candidate wins the nomination: Cruz is positioned to pick up Trump’s supporters and use them as leverage for the VP nom. Think Sarah Palin pulling Conservatives to McCain in 08.
Trump doesn’t flame out, doesn’t get the nomination and the convention is brokered: Trump plays kingmaker for Cruz, or Cruz plays kingmaker for Trump.
Cruz has managed to cover all of his bases here. Every single one of them. No matter what happens he wins in some manner or another.
Now is it because Cruz is just that brilliant, or because all the other GOP candidates besides Trump are stupid?
I see this article as NEW YORK’s effort at driving a wedge between Trump andd Cruz. At the first sign that Cruz has ulterior motives in his “friendship” with Donnie, he’ll get flushed down the tubes in a NEW YORK minute.
Remind me again how well the Rudy Giuliani presidency went? Oh yeah, right...
He didn't wipe anyone's floor when asked the question about deporting the family.
He was the one who was ducking and weaving to avoid giving an answer.
Trump, the macho man he is, straight away hammered his answer home.
Cruz denies the GOPe candidates the ring wing of the GOP, Trump denies the GOPe candidates the center of the GOP (maybe even a little of the left wing). Carson denies the GOPe candidates the left wing of the GOP. Together (Ted, Ben and Trump) all they leave the GOPe candidates are those voters that are loyal to the man or to the mans’ family (Bush). Trump wants Ted and Ben to stay in the race. Ben and Ted are helping Trump win the nomination.
That and the “faux filibuster” remark. Not sure how speaking on the Senate floor in opposition to a bill till your voice and gives out to demonstrate a point isn’t a real filibuster. Maybe it has to be in opposition to, oh I don’t know, civil rights for black folks like the Democrats did to be genuine.
“The amendment that I introduced removed the path to citizenship, but it did not change the underlying work permit from the Gang of Eight,” he said during a recent visit to El Paso. Mr. Cruz also noted that he had not called for deportation or, as Mitt Romney famously advocated, self-deportation.
If the Cruz amendment had been adopted, legalization would have been the result. Cruz just wanted to eliminate the path to citizenship. That is still his position, which is why he evaded Kelly's question.
If you subtract the criminals, Trump as said that he has.
No, he has never said all would be allowed to return. He has never defined the "good ones" besides saying that the length of time would be a factor. I think it undermines his position that all should go, but this is far different than the Cruz position of legalization without a path to citizenship. That is still amnesty despite Cruz's attempt to redefine the meaning of the word.
And Cruz wants to increase the guest worker programs at a time when we have the lowest labor participation rates in 38 years. NumbersUSA gave Cruz a B minus on the protection of American workers compared to Trump's A minus.
As VP Cruz would be president of the senate and could control the senate agenda.
Trump said as much yesterday in SC. He said he liked Cruz and mentioned the event in DC against the Iran deal. He said that Cruz has not attacked him and he wouldn’t attack Cruz, but he did say that the time might come that he would have to go after Cruz.
Being for an amendment, in this case the Cruz amendment, doesn't mean that one is for the bill once the amendment is passed. One could then introduce more amendments until one gets the desired bill.
Cruz has never said that he is for legalization nor has he ever voted on such a bill that is for legalization.
No, he has never said all would be allowed to return.
Trump has clearly said over-and-over again which ones he thinks aren't the "good ones", the rapists, drug dealers and all the rest of the criminals.
He clearly wants to expedite all the rest back in.
So what are there, 20 million non criminal illegal aliens?
That's quit a legalization amnesty.
I am against Cruz wanting to increase the guest worker program, but I still find it preferable to Trump's over-and-back, expedited amnesty for the "good ones".
Maybe—just maybe—He likes Trump. Maybe he sees more in this race than just winning—like maybe—SAVING THE NATION!
Making illegals return to their country of origin is amnesty? LOL, that is going to be a very hard thing to sell.
Offering an amendment to stop citizenship amnesty in the Gang of Eight Bill, doesn't mean one is for the rest of the bill. Cruz has never said that he is for legalization of 20 million illegals.So he offers an amendment to a bill that he has no intention of supporting/voting for...got it.
So when Trump says over-and-over again that he then wants to expedite the "good ones" back into the country for a legalization, how is that not a legalization for 20 million?
Trump is "selling" it, and you're buying it.
LOL.
So he offers an amendment to a bill that he has no intention of supporting/voting for...got it.
No you don't "have it". Try again.
I just gave you an exact quote for him. Do you have a reading comprehension problem?
Asked about what to do with the people here illegally, however, he stressed that he had never tried to undo the goal of allowing them to stay.
“The amendment that I introduced removed the path to citizenship, but it did not change the underlying work permit from the Gang of Eight,” he said during a recent visit to El Paso. Mr. Cruz also noted that he had not called for deportation or, as Mitt Romney famously advocated, self-deportation.
He clearly wants to expedite all the rest back in.
As someone who has actually issued visas, most of them would not qualify for a tourist visa, let alone an immigrant visa. Almost all of them have committed other crimes besides entering illegally. They have worked illegally, committed ID theft, lied on employment forms, evaded taxes, stolen or created SSNs, etc. Once they leave, they will find it hard to get back if we enforce our laws.
As someone who has worked on the immigration issue for over 8 years lobbying on the Hill, I have developed a major BS detector. If I could, I would force Cruz to come clean on the issue by asking him specific questions to flush him out. I have followed him closely ever since he ran for the Senate.
Trump has presented the best immigration potions paper of any candidate for President for decades. We all know it was drated by Jeff Sessions. Unfortunately, Trump undermines it with his off-cuff remarks. If he were to stick with the points in the paper, he would win in a walk.
The most important part of the paper, Put American Workers First, is not being discussed. I know why the MSM, Dems, and GOPe do not want it discussed, but I am at a loss why Trump is not pushing it more. It is revolutionary and would attract votes from traditional Dem constituencies. Perhaps, he will mention it when he addresses the black Chamber of Commerce in a few weeks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.