Posted on 03/09/2016 7:18:57 PM PST by crusher
Dear Trump Supporters
Although I am not particularly enamored with Donald Trump (the ideas Cruz espouses are closer to my own), I absolutely understand and appreciate the dynamic behind Trump's meteoric rise and probable victories in the GOP nomination and the November election. I have posted before on FR about the importance of eradicating the Republican Party, so perhaps Trump is the vehicle for that necessary Schumpeterian creative destruction.
What does fascinate me is the hostility towards Cruz from ostensibly conservative folks who happen to be supporting Trump. I do not really care about the specifics of the animus but note that it approaches a quality that genuinely befuddles me. Having been at FR since the Xlintoon regime I am pretty confident that the hostility heaped on Hellary and Bubba pales in comparison to that currently aimed at Cruz. (I went back and read some random threads from back in the day.)
So here is my genuine question for Trump supporters: what was your attitude towards Cruz a year ago, before the entry of Trump into the race? I recall Cruz being lionized on FR and throughout the conservatosphere for being one of the two or three Senators willing to stand in the way of the Uniparty agenda.
1) it was revealed he wanted to increase H1-B's 500%.
2) the support for the Corker bill, effectively giving nukes to Iran.
3) fancy footwork around the TPP.
4) Hiring that Roe guy as a consultant and having staffers circulate the rumor (originally from CNN) that Carson was *cough* *codespeak* dropping out *codespeak* *cough* going to Florida. Cruz apologized the next day, which meant he claimed ownership at that point.
Rush Limbaugh, twice in the past week, explained Cruz's strategy: to aim squarely as the candidate of the roughly 4 million evangelicals who sat out the Romney election: by Cruz's estimation, other things being equal, Cruz would pick up them votes. But Trump came in and spoke directly to the frustrations of millions of voters stepped on by the Obama economy, and without being caricturable as a Bible-thumper; and stole Cruz's thunder.
Two other points. Cruz had the diction of the evangelicals down *too* perfectly: even most loyal, core followers of a political movement or philosophy have a couple personal quirks or areas where they privately express misgivings about some element of the dogma or orthodoxy. Second, if Cruz is claiming to be such a strong Evangelical, why is he so whipped? That is, his wife makes four or five *times* his income: which cannot help but alter the balance of power in his home such that she rules the roost. While most Churchians approve of this ("husbands, submit to your wives" as the book of Oprah tells us) it is not really in accord with Biblical instruction.
Trump, on the other hand, only claimed to be sympathetic to the evangelicals' interest.
I used to be a Cruz guy.
Then I became a “both/either” guy.
Now I’m a Trump guy.
While I recognize that some Trump supporters have been nasty, my feeling is that the Cruz supporters consistently took the nasty stuff to a new level. Of course, your mileage may vary.
But with Glenn Beck and Romney and Neil Bush supporting Cruz, I frankly see him as the most Establishment of the two guys left in the race. I’m anti-Establishment, so I’m staying with Trump.
Thank you for your reply, but I could not find your answer to my question.
What was your opinion of Cruz a year ago?
Why don’t you look into the Cruzers’ hateful comments as well!
Somewhere around lat fall/early winter, we began fighting back.
The more we learned about Cruz, the more we posted using those FACTS and NOT rumors. You're now complaining about things that your side started.
Cruz supporters call FACTS "lies" and then LIE about Trump.
Yes, it all really is as simple as that.
They are all lining up behind Cruz or beside him and pulling him by their strings. He took the bait and now he is the fresh catch.
I could not have said it better.
Thanks.
I posted this earlier it explains some of my thinking.
I think Trump can beat Hillary, I don’t think Cruz has any chance. The more people who actually hear Trump speak for himself will say I get it, especially on trade. Cruz is not going to bring independents or democrats over in the general election.
I also think Trump is in a better position to deal with ISIS by being “neutral” on Israel and willing to work with Russia, he can create a coalition that Cruz won’t be able to after his anti-Putin, anti-Russian, Israel or die remarks. This is a very important issue to stop the genocide of Christians and to stop the migration of the ME Muslims to all the western nations and all the issues and dangers it brings.
I think overall my choice between Trump or Cruz would have been much closer if Cruz had been straight about being an insider within the political –government establishment. He is not an outsider and when I figured that out I felt betrayed. He could have said, “Please come join me in this fight for change I have been involved for sometime…” but he claimed outsider status instead.
The other issue is his somewhat over the top religious persona. I don’t trust a politician ‘to show America the face of God’. Not there job. And if he’s “God’s representative” and a complete ass?
But, here is where he lost me completely - https://youtu.be/kNa5w9js48s . No Christian I have asked about this was comfortable with it and I found it scary. I would say this doesn’t seem to be mainstream Christian theology. When the media is done with Trump they will eat Cruz alive with this stuff. At this point I doubt I could ever vote for Cruz.
As of this evening I am getting more and more turned off by Ted. I don’t feel he is honest and I don’t like him selling God for votes.
What does fascinate me is the hostility towards Cruz from ostensibly conservative folks who happen to be supporting Trump.
I’ll see your Trumpanzee, and raise you a Cruzbot.
I still like Ted Cruz, and probably align with him more ideologically than Trump. But I’m very close to jumping on the Trump bandwagon because I think he is the only one who can win. When the establishment, who for decades has told us we need to work within the party for change, now is openly fighting and conspiring against that very change, it’s evident they don’t value us. Ted is good, but he can’t win, at least not this time. Donald Trump is a winner.
His "forgetting" his Canadian citizenship until a couple of years ago, and "forgetting" about the personal loans from retirement accounts to his campaign ... despite a supposed stratospheric IQ and all that.
Bullshit. People with an IQ of 150+ don't forget those kind of *strategic* items, unless it is a mistake on purpose.
And his Princeton/Harvard pedigree (Harvard Law? Dershowitz? Srsly, a *conservative* ?)
And his Goldman-Sucks wife who belonged to CFR, and the constant wheedling for money like a TV preacher.
My attitude toward Cruz was positive up until the Iowa shame mailers.
Not being from Texas, I didn’t really pay too close attention to his career, other than when he received positive media coverage in conservative media circles because of his actions in the Senate.
After the shame mailers, I took a closer look at him. He supported giving Legal Permanent Residency to 11 million invaders in 2013. Then Eric Cantor got primaried and the Gang of 8 idiocy died in its tracks. If Eric Cantor had kept his job, it would have passed, so thank God for all that.
Fast forward 2 years, and Cruz makes up a story about how his amendment to deny full citizenship to the invaders was the reason Gang of 8 failed.
He voted for other bills that are part of the globalist agenda. His campaign manager, Jeff Roe, is a scoundrel who will do anything to win, up to and including attempts at utterly retarded nonsense like fake viral videos claiming Marco Rubio hates The Bible.
All in all, I have come to believe the guy is a weasel and a true “insider’s outsider”. Were he elected President, he would do nothing to end the DC gravy train. As he’s proven in his short time in the Senate, he has no real interest in changing Washington at all, he just wants to be king of the dumpster fire.
In short, Cruz was alright by me early on. But as I watched the primaries unfold, he’s struck me as more self-serving in his ambitions in ways that made me more leery of him.
He’s obviously bright, which I like/respect in a person. But his mind is also too much conditioned in the ways of being a lawyer. Ultimately I prefer a leader, not a debate captain.
THANK YOU for reading my question and presenting a sensible answer. I appreciate it. Really.
Happens every general election campaign season. For not a small number of people, once they choose a candidate (for whatever reason), any other candidate who poses a legitimate challenge is considered the enemy, no matter how conservative they are. At that point, the battle lines are drawn, and it's their tribe vs. your tribe. (Lower) human nature, I guess.
And if you DO vote for Ted Cruz, you stand AGAINST the U.S. Constitution.
RE: “Goes both ways”
I’ll take the bait on that one.
I thought trump was a showman who built casinos in New Jersey and was highly enamored with himself.
Now I think he’s very skilled at energizing a crowd and taking whatever side of an issue he thinks people want to hear.
Someone aught to ask him how many people will go through the ‘great big beautiful door’ in his ‘great big beautiful wall’ — I’d love to hear the numbers.
Your poor vanity blames Trump supporters right out of the gate.
You place no blame on Cruz supporters.
There is no need to answer your question, as your vanity is not truthful
or credible.
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.