Posted on 09/11/2015 11:19:48 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It could have been the first general election rally of a Trump-Cruz 2016 ticket.
In front of a crowd of more than a thousand on a blisteringly hot Wednesday outside the U.S. Capitol, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas fired up the crowd for Donald Trump, who brought them to frenzy status at a rally in opposition to President Barack Obama’s proposed nuclear deal with Iran.
It is certainly too far off to say it could happen, but not too far off to envision a similar scenario playing out a little less than a year from now on the larger stage of the Republican Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
The rally seemed to lend credence to the running mate-candidate dynamic.
Cruz, largely responsible for helping to organize the rally with host organization Tea Party Patriots, spoke before Trump, as if to introduce the main attraction.
“I want to thank my friend Donald Trump for joining us today,” Cruz said to loud cheers from the crowd.
“I like him,” Trump said shortly before taking the stage after Cruz. “Ted Cruz was out there and he really backed me very strongly, and I always respected that. He asked me to come along and I guess he figured we’d get a big crowd and we certainly have.”
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Trump described the candidate’s relationship as “a little bit of a romance,” according to the Associated Press.
The two men have developed a rhythm of cross-compliments in their unique and unusual campaign relationship, even as front-runner Trump has engaged in tense, bitter clashes with other 2016 hopefuls.
“I was called by Senator Cruz a few days ago, and he said, ‘Do you think we can get a really good crowd out here to protest this incompetent deal?’ and I said, ‘Boy, can we get a crowd.’ That was three days ago, and look what shows up,” Trump started as he took the stage.
But beyond an affable relationship, there are practical advantages for the hypothetical Republican nominee Donald Trump to get the conservative firebrand from Texas onto his hypothetical ticket.
Recent remarks from Trump — and some of his past positions — have caused some conservatives to worry about the depth of his commitment to conservative positions and have opened up the business mogul to attacks from other GOP contenders.
“If someone wants to raise taxes, they should run as a Democrat,” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said to the Boston Herald in response to a statement from Trump that he would support raising taxes on the highest income earners.
“I think if someone wants to raise taxes, they should run for the Democratic nomination,” Rubio repeated. “That party loves to raise taxes.”
But where Trump gives conservatives pause over possible apostasies, Cruz is bullish.
”Abolish the IRS; take all 125,000 IRS agents, and put them on our southern border,” Cruz thundered in his address to CPAC in April.
Cruz has advocated a flat tax to replace the current tax code, a policy that could technically increase taxes on the highest earners (keeping Trump consistent) by eliminating loopholes and deductions.
A combination of Trump’s rhetoric and Cruz’s proposal on taxes could form a supporting pillar of a generally populist ticket platform.
And Cruz could provide the cover Trump needs to stay in the good graces of social conservatives.
“Wrong, they’re absolutely wrong,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said of Trump and others’ remarks that gay marriage was the law of the land and that Kentucky’s Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis should be jailed for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses.
But Cruz was in the thick of the fight to back up Davis.
“Kim Davis stood up for her faith, and she told the truth. That is a powerful, powerful thing,” Cruz said during a visit to Kentucky to meet with the suddenly nationally known clerk.
Trump also took heat from social conservatives for suggesting in August that his sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, would make a “phenomenal” Supreme Court justice. Barry wrote a decision for the United States Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, in 2000 arguing the Constitution prevented states from banning partial birth abortions.
“There are a lot of folks that distrust where Trump stands on life because of his track record and even his recent vacillations on Planned Parenthood,” said leading pro-life activist Lila Rose in an interview with Talking Points Memo.
Trump maintains he is solidly pro-life, having transitioned on the issue over the years. But Cruz could certainly lend credibility to Trump’s stance on the issue. Cruz is leading an effort in Congress to force the issue of defunding Planned Parenthood before authorizing new federal spending.
Related: The Candidate Waiting to Strike
“In light of recent and horrific revelations that Planned Parenthood is trafficking in fetal tissue and body parts from abortions, we urge you not to schedule or facilitate the consideration of any legislation that authorizes or appropriates federal dollars for Planned Parenthood,” reads a draft of a letter being circulated on Capitol Hill by Cruz.
Who better to assuage the concerns of conservatives than the man who nearly singlehandedly shut down the federal government in 2013 in opposition to Obamacare, and who has reliably fought GOP leadership and the Democrats on nearly every issue close to the heart of the conservative base?
Who better to stoke the populist, anti-establishment flames that have propelled Trump to his front-runner status than the man who called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar on the floor of the United States Senate?
Of course, Cruz has not only a credible path to the GOP’s nomination himself, but arguably a more structurally sound path than Trump.
It is a distant possibility, but a Trump-Cruz ticket could be a winner.
“Alone Cruz gets swallowed by the GOPe primary machinery.
But the two of them together makes a far more formidable force.”
You make a good point and I think Cruz knows this.
"...Neither Trump or Cruz are approved by George Will, Charles Krauthammer, the National Review, the Wall Street Journal, the Chamber of Commerce, Megyn Kelly, Roger Ailes, the Washington Post, the Bush family, Karl Rove, La Raza, the SEIU, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, CNN, or the View..."
Touche’
Maybe not. Back in 2008, Slow Joe Biden assured us that Barack Obomba had a "spine of steel".
I was thinking Trump/Carson
and Cruz helping the ticket from The Senate
Write this down: There will not be another black person on a major party ticket for at least two generations after Mr. Obama leaves office.
Read some polls, Bush is about done.
Cruz is ok but far far from anti establishment.
That’s a pretty bold call.
I’d think with Hillary, SlowJoe, or Fauxcahontas at the top, the Dems would use a Cory Booker or DeVal Patrick to inspire the ‘hood turnout. It would be particular effective with Hillary because the community organizers would be “wink-winking” about Hillary’s failing health.
You need to update that argument a bit. Cruz is in third in Iowa and fourth nationally.
Seriously?
"...Write this down: There will not be another black person on a major party ticket for at least two generations after Mr. Obama leaves office..."
I’m not happy about it but Cruz is polling between 4%-7% depending on which poll you look at. Unless Trump implodes I just don’t see Ted moving up that much. I would rather see Trump and Cruz occupying the first two slots. I’m not thrilled with Ben Carson polling so well. He is not the guy.
What did I say?
Again, go look at some recent polls. You’re quoting numbers from at least a week ago. I’m NOT AT ALL concerned about Ben Carson.
Actually I think you are right. There is one Iowa poll where Cruz is at 9%. I’d rather see him at 19% and Carson at 9%.
Trump's campaign recognizes that a lot of those Bush voters -- and the Reagan Democrats and Nixon's Silent Majority before that -- weren't conservative in all things, but only on some specific issues, and that things like prosperity and an effective government will win him votes that somebody like Cruz couldn't win with more ideological appeals. Judging by his past beliefs and behavior, Trump isn't likely to push the kind of program Cruz supports very hard.
So are these two approaches complementary or contradictory? Do they add votes together or subtract them from what each candidate would get on their own? I wouldn't know how to answer such a question, but I do notice that if one candidate on the ticket is a firebrand, the other usually has to be less divisive. If they're both fiery and provocative, they are less likely to be complementary than if one is easy-going and low-key.
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