I often think of something I heard Ed Koch (former mayor of NYC) say.
It was in maybe 1983 or 1984. He was giving an impromptu sidewalk press conference, and a reporter (or someone pretending to be a reporter) asked him some question about the availability of low-cost housing in Manhattan. The question was "loaded," by which I mean it was phrased in a way that sounded like it came directly out of some publication of the Socialist Workers Party.
Koch - who many thought of as quite the liberal - answered by saying "but the people who believe that also believe there should be no private property."
The "reporter" pressed on, talking about the profits of big companies and the salary of the average teacher, etc., etc. Koch let them go on for a while, and then said "look, we're not going to turn the entire economy upside down so you can walk to work instead of taking the bus."
I thought that exchange was so, so clever. Koch was clearly marking the "reporter" as a communist or at least socialist, but he wouldn't allow himself to be drawn into an ideological quagmire by uttering either of those words. Instead he said "people who think like that are also people who don't believe in private property" which (a) was true, (b) was undeniable, and (c) demonstrated to those who were paying attention what the "reporter" really represented without saying the word "communist."
Koch was a very, very smart man. I believe both Donald Trump and Senator Cruz are also very smart.
I like your story. That’s the best way to out these folks.
In a way, Cruz at the White House talking to the Code Pink person is the same thing. You let them prattle and then say a few short sentences that reveals what they really advocating for.