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Ted Cruz Played Donald Trump Like a Fiddle
The Corner ^ | 1/16/16 | Rich Lowry

Posted on 01/16/2016 9:05:46 PM PST by TBBT

Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are, not surprisingly, now in a total war. One school of thought is that Cruz made a mistake in cozying up to Trump for so long now that The Donald is lambasting him in the harshest and most demagogic terms. I don’t think that’s right. Even though Cruz’s “friendship” was transparently insincere–and often cringe-inducing–it was very shrewd, and the timing of the break-up is too. It was very unlikely that the truce could last forever, and the timing of the open hostilities means that Cruz can blame Trump for firing the first shot (the Canadian stuff) and, more importantly, attack Trump from a much stronger political position. With his surge over the last month or so, Cruz has amassed an extraordinary reserve of credibility on the right. A recent poll in Iowa had him at 91-6 favorable-unfavorable among tea partiers. If anyone has the standing to make the case against Donald Trump, it is Ted Cruz. And he won’t be making a “golly, Donald, why can’t you be nicer?” case against Trump, but a hard-hitting conservative one (and while a divided and feckless establishment, such as it is, watches from the sidelines). If there was any tactical error here it was on the part of Donald Trump. It has been pretty clear for a long time that Cruz had great potential in Iowa, but back when Trump could have dropped a bomb on Cruz before he took off, the mogul was either taken in by Cruz’s submissiveness, or willing to play along with the terms of their faux friendship.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida; US: New York; US: Ohio; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 2016election; bencarson; brokenrecord; cruz; election2016; florida; ibtz; ilovetowhine; jebbush; johnkasich; marcorubio; nationalreview; newyork; ohio; richlowry; tedcruz; texas; trump; waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
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To: roamer_1

Absolutely!

BTW, great profile page, especially the Reagan quote ...


61 posted on 01/16/2016 9:40:42 PM PST by glock rocks (TTTT !)
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To: TBBT

Well done article - now, enter the Trumpcult.


62 posted on 01/16/2016 9:41:46 PM PST by Marcella (CRUZ (Prepping can save your life today))
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To: Helicondelta

Cruz got the dead cat bounce from the debate. I hope he “plays” Trump again.


63 posted on 01/16/2016 9:43:47 PM PST by proust (Texan for Trump! Born in the USA!)
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To: Marcella

“Well done article - now, enter the Trumpcult.”

Cults are, by definition, small. Therefore, the label applies more appropriately to Cruz followers than Trump supporters.


64 posted on 01/16/2016 9:45:20 PM PST by proust (Texan for Trump! Born in the USA!)
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To: libbylu

We’re gonna put you on the top of the list, libby. You’re gonna be a star.


65 posted on 01/16/2016 9:45:54 PM PST by mbrfl
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To: SubMareener
Trump, a pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-Kelo Democrat, is obviously way more conservative than Cruz. /s
66 posted on 01/16/2016 9:46:56 PM PST by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: C210N

There was a Constitutional Amendment that changed that. There has been no amendment to broaden the definition of natural born citizen to include being born to only an American mother abroad.


67 posted on 01/16/2016 9:47:18 PM PST by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR!)
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To: proust

That would be Cruznadians in the “Trumpcult” context, would it not?


68 posted on 01/16/2016 9:48:10 PM PST by glock rocks (TTTT !)
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To: American Constitutionalist

Plus Trump mocked the reporter who has the affected arm that moves all the time. Trump is a classless loud mouth liberal, who will never change. It is a shame he has sucked in mad conservatives who think Trump’s madness will be good for them - he will take his madness out on the ones they are angry about. What a deception that is. They are projecting their anger into what they want Trump to be - not what Trump actually is.


69 posted on 01/16/2016 9:49:45 PM PST by Marcella (CRUZ (Prepping can save your life today))
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To: MHT

True. I was totally being kind to his supporters and I liked him but now he’s just a sneaky lawyer to me. No chance. Trump will prevail. Iowa will be close but Trump may beat him badly there too. Citizenship, shady loans, creepy speaking style.


70 posted on 01/16/2016 9:51:38 PM PST by toddausauras ( Leftplosion.)
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To: proust; Marcella
Cults are, by definition, small. Therefore, the label applies more appropriately to Cruz followers than Trump supporters.

Cruznadians accuse Team Trump of being a cult of personality.

I call Team Cruz a cult of non-personality.

71 posted on 01/16/2016 9:54:33 PM PST by Vision Thing (T. Cruz values New York, where he yells, "Show me the money!")
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To: Aria

Likeable matters...I think it’s why Bush beat Algore.


Strange, but true. Or maybe not so strange. Likeability is probably even more important in the video age when one can hear and see politicians.

One reason someone like Hillary is not doing so well is she is just not a likable person. Never mind what she says, just that voice is grating and lecturing.


72 posted on 01/16/2016 9:57:58 PM PST by Flick Lives (One should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast. -- Heinlein)
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To: Catsrus; Jim Robinson

“The word conservative is getting sickening and overused to where it has lost all meaning - just like being called a racist. But, that’s all you naive Cruzbots have.”

You may think “conservative...is sickening and overused...just like being called a racist”, but if you check with the owner of Free Republic, he would tell you different and maybe he will.


73 posted on 01/16/2016 9:58:11 PM PST by Marcella (CRUZ (Prepping can save your life today))
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To: Marcella

74 posted on 01/16/2016 10:02:03 PM PST by RasterMaster ("Towering genius disdains a beaten path." - Abraham Lincoln)
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To: proust

A cult is a group of people who accept a leader to the point they give up their own thought process, do not question the leader, and will follow the leader no matter what the leader does or says. The number of cult members does not matter.


75 posted on 01/16/2016 10:06:41 PM PST by Marcella (CRUZ (Prepping can save your life today))
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To: RasterMaster

Cruzade probably has no flavor.


76 posted on 01/16/2016 10:06:56 PM PST by Vision Thing (T. Cruz values New York, where he yells, "Show me the money!")
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To: proust
Cults are, by definition, small.

Believing in global warming is a cult. That's not small.

77 posted on 01/16/2016 10:07:33 PM PST by chopperman
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To: MHT

78 posted on 01/16/2016 10:10:08 PM PST by Bobalu (Even if I could take off, I could never get past the tractor beam!)
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To: Marcella

“A cult is a group of people who accept a leader to the point they give up their own thought process, do not question the leader, and will follow the leader no matter what the leader does or says. The number of cult members does not matter.”

Rigid belief systems alone do not define a cult. Far too broad.

Ex:
Heaven’s Gate was a cult, based on their small size. If we were all Heaven’s Gaters, they would no longer be a cult.


79 posted on 01/16/2016 10:14:23 PM PST by proust (Texan for Trump! Born in the USA!)
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To: American Constitutionalist

We can thank Trump for single-handedly taking out JEB, the media, the GOPe & their big donors and even setting the dems back a notch or two. And he has barely spent any money doing it while the corrupt GOPe and related PACs have wasted tens if not hundreds of millions trying to hold on to their power base.

And I don’t feel humiliated a bit. Grateful that PC is being destroyed and the rules rewritten.


80 posted on 01/16/2016 10:16:37 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to to God!)
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