Posted on 01/20/2016 7:17:07 AM PST by Isara
Why doesn't the establishment get behind Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to stop Donald Trump?
I've been asking this question for months. As I wrote back in December:
The establishment can't stand Cruz because they believe he unfairly rips establishment Republicans for insufficient ideological purity. They think Cruz doesn't understand the necessary deals that must be cut in politics in order to "get things done"-they think he's more interested in posturing than in achieving practical policies to help Americans. They will have to put such concerns aside if they want to defeat Trump.
It's clearer now than it was then that Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) isn't going to be able to stop Trump. A new poll from ARG in New Hampshire today shows Trump on top with 27 percent of the likely vote - but then abominable Ohio Governor John Kasich following with 20 percent, followed by Rubio at 10 percent, Cruz at 9 percent, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at 9 percent, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 8 percent. That means, effectively speaking, that if Cruz wins Iowa, Rubio would finish no better than fourth, and perhaps lower than that.
Which explodes his primary strategy. Tim Alberta of National Review sums up that strategy here:
The strategy, dubbed "3-2-1" by some who have been briefed on it, forecasts a sequence in which Rubio takes third place in Iowa on February 1, finishes second in New Hampshire on February 9, and wins South Carolina on February 20. From there, Rubio would be well-positioned in the long haul to win a plurality of voters, and ultimately a majority of delegates, in a three-way contest against Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
This scenario is highly unlikely. And John Kasich isn't going to carry any Southern states - he'll lose to both Trump and Cruz, in all likelihood. So why doesn't the establishment get behind Cruz?
Because the establishment would prefer Trump. They've been holding out, of course. They've been complaining endlessly about Trump's candidacy, because he has been holding back some of their favored nominee possibilities. But if given the choice between Trump and Cruz, they'd pick Trump. Just days ago, National Review reported that House GOP members find Trump more malleable and less polarizing than Cruz:
The developing feeling among House Republicans? Donald Trump is preferable to Ted Cruz. "If you look at Trump's actual policies, they're pretty thin. There's not a lot of meat there," says one Republican member in Ryan's inner circle, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the two front-runners as leadership has carefully avoided doing all week. If Trump were to get the nomination, he would "be looking to answer the question: 'Where's the beef?' And we will have that for him," says the member.
Trump, in other words, has no ideas; Cruz has plenty, and the establishment doesn't like them. It's clear that Cruz has no sway in the Senate - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wouldn't even push a resolution proclaiming Cruz's presidential eligibility to help Cruz this year.
The establishment has always preferred northeastern Republicanism - soft on social issues, not averse to crony capitalism, friendly to Democrats. That sounds a lot more like Trump than Cruz. The only thing they truly can't stand about Trump is his immigration position, but they're willing to overlook that, since Cruz has largely mirrored Trump on immigration. Establishment Republicans believe that Republicans can only win if they win back blue collar workers and minority voters - and if they can't have Rubio to win Hispanics, they'll take Trump to win blacks and Rust Belt workers. As Reuters reports:
About one in 10 Americans who plan to cast a vote this election will do so for the first time in years, if ever, and Trump holds a decided edge with them, according to polling by Reuters/Ipsos....Cruz captures just 3.4 percent of these voters. And Senator Marco Rubio of Florida snags only 4 percent.
Trump may alienate voters in current polls, but he also draws the so-called Reagan Democrats. A Mercury Analytics poll released last weeks shows approximately 20 percent of Democrats would consider bolting the party to back Trump.
Trump is actually far closer to Mitt Romney as a candidate than he is to pure Constitutional conservatism. And the establishment likes that better than Ted Cruz's brand of purity.
How many times have we heard this and seen that picture?
Minds are made up. All that is left is the voting.
Donald Trump on Ted Cruz temperament (calling McConnell a liar) (Video)
Because he likes to make “Deals,” AKA reach across the isle.
They prefered Reagan to Bush too.
It’s called getting on the winning team after the other guy made you his b*tch.
Establishment prefers Trump to Cruz because Donald can make “really great deals” with the GOPe.
Very telling.
What DEAL did he make with the newly moderate Sarah Palin?
Finally, the establishment is in sync with the people.
Probably none. Too “pure”.
Trump is a Malignant Narcissist:
Watch this video (not saying he is Hitler or Stalin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x54z2pRAvtg
Here’s why: it’s easier for RINOs to distance themselves from Trump...
http://blogs.rollcall.com/rothenblog/gop-primary-goldwater-vs-mcgovern/
“A number of Republican and Democratic strategists believe Cruz is the bigger problem for his party’s House and Senate candidates. According to this view, Trump’s candidacy would be neither partisan nor ideological, but entirely personal. Voters would regard him as a wild card, not as someone who represents the views of the GOP.
Cruz, on the other hand, is a more conventional Republican nominee, and voters across the spectrum would see him as defining his party. This would be fatal in northern swing districts, particularly in the suburbs, as well as in swing states with Senate races.”
Rush likes to refer to Obama as the “man child”.
I listened to Trump on FOX this morning and that was a man child if I ever heard one.
Trump’s got problems. Adult men do not talk like 4th grade little girls on liking and not liking someone.
Rubio has people doing oppo research in Canada, and idiot FR Trumpbots still think the establishment is against their Lord and Saviour Donald Trump. Idiots? No. Actually, they don’t think that. They know it’s not true. The keep Trumpeting it though. Why? Because the Trumpgasm must go on!
Listen to him reading this prepared “strait talk” statement about increasing ethanol subsidies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC6ZX_epWcc
It just oozes with anti-establishment doesn’t it. How about Iowa’s governor who’s a paid agitator for King Corn? This is the guy Trump is gushing about at the begging.
http://www.texastribune.org/2016/01/19/iowa-governor-hopes-cruz-loses-caucuses/
Levin exposed all of this last night (not that it wasn’t already exposed). At this point, if you’re even a tacit Trump supporter, you’re pro-establishment, pro-cronyism, pro-NY values.
Unfortunately, men who talk like 4th grade girls appeal to a lot of American voters these days.
Did you hear him this morning?
That was down right scary.
Yes, sure, so that is why the GOPe is plotting ways to stop Trump. They are not plotting ways to stop Cruz.
Cruz voted for TPA and the Corker bill, signaling to the right people that he wants to play ball.
Sort of reminds me of the prank ad on the Rush Limbaugh show. It had a snickering Bill Clinton predicting that Bill Cosby would endorse Trump for the October surprise. Same logic.
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