Posted on 01/15/2016 9:46:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Over the past two weeks, the GOP primary race has become a contest between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the two frontrunners in both national polls and in the state Iowa.
The pair will stand next to each other at tonight's GOP primary debate in South Carolina, positioned center stage as a result of their standing in the polls. The contest between them is tonight's main event.
The Trump/Cruz squabble is mind-numbingly stupid at almost every level. It is not a contest of ideas or policies, but a battle of attitude and insult, of culture-war positioning and social media put-downs. In other words, it reflects the awful current state of the GOP primary.
Trump kicked off the current round of hostilities by charging that Ted Cruz may not be eligible for the presidency, because he is not a "natural-born citizen." Cruz, who was born in Canada, responded by releasing his mother's birth certificate, making it clear that she was a U.S. citizen. There is no real question about whether Cruz is eligible--he is--but Trump's attacks have worked anyway, distracting Cruz on the campaign trail and raising some doubts about his candidacy. In a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll of Iowans, 15 percent indicated they felt "bothered" by the fact that Cruz was born in Canada. Conservative voters have become so feverishly opposed to immigration that even the hint of a foreign connection is enough to make them wary of a candidate.
But don't feel too bad for Cruz. He has stoked fears of immigration constantly on the campaign trail himself, calling for biometric tracking, a tripling of Border Patrol agents, and, naturally, building a wall along the entire southern border, which in its current "unsecured" state "invites illegal immigrants, criminals, and terrorists to tread on American soil." Indeed, Cruz has been so successful in stoking these fears that he has caused Trump to gripe that Cruz is just a rip-off candidate, stealing his anti-immigrant thunder by copy-catting his proposal to build a wall--an idea he says originated with his campaign. (Not surprisingly, Trump is mostly wrong; Cruz has publicly supported building a fence or barrier of some kind for years.)
"People are picking up all of my ideas, including Ted, who started talking about building a wall two days ago," Trump complained to Politico earlier this week. "The fact is, they won't get it built, they don't know how to do the job, and they won't get Mexico to pay for it."
To be clear: Their ideas about building a wall along the border are essentially the same. The beef is really about who is going to be the most successful in stoking and exploiting anti-immigrant sentiment for political gain.
Cruz, meanwhile, has also hit Trump for the place he calls home: New York City."Donald comes from New York and he embodies New York values," Cruz said on Tuesday. Asked to explain what, exactly, that means, Cruz added, "They're not Iowa values, and they're not New Hampshire values," clarifying nothing.
The point, though, was for Cruz to do to Trump was Trump has done to Cruz with his Canada birtherism: to attempt to scare early Republican primary voters away from Trump by warning that he comes from a different place, a different culture, a different home--to say to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire that Trump is not like you, not one of you, but I am. It is a pure culture-war trash-talk, a base appeal to identity and affinity above all else.
That this is the chief dispute between the top two GOP contenders going into tonight's debate is intensely revealing. Sadly, it is not only the defining argument within the party's primary race, but the defining sentiment within much of the GOP.
-- Peter Suderman is a senior editor at Reason magazine.
Trump asked a legitimate question.
He did not charge Cruz with being ineligible.
And I find Cruz’s response disturbing. I think its a true vulnerability.
Reminds me of the Pirate of the Caribbean scene.
The pirates all are gathered in Shipwreck Cove to debate what to do about the East India Company Fleet coming to kill them.
The debate dissolves into a a fist fight brawl
Elizabeth Swan: “This is madness”
Capt Jack Sparrow: “This is politics”
You’ve made a good point. The argument Trump makes about Cruz’s eligibility, or lack of eligibility, is not settled and needs to be adjudicated, regardless of how often wrong-headed editorial writers assert otherwise. Ever since Hussein got away with circumventing the Constitution by his cadre of mind-numbed cultists slamming anybody who tried to address Hussein’s ineligibility, and the RINOs feckless willingness to go along with that pretense, the template is now being followed by Cruzers. This jerk has no more special insight into this matter than you or I.
Concur on both counts. The latest New York thing - come on, guys, seriously? Nevertheless, it serves to differentiate, which is the purpose, I suppose. The Cruz birther thing was and remains an obvious attempt to distract the candidate from his message and frankly is better dealt with now than, say, in July. For all the heat it's generated I'm glad it came up now.
This sort of bickering can backfire. Yeb's public image isn't helped at all by playground banter; it's already suffering from a lack of gravitas, which is what anyone participating in this sort of thing risks.
Gee - a “pundit” that includes Pop Culture as part of his writing repertoire lecturing the two guys he must hate the most (not GOPe slackers)....
Trump’s answer to Cruz’s insult on New York won Trump the nomination and Presidency. Cruz is horrible at debate. His 2nd grade answer to the birther stuff was silly too......your Mom......barf.
I am disappointed at some of the hate here among Freepers between the Trumpsters and the Cruzers. I'm in the Cruz corner but am just happy to see that between Trump and Cruz the establishment candidates can't gain traction. It wasn't too long ago that Bush was the heir apparent to the RINO loser crown and he is dead in the polls. Can't we all just get along by agreeing to continue hating Bush and the rest of the GOPe?
Actually, that’s the way I’ve been looking at it. Trump and Cruz, totally keeping the Establishment from getting a foothold into the race. Even Carson (whom I don’t support), served as an extra a little extra buffer.
It’s been a most helpful dynamic, having three anti-establishment figures dominate. Were it just Trump or Cruz alone, it’s very likely the Establishment could strategize successfully and direct enough firepower to take him out. Hence, I’m still hoping Trump and Cruz jockey near the top together, through all the initial primaries. And then, just see who comes out on top.
RE: Trump’s answer to Cruz’s insult on New York won Trump the nomination and Presidency.
Not to thinking people it doesn’t.
When Trump goes on about firefighters, cops, and first responders in 911, you could see Cruz CLAPPING his hands at the reference.
Only UNTHINKING people would conclude that Cruz was referring to these New Yorkers when he talks about “New York Values”.
He was clearly referring to those people who vote for Pro-Choice, Pro-Gay marriage, Anti-gun politicians <—— these PROLIFERATE in the state of NY ( even Republicans in this state are like these ).
This dustup is what the Establishment has been waiting for.
I wouldn't go that far but it spiked him in New York and I don't see that coming down any, and there's a lot of electoral votes there.
The negativity would cease and desist immediately.
I expect that Trump and Cruz both know they are in the home stretch and things are going to get brutal.
I sincerely doubt either one of them takes everything personally, because they understand that it’s politics and that’s the way the game is played.
And, who knows? Maybe Trump and Cruz want the GOPe salivating at the idea of them at loggerheads.
Of course, he writes for “Reason”. You have to think you are smarter than God in order to land that gig.
“Sad state of the GOP primaries?” How dumb can you get? This is how these things are supposed to go.
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