People sure don’t stick up for Cruz.
Branstad’s son is big in the Renewable Fuel Industry. Cruz supports phasing out ethanol mandates.
Nor will the attitudes expressed by the Cruz fans on FR who do persuade anyone to their way of thinking.
I'm afraid that the reputation Cruz earned... of not being particularly well liked by his colleagues... which some initially took on as a badge of honor... is coming back to haunt him.
There are times when you need political allies, and this is one of those times for Cruz.
I suspect this would be playing out differently if it were Jeff Sessions on the hotseat. He's every bit as conservative as Cruz, but I've heard that he is admired by most of the Senate, even the dimocrats don't actively dislike him personally.
He has a long history of that.
Work colleagues especially.
On the other hand, you have the guy who literally wrote the bestselling book on winning deals.