Cruz Control

A long-time friend of the blog writes:

In Trump, we have many things- a candidate who is a master at marketing, a candidate who thinks he is in a popularity contest, a candidate who believes that the country is his personal reality show.

Among the speeches during the last 3 days, most haven’t really had a clear message for what the Republican is, just that it isn’t Hillary’s party. My own cynicism rears when that is the main message, especially with a party that nominates a Presidential candidate who admits to donating to the Clintons.

All duly acknowledged.

So, with my own feelings of dislike for Trump, I really want to high five Ted Cruz for his speech. It took skill to do that. Bravery. A true leader who is more concerned about doing what is right rather than what is popular. 

Of course, I’m not gullible enough to believe that Trump had no idea that Cruz would do this. As I said earlier, this is his reality show. Now, the focus is off of Melania’s speech. The focus is off of Pence, who may not draw in the ratings that Trump is looking for. No, with the conflict that Cruz brought, ratings for tonight’s episode will possibly be even higher. 

To me, Trump’s convention is not offering anything serious, anything that demonstrates an understanding of the needs of the country. It is only giving me further proof of the narcissism of this man. Regardless of the outcome of the election this year, it is going to be a long 4 years.

All of that could be exactly right.  And I could be overthinking (or over-crediting the thinking of others).

But hear me out.

What was conservatives’ biggest beef in 2008 and 2012?  That their champions, such as they were, bowed out and faded away in a lavender cloud of conciliation.  They went on to stay home in droves in November.

Trump faces the same problem in spades; grass-roots movement conservative Republicans and conservatives staying home in November.

But what if Trump were to give those conservatives a figurehead who wasn’t going to shake hands and congratulate Trump on a job well done?  Who would spend the next four years – and especially the next three months – keeping the bloody shirt flying?

It won’t hurt Trump – nobody whom Ted Cruz could influence is going to vote for Hillary.

But it could – perhaps – help Trump down the ticket, in the conservative places where Trump needs every possible vote to turn out, to try to keep control of the Senate in friendlier hands this fall.

Crazy?  Or Crazy like a WWF marketer?

We’ll see.

18 thoughts on “Cruz Control

  1. “Crazy? Or Crazy like a WWF marketer?”
    An excellent point. People who care seriously, or at least think they care more seriously about politics, governance and issues of statecraft like they teach at the Humphrey School believe: Trump does everything wrong, he’s understaffed, he’s, he’s, …well, Trump.
    If the last 8 years have proven anything, people in general don’t really care. I’d bet more people are following the Taylor Swift vs Kanye West kerfuffle than the Presidential race. “TMZ” is a top ‘news’ site for Chrissake. Celebrity and ‘buzz’ are what it’s all about. Colbert has half the viewers Letterman did at the end, but the CBS news this morning features clips of Colbert making the pasty, corn fed Rethug’s look (with the help of heavy time in the editing suite) wacky at their Cleveland confab. This is considered ‘the news’, now.
    If a state that takes politics VERY SERIOUSLY like Minnesota can elect Ventura, Dayton & Franken based on nothing more than name recognition, Trump’s got a chance across the country.

  2. I think Cruz’s speech makes it obvious who is most qualified to replace Scalia on SCOTUS. A Brilliant Latino who can bitch slap the Wise Latina.

  3. Seflores….I personally know only 2 people who were supporting Trump in the primary season. Both are low information Democrats. One I’ve known since college when she got her political news from MTV (kind of like those people who get their news from the Daily Show today). But this may support your point. People who normally wouldn’t vote for a Republican see something in Trump. Could be because they don’t really follow politics, so they like the idea of being part of the outsider campaign.
    And I’d like to add one more to the Minnesota name recognition vote. Do you really think Alan Page got on the supreme court because people read his views, studied his judicial demeanor and decided he was the best person for the job?

  4. Agreed- Cruz isn’t going to hurt Trump. And he isn’t likely to hurt Republicans, either. Even though his speech has sort of given those of use with a distaste for Trump permission to not cast a vote for President this year, he has certainly provided inspiration to help vote in Republicans into Congress. And, interesting point- yes, I can see how the speech Cruz gave could rile up the Trump supporters to make sure they vote.

  5. I’m much more a Cruz fan than a Trump fan, but the line that Cruz made that’s drawing so much criticism from the Right, to vote your conscience for the person who will support the Constitution, certainly isn’t going to make me vote for Hillary in the general election. She’s already promising to shred Amendments 1,2, and 4 before she even gets to core document itself.

    Cruz is trying to triangulate between the possible disastrous nature of a Trump presidency, his distaste for Trump personally, and keeping himself in contention with the GOP elite for future runs. It’s a path not without perils, but I’m not displeased.

  6. I’m much more a Cruz fan than a Trump fan, but the line that Cruz made that’s drawing so much criticism from the Right, to vote your conscience for the person who will support the Constitution, certainly isn’t going to make me vote for Hillary in the general election. She’s already promising to shred Amendments 1,2, and 4 before she even gets to core document itself.

    I agree, Nerd. I don’t think the typical Cruz voter is likely to pull the lever for Hillary Clinton. It’s on Trump to make the sale to Cruz voters. He’s got three months to do it.

  7. Cruz’s speech was approved by sTrumpet and GOP a day before he delivered it. sTrumpet knew exactly what Cruz was going to say and do. And I do believe reports that it was Trumpkins who whipped the crowd into booing frenzy. Newt had it exactly right as he span Cruz’s comments. It is amazing that sTrumpet and his minions think Cruz is still somebody they should beat on instead of focusing on sHrillary. And they are doing it regardless of danger of alienating Cruz supporters into sitting this election out. sTrumpet had not figured out yet that he cannot win on Trumpkin power alone, that he needs to make peace with people he denigrated, eviscerated and demeaned on the way to the top. I do not recall any attempts on sTrumpet’s part to make nice. All I heard is “we can do it all by ourselves, we do not need them’. Dangerous, very dangerous strategy, if you can call it that.

  8. I’m with Nerdbert, and I quite frankly think it’s refreshing that Cruz isn’t making all lovey-dovey with the guy who made a number of personal attacks on his family. Politicians play like they’re getting along so often, and we have forgotten that this is a clear sign of NPD–and then we wonder why we have narcissists in office. Duh.

    Really, one of the biggest reasons I can think of to vote for Drumpf is that both Republicans and Democrats seem to hate his guts. So he will have to be a little more humble in office, lest Congress throw his tuckus right out of the White House. No such like with Hilliary, who can depend on most Democrats to vote against impeachment and conviction, even if she were found to be sending an H bomb every month to Teheran.

  9. DG,

    Alas, you’ve gone back to your old habits – making snide, dismissive, condescending claims that your facts (“ironically”) can’t support, and scampering away, thereby using my comment section as a metablog.

    I told you I wouldn’t tolerate it.

    So this time, in addition to needing you to start discussing the claims you make in my comment section, I’m going to need some answers from you.

    • You recently claimed you’d been “published” in the London School of Economics’ blog. I’ve asked you repeatedly; the “publication” was actually just a link to one of your articles on “Minnesota Progressive Project”. Am I correct? If not, please provide a link, either publicly or privately to me. it appears you are trying to stretch five pounds of bag over ten pounds of reality.
    • Another: many years ago, you claimed that Salem Twin Cities was in imminent danger of being sued into receivership, because of a scam being run by one of its paid programs. You made a big show of it, in fact. You made a big show of how one of your neighbors – an expert in corporate law, but naturally nobody we could talk to, of course – backing you up on this.
      . So – whatever became of that? That was at least seven years ago; any updates?
    • In 2012, you claimed that Rep. Cornish’s “Stand your Ground” bill – which passed both chambers of the legislature with a bipartisan majority – was “crap legislation”. When asked to substantiate the claim beyond the level of opinion, you provided some stats that, in fact, proved that Stand your Ground was excellent legislation that did exactly what I said it would; you just didn’t know any better. So – please either substantiate your claim with actual facts (and be prepared to defend your defense!), or admit you were talking out your ass

    I could find a lot more, but I have a life.

    God bless ya, DG, but I’m calling BS on you.

    Your un-named friend of the blog is correct about Trump; Trump is in this because he sees a way to loot the country and mislead the gullible.

    In that respect he is no different than Romney and no different than Cruz either.

    You are fools. It is demonstrated in your failure to grasp basic economics, it is in your continued embracing of evil people.

    I’m not particularly a fan of Hillary, but she is capable of better governance than Trump. Obama has done a credible job; I disagreed with some of what he did, but he worked hard and he conducted himself with dignity.

    Conservatism hasn’t worked; conservatives follow your ideology and end up worse off than you were before. Einstein pointed out that insanity was doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different results. By that definition you are, as a part of the political spectrum, you are insane. No results support your ideology.

    And you appeal to the worst bias of people, consistently, with uncritical thinking and stereotypes.

    You have the candidate you deserve; that is as far from a compliment as possible.

    ——

    I’m actually kind of reaching my limit, DG.

  10. Vote your conscience –Cruz and every other #NeverTrumper

    Personally, my conscience tells me I should vote for whoever has the best chance of preventing a Hillary presidency. At this point in time, that is only one person. Not Cruz, not Johnson, not any other 3rd/4th/11teenth party candidate. Trump.

    Between Johnson and write-ins for Cruz, I fear we’re going to have another 1992 when Ross Perot sucked enough votes away from Bush to let Clinton win. The Feel the Berners might have been duped, but at the end of the day, I have a feeling most of them will unite, hold their noses, and vote for Hillary because she’s not Trump/Republican.

    Sadly, it will likely take Hillary being physically behind bars for this state not to go her way. Come election day, I’ll be watching the exit polls and will vote in the evening. If Trump is close, I’ll vote for him. If Hillary has MN locked up, I’ll vote for Johnson to add one more vote that will hopefully push the Libertarians to major party status next election.

    If there is a next election.

  11. I’ve got to admit that I find DG’s comments humorous. OK, she is saying she’s OK with a known crook. Well, counting Obama, at least two….OK, counting Mr. Clinton, at least three in the Oval Office.

    Democrats. The party of crooks.

  12. If you think Cruz’s motivation for that speech was the good of the party, I’ve got a land deal you might be interested in.

    Cruz is pissed because
    A) He is not the nominee
    and
    B) Trump insulted his family

    I don’t blame him for B a bit; I’d be pissed to, but the right thing to do is arrange a private meeting and punch Trump in the mouth, not sabotage the convention.

  13. SCOTUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cruz knows what’s at stake!! He and Trump need to put their personal feelings aside and mend bridges at all cost.

  14. Quick questions: Whose job is it to unite a party? Who is the leader?

    If Cruz were not booed but cheered it would had been reported as having endorsed sTrumpet. Just as Newt spun it – to thunderous applause I might add.

    sTrumpet had an opportunity to unite the party yesterday, he did not do it. sTrumpet had a chance to turn situation around on Wednesday, just like Newt attempted, and he did not do it, instead he send out his posse to pile on Cruz. sTrumpet had an opportunity to do it after he became the presumptive nominee, he did not do it. Instead, he kept piling on. “We do not need Cruz supporters to win in November” – sound familiar?

    sTrumpet knew exactly what Cruz was going to say before he said it. If he did not want that out there, if he thought that would damage his chances, he would not have let Cruz speak. Or else, he is an absolute and total moron – as if he wants sHrillary to win.

  15. Swiftee, Trump personally approved that speech. The speech itself was an excellent full-throated defense of individual freedom and liberty, and while it did not endorse Trump explicitly, Cruz came as close as he ever will to endorsing Trump given Trump’s treatment of him (strange, but Cruz was supposed to be the irascible rogue that nobody liked in the Senate, but Trump has proven to be that in the primary to a far greater extent and Trump’s not even trying to build bridges with his former rivals). Remember, the promise was to support the GOP nominee, not endorse them.

    Any “blame” on a lack of unity is clearly on Trump delegates and the Trump organization since they egged on their delegates. Trump saw the text and approved that speech and knew exactly what was in it. He could have told Cruz to take a walk, but didn’t. He may well have a different plan, but my guess is that he’s set out to prove himself to be a new kind of Republican (as did Reagan and W), and if you look at his speech last night you’ll see that he’s tarring Hillary with the Establishment brush and planning on running as the Candidate of Change. He may well have not wanted the direct endorsement of Cruz, just his support and used that speech and this kerfluffle to gin up free press and set his narrative in motion.

  16. I’m leaning more and more to the Brer Rabbit explanation, because I do believe Drumpf could have had an outright endorsement from Cruz if he’d only apologized for his attacks on Cruz’s family. Either that, or he’s in the bag for Hilliary, which is something I’ve been concerned about for a long time.

  17. Sorry, I know that it’s the weekend, but, I’m wondering if, even though Trump should have done so in his speech, would he gain anything by publicly apologizing to Ted Cruz and his family and asking their forgiveness, would he gain anything? I don’t really see Trump asking anyone to forgive him for any of his remarks, but if he could bring himself to do so, I think it would be pretty helpful to him.

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