I don’t know if that’s “Trump supporter logic”, but it’s not something I, or anyone else in this thread, has argued. Of course you don’t need proof beyond a reasonable to begin an investigation. But you should have something.
I think you’re right that there is actually pretty good evidence of an alliance between Donald Trump and the National Enquirer. That fact is pretty thin gruel by itself, though. The fact that the NE might have assisted Trump with assembling and using blackmail material isn’t actually that they did, much less that Ted Cruz or any other Republican official was successfully blackmailed into spiking their own careers and giving up their own political power and autonomy.
One failed attempt doesn’t actually provide much evidence that they successfully pulled of this scheme, with much bigger stakes.
It’s certainly possible that at least some Republicans were intimidated enough by the possibility of being dragged through the tabloid mud that they didn’t think it was worth the cost of opposing Trump. That seems to be a weaker argument than the one I think you’re making, though.
That’s…that’s not evidence. At all. The fact that you “detected” Jared Kushner’s fingerprints isn’t actually evidence. The Bezos wrangle with the National Enquirer is also still a far cry from the idea that a sitting U.S. Senator and major Republican power player was somehow blackmailed into publicly reversing himself on Trump and, again, sacrificing his own personal political power and autonomy. Just what is this blackmail material supposed to be, anyway?
You’re not actually. I mean, yeah, you can, I can’t actually stop you, but…seriously? His father was a convicted extortionist? Generational contamination? That’s not only not actually evidence, it’s downright reprehensible.
That’s a folk adage, not evidence. It’s also reprehensible. Children aren’t their parents, and they don’t inherit guilt from them.
That doesn’t really follow. The fact that Jared Kushner stands by his father isn’t actually evidence that he’s an extortionist. It’s evidence that family loyalty blinds him to objective evidence.
I don’t think you actually have.
Again, it’s one thing to say that Trump’s allies in the tabloid press had a habit of harassing his enemies, and that might have been a factor in some Republicans’ reluctance to oppose him. If that’s actually all you’re saying, I’m right there with you.
Please correct me if I’m wrong. I think you’re arguing that Jared Kushner coordinated a blackmail campaign that intimidated Ted Cruz among others to give up their opposition to Donald Trump and start openly supporting him and spend their political capital on his behalf. If that’s what you’re arguing, I think you’re wrong.
I don’t think there’s any evidence of that happening. And yes, I know, proof beyond a reasonable doubt is an unfair standard for a message board discussion. But I don’t think there’s any evidence. And I actually do think, even on a message board, you should have evidence before you advance speculations like that. Obviously, you don’t technically need it. You can post whatever wild speculations you’d like (within the rules of the board). But I personally think these kinds of speculations are part of the toxic political environment that we’re in.
And, again, it’s just not necessary to explain what happened. A couple of Republicans fought a bitter primary battle, and after one became the nominee, the other one fell in line. That’s literally every contested Republican Presidential primary campaign in the modern primary era. This one was weirder than previous ones because Trump was a wrecking ball who smashed norms. Cruz was just playing by the old Republican handbook.
Maybe because he’s a party loyalist. Maybe because his a partisan tribalist. Maybe because he genuinely thinks Democrats are a threat to the country, and Trump was the lesser of two evils. Maybe because he has an authoritarian personality, and is naturally deferential to a blustering bully. Maybe because he calculated that it was in his own best interests to stay relevant in the party. Maybe because he was afraid of being primaried by a Trumpist down the line. Probably a combination of all of those. And sure, quite possibly the added factor of being the target of media sleaze campaigns weighed into his thinking. But that’s all open motivations. No secret blackmail schemes required.