There’s no real need to be torn. Ted Cruz was his usual non-team-player “no more miserable sonofabitch ever” (per John Boehner) self, it just so happens that day he was so in an environment where we did not expect (though many did secretly desire) to see someone stand there who did not act cowed before the Golden Combover. Alas, it was this unmitigated sphincter that did so. Cruz is vile and loathsome and his policy positions are abominations but at this particular event he played the necessary role of Man Out Of Fucks To Give.
I must confess I smiled at the “I appreciate the great enthusiasm of the New York Delegation” line.
Fuck that shit. There’s plenty vile about Trump. His rhetoric, his constant use of inane bullshit, his hair. But the one thing that tips Cruz over is “he said mean things about my lady” ? FUCK YOU, ZODIAC !
QFT. And while getting his payback he bit the hand that feeds his campaign war chest - the RNC. Stupid career move unless he’s planning on running in 2020 as an independent, and that ain’t gonna happen.
If you don’t like the birthday boy, don’t go to the party. Kasich earned some respect by staying home, Cruz just proved that he is a hypocritical, self aggrandizing, back biting idiot (AKA a politician).
If Trump loses, you think he is going to be involved with the RNC in 2020? He’ll be bored with politics and disappear. In any case, Cruz would have access to the Bush donor list, and the big money which has been avoiding Trump would come back.
Given that we don’t have much of a clue as to Trump’s policies except to trust him, personality is a bigger factor than usual. So, not supporting Trump because he is a bully, because he insults peoples wives and fathers, and because he is a con man is perfectly rational.
Imagine this dialog:
You said you’d support the party’s candidate.
But he shot my wife.
So?
Now, we will never know if Cruz did it because Trump is an asshole (even to Cruz) or out of political calculation - but I’m glad he did. Which doesn’t mean I don’t consider Cruz to be evil also.
Any politician who enters a presidential race knows that his family is fair game. Republicans have insulted Michelle Obama and they shredded Hillary Clinton. SNL and comedians insulted Chelsea Clinton as a teenager for being ugly. The press speculates about spouses on the campaign trail. Cruz knew who Donald Trump was. He knew the republican party. He knows about opposition research. He knows how filthy campaigns can be. He knew Heidi, his father, his children, and anyone else were fair game before he ran. He ran after deciding that he could stomach the pain endured by his family.
Ted Cruz couldn’t give two shits about his own family. He’s just using them so that people actually think he has principles and cares about people.
:dubious: “SNL and comedians”? Actually, the person most strongly associated with insulting Chelsea Clinton is Republican political commentator Rush Limbaugh, who prior to that had similarly insulted Amy Carter:
Cruz could have taken the high road with “vote your conscience” without mentioning any of the personal wife and father bullshit. Christ, he’s a politician, personal attacks including the family come with the territory.
It was a calculated move that could have taken the high road.
Yes, and my views of Cruz are unchanged, except insofar as I give him a nod for successfully following his self interest.
Trump will probably lose, but he has perhaps a 20-30% chance of victory (closer to 30% at present). Either way, he gets successfully sued for fraud and elder abuse in the Trump University case immediately after the election. If he wins the Presidency, he will destroy the Republican brand, more so than Jimmy Carter did. If he loses the Presidency he exploits his mailing list to ramp up the grift. Either way, distancing yourself from him will look pretty good in 2018 and 2020.
Also it will be difficult to fold, “Vote your conscience” into an attack ad.
Cruz is my main man. He consistently creates havoc for the Republicans which is amusing even when he also works in their long run interests. Which is what is happening here. Assuming they have a long run.
Actually, they don’t. There’s still such a thing as basic decency in politics, or at least, there should be. Trump has absolutely no sense of decency. There are no limits to his douchebaggery, as he amply demonstrated during the debates and just about every time he opens the pie-hole in his face that bears such a remarkable resemblance to an orangutan’s asshole.
Cruz is just as much a douchebag as Trump, he’s just more politically conventional and far less juvenile. Watching the two of them battle is like going back 100 million years and watching two T-rex’s at each other’s throats. You don’t really feel sorry for either of them.
Correlation does not imply causation. What cruz did may look like the actions of a deeply principled character who embodies integrity, it’s very unlikely that he did what he did because he has integrity and principles.
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Isn’t Cruz’s whole thing that he’s so uncompromising that he’s a jerk to everyone? I mean, that’s the gist I got. I don’t see any reason to think this is any different.
I agree with Shodan. Just that, just because he’s principled doesn’t make him nor his principles good ones.
Except about the the “undecideds…” I think that most of these people mean “I don’t know if I’m gonna vote for Johnson or not vote.” They’re convinced that Clinton is also someone they can never vote for. People on my Facebook wall–which is mostly non-political by design–are worried about the election, thinking both options are horrible.
What I’m most concerned about now is people voting for Trump due to Pence. I may actually push the fact that Kaine is personally anti-abortion–since abortion seems to be a huge single issue thing among the Religious Right I know.
Also, love that “Vote your conscience” is seen as anti-Trump to the Republican convention.
No, he gets no credit. He’s never gone along with the majority of his party, so this isn’t some out of the ordinary principled stance.
More importantly, he just said “Trump is a big meanie :(”, just stating the obvious. That’s not brave. Saying “You’re all fucking nuts for picking this unbalanced, sociopathic narcissistic to represent your party. Look at yourselves, what the fuck?” would be brave.
It’s purely a tactical move. As has been mentioned, he’s trying to set himself up for a 2020 comeback. But he can’t be the guy who said, in the middle of a rally, that the Republican party is nuts for nominating the guy, since that will alienate republicans from him in the future. So he takes the safe middle ground of saying “I’m not going to endorse him, but it’s because he was mean to my family, not because he’s fucking nuts and you’re wrong for supporting him” figuring that the Trump-supporting dimwits would relate to that reasoning and understand it.
:(”, just stating the obvious. That’s not brave. Saying “You’re all fucking nuts for picking this unbalanced, sociopathic narcissistic to represent your party. Look at yourselves, what the fuck?” would be brave.