The National Journal seems to be afraid of Cruz. But this betrays the usual ignorance of the Left about what constitutes conservatism:
Cruz isn’t merely a toned-down version of Trump. He’s just as conservative and just as volatile, though probably a little less erratic. The thing is, Cruz isn’t merely a toned-down version of Trump. And this makes him all the more dangerous, from a progressive point of view.
As Jonah (and others, and I) have said, here’s nothing conservative about Trump. He’s a populist, willing to say whatever he thinks people want to hear. He must also be immensely frustrated that Cruz continues to refuse to take his bait. The debate tomorrow night should be interesting.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s a perfect example. Trump willing to “look into preventing people on the No Fly List from having guns.” Constitution and due process? We don’t need no stinkin’ Constitution and due process.
[Update a while later]
Annoying the media–OK, make that making their heads explode–is the only reason I can think of to vote for Trump, but it’s not a sufficient one for me.
Trump does just annoy the media, he widens the Overton window. He also complicates the dominant left media’s strategy prior to the final nomination.
The media seems to equate being anti-immigration to being conservative. He’s more like Ross Perot with better hair and a ‘tude, except that the nativist issue of the day was free trade rather than immigration.
There is nothing conservative about either pro- or anti-immigration. What is conservative is wanting the law to be enforced, and the Constitution obeyed.
“Annoying the media–OK, make that making their heads explode–is the only reason I can think of to vote for Trump, but it’s not a sufficient one for me.”
But it’s a good enough reason to threaten to.
I especially like tormenting my brain-washed leftist friends with statements like:
“Trump? Yeah, he seems a bit much, but somebody has to do something about (fill in the blank as to latest issue)”
or
“You know, he may be a joke, but he’s less of one than Lindsey Graham.”
or
“If it came down to a choice between him and Hillarity, I’d hold my nose and pull the lever for him.”
That last one is unfortunately true, and I hope I’m never forced into that choice. 🙁
If I find myself voting for Trump, the Beltway Establishment Party will have no one but itself to blame.
+1
Pointing out how Trump is like Obama drives them batty. I am not sure what it is with Democrats who think Trump is a bully and yet not see the in your face parallels to how Obama treats other people.
I’m beginning to believe that Trump/Cruz is the best ticket we can get this time around.
I think Trump has the best chance of winning the general election, since he appeals to LIVs, who, let’s face it, are a sizable portion of the electorate. (And the Democrats don’t have a monopoly on them, either.)
Cruz would be handy to have around, since he would hopefully curb Trump’s excesses: “No, Donald, you can’t do that! It’s unconstitutional!”
–Cruz would be handy to have around, since he would hopefully curb Trump’s excesses: “No, Donald, you can’t do that! It’s unconstitutional!”–
That’s funny.
So, Trump would be getting a second wife?
The no-fly-list gun issue is a great tactical move by the Dems, because to the low-info types, it sounds rational. The fact it’d be both utterly ineffective and unconstitutional doesn’t matter to them, it’s all about the optics.
As for Trump, my biggest reservation about him has always been that he’s just saying whatever he thinks is popular (and thus get him elected). On the other hand, he’s not the worst in the Republican race for that, because we have undeniable proof one of them did exactly that (Rubio’s immigration positions during his senate run, which he betrayed mere days after being elected, and countless times since). With Trump, it’s a concern. With Rubio, it’s a fact.
My guess; Trump was either clueless on the no-fly issue and did the “look into it” thing to try to dodge, or, he’s thinking this will help his numbers. I find either of these possibilities very troubling.
I’m also perplexed by Trump’s choice of attacks on Cruz today; going after his temperament and inability to get along with people. Coming from Trump, that’s the biggest display of unmitigated gall I can ever remember seeing, anywhere.
Trump is several slots down on my list of R candidates, but I’d vote for him in a heartbeat over Bush or Rubio. Or, for that matter, Hillary.
Not according to any poll that’s been taken on the issue since San Bernardino.
Trump’s method of attack follows a formula. First, is the counter attack. Anyone who says something about Trump gets a vicious counter right at their weak spots and he waits for the other person to strike first. Second, is the exception to the first. He will go after whomever is closest to him in the polls or who he sees as the biggest threat at the moment. This is why Cruz is getting the Trump treatment.
Wodun, I agree on the when of Trump attacks, but what’s got me totally perplexed is the how; how on earth can Trump, of all people, go after Cruz for being brash, hard to get along with, etc. This struck me as seriously loony on Trump’s part, to the point it made me question whether he realizes that he’s Donald Trump. (If Cruz rates a 5 on a prickly scale of 1 to 10, Trump rates 11).
I just fail to his his strategy on this one.
Consider the possibility that the size of his ego vastly exceeds that of his sense of irony.
Rand, my only quibble with your hypothesis is that you used “possibility” where I’d use “probability”. 🙂
“how on earth can Trump, of all people, go after Cruz for being brash, hard to get along with, etc. ”
Because that is Cruz’s perceived weak spot. It doesn’t matter if Trump also has a similar weakness. If Trump makes it into the general, we can expect Trump to hit Hillary on her wealth and ties to Wall Street.
Hillary has a lot of weak spots but Republicans tend to be good natured opponents while Democrats act like their mascot. Trump wont pull any punches out of decorum. It would be hilarious to see Trump point out in a debate that Hillary’s main accomplishment as Secretary of State was Gadhafi getting anally raped on international TV and noting that Libya didn’t come out of that much better.
Could you see a Jeb, Rubio, or anyone else going after her like that?
My mantra has been (and is still): I do not “support” trump … I am not on his bandwagon … however, I *LOVE* the effect he has had on the race and the process. He has effectively ‘blown-up’ a stagnated situation that we have suffered under for far too long. My hope is that it will *stay* blown-up for future races, too.
The impression I have is that Mr. Cruz is the one candidate with the genius IQ whereas Mr. Trump has an OK IQ. On the other hand, Mr. Trump really, really knows how to do PR and to manipulate the Media, and they along with a lot of other people are playing into his hands by excoriating him at every opportunity (Rand, don’t you have another discussion going on about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and whether its collapse was driven by resonance, aero elastic flutter, or by some other physical mechanisms? Mr. Trump has set up a similar pattern of growing oscillations with the news people.)
As to being media savvy, Mr. Cruz, not so much. He might be a star litigator, and I think I would rather have him as my lawyer than Ms. Clinton or gosh forbid, Mr. Obama, but what may be a devastating court-room cross-examination comes across as being a bullying scold in a broader arena.
I am getting the impression, however, that if anyone is going to challenge Mr. Trump, especially in the early primaries, it is Mr. Cruz. I am told that he is building up “organization” and “ground game” like no one else, including Mr. Trump who is said to be lagging.
Trump clearly has some genius. He picks the right issues to talk about, he spends very little money to stay on top of the polls, and engages in all manner of crafty salesmanship without the people being sold even realizing how he is doing it.
Cruz is trying to replicate Obama’s big data micro targeting of voters. Haven’t seen too much about Cruz’s or anyone else’s ground game.
The contrasting campaign strategies are fun to watch. The Democrat side is also interesting to watch. Hillary has put a lot of work into her voice modulation and stage acting.
I agree with your analysis, Paul.
My take on Cruz is he’s a shrewd, canny campaigner. If it’s true he’s doing better on the ground game than others, I expect that will yield positive results for him. That’s also a very good prep for the general election (the ground game was one place where Romney blew it, massively).
My take on Trump is that, tactically, he might be setting himself up for a major crash in the form of the expectations game. Even if he goes into Iowa leading nationally, what if he finishes a distant second, or even third? That could be far more damaging to Trump due to the expectations game, and thise expectations keep being reenforced by Trump’s frequently pointing out how far ahead he is. I keep thinking of how Iowa in 2008 permanently popped Hillary’s inevitability aura.
The most devastating satire piece on Mr. Trump is the Star Wars goof where Trump is Darth Vader.
What is so effective about that clip is that it splices classic Trump sound bites into Star War scenes with Darth Vader. It’s funny, not that it convinces anyone that Trump is anything like the evil Vader manipulating the Dark Side of the Force. Rather, it presents a Trump-like Darth Vader who is petty, self-absorbed, and the only thing he is able to say is to talk incessantly about himself.