Matthew Rozsa explains why Ted Cruz is worse than Donald Trump.
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If you can’t stand the thought of Donald Trump becoming president, the good news is that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) looks poised to upset him in the pivotal Iowa caucuses next month.
The bad news is that if Cruz succeeds and ultimately becomes the Republican nominee, he will prove to be far worse than Trump himself.
For one thing, Cruz has proved himself to be far more ideologically narrow-minded than Trump. For better or worse, Trump has been willing to defy conservative dogma on a number of issues (e.g., social security reform, progressive taxation, the 2003 Iraq War), indicating that at the very least he has a mind of his own. Cruz, on the other hand, has refused to waiver from the tenets of Tea Party doctrine even when the fate of America depended on it. That last statement isn’t an exaggeration, by the way—anyone with a reasonably comprehensive memory can recall his instrumental role in causing a government shutdown at the end of 2013, one that business interests and moderates across the board vehemently opposed.
He has also, incidentally, emerged as the only Republican candidate to unequivocally side with Trump when it comes to all of his bigoted comments about women, Muslims, and Hispanics (despite Trump’s willingness to attack Cruz’s own Cuban heritage). Not only does this mean that Cruz is literally no better than Trump when it comes to the worst things Trump has said, but he has openly and cravenly parroted The Donald in order to benefit from the phenomena that have fueled the billionaire’s campaign. In short, if and when Cruz emerges as the “underdog” alternative who beats Trump at the last minute, this will not be a victory against the forces of darkness that Trump represents—indeed, it will be a confirmation of their ultimate triumph.
If and when Cruz emerges as the “underdog” alternative who beats Trump at the last minute, this will not be a victory against the forces of darkness that Trump represents – indeed, it will be a confirmation of their ultimate triumph.
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What can good people do about this? I suggest three things:
- Hold Cruz as accountable as we did Trump. It will be tempting to celebrate Cruz’s victory on the grounds that at least that dastardly Trump is out of the way, so we’ll need to remember that the problem with Trump was what he said and believed, not merely who he was. If we substitute one Trump for another, that isn’t progress.
- Work to elect the Democratic candidate for the good of the country. This is one of those rare elections in which the partisan rhetoric stating “you must vote X for the good of America” is all too accurate. As with Trump, the election of Cruz to the presidency would signal a reactionary rejection of the progress made for marginalized groups in this country over the past few decades—for African Americans still struggling to attain full civil rights, for Hispanic and Muslim immigrants who come here seeking a better life only to face discrimination, for women fighting patriarchal institutions and members of the LGBT community who need the post-Obergefell precedents to remain in place.
- Learn from what we are witnessing today. When this political madness has ended, we need to make sure that the lessons from this toxic election cycle are permanently embedded into our national consciousness. Trump and Cruz have emerged as frontrunners by playing off of the American electorate’s basest prejudices, and this ordeal will have amounted to nothing if we simply wipe the slate clean and refuse to learn from these mistakes in the future.
When I think of the possibility of a Cruz presidency, I recall the recent words of Bob Dole, the former Kansas Senator and 1996 Republican presidential candidate. “[Cruz’s] achievements are shutting down the government twice, and calling the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, a liar on the Senate floor,” Dole told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell earlier this week. “It violates the rules of the Senate. And he doesn’t have a single Senate supporter.” There is a reason why that historically cliquish body refuses to rally around one of its own as he remains within shooting distance of the GOP presidential nomination—and it’s the same reason you should do likewise. This is a man so devoid of loyalty to anyone but himself that, as Dole put it, “he used to make these speeches. ‘Remember President Dole, do you remember President McCain.’ The inference was that we were all a bunch of liberals, and only he is a true conservative. And he uses the word ‘conservative’ more than he ever uses the word ‘Republican.'”
Cruz is no more a good Republican–or a true conservative, for that matter—than Trump. He is in this for himself and only himself, and if he needs to drag America down to sate his ambition, so be it.
Source: 30dB.com – Ted Cruz vs Donald Trump
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Photo: Flickr – “DonkeyHotey/Ted Cruz – Caricature”
And in today’s news, an overwhelmingly majority of Yale students willingly signed a petition, one saying it’s”awesome what you’re doing here today, man”, to repeal the First Amendment, so as to halt labelled hate speech. This is just one of the most prominent schools, especially the school of law. My comment about youth inviting the destruction of the US appears to be not unfounded. Think of all the other campuses around the country. Added in 100,000 Syrians since 2012 of which certainly some are in fact terrorists and what do you think the end result will be? We were not… Read more »
Yeah I made that leap to dubya. Trump supporters are Nazis. Cruz is worse than trump so therefore cruz’s supporters are worse than Nazis. Unbelievable. Klingons maybe? That species from Aliens? And to think that mere mortal respondent’s posts get moderated and removed. Gotta wonder. Now personally I don’t particularly support either one. They’re politicians. I haven’t seen what really they’ve actually done to raise my ire. Trump concerns me because of his verbal harangue but OTOH I think he’s got the country’s best interest at heart in the long run. Which is why there is support for what he’s… Read more »
Mr. Rozsa just informed us in a separate article that “plenty” of Mr. Trump’s supporters are Nazis. Also, in Mr. Rozsa’s eyes, Mr. Cruz is “worse than” Mr. Trump. Can you even imagine how Mr. Rozsa would characterize “plenty” of Mr. Cruz’s supporters? What could be worse than a Nazi? The mind boggles!
Liberal Democrat trying to influence Republican voters!
I can also tell you why Hillary Clinton is worse than Ted Cruz and Donald Trump combined!
You got that right, Jules. You also made some good comments here too Tom. But like almost always the best you can hope for is that at least your comments get actually posted. To engage in some mindful debate though is expectation gone horribly wrong.
Mark, it does appear that they are letting more comments through which makes these discussions more interesting. It would also behoove them to be more non-partisan A good voter is an educated voter and if the left only relies upon main stream media … well, you know what I’m saying.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, these articles are speaking to the choir. This is a very liberal left leaning site and accordingly, most of its readers have little to no intention on voting Republican. Information that’s provided doesn’t even present solid talking points. The only thing I can come up with is that perhaps more fence sitters on the Democratic side then they hoped for and there is hope that the continuous rotation of articles like this, may be an attempt to sway a fence sitter? @Chad, this site is not and will never be non-partisan.… Read more »
Please, please, can we have a place safe from partisan politics?
Help us think better, and STOP telling us WHAT to think.
Jesse Louise Matt. Can we have one article where you seriously discuss the corruption, deceit and hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton. That would ma me you at least sound like a reasonably open minded journalist. Or is that an impossibility?
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t hold your breath though…..