Sen. Ted Cruz spent his political career carefully crafting an image of himself as a principled, conservative lawmaker, unafraid to stand up to the party establishment and high powered donors. And now no one believes him.That’s because on Friday, Cruz shattered his carefully cultivated reputation by endorsing Donald Trump, a man who insulted his wife, Heidi, hinted that Cruz himself had numerous mistresses and implied Cruz’s father was part of the Kennedy assassination. Cruz’s endorsement also marks the latest defection from the ranks of Never Trump, a movement that is slowly capitulating to Trump as Republicans in the long, slow march to Election Day.
Cruz isn’t a politician who acts on a whim. He thinks tactically, measures every move, and makes decisions with extreme caution. When he talks to the press, for example, he will give thought-out quotes that will match quotes he gave an hour later—verbatim. It’s that calculating nature makes the latest decision so stunning: his actions seem designed to do as much damage to himself as possible.
During the primaries, Cruz called Trump out as “utterly amoral” and “serial philandering,” “pathological liar,” who was a “sniveling coward” for attacking his wife. And during the Republican National Convention, Cruz notably declined to endorse Trump on the stage, instead telling delegates to vote their conscience. The stunt was not well received. Delegates began to boo him loudly, until Trump himself walked into the arena, effectively ending Cruz’s speech.
“I am not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my father,” Cruz said, defending this decision.
The backlash on social media from Cruz’s (perhaps now former) supporters was reliably brutal.
“What a sellout,” Greg Gaines, of Cleveland, Georgia, wrote as a comment on Cruz’s Facebook page. “I am ashamed to have supported you. By endorsing him you are endorsing everything he has said about you and so many others… You just lost a voter, Mr. Cruz.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/23/ted-cruz-chooses-donald-trump-over-wife-dad.html
Cruz isn’t a politician who acts on a whim. He thinks tactically, measures every move, and makes decisions with extreme caution. When he talks to the press, for example, he will give thought-out quotes that will match quotes he gave an hour later—verbatim. It’s that calculating nature makes the latest decision so stunning: his actions seem designed to do as much damage to himself as possible.
During the primaries, Cruz called Trump out as “utterly amoral” and “serial philandering,” “pathological liar,” who was a “sniveling coward” for attacking his wife. And during the Republican National Convention, Cruz notably declined to endorse Trump on the stage, instead telling delegates to vote their conscience. The stunt was not well received. Delegates began to boo him loudly, until Trump himself walked into the arena, effectively ending Cruz’s speech.
“I am not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my father,” Cruz said, defending this decision.
The backlash on social media from Cruz’s (perhaps now former) supporters was reliably brutal.
“What a sellout,” Greg Gaines, of Cleveland, Georgia, wrote as a comment on Cruz’s Facebook page. “I am ashamed to have supported you. By endorsing him you are endorsing everything he has said about you and so many others… You just lost a voter, Mr. Cruz.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/23/ted-cruz-chooses-donald-trump-over-wife-dad.html
