Elevator pitch: Ted Cruz is found murdered and every Republican in Washington is a suspect. — Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) January 21, 2016 People just don’t like Ted Cruz! It seems that practically everyone who’s spent so much as a long weekend in his company can’t abide him. Even other Republicans… @politicalwire Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) …
Open Thread: The Party Decides… That Ted Cruz Is A CreepPost + Comments (87)
It begins… https://t.co/011LbLOEMD pic.twitter.com/ldAdqjks0b
— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) January 19, 2016
Politico has reported that “a leading Republican pollster privately told Speaker Paul Ryan and his leadership team Sen. Ted Cruz would be the biggest drag on House Republicans should he win his party’s nomination”
WATCH: @LindseyGrahamSC: Choice between Trump and Cruz "like being shot or poisoned—what does it really matter?" https://t.co/Uy84oMnCiT
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 21, 2016
Welp, Trent Lott just told me he'd take Trump over Cruz if he had to choose.
— Molly Ball (@mollyesque) January 21, 2016
So (“everybody is saying”) the faceless bureaucrats behind the GOP establishment (such as it is) have fomented a cunning plan…
WASH POST PAGE ONE FRIDAY: Establishment warms to Trump… https://t.co/IqM1uJJz63
— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) January 22, 2016
… “If it came down to Trump or Cruz, there is no question I’d vote for Trump,” said former New York mayor and 2008 presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has not endorsed a candidate. “As a party, we’d have a better chance of winning with him, and I think a lot of Republicans look at it that way.”…
… For one thing, many Republicans in Congress especially despise Cruz, who has a history of picking long-shot fights and blaming other Republicans when he is unsuccessful.
Beyond that personal hostility, there’s a political calculation. If Cruz is nominated, they say, he could alienate swing voters with his brand of scorched-earth conservatism. If he’s elected, they fear, Cruz would shut Republican moderates out of power.
“Between Trump and Cruz, it’s not even close,” said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a longtime House moderate who has not endorsed a candidate. “Cruz isn’t a good guy, and he’d be impossible as president. People don’t trust him. And regardless of what your concern is with Trump, he’s pragmatic enough to get something done. I also don’t see malice in Trump like I see with Cruz.”…
“With Trump, hey, it’s just a deal,” said Alex Castellanos, a longtime Republican strategist. “The primary’s one deal, that’s done. If he were to be the nominee, the next deal’s a general [election]. You can see him saying, ‘We had to do what we had to do to win the primary, but now’s the general, and we’ve got to beat Hillary.’ You can see him pivot on a dime.
“But with Cruz, oof, you’re looking at a Republican Party that wouldn’t win the vote of a young person, a young woman or a minority for a generation,” Castellanos said….
Cruz is seen as inflexible — and inflexibly antagonistic toward most of his own party.
“Trump does not have any particular enmities down here. I don’t think anyone gets up in the morning and is irritated with him,” former House speaker Newt Gingrich said in an interview. “That’s not how it is with Cruz.”…
“They think he’s fundamentally dishonest at times in the way he operates — doing things for his own benefit and calling the Senate Republican leader a liar,” said Vin Weber, a former congressman. “That has forced some people to look past all of Trump’s issues and think about what he could offer.”
Hey, when people like Rudy Giuliani, Pete (R – IRA) King, and Newt Gingrich are calling you nasty, unelectable, and impossible to get along with… you might have a problem, Sen. Cruz.
And there are even less likely rumors roiling the horse-race tout sheets…
But think about who we're talking about here- Dole, Lott, etc. All public Jeb supporters. This is part of a plan. https://t.co/SNvoqzkhff
— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) January 21, 2016
1. Build up Trump so he defeats Cruz 2. Trump wins early primaries 3. ??? 4. Jeb is nominee. https://t.co/Es1N5AkgSd
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) January 21, 2016