November 17, 2015

Are Cruz and Trump pals?

Trump, yesterday: "If he catches on, I guess we’ll have to go to war.... We’ll see what happens but so far we haven’t... He’s been very supportive [and] we have a lot of the same ideas.... Well, he’s been very nice and supportive of everything I’ve said, more than anybody else."

Cruz, last July: "I salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need to address illegal immigration... I like Donald Trump... He is bold, he is brash. He has a colorful way of speaking, and it’s not my way of speaking, but I salute him."

Salute now. War later.

36 comments:

bleh said...

This is interesting, but have you noticed the non-aggression pact between Christie and Trump? Before Christie was relegated to the undercard, I noticed he and Trump avoided saying anything negative about each other. As Governor of New Jersey, Christie needs to work with a Trump because Trump is in Atlantic City's casino business which employs thousands of people. Trump needs to keep Christie on his side in case this whole president thing doesn't work out.

traditionalguy said...

The Art of the Deal starts with mutual adverse positions that can still agree on an outcome if they bind themselves to a future course of conduct.

The Donald of the Deals keeps his lines of communication open until he shuts them. He calls that being nice.

Brando said...

Trump turns on his foes the moment he sees them as a threat. If Cruz starts getting in Carson territory, it will get ugly.

It's funny that we hear of Reagan's 11th Commandment (not to speak ill of another Republican) and yet it seems the Dems are better at following it within their own party than the GOP ever was. The Dems go out of their way to take scandals off the table and talk about how much they agree (about Republicans being evil), while the GOP is going into their usual monkey poop fight.

Will this toughen the eventual GOP nominee, readying him for battle? Or will it leave him a wounded, broken mess? Time will tell!

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

Trump-Cruz ticket.

4 (maybe 8 ) years of Trump followed by 8 years of Cruz.

Just MIGHT be enough to get the Republic back on track.

David said...

Ted Cruz is running to be Donald Trump's Vice President.

Mike Sylwester said...

I predict that Trump will win the nomination and select Cruz as his running mate.

Cruz's political coherence and rhetorical skill would complement Trump.

Limited blogger said...

Agree on the Trump/Cruz ticket.

And I like it!

eric said...

I don't think Trump would pick Cruz.

I think Trump will pick someone from the private sector.

Limited blogger said...

Trump will win Florida, so Bush or Rubio is not needed.

Cruz firms up the south and the evangelicals.

Ohio is a problem. Don't think Trump or Cruz are carrying that state, yet.

Two arch conservatives, no mush.

John Henry said...

Wy would Cruz want to be VP? He wants to be prez, if not now, in the future. Serving as VP is the kiss of death to those ambitions.

In the past 100 or so years, Bush was the only sitting VP to get elected. Nixon had to wait out 8 years. Bush could not get reelected, Nixon resigned.

Nixon is the only former VP to get elected to a 2nd term. Not Truman, Not LBJ, not TR, not Coolidge.

I think Cruz could be a fantastic VP. Or, more precisely, a fantastic president of the Senate. But why would he want to be?


John Henry

Achilles said...

They will throw some light bombs at each other but only to cover up the deal they have made. Funny thing is trump and Cruz are playing chess, the rest are playing checkers.

Notice that even though they are republicans none of the usual suspects call either of these two people stupid. That should tell you something. Hillary is such a lightweight compared to either of them.

Achilles said...

John Henry said...
"Wy would Cruz want to be VP? He wants to be prez, if not now, in the future. Serving as VP is the kiss of death to those ambitions. "

Maybe his goal is to save the country, not to be president.

I know, crazy thought.

DavidD said...

Cruz/Jindal.

In what way is Trump an arch conservative?

rcocean said...

Carson,Cruz and Bush (mostly) are focusing in on the issues - OTOH, clowns like Paul, Kasich, Christie, and Carly have been running around doing the bidding of the MSM and bashing Trump and everyone else.

As for Trump, he's just been counter-attacking, except in the case of Carson.

traditionalguy said...

Define conservative. If it means a realist that conserves what can be conserved In a Representative democratic republic, then Trump is one.


Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

I would guess that they both think the other one is unelectable and therefore not a threat.

Achilles said...

Trump is taking Carson down so Cruz doesn't have to. Cruz gets to take down rubio.

Achilles said...

AReasonableMan said...
"I would guess that they both think the other one is unelectable and therefore not a threat."

By itself that statement is clever.

I suppose if you ignore the fact Hillary is thought of as a liar by a solid majority you could consider her more electable. You would be stupid though.

John Henry said...

Maybe his goal is to save the country, not to be president.

Unless he becomes the first activist Senate president, it seems like he would have more power to save the country as Senator than as VP.

John Henry

Paul said...

"Unless he becomes the first activist Senate president, it seems like he would have more power to save the country as Senator than as VP"

That depends on how much influence he might have over the president. Trump knows how to accept advice and delegate responsibility, something our narcissist in chief does not.

Mike Sylwester said...

Limited blogger -- 10:41 a.m.

Ohio is a problem. Don't think Trump or Cruz are carrying that state, yet.

Trump will flip the entire Rust Belt -- from Pennsylvania to Illinois -- into the Republican side.

traditionalguy said...

Bonaparte Trump just keeps on winning battle after battle. We do have us a Master Mind.

Sammy Finkelman said...

When they were in the same debate, Trump always used to cite Christie as someone who knew how things had turned out in Atlantic City (as justification for his leaving there and bankruptcy) but Christie never said anything.

Trump Aug. 6: Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt.

Trump Sept. 16: I had a casino company - Caesars's just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you - it's not his fault - but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for -- maybe I'll blame Chris.

Trump Oct 22: Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's - excuse me, Caesar's, the Rolls Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has eithe been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy - the biggest.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Trump will win Florida, so Bush or Rubio is not needed.

At the convention. Florida is a winner take all state for the Republicans.

We might have, after all these years of speculating about it, and not having it happen, and finally losing interest in the idea, get a convention that goes beyond he first ballot - or, like what they like to say now, is brokered - meaning there might be only one ballot, but it will be negotiated.

Trump winning Florida (with somthing like 27% maybe) doesn't, however, leave Bush or Rubio with no delegates - in fact it keeps them both in the race, unlike the way it might be if one of them won it - and Trump has alienated almost everybody.

Even if Trump gets 35% to 40% of the delegates (not votes) they won't get behind him, especially since he will be the person doing worst in the polls.

Trump may not agree to support one of the other candidates, which leaves us with..

Paul Ryan!

Sammy Finkelman said...

Art of the Deal

Trump's method of negotiating: Press every advantage. Ignore an kind of compassion.

Obama's method negotiating: "Narrow the differences"

Which is to say, say yes to as many things as possible until you get into a no-win situation because of things you've conceded.

For instance on Syria, agree that it will not be divided, and that there will be elections, and Assad can stay in power or have a role in the interim, leaving on the table the minor sticking point of whether Assad can run in the new election.

Mike Sylwester said...

Sammy Finkelman -- 2:44 p.m.

Even if Trump gets 35% to 40% of the delegates (not votes) they won't get behind him, especially since he will be the person doing worst in the polls.

Many of the states are winner-take-all elections.

Many of the states are proportionally-allocated elections with minimal thresholds. For example, Texas allocates the delegates only among the candidates who win at least 20% of the votes.

Therefore, Trump should win a majority of the delegates before the convention.

As future opinion polls will show that Trump can beat Clinton, more and more Republican voters will jump onto Trump's bandwagon.

Also, Trump's political skills will improve during the coming months. Answering the same questions over and over, he will polish his answers. Giving speeches over and over, he will improve his speeches. And he will improve his demeanor.

Mark said...

Sort of an FDR / Stalin thing, but in a good way.

And for once I agree with AReasonableMan.

-- Libertarian Mark

Nichevo said...

Traditionalguy, while you got in a good zinger on another thread and I meant to praise you for it, you are no student of history. Napoleon Bonaparte, the Corsican tyrant, was the Hitler of the 19th Century.

Do you not grasp that, or are you calling Trump = Hitler? If so, subtle; well played.

Matt said...

They are insane, we know that.

robother said...

Hmmm. Running for VP not in either man's DNA. More likely, Cruz is positioning himself to pick up the Trump supporters if the Trump candidacy hits the wall. Even if that (supposedly inevitable) moment never happens, Cruz figures to become the only anyone-but-Trump candidate who has a shot at keeping the Trump voters in the fold i the general.

traditionalguy said...

Nichevo, my nemesis, you need a deeper study of History. The British Empire's propaganda has reached out 200 years and still controls your mind.

Napoleon was a pragmatic realist who used the French Revolution to conquer Europe one brilliant battle after another and established the Napoleonic Code their first just rational government everywhere he went. The British Navy was his eventual downfall.

But the man was as Revolutionary French as they come. The Nazi guys were running the English Monarchy and that was Hitler's ace in the hole until a Half American and Scots-Irish Prime Minister got the War job that looked impossible to the traitor Windsor Nazis.

Nichevo said...

Right...

But the man was as Revolutionary French as they come.

And you think that was a good thing?


Did you know Bonaparte converted to Islam?
Did you know Bonaparte reinstituted slavery after it had been abolished?
Do you know anything about the inhuman, fully Nazi worthy tactics and techniques he used? Go speak your piece in Spain and let's see how much of you gets home to be buried.

The Royal Navy for ever!

Sammy Finkelman said...

@Limited Blogger

I see you meant to say Trump will win Florida in the general election.

Why?

With 500,000 recent economic migrants from Puerto Rico in Florida, why would that be so?

Yes, they are U.S. citizens, and the Cubans get automatic amnesty so long as one of the Castro brothers stays in power, but they are probably not very friend;y to him.

John Henry said...

Sammy Finkelman said...


With 500,000 recent economic migrants from Puerto Rico in Florida, why would that be so?

Yes, they are U.S. citizens, and the Cubans get automatic amnesty so long as one of the Castro brothers stays in power, but they are probably not very friend;y to him.


A mistake many people make, and I am not sure you are making it here, is to lump all Hispanics together in one group. In reality, most of the Hispanics in the US fall into 3 main groups: Mexican/Central American, Puerto Rican, Cuban.

Cubans are all here legally. Any Cuban refugee that gets feet on dry US soil is granted permanent legal residency. They can become citizens after meeting requirements. I don't think their residency status is dependent on anything that happens in Cuba in the future.

Puerto Ricans, born in Puerto Rico or the upper 50, regardless of where they reside, have the same citizenship as someone born in Wisconsin under the 14th Amendment.

Cubans and Puerto Ricans have somewhat different political, cultural and racial backgrounds historically but have much more in common with each other than either does with Mexican/Central Americans. The only commonality there is language.

Cubans and Puerto Ricans both view illegals as threats to their economic well-being. They drive down wages and employment opportunity.

Trump and his anti-illegal alien message may turn Mexican/CA voters against him. Not so much in the Puerto Rican/Cuban community.

I believe that the Florida Cuban community has always had a Republican majority. I don't see Trump's immigration views weakening that.


John Henry

mikee said...

Wake me up when Trump or any Republican can get the media to report any negative statements they make about Hillary.

Until then this sausage fest among RINOs and wanna-be-candidates is a snoozer.

Tom said...

Trump goes to war like he's negotiating a business deal. When it's time to go for the throat, he goes for the throat. But, until then, he's very nice and recognizes that in others. But, I think he's always negotiating, so the niceties and throat punches are two sides to the same coin.