Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:45 pm
To the delight of Democrats, Donald Trump is threatening to sue Ted Cruz in order to prove that Sen. Cruz is not eligible to run for president.
On Friday, Trump tweeted:
If @TedCruz doesn’t clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen.
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2016
Trump threatened to go nuclear because he is upset over the Cruz campaign’s use of various tried and true dirty tricks. Most recently, Cruz may have violated the law in Texas with an illegal fundraising letter. Cruz also spread a false report about Ben Carson dropping out of the race on Iowa caucus night, and sent out a deceptive mailer to Iowa caucusgoers.
Contrary to what Trump thinks, some of what Cruz has been up to are the kind of dirty tricks that Republican campaigns have been using to get voters for decades. Ted Cruz is running the most unethical campaign in the Republican primary by a mile, and that is saying a lot because the Republican field is a rogue’s gallery of enemies of truth.
The rationale for Trump’s claim of legal standing should be a treat all by itself. If Donald Trump sues Ted Cruz over his citizenship status, it will create a circus that is certain to derail the already unhinged Republican primary. Trump would not win his lawsuit, but he could cause some major headaches for Republicans.
Democrats should be watching this debacle play out with glee. A Trump birther lawsuit against Cruz belongs on Judge Judy, not in a court of law. As soon as one starts to believe that the Republican primary couldn’t possibly get more off topic, or genuinely insane, Donald Trump threatens to sue Ted Cruz.
It is impossible to take the Republican Party seriously with Trump and Cruz at the top of their field. Forget fitness to govern, Republicans are demonstrating that aren’t fit to be a political party.
Grab some popcorn, Democrats. If Cruz beats Trump in another primary, things are about to get really crazy.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
