Republicans are going to live to regret making a deal with Ted Cruz to stop Trump. During an interview on ABC’s This Week, Sen. Ted Cruz dumped gasoline on what’s left of the Republican Party and lit the match.
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RADDATZ: Speaking of that, there are GOP party leaders who are saying enough is enough and that the prolonged fight is helping Secretary Clinton. In Colorado, a state where you got all the delegates, former state party chairman Dick Wadhams told the Washington Post, ‘People just want this thing to be over with and we need a nominee.’
CRUZ: Martha, I recognize that that– that will be echoed by the media. I mean listen, the media’s given Donald Trump 2 billion dollars of free airtime. What I can tell you is that people want a clear and meaningful choice. You know, Hillary and Donald Trump, they are flipsides of the same coin. They agree on issue after issue after issue. Whether it’s Planned Parenthood, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump say Planned Parenthood is terrific and they support taxpayer funding. Whether it’s Obamacare, both Hillary and Donald support the individual mandate in Obamacare. Whether it’s guns, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump supported Bill Clinton’s ban on many of the most popular firearms in America. Or whether it’s foreign policy, where both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump want to be neutral between Israel and the Palestinians. And both Hillary and Donald say that they would keep this Iranian nuclear deal in place. I don’t think we want to nominate– have the general election bet– be between two rich, New York, big government liberals. Instead, the way we win is we provide a clear contrast, we paint in bold colors, not pale pastels and the difference between Carly and me on the one side and Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump I think couldn’t be clearer.
RADDATZ: So– so you believe a Trump presidency would be the same as a Clinton presidency?
CRUZ: I think a Trump presidency would be a disaster. It would continue us on the same roads. Listen, Trump believes in government. Donald and Hillary are Washington insiders. Both of them have gotten rich using government power to further their personal interest. And if you’re fed up with the corruption in Washington, Donald and Hillary have been enmeshed with that.
The toxic message that Cruz is sending to non-Trump Republicans is that Donald Trump is just like Hillary Clinton, so if Trump is the nominee, don’t bother to show up and vote.
Republicans made a deal with the devil when they got behind Cruz to stop Trump. The problem for the GOP is that Ted Cruz will also destroy their party. He will do it in a different way than Trump, but the result will be the same. John Boehner’s comments earlier this week about Cruz should have been taken as a warning to the Republican Party.
If Republicans nominate Trump, he will likely lose in the fall, and then go back to his world of Fox and Friends appearances and reality television. The decision to elevate Ted Cruz to the level of national party voice is going to have long-term consequences. If Republicans lose in 2016, it is a guarantee that Cruz will run for president again in 2020. By making Ted Cruz the man to stop Trump, the GOP has earned themselves four more years of Cruz’s abuse of the Senate to run for president.
The Texas devil wants to be paid, and the cost is going to be the Republican Party.
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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
