Still Cruzin'
I have always thought that Ted Cruz offered the greatest opportunity to break the hold of the “establishment” over Republican politics and it’s “go along to get along” practices in Washington. Many disagree (and that is their right) but what I see in the two remaining candidates is this – Hillary will continue a third term of Obama’s moderate talk while enacting radical progressive policies and Trump will just create a new “establishment” based on isolationist foreign policy, anti-free trade and executive dictat.
A careful reading of Trump’s nomination speech reveals that is sounds a lot like it was written by Ron Paul but delivered by Barack Obama.
He is also setting up his family to be the new Bushes or Kennedys. One subtext of the RNC was “how great is the Trump family?!!” Seems clear to me that a vote for Daddy is a future vote for Ivanka, Donnie Jr., Eric (am I the only one who thought he should have been in Twilight?), Tiff and Baron.
I’ve said that I think Cruz’s speech at the RNC was a mistake. I think he should have simply stayed away. I knew there was no way that he was going to kiss Trump’s ring because Cruz (and any true classical liberal) wants no part of the “new” Trump GOP (which is just a reincarnation of the old Teddy Roosevelt progressive GOP). Sure, Cruz is ambitious (so are both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton - and is anybody who wants to run for the office of President) but I saw (see) in Cruz, the desire to break the back of a political machine and confine it within the proscribed boundaries of enumerated powers, not a desire to “make America great again” via a more authoritarian and massive (Hillary) or authoritarian and well-oiled (Trump) Leviathan.
Trump has seized on a number of issues that are red meat for conservatives and as a result, are hard to argue with. I have no issues with them – what I do take issue with is how he plans to achieve the results he promises. If he plans extra-constitutional actions, I will oppose them as I have those of the current President.
I fear America is simply trading one “establishment” for a “new and improved” establishment…and the fact that donors are turning on Cruz in favor of Trump adds confidence to my view of this situation. At the end of the day, the Trump Republicans are the same as the Clinton Democrats, they don’t want change of an Article V magnitude, they just want power.