Friday, September 23, 2016

Cruz cries uncle

Turns out Ted Cruz is a Cylon sleeper agent. You know, the kind that's indistinguishable from humans. That seems to be on our side. Heck, it doesn't even know it's a Cylon until the delay programming switches on. 

In the end, Cruz puts political viability ahead of principle. I never thought he was quite the diehard ideological purist that some of his supporters imagined him to be.

In the end he decided to board Trump's ship before it left port, even though, by waiting until the last minute, he's stuck in third class rather than first class. But I guess he thinks that's better than to be left behind. Presumably this means he thinks Trump now has a good shot at winning. 

In fairness to Cruz, he may have been taken aback by the ferocious reaction of erstwhile supporters when he snubbed Trump at the convention. When you campaign as a conviction politician, and your ostensible supporters turn on you because you really behave like a conviction politician, it's not surprising if what we end up with is politicians who are no better than their supporters. Compromising voters breed compromising politicians. Although we can blame Cruz, blame should be shared with the erstwhile supporters who cut him off at the knees after he snubbed Trump at the convention. 

By refusing to fall in line, Cruz stood on equal footing with Trump. But now that he caved, he's just another one of Trump's many interchangeable underlings. 

By endorsing Trump, it puts himself in the worst of both worlds. I don't think Trump is the forgiving kind. Don't expect Caesar's clemency. Trumpkins will never forgive him. He will lose the respect of those who supported him up until now, on top of those who (wrongly) lost respect when he snubbed Trump at the convention, on top of those who can't stand Cruz in the first place. 

It's like people who apologize for telling the truth. Both sides despise them. They will still be despised by the side that was offended when they initially told the truth. And they will now be despised the other side when they back down after telling the truth.  Turns out that Cruz was a "servile puppy dog" after all. 

3 comments:

  1. I hope one result of this development is that Cruz's chances of getting the nomination in 2020 will be diminished. He'd be a good president, but he's not a good presidential candidate. He has too many electability problems. Given how corrupt the American people are, it's too difficult to get elected to the presidency if you have Cruz's physical appearance, voice, reputation, and other characteristics. It's good for him to be in the Senate, and he'd be a promising candidate for governor of Texas, serving as a justice on the Supreme Court, or some other role other than the presidency.

    Some of the reactions I've seen to Cruz's announcement act ridiculously surprised. This is the same Cruz who was speaking so positively about Trump last year, before his more negative response to Trump earlier this year, which then shifted to a less negative and largely undecided position, concluding in his latest position people are now reacting to, which is more positive toward Trump. A lot of people have been inconsistent about Trump, but Cruz has been more inconsistent than most. How could people be getting so disappointed with Cruz just now, as though this is some sort of radical departure from his previous inconsistencies?

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    1. Cruz is super smart, but he's smart like a chess player rather than a poker player. He can think many moves deep. Anticipate countermoves. But he lacks social intelligence. He's not good a reading people. Chess is a cerebral game while poker is a psychological game. Natural politicians think like poker players rather than chess players.

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    2. "Ted Cruz for Human President" is one of several memes related to his social awkwardness.

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