It was not Cruz's failure. It was the plotting of the establishment wing over McConnell's personal vendetta AND MOSTLY it was Trump's labeling, lying, and slandering of Cruz.
So it wasn't Cruz's fault that he wasn't persuasive? Whatever happened to the conservative value of self-reliance/accountability?
Look, Cruz got a hell of a lot more time speaking in front of voters than McConnell did during the campaign. He had plenty of chances to make his case directly to the American people -- tens of millions of them watched the debates. If he couldn't rebut Trump's charges, that's on him. Running for President means putting on your big boy pants and actually being able to
persuade people. As right as Cruz is on many issues, he just sucks at persuading people who aren't predisposed to agreeing with him. He preaches to the converted, and tends to scare off undecideds. That's the reality.
Trump and his surrogates labeled Cruz a liar. Why? Because Cruz was exposing Trump's flip flopping. They spread slanderous lies about Cruz, such as that he had 5 different extra marital affairs, that he might be the zodiac killer, that his father was a religious nut, that his father helped scheme the murder of JFK, that his wife is ugly and that she was some globalist conspirator because she was once affiliated with CFR and worked for Goldman Sachs......that he was not eligible....on and on and on. Cruz took it like a man, but sometimes the bad guy wins because the bad guy uses corrupt tactics. Blaming Cruz is blaming the victim, imo. And this issue will not be resolved with more T-nexus slandering of Cruz.
Oh hell, I think the attacks on Cruz' wife's looks, his father, etc., likely helped Cruz more than they hurt him -- precisely because they were so nutty. Look, no matter who the GOP nominee is, they must be able to parry a media that is going to be 80% against them. They're going to have to rebut false accusations, and use personality, etc., to convince people that they are not the monster being portrayed.
It is part of the core job of being a good candidate. The media hated Reagan in 1980, and most of the establishment wasn't too fond of him either. He beat them both, badly. Does he get credit for that, or no?
The truth -- as unappealing as it might be -- is that Cruz' personality/demeanor tends to earn him more enemies than friends. While you can admire him for the enemies he makes, that doesn't address the core reality that being a successful politician requires that you have the ability to persuade voters. A noble defeat is still a defeat.
Trump is so corrupt in his character that I would be utterly ashamed to add my name to those seeking his political representation. God help us if that vindictive narcissist gains the power of the presidency. God help us if Hillary gets it, too. One does not nullify the other. Danger ahead. My trust is in God. I will not choose evil as a means of saving myself. If the nation perishes, it perishes. I must obey God, which means I cannot be party to the vile tactics of Trump.
Trump is a slimeball.
As for leaving the party -- the party left me. The leadership has plotted against all the conservatives in Congress. They targeted my primary candidate for scorn just because he had the guts to stand up in the Senate and do what conservatives wanted him to do and what he promised voters in his state he would do when they elected him. Yes, I blame the party.
Ted had a more than fair opportunity to persuade voters that he was right, that the leadership in the Senate was wrong about him, etc....and he failed. That's doesn't mean he was in the wrong, but it does mean that he lacked the ability to persuade people that he was right. He's the classic example of a great appellate lawyer who just isn't as good in front of a jury.
I supported Cruz at the beginning of the primary, then drifted away from him before finally supporting him in the end when Trump was the only real alternative. Rubio made a comment about him that kind of encapsulated the issue with Cruz -- it's not enough that he's right, but that he must rub in everyone else's face that they're
wrong. You simply
will not make friends/build alliances that way, and it isn't even a question of whether your are actually right or wrong, but the tone you use to communicate your opinions to others. Calling McConnell a liar on the floor of the Senate surely was a fun bit of catharsis for Cruz, a fired up that minority of Republicans who already agreed with him, but it did nothing but earn him more enemies among everyone else. He could have made the exact same point in less inflammatory language ("I feel misled by the Majority Leader"), that wouldn't have alienated so many other Republicans.
But that's not Ted -- at least, not yet. And that really bugs me because I like him on policy more than any other candidate. But being right isn't going to do him any good if he can't figure out how to persuade undecided, and adopts a tone that ticks off too many people he'll need as allies in order to win. As of right now, though, he seems to have doubled down on "I'm right and everyone else is wrong", and is going to run with that through 2020.
