At the AFP convention in Columbus, Ohio last year Cruz was not running as an outsider. He was running as the best choice and as a conservative but not someone who was against the system.
Cruz launched his political career as a Bush administration insider, and his relationship with the GOP establishment is far deeper and more complex than he lets on.
Sixteen years ago, as a young domestic policy adviser for Bush’s 2000 campaign, Cruz himself had sought Washington’s embrace. He’d uprooted his life, taken an 80 percent pay cut and moved to Austin, Texas, with visions of a big, important White House job to follow.
Cruz arrived in Austin with the sterling résumé of a Republican insider on the rise. He’d gone to Princeton, been a national debate champion and graduated from Harvard Law. He’d clerked for William Rehnquist, the first-ever Latino clerk for a chief justice of the Supreme Court. He’d taken a job in a connected boutique D.C. law firm, where one of his early clients was none other than future House Speaker John Boehner.
It was all part of Cruz’s master plan. He’d intended to be president since he was at least a teen. In high school, he wrote a frightfully prescient bio for himself that outlined his plans to go to Princeton (check), Harvard Law (check), have a “successful law practice” (check) and then “pursue his real goal—a career in politics.” The Bush campaign was the logical next step. “Ted would like to run for various political offices and eventually achieve a strong enough reputation and track record to run for—and win—President of the United States,” Cruz wrote as a senior in high school.
Does that make him an outsider? No. He’s at best an inside-out-sider. Just because the Senate doesn’t like Cruz doesn’t mean he’s anti-establishment. He’s just tiresome to deal with.
He’s neither a leader nor a manager. He’s not good with people but he is good at using power and very smart. America need Cruz in the right spot where he can do the right things. He’s just not as good a choice for President as Donald j. Trump who is good with people and good at making complicated deals. For Cruz, it’s no mystery why the Christian TPP likes him. His father is a preacher but to make him into something he’s not doesn’t help him nor America.
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