Ted Cruz's Strategy: Why It Isn't Working

Ted Cruz is playing a risky political game as he has yet to criticize Donald Trump directly, and in many cases, has acted like he is really running to be The Donald's VP selection. Cruz, who has never been afraid to take his fellow Republican to task, has refused to challenge Trump seriously on issues, and instead has made it a point to never say a negative word about Trump.

His strategy is simple, wait for Donald Trump to implode and then pick up the pieces from his supporters, but this assumes that many of Trump’s are similar to Cruz's, for while there are many conservatives in both group, Trump has expanded his support across the Party line. Trump has more diverse support, so there is no guarantee that Cruz will get all of Trump’s supporters.

The biggest problem with Cruz's strategy is that Trump may not implode, and while he lost some momentum after the last debate, there is no evidence as of yet that he will collapse like a stack of cards. The longer he stays at or near the top, the longer Cruz wanders around the 6% mark and way behind.

Cruz is coming off as playing second banana to Trump, junior partner, and Robin to Trump’s Batman, and Cruz is being overshadowed. The Washington, DC Iranian protest and the last debate showed the limitation of this strategy. At the Iranian protest, Cruz was overshadowed by Trump’s appearance and the news was not Cruz's own opposition to Obama’s Iranian deal but Trump’s. Cruz's own view point was lost, and it was too bad since Cruz not only opposed the treaty, but he promised to scrap this treaty day one. Trump's own position was a typical blend of the bellicose language and noting the stupidity of the Obama negotiation team while stating he will merely renegotiate the present agreement. Trump acceptst he agreement and is not going to scrap but get involved the Middle East bazaar to improve the existing treaty. Trump's position is a softer, while Cruz represents a tougher approach. They have a big difference on strategy, but will Cruz be willing to debate Trump on this question? And if Cruz is not willing to challenge Trump on this issue, what is the rationale for Cruz running?

Cruz has now put himself permanently in limbo, waiting for the implosion of Trump that may never come. The last debate did not help Cruz at all as he rarely was willing to jump into fray; and when he did have major chance to differentiate himself from the rest of the field, he may have lost that. He started to make a good case on judicial appointments of the Bush years, but there was one problem as Jeb Bush noted, Cruz supported John Roberts publicly while voting for him. So Cruz's criticism of Roberts was muted by Cruz’s own vote, and there was no record to suggest that Cruz had any questions about Roberts at the time. So his major exchange with Bush proved to be a loser for a political figure with a well-deserved reputation as a master debater. Cruz set himself up for the counter left hook.

Cruz's dilemma is simple: he has to distinguish himself from Trump and make a valid case for his own Presidency. In his search for Trump’s supporter, he has to make the case that he can challenge the political class and Republican establishment. He also has to show the differences between the two, starting with their foreign policy differences on how to deal with Iran. Eventually Cruz has to escape Trump’s shadow.

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