Trump: You Will Know that He has Gone Too Far When Ted Cruz Criticizes Him Directly

People are again predicting his demise. The widely admired Megyn Kelly is definitely a riskier target for him than John McCain was. But since an enormous amount of his appeal is based on saying outrageous things and not apologizing for them, it’d be foolish to think that anything that has transpired since Thursday will sink him.

I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if the debate and its aftermath check or reverse the progress he’d been making in the internals of the polls (higher favorable ratings, fewer Republicans saying they’d never consider voting for him, etc.).

I basically only have one barometer for whether Trump has gone too far–and that’s when Ted Cruz is willing to criticize him directly. We haven’t reached that point yet.

I take Andy’s point about how all the other candidates are making their own calculations how to respond to Trump, too, but the gentle treatment Cruz affords the mogul is especially noteworthy given how eager he usually is to attack other Republicans and the fact that Trump has the most flagrantly RINO record of anyone in the field. So I don’t doubt that he shamelessly changed the subject as Alexis said, because this is something he really, really doesn’t want to have to address for now. (And as a general matter, I appreciate Alexis’s robust coverage of the flap that consumed the political world this weekend).

More broadly, it’s pretty clear where the drift of this thing is heading, which is not toward Trump winning the nomination, but toward Trump somewhere along the way saying he’s been treated unfairly — by the GOP, by the media, by Jonah Goldberg, et al. — and declaring next year that he’s seriously considering an independent bid. Even if he didn’t ultimately pull the trigger, it would guarantee another couple of months of attention for Donald Trump, which is the only thing that matters for Donald Trump.

Cruz warned on Sat. at conservative grassroots audience that many of his Republican rivals are ‘faking conservative credentials’ in their bids to become the GOP nominee. I suspect as the debates move forward Cruz will call them on that when in his time and place.....the man’s campaign is being carefully orchestrated as we know....so I suspect he’ll be prepared to name specifics but not til the candidates are narrowed down considerably.

“When asked if he had heard from God he replied yes, through the scriptures. That is the ultimate correct answer. He won that one!”

No, he opened the door to further types of attempts at degrading questions. You don’t win a fight by playing by Queensbury rules when your opponent is playing by Schoolyard Rules. The attacks won’t stop until you make them stop.

Aha! And there you have it. Metrosexual Rich Flowery exposes himself and his anger at Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz was the original anti-Establishment figure. He doesn't hate McConnell and isn't "eager" to attack 'Republicans'. But he is sick to death of the toothless "leadership" of an OLD and WIMPY Majority Leader and his equally spineless sidekick in the House. He is ready to fight and be a real Opposition Party to the Socialists of the Left. And he has been doing that ever since he set foot in the Senate. Which makes him a pariah to Mitchy and the Uniparty 'leaders' in DC, and their media sycophants like Lowry.

Here was brand new Senator Cruz, in September of 2013, trying to rally his Party with a filibuster over the funding 0bamacare with Rush on the EIB Network ...

Now, a number of Republicans are going to maintain that, no, no, no, no, no, their vote to cut off debate is in support of the House bill. And, Rush, that's simply not the case. It's a show vote. Now, if Harry Reid gets 60 votes, every Republican then will vote against his amendment to fund Obamacare, and so all 46 Republicans want to go home to their districts and say, "Gosh, I voted to defund Obamacare, and marvel of marvels, we lost," which to be honest is the outcome that I think more than a few of them affirmatively desire. And part of what's so problematic with Washington is how many Republicans want a show vote to pretend to their constituents they're fighting for what they say they're fighting for, rather than actually fighting for it and actually winning.

RUSH: Well, that's it. That's it in a nutshell right there. I mean that's the whole point. I mean, when you were running for Senate, you probably thought you were joining a lot of people that were like you, wanted to stop this. You get there, you find out you're one of three or four.

CRUZ: I will tell you the single biggest surprise in arriving to the Senate is the defeatist attitude here. I mean, we don't even talk about how to win a fight. There's no discussion. We talk about, "Hey, let's get a show vote so we can go tell our constituents we're doing something." But I promise you, Rush, if you had to sit through one Senate lunch, you'd be in therapy for a month.

RUSH: (laughing).

CRUZ: I don't know that you could -- as bad as you might think it is, and, listen, these are good men and women. I respect them. I like them. Many of these are my friends, but they've been here a long time, and they're beaten down, and they don't believe we can win. They don't believe it can happen, and the answer they say on every issue is, "No, we can't do it. We can't do it."

Ted Cruz has given Mitch and Johnny butthurt from the getgo and Richie is merely trying to prop up his weaklings because he is scared to death of a real conservative like Ted Cruz upsetting the Uniparty applecart.

I don’t think so. I really believe that Cruz didn’t want to wrestle the pig, because single payer health care (which Trump wants) is not a conservative issue, Trump has not favored social conservatives in any way, and even his fiscal ideas are leftist and wacky. So I think Cruz was hoping to stay above the fray, thinking that Trump would be like the last GOP flake populist candidate and self destruct soon, but didn’t realize that this would make it look like he was supporting Trump. Obviously, Trump is self destructing, but I think he’s dragging Cruz down with him.

Cruz should get out there and separate himself from Trump, imho.

Cruz wrestle what pig

You think Lowry and Megan jelly ant Chris Wallace wouldn’t be doing this to Cruz the second trump isn’t there?

Jeb is the spoiled son. He is favored by the elite crowd for his position within the party elite.

As the spoiled son, metaphorically as well as really, just like McCain and Romney he attacks only those who would threaten his position in the party. It’s in his personality.

He’ll sound fluffy and wear a pink shirt but he’ll use others, in most cases, the media to do it

That spat between the naive patriot unwary capitalist Eric bolling and true bushie Dana perino was it. You can see it. It’s a repeat of ‘08 and ‘12

These Rich Lowrys won’t even hint at having animosity they won’t think of having the viciousness toward democrats, not even pro Iranians, that they do toward constitution heeding conservatives

Can we just get that clear?

“That is how I see it. It also explained why Cruz backed the TPA for a while. McConnell lied to him to get that support. I am glad Cruz explained it.”

On the Mark Levin program, Cruz explained that he was lied to by “leadership” about placing into the bill a prohibition of immigration changes, which enticed his yes vote. However, he neglected to explain the larger issue, which was to give Obama vast new power over the United States economy (according to McConnell, and that time he did not lie).

I would urge Cruz to stick to his own policy objectives and leave the snark to others.

His comment the other day didn’t fool anyone. They knew who he was talking about, and frankly it didn’t make him look better. It made him look too timid to use the name Trump, when that’s exactly what he meant.

Weasel isn’t a becoming look for anyone.

Methinks Trump is blazing the trail for Cruz to win.

Just as the Left needed assorted crazies to normalize otherwise “outlandish” views so the real powerbrokers could move in and legislate that which the Center & Right would never stand for, Cruz (whom I wholeheartedly support) can’t do what the Right knows needs doing until someone (Trump) with Center & Left street cred says & normalizes “crazy” views, then backs out and leaves the now-acceptable path for someone (Cruz) who actually can make things happen at the highest levels.

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