Free Republic

Wednesday while campaigning in Hershey PA, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)said his rival Donald Trump was “afraid of a debate” with him because he lacked “substantive solutions” on policy. Cruz said, “What I agree is that the Democratic process works, and Donald whines and complains when the voters reject him. The voters are going to decide. We’ve won five states in a row. Donald won his home state, which surprised nobody. And it’s the people — we are seeing Republicans uniting behind our campaign. Because if Donald is the nominee, Hillary wins and she wins by double digits....

The stakes in 2016 are huge and the party is fractured. The rhetoric reflects a Trump Derangement Syndrome in which Trump is either a monster or a savior, instead of a politician. On the left, Bush Derangement Syndrome expressed itself in the conviction that he was unalterably and uniquely worse than every other president and would get around to declaring martial law and ruling forever. The danger of exaggeration is that previously unacceptable views suddenly become acceptable. Bush Derangement Syndrome made it acceptable for Democrats to descend into open treason by making common cause with Saddam Hussein, the Sunni terrorist...