While Trump demagogues against the feared other, & calls for
egregious violations of fundamental constitutional rights, Cruz calls for
carpet bombing campaigns & other war crimes. Seems a bit curious that the
neo shock & awe "bomb them to oblivion" advocates & Sunni "allies" are now trying to protect the Army of Conquest & other Sunni jihadists affiliated with Al-Queda from Russian air strikes. How conveniently the neo supporters of shock & awe in Iraq ignore/forget the catastrophic costs that will ripple through the
generations including hundreds of thousands of civilians killed, millions of
refugees, & the civil wars created.
egregious violations of fundamental constitutional rights, Cruz calls for
carpet bombing campaigns & other war crimes. Seems a bit curious that the
neo shock & awe "bomb them to oblivion" advocates & Sunni "allies" are now trying to protect the Army of Conquest & other Sunni jihadists affiliated with Al-Queda from Russian air strikes. How conveniently the neo supporters of shock & awe in Iraq ignore/forget the catastrophic costs that will ripple through the
generations including hundreds of thousands of civilians killed, millions of
refugees, & the civil wars created.
5
I had to chuckle and tip my hat to Tolkien when I saw you had capitalized the "Old Right Counter Conservative Establishment". Does an ORCCE think that dismantling a representative government is sustainable?
5
And in what scenario are we are not supposed to be afraid of him? Either he is an obvious threat, or he is rubbing our back so that we don't notice that he is an obvious threat. While I strongly believe in our history of a two party democracy, this election is scaring the heck out of me. I don't see any rational leaders in the GOP slate, and there are a couple of wild elephants that are stirring up controversy, both home and abroad, and are doing what may be irreparable harm.
7
I am more afraid of Cruz than I am of Trump. Cruz is an evil genius who would lead America down the road to ruin; Trump is a showman and demagogue, but he's a successful business man who knows how to close a deal.
11
Not sure the 'kind Machiavellian' is much of an improvement over the selfish variety if 'feigning
affection' is one of its components. We say we like unfeigned politicians but won't vote for them unless they appear likable. Trump appears to many to be credible just because he 'appears' NOT to be feigning, when in fact everything he does is directed toward effect. It seems as if the electorate is also about pretense: we say we want honesty but in reality only want its appearance. We The People are a tricky audience for anyone aspiring for office to satisfy, demanding something that doesn't -- and never has -- existed: an honest candidate. Ted Cruz is just another product of the mixed signals we keep sending.
affection' is one of its components. We say we like unfeigned politicians but won't vote for them unless they appear likable. Trump appears to many to be credible just because he 'appears' NOT to be feigning, when in fact everything he does is directed toward effect. It seems as if the electorate is also about pretense: we say we want honesty but in reality only want its appearance. We The People are a tricky audience for anyone aspiring for office to satisfy, demanding something that doesn't -- and never has -- existed: an honest candidate. Ted Cruz is just another product of the mixed signals we keep sending.
2
Mr. Cruz has been thoroughly, relentlessly destructive throughout his political career. Thanks to his divisive, arrogant style he has achieved the remarkable goal of drawing enmity from the entire Senate, while getting virtually nothing done in terms of legislative work. Nobody - nobody - ever commended his ability to work together with others. No personal friends ever commented positively on him.
Do we really need a righteous posturer as a President?
Do we really need a righteous posturer as a President?
28
First time I have ever heard Mr. Brooks mention Machiavelli when it comes to Politicians. In "The Prince", - Machiavellis' early 14th Century tome his Philosophy of Pragmatism clearly mentions that the subjects living under the Feudal Lords control main desire is to be treated kindly by those who have power over them. Mr. Cruz along with most of the other Candidates running for President in the GOP, have no interest in treating those who they govern with any kindness. They are primarily just interested in the power to rule. Thus enriching themselves and the Elitists elements whose ilk they wish to be part of!
The Elitist family, the Borgia elitist family in Italy had Machiavelli quarantined in his Apartment for over a year due to his mention of Kind Pragmatism. Hopefully the American Electorate will Quarantine Mr. Cruz and those others running for Prez in the GOP like him, forever!
The Elitist family, the Borgia elitist family in Italy had Machiavelli quarantined in his Apartment for over a year due to his mention of Kind Pragmatism. Hopefully the American Electorate will Quarantine Mr. Cruz and those others running for Prez in the GOP like him, forever!
8
Symbols of Republican disregard for political/governmental adulthood are easy to find. For example, try Trump, Cruz, Carson. This trio serves as a gift to someone like a not-ready-for-prime-time Rubio, but even they can't help a Fiorina. This array, a significant part of the Republican "long bench", is making Jeb Bush look palatable.
Surely Mr. Brooks can find some light at the end of this tunnel (I can't). America needs a viable and responsible second party, or barring that, a replay from the Dixiecrat playbook. Please help!
Surely Mr. Brooks can find some light at the end of this tunnel (I can't). America needs a viable and responsible second party, or barring that, a replay from the Dixiecrat playbook. Please help!
I think you've identified why Hillary will win in 2016.
Trump is really Trump First!
Cruz is really Cruz First!
Hillary is America First! (But also Hillary!)
A small but important distinction which voters get.
Trump is really Trump First!
Cruz is really Cruz First!
Hillary is America First! (But also Hillary!)
A small but important distinction which voters get.
14
Wow---a Republican (Brooks) actually ' getting it.' The Founders continue to weep about this travesty known as immigrant Ted Cruz. Where have you gone America??? I am voting for myself this time…it will not mean anything but at least it will mean something to me.
10
Sorry for this attempt to make some of today's Republicans like mainstream Republicans of Eisenhower's era. I have heard Romney and Ryan talk. As part of the hoi polloi that Republicans have manipulated with issues like social issues to get their way, I am not interested.
How many Republicans in Congress even "believe in" man made climate change? I will add that only one Republican voted for banning those on the terror watch list from getting assault weapons. It is disingenuous to dissect your party into the establishment and non establishment Republicans. The establishment Republican , Jeb! , only wanted to admit Christian refugees from Syria. This column seemed like a disparate attempt to put lipstick on a pig- a pig that you helped raise.
How many Republicans in Congress even "believe in" man made climate change? I will add that only one Republican voted for banning those on the terror watch list from getting assault weapons. It is disingenuous to dissect your party into the establishment and non establishment Republicans. The establishment Republican , Jeb! , only wanted to admit Christian refugees from Syria. This column seemed like a disparate attempt to put lipstick on a pig- a pig that you helped raise.
39
When Ted Cruz first arrived on the scene I could not determine if he was a charlatan, a crank or a wacko-bird (John McCain's determination).
Ted Cruz is 100% charlatan. Cruz has no ideological compass, which is necessary to be a crank. Also, McCain is dead wrong about wacko-bird, Ted Cruz knows exactly what he is doing, and is incredibly tactical as Paul Krugman points out.
As an aside, Donald Trump absolutely needs Ted Cruz in the race, because Donald looks like a crank next to Cruz, which gives Trump both a certain measure of credibility as well as likeability that he would not otherwise have if Cruz was not in the race.
Ted Cruz is 100% charlatan. Cruz has no ideological compass, which is necessary to be a crank. Also, McCain is dead wrong about wacko-bird, Ted Cruz knows exactly what he is doing, and is incredibly tactical as Paul Krugman points out.
As an aside, Donald Trump absolutely needs Ted Cruz in the race, because Donald looks like a crank next to Cruz, which gives Trump both a certain measure of credibility as well as likeability that he would not otherwise have if Cruz was not in the race.
23
Hillary Clinton was asked;
"Who would you have the best chance of defeating in the general election, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz?"
To which she replied, "YES!"
"Who would you have the best chance of defeating in the general election, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz?"
To which she replied, "YES!"
17
Your analysis is too Machiavellian for me. I keep my life and thoughts simple, that being understanding that politician equals evil. No need to determine what class of evil there fall into, kind or unkind.
11
Doris Kearns Goodwin tells the story of in Lincoln's days when campaigning he was accused by a someone in the crowd of being two-faced. Lincoln is said to have smiled quietly and responded: "Sir , if I was two-faced, do you really think I'd be wearing this one?"
After Cruz gets the nomination and debates Hillary, I look forward to Hilary's response when asked about Cruzs' "likeability". I don't expect it will be "he is likable enough" as Obama famously said about her. But what would she say?
We'll find out.
After Cruz gets the nomination and debates Hillary, I look forward to Hilary's response when asked about Cruzs' "likeability". I don't expect it will be "he is likable enough" as Obama famously said about her. But what would she say?
We'll find out.
5
He looks like what he is: a weasel. When he gives speeches it is obvious that he acting (badly), pretending to be a normal human. It's a face and an act that only someone who really wants to be fooled would vote for. He might get the nomination, but--unless Hilary really blows it--there is no way he can fool enough normal voters to be president.
52
This article could have been written about the Hamilton/ Jefferson views of the role of government in our lives. There really is not anything new under the sun here, so to speak. This is just human intercourse 101. No surprises here and we will survive this era also.
3
First Jeb Bush was the chosen one to take down the Trump campaign.
Then Carly Fiorina was the anointed Trump smasher.
When that didn't work, Ben Carson became the new "choice" to beat Trump.
Carson didn't work out, so it was onto Marco Rubio as the rising star.
Now we're on Ted Cruz.
I get the feeling the NYT will be running a column begging Bobby Jindal to come back.
It's not working libs.
Then Carly Fiorina was the anointed Trump smasher.
When that didn't work, Ben Carson became the new "choice" to beat Trump.
Carson didn't work out, so it was onto Marco Rubio as the rising star.
Now we're on Ted Cruz.
I get the feeling the NYT will be running a column begging Bobby Jindal to come back.
It's not working libs.
4
After Cruz was in office as a U.S. Senator for only a few months, James Carville said, "Ted Cruz is the most talented Republican politician I've seen in 40 years." Great talent is often accompanied by great flaws. History is full of such men and they've been U.S. Presidents and U.K. Prime Ministers. If Cruz is smart enough to rein in his "off-putting" ways and then he'll be an effective president, hopefully, for two terms.
9
From everything he has done and said it seems clear that Ted Cruz is Machiavelli with a "Messianic complex" and would surely view his election as President as a much deserved "Second Coming."
There are so many lines in W.B. Yeats's terrifying poem "The Second Coming" that could have been written for Cruz and his acolytes like Ted Nugent and Pastor Kevin Swanson, and the sorry electoral campaigns we are witnessing, that it is worth (re)reading. The last two lines could not be a better warning against the type of savior/leader Cruz wants to be:
"And what rough beast, it's hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?"
There are so many lines in W.B. Yeats's terrifying poem "The Second Coming" that could have been written for Cruz and his acolytes like Ted Nugent and Pastor Kevin Swanson, and the sorry electoral campaigns we are witnessing, that it is worth (re)reading. The last two lines could not be a better warning against the type of savior/leader Cruz wants to be:
"And what rough beast, it's hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?"
9
Being intelligent does not equate with being wise. Senator Cruz has no experience governing. His actions have helped to shut down government and to create fights which cannot be won. Our country has had a president who has no experience governing, no relationships in Congress and has been a divisive monarch. Ted Cruz strikes me as more of the same except that he is a "republican". Governing takes skills which Cruz lacks while others running have strong proven track records .
1
Ted Cruz is not a team player. A team player is a person who will dampen their ambitions to work with others and work for the goals of the team. Ted Cruz associates with others for his own ambition only and throw his best friend under the bus if it suits his purposes.
So who would trust him with our military or even nuclear weapons if he would use them to only make himself look good? Or the budget of the US if he used the money to pay off the rich who bought him the election? the American people would probably be the next victim in his quest for power. this describes many politicians, but Ted Cruz seems to be the archetype of the breed.
So who would trust him with our military or even nuclear weapons if he would use them to only make himself look good? Or the budget of the US if he used the money to pay off the rich who bought him the election? the American people would probably be the next victim in his quest for power. this describes many politicians, but Ted Cruz seems to be the archetype of the breed.
7
Yet another way to describe Ted Cruz's rise is by saying that he is a parvenue of the Counter Establishment with a talent to welcome believers at the tent's door.
Registered Republican voters represent a very small percentage of all voters. Unless the Republicans can win the votes of a significant number of Independent voters and even some Democrats, they will not win a national election.
Trump and Cruz do not appeal to a majority of Republican voters, although their campaigns may serve to get one of them nominated, or perhaps a Trump/Cruz ticket, or they run as a third party.
In any case such an event would accelerate the collapse of an already weakened party structure. The collapse of the GOP could bring about the formation of new political parties and a realignment of the Democratic Party. Such a change in the political landscape is long overdue, and may be the start of the revolution of which Bernie Sanders speaks.
We can only hope that this is decided by the voters in a lawful and peaceful election. To that end, let us all who are eligible register and vote in the upcoming elections.
Trump and Cruz do not appeal to a majority of Republican voters, although their campaigns may serve to get one of them nominated, or perhaps a Trump/Cruz ticket, or they run as a third party.
In any case such an event would accelerate the collapse of an already weakened party structure. The collapse of the GOP could bring about the formation of new political parties and a realignment of the Democratic Party. Such a change in the political landscape is long overdue, and may be the start of the revolution of which Bernie Sanders speaks.
We can only hope that this is decided by the voters in a lawful and peaceful election. To that end, let us all who are eligible register and vote in the upcoming elections.
7
I have to admit, I would accept Trump as president more than I would Cruz. They are both ego-maniacs but Cruz is dangerous.
8
The shutdown cost this county about 28 billion dollars and Cruz had no problem forcing the rest of us to write that check all to serve his own ambitions.
11
"And he gets to do it while pretending that he is antiestablishment. "
So, in other words, he's a liar.
So, in other words, he's a liar.
6
I've known a few Cruzes in my time - they do a lot of harm before they inevitably crash & burn. But more unpleasant are the nitwits who support them - they're the real problem.
14
He may be onboard with their ideology, in so far as he believes in anything save himself, but the person who alienated everyone around him in the clubable precincts of the Senate and the Bush campaign will out, and the more exposure he gets, the more he will be disliked. He may even be putting off some of the more sociable true believers now.
1
Brooks suggests that Cruz is fundamentally different from others in his party. I would respectfully suggest that Cruz is simply a more extreme version of the self-aggrandizing character exhibited by the entire party, which is why he appears to stand out. Brooks consistently ignores the fact that there are no longer any leaders in his party who subscribe to classic conservative political philosophy.
10
Fascinating how Trump is finally getting the press to begin to look at the "real" candidates and the "real" politics behind the euphemistic and shallow reporting of the past several decades. The reporters and editor were all afraid to offend their sources and to show some backbone -- afraid it would be mistaken for having their own hidden political agenda. Trump has made them all come out of the closet and begin to be real reporters and editors, seeking the underlying factors behind each candidate, and revealing the underlying intentions and goals, as well as the slightly concealed bigotry in some cases. I even saw on TV some confrontations with Trump. Brooks should go one step further than he went in this piece, and explain what these candidates really have in mind for America's future.
7
I am confused by the point of this article. So Ted Cruz represents a wing of the GOP that the establishment paid lip service and tapped for money, but they were supposed to stay in their place, on the fringes of the right? Now that Ted Cruz has been anointed by this wing to be their standard bearer, somehow Cruz in now nakedly selfish? Whatever. But David is wrong on this point: Cruz knows exactly what to do with the levers of power.
2
Is Cruz the neo-Nixon? A Reagan? An Underwood? Irrelevant. He's not Trump and that's about the only thing that matters to the GOP establishment at this point. The down-ticket holocaust that would be a Trump presidential candidacy must be avoided, and if they have to hang themselves on a Cruz they'll do it to save their majorities.
5
Mr. Brooks should have added that Cruz's wife is an executive at Goldman Sachs. Her substantial income augments his tax-payer funded Senate salary and provides the kind of excellent health benefits the Senator would deny to average Americans.
23
Rafael Edward Cruz is a typically successful modern politician. Using rhetoric to gain enough media attention and financial support to get sufficient votes to win elective office. Convincing people that he is a macho Texan named Ted instead of an effete white Canadian Cuban is the ultimate charade. All politicians are Machiavellian. And those who are openly selfish narcissist have much more honest integrity than those who are not.
Ronald Wilson Reagan began his rise to political power in the wake of his support for conservative icon Barry Goldwater opening his second quest for the White House in Philadelphia..... Mississippi. Talking about state's rights in the heart of the Confederacy in a city infamous for the murder of three civil rights workers. Much more deceptive, cynical and dangerous than Cruz.
Ronald Wilson Reagan began his rise to political power in the wake of his support for conservative icon Barry Goldwater opening his second quest for the White House in Philadelphia..... Mississippi. Talking about state's rights in the heart of the Confederacy in a city infamous for the murder of three civil rights workers. Much more deceptive, cynical and dangerous than Cruz.
6
Brooks is right re Cruz's unfettered ambition and his non-establishment phoniness. But he doesn't go far enough. Ted Cruz is the scariest figure to appear on the US political stage in my lifetime. Take this from one who, in the second grade, was instructed to thank God for Senator McCarthy in our morning classroom prayers.
114
Ted Cruz wears it like a badge of honor that he steps on his colleagues' toes and is held in low regard overall. So how can he claim to be a good Presidential candidate? If he is so off-putting that he grates on a Republican-majority Congress now, how could he appeal to them, or to the citizenry, with the prominence of a President?
7
Ted Cruz is more dangerous - both for the GOP and the USA and the World, than Trump.
And that is saying something considerable.
And that is saying something considerable.
9
Isn't the counter establishment really the only well organized antiestablishment? If so Cruz isn't Machiavellian but the only one with a true course. No doubt he is smart. No doubt tactical; his win in Texas proved all of that.
The real question is whether or not it is time for the counter establishment to take charge given the failures of the Establishment. Whatever all of that means, most of us want someone who truly cares for the country and can relate to its peoples.
The real question is whether or not it is time for the counter establishment to take charge given the failures of the Establishment. Whatever all of that means, most of us want someone who truly cares for the country and can relate to its peoples.
Machiavelli said that the ideal leader should have the cunning of the fox to avoid the traps, and the strength of a lion to fight off the wolves. Ted Cruz is the fox.He has positioned himself to pick up the pieces if Donald Trump falters, by avoiding a direct confrontation with him. He also knows that if the party bosses feel Trump can't possibly win the general election, and are looking for an alternative, his major competition is Marco Rubio.Since he hasn't alienated Trump supporters that gives him the advantage. What he hasn't shown is the strength to fight off the political Wolf that is Donald Trump.
2
One of my first thoughts when I read about men like Ted Cruz is "how can any woman stand to be married to him?" But, then, i remember my own life and marriage and the women I met along the way. The women who did not think of their husbands in any terms other than how much money he made and the social life he could help them have. That Ted Cruz' wife is high up in Goldman Sachs says a lot to me. Some people care only for today, money. and power for themselves. Ted Cruz and his wife are such people. They don't belong in the White House.
8
Mr. Brooks assiduously and accurately defined conservatism as "intellectual humility, a belief in steady, incremental change, a preference for reform over revolution, a respect for hierarchy, precedence, balance and order, and a tone of voice that is prudent, measured and responsible" (October 13, 2015) By that definition, Cruz is not a conservative at all but rather verges on fascism. Actually, by that definition, it is hard to find a true conservative in the field of Republican presidential hopefuls.
5
I like Trump's candidacy: He is everything the modern Republican party represents: Greed, pride, willful ignorance, self-centeredness, belligerence, xenophobia, racism, and unwillingness to listen to opposing viewpoints. He just doesn't speak in the code established during the Reagan era.
Cruz, has many of these qualities, but instead of coming off as buffoonish, he comes across as sinister. Has the man done anything otheras a public servant than obstruct and object?
Cruz, has many of these qualities, but instead of coming off as buffoonish, he comes across as sinister. Has the man done anything otheras a public servant than obstruct and object?
8
I think David Brooks is once again in his la-la-land of intellectual hoky-poky. Ted Cruz is a truly horrible human being, mean and about as self-centered as I would think it possible for a human creature. And he would, like Trump, be a very, very dangerous person in the White House!
11
“The man who boasts of his ideological purity is perhaps the most obviously tactical candidate.”
Unfortunately, with reality being what it is, one is FORCED to do this in order to have any chance at all of being nominated and/or elected.
Unfortunately, with reality being what it is, one is FORCED to do this in order to have any chance at all of being nominated and/or elected.
Mr. Cruz swore an oath to "support and defend the Constitution" when he was sworn into office as a Senator. Yet that same Constitution requires that the Office of the President be filled by a "natural born" citizen. So, Mr. Cruz is at odds with supporting the Constitution since he is not a natural born citizen. However, the electorate is willing to ignore the dichotomy and that should bother us all. When we stopped requiring courses in American History and Civics, because they were "fluff" courses, we produced an electorate that is largely ignorant of the Constitution.
5
Just because he's smart doesn't mean he is filled with good ideas. Smart people can have very bad ideas. Everything I've heard him say or support is bad. Frighteningly bad.
12
Then again, if you're a scared citizen. He may be your guy; he does show some signs of being able to compromise, even if he has the appearance of power. Trump does not do that -- he is more of a dictator. Dictators in a free society are merely frutstrated people who can't get their way, but sound good to similar personalit types who like fools gold.
8
It seems like you're debating the correct temperature of a turkey when properly cooked. Is it 180 degrees, or is it 183 degrees?
Frankly, I hope they are all cooked. They're already stuffed and greased on the outside.
Frankly, I hope they are all cooked. They're already stuffed and greased on the outside.
5
Not hard to imagine Ted Cruz as the VP candidate alongside Trump. He would fit tight into the mold of Dick Cheney. When he compared his 24 hour Senate tantrum to the Bataan Death March followed by his precipitation of the government shutdown, I finally realized this man is truly unbalanced and dangerous. John Boehner summed it up very well when he publicly called Ted Cruz a jack-ss.
5
The scariest thing about Ted Cruz is so many Republicans are willing to believe that someone straight from the Ivy League establishment, married to a Wall Street executive, and bankrolled by the ultra-rich, is looking out for the "little guy", simply because he gives them enemies to blame who fit their fears and prejudices. I understand that it's a textbook example of the "big lie" propaganda technique, but it's frightening to see it happening here.
167
Cruz is a man who wants to head the government of the United States of America, the very organization he wants to tear to shreds. Someone please explain how that squares in any way, shape or form? Except to point in bright relief that the man is, at the core, a liar. He wants the power. He wants the control. He wants to lead the most powerful nation on earth. No way would he shed an iota of his monarchy. He is a hypocrite and a liar.
4
Scariest man running. Arrogant, amoral and very intelligent. All the qualities of a sociopath. There's evil behind those eyes.
8
The Ted Cruz phenomenon has convinced me that the word "smart" does not mean what I and most of the people I know think it means. I'm a scientist, and for us the word smart is reserved not for people with giant memories, or facile articulateness, both useful attributes, but not smart. It is reserved for people who really understand something. Often really understanding something is what leads to something new, not always, but often.
To me this is general. The auto mechanic that always seems to be able to figure out what's wrong with your car when nobody else can. The IT guy who always seems to be able to sniff out the root of the obscure problem. The historian who comes up with a new way of seeing an event even though the same data has been sitting there for 100s of years.
Mr. Cruz may be clever, he may have an awesome memory, he may be really really good at standardized tests, but there is absolutely no evidence anywhere that he is smart, unless that word doesn't mean what I thought it meant. He's supposed to be interested in developing public policy, but I've never heard him say anything at all that showed evidence that he understood any issue at all. In fact, he sounds dumb. He doesn't seem capable of even making normal, rational arguments.
It's sad that anybody can think that a guy like that is smart.
To me this is general. The auto mechanic that always seems to be able to figure out what's wrong with your car when nobody else can. The IT guy who always seems to be able to sniff out the root of the obscure problem. The historian who comes up with a new way of seeing an event even though the same data has been sitting there for 100s of years.
Mr. Cruz may be clever, he may have an awesome memory, he may be really really good at standardized tests, but there is absolutely no evidence anywhere that he is smart, unless that word doesn't mean what I thought it meant. He's supposed to be interested in developing public policy, but I've never heard him say anything at all that showed evidence that he understood any issue at all. In fact, he sounds dumb. He doesn't seem capable of even making normal, rational arguments.
It's sad that anybody can think that a guy like that is smart.
10
James Thurber, humorist, gave Ted Cruz a name long ago in a short story. Ted is a doppelganger for Pal Smurch.
Someone pushed the Thurber Pal Smurch out of a window to save the country from an uncouth, boastful, petty crook and all that his character represent.
With Cruz we don't need the window, we just need the bright sun shine of reality shinning through it to end the days of this modern Pal Smurch!!!
Someone pushed the Thurber Pal Smurch out of a window to save the country from an uncouth, boastful, petty crook and all that his character represent.
With Cruz we don't need the window, we just need the bright sun shine of reality shinning through it to end the days of this modern Pal Smurch!!!
4
David - you have truly lost your way. Ted Cruz is an awful, dangerous person. The fact that you can't state what is so painfully obvious to the rest of us is pitiful. If, indeed these two "branches" of conservatism exist (and I don't think they do), they both represent one simple goal: to keep white people in power and steal everyone else's money. If you can't see this, you are in deep denial.
8
Cruz is the smarter avatar of Bush II. He is better qualified (Ivies), patently fake (he couldn't be as stupid as to reject climate science), and downright dangerous (his unrestrained id is a stern Christian theocrat who will destroy the infidels). He has brilliantly ridden behind a race car, in the vacuum, and now thinks he is going to zoom past the front runner at the finish line. He might.
I think he will beat Hillary in the general election; his message is more powerful and appealing (I am so smart that I will screw the people you don't like in ways you didn't think was possible; Trump was a "all talk" lightweight, just see how I herd up and round up, register, and carpet bomb everyone in sight).
And Cruz is definitely emerging (over regional commanders like Carson, Santorum, Huckabee) as the leader of the American Taliban. He is purer than Trump; he is doing it for you (Trump who is just building his brand).
From the recent polling data, it appears as if 40% of all American voters so angry and desperate, so disempowered and resentful, that they are ready to enter the museum and slash every painting and knock every artifact down in pursuit of momentary satisfaction, declare victory and go home to their arsenals. And they will vote. The remaining 60% are most likely to not even bother to show up; their effective strategy is to say, "isn't this terrible" and let it go at that.
Kalidan
I think he will beat Hillary in the general election; his message is more powerful and appealing (I am so smart that I will screw the people you don't like in ways you didn't think was possible; Trump was a "all talk" lightweight, just see how I herd up and round up, register, and carpet bomb everyone in sight).
And Cruz is definitely emerging (over regional commanders like Carson, Santorum, Huckabee) as the leader of the American Taliban. He is purer than Trump; he is doing it for you (Trump who is just building his brand).
From the recent polling data, it appears as if 40% of all American voters so angry and desperate, so disempowered and resentful, that they are ready to enter the museum and slash every painting and knock every artifact down in pursuit of momentary satisfaction, declare victory and go home to their arsenals. And they will vote. The remaining 60% are most likely to not even bother to show up; their effective strategy is to say, "isn't this terrible" and let it go at that.
Kalidan
2
Sadly Trump makes the rest of the GOP look sane as they all play the terror card, again.
3
That's a well informed historical perspective on the modern Republican party. Thanks. But to simplify, can we get a clear answer to one simple question. Cruz called President Obama “the world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism." Is that true? I don't think it's true, and if I were going to blame the financing of terrorists on a U.S. President, I'd not overlook the Bush family connections to the House of Saud.
But is what Cruz said about Presdent Obama the truth? Just answer that one, please. He said it with a great deal of seriousness and certainty, but I think it's a gigantic lie. Was it a true statement?
But is what Cruz said about Presdent Obama the truth? Just answer that one, please. He said it with a great deal of seriousness and certainty, but I think it's a gigantic lie. Was it a true statement?
2
But no matter what or who wins the Republican primary, all of the "moderates" and establishment Republicans will still vote for them in lock step. There is no equivalent to the blue collar "Reagan Democrats" and there never will be. Most likely there will be disavowing the bigotry and xenophobia, climate denial etc., and the "reasonable Republicans" will simply shrug and say -"oh, I don't believe in that part", (just the tax cut part).
3
So Mr. Brooks is saying that Ted Cruz is a "kind Machiavellian" when he's around "selfish Machiavellians" who share his political views? That's not a terribly profound insight, and hardly unique to Ted Cruz.
1
Many commenters disparagingly remind us that Ted Cruz was a Canadian. I, of course, think that the fact he was once a Canadian is the only good thing about him.
3
Greg Stillson, anyone?
CRUZ MISSILE! (YOU KNOW THE MELODY)
Ya better watch out,
Ya better not cry,
Ya better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
CRUZ MISSILE IS COMING TO TOWN! (MELODY OF SOMETHING'S COMIN')
With a bang, with a plop,
Bell will jingle, door will knock.
Open the hatch!
C'mon something, c'mon in,
Meet a guy, SET OFF A BOMB
THE CRUZ MISSILE STRIKES AGAIN! BULLSEYE
I think it'd be a great idea to write a musical starring Joe McCarthy as Ted Cruz's guardian angel (you should pardon the expression). I mean they could be uncle and nephew.
But Cruz is not a clown. He's a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Cruz goes from zero to sixty in a split second. Underneath the thin social veneer lurks a deep pool of seething, boiling rage. It comes out flaming, igniting the opposition and rendering it cinders.
I mean a guy who gets a ride from a girl--first question, What's your IQ and SAT scores? That's a huge bomb! And in an instant the Cruz Missile is born.
I'd compare Cruz Missile to Trickie Dickie, except he's not nearly sneaky or snarky enough. Too bad. He could be forced to resign if elected, just like Trickie Dickie.
Gee, I wonder if Cruz Missile is going to get a cannonball game for the holidays? Uh, gee, where's a store that sells replicas of Cruz Missiles and Joe McCarthy Look Alikes.
You know, just go to your friendly Wall Marred and go down the aisle where they keep the Sarah Palin and Mama Griizzly Look Alikes. Now don't go and mess with Mama Grizzly. She's mean!
Ya better watch out,
Ya better not cry,
Ya better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
CRUZ MISSILE IS COMING TO TOWN! (MELODY OF SOMETHING'S COMIN')
With a bang, with a plop,
Bell will jingle, door will knock.
Open the hatch!
C'mon something, c'mon in,
Meet a guy, SET OFF A BOMB
THE CRUZ MISSILE STRIKES AGAIN! BULLSEYE
I think it'd be a great idea to write a musical starring Joe McCarthy as Ted Cruz's guardian angel (you should pardon the expression). I mean they could be uncle and nephew.
But Cruz is not a clown. He's a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Cruz goes from zero to sixty in a split second. Underneath the thin social veneer lurks a deep pool of seething, boiling rage. It comes out flaming, igniting the opposition and rendering it cinders.
I mean a guy who gets a ride from a girl--first question, What's your IQ and SAT scores? That's a huge bomb! And in an instant the Cruz Missile is born.
I'd compare Cruz Missile to Trickie Dickie, except he's not nearly sneaky or snarky enough. Too bad. He could be forced to resign if elected, just like Trickie Dickie.
Gee, I wonder if Cruz Missile is going to get a cannonball game for the holidays? Uh, gee, where's a store that sells replicas of Cruz Missiles and Joe McCarthy Look Alikes.
You know, just go to your friendly Wall Marred and go down the aisle where they keep the Sarah Palin and Mama Griizzly Look Alikes. Now don't go and mess with Mama Grizzly. She's mean!
2
Ted Cruz reminds me of not of Joseph McCarthy, but of the character of Greg Stillson from the old David Cronenberg movie - the Dead Zone. It is about a psychic played by Christopher Walken who sees a nuclear holocaust happening when the demagogue Stillson is elected president, and manages to prevent that future. Unfortunately, psychic powers are science fiction, and Cruz is all too real.
1
Fascists confuse reality. When the trains arrived at Auschwitz it appeared to be a train station in the midst of a huge work camp, with four Jews on the platform playing Motzart the welcomming committee.
When the Jews were husled into the shower rooms they were told to keep track where they were hanging their clothes—which hook.
Fascists confuse freality. Cruz and his father are fascists. He won’ty be elected because people don’t like him. What I personally detest is the way he breaks up sentences, without rhyme or reason, as though we need to absorb his nonsense and can’t handle a full sentence.
http://michaelslevinson.com
When the Jews were husled into the shower rooms they were told to keep track where they were hanging their clothes—which hook.
Fascists confuse freality. Cruz and his father are fascists. He won’ty be elected because people don’t like him. What I personally detest is the way he breaks up sentences, without rhyme or reason, as though we need to absorb his nonsense and can’t handle a full sentence.
http://michaelslevinson.com
1
A party divided against itself cannot stand -- or one would hope.
1
If Cruz becomes president, I will be joining the numerous refugees looking for asylum in Europe and elsewhere.
4
All very well. But ultimately his center of gravity is that of an unlikeable fellow with a smarmy face only a mother can love, and no amount of tact, guile and conniving can overcome those realities - another Nixon we won't have!
2
I do not like Ted Cruz on the basis of his policies and positions on the issues, and I can’t imagine a scenario in which I would vote for him. But, if being Machiavellian or even just nakedly ambitious is a red-flag for POTUS, then we need to admit fairly that the GOP doesn’t have a lock on that trait. A lot of what David writes about Cruz is just as applicable to Hillary Rodham Clinton. What was her prior connection to the State of New York that led her to her Senate seat there, other than it being the most expedient way to get the senior elected position that she felt she needed on her resume to pave her way to the Presidency?
3
A wonderful take on sociopathy.
There is NO conservative establishment today. Only a churning brew of viscious power-grabbers who willfully promote ignorance, superstition and cruelty. I will hear no history lessons on it from anyone who still supports any part of it.
5
The criticism is on point, but I'm still seeing Mr. Brooks's column next summer in my crystal ball:
"Although I have strong reservations about the GOP's nominee, Mr. [Trump/Cruz/the Clown] is still, when the chips are down, a better choice than the Democratic nominee, and I'll so be voting Republican, albeit with a heavy heart."
Heck, it's probably already written somewhere so he can go on vacation and have an assistant fill in the necessary blanks.
I'm only partly joking. For all the criticism Trump and Cruz come in for, nobody seriously believes that all that many American conservatives are willing to put country over party to the extent of being willing to jump ship. And that's EXACTLY Trump's strategy: he and Cruz and the others know perfectly well that whoever wins the primary will have the votes of the rank and file. It's just a matter of bringing out the kooks in sufficient numbers during the primary and disgusting everyone else enough to stay away.
Trump and Cruz and their ilk can only lose the primary if the rank and file make it clear, convincingly, that they'd vote for Hillary or stay home rather than pull the lever for one of those goons.
"Although I have strong reservations about the GOP's nominee, Mr. [Trump/Cruz/the Clown] is still, when the chips are down, a better choice than the Democratic nominee, and I'll so be voting Republican, albeit with a heavy heart."
Heck, it's probably already written somewhere so he can go on vacation and have an assistant fill in the necessary blanks.
I'm only partly joking. For all the criticism Trump and Cruz come in for, nobody seriously believes that all that many American conservatives are willing to put country over party to the extent of being willing to jump ship. And that's EXACTLY Trump's strategy: he and Cruz and the others know perfectly well that whoever wins the primary will have the votes of the rank and file. It's just a matter of bringing out the kooks in sufficient numbers during the primary and disgusting everyone else enough to stay away.
Trump and Cruz and their ilk can only lose the primary if the rank and file make it clear, convincingly, that they'd vote for Hillary or stay home rather than pull the lever for one of those goons.
4
The most unctuous, never mind Machiavellian, political candidate since Nixon. It is one thing to oppose Obamacare, to vote against it, campaign against it, but he shut down the government costing billions so as to deny health coverage to poor people. That there are 10 people in the country who can so much as look at him is remarkable.
5
I keep telling everyone who asks about Ted Cruz to read the attacks on him. They are never about substantive issues. They are all just a series of ad hominem, personal attacks, "his college roommate said. . . ". " a girl he gave a ride said" "nobody will eat with him in the cafeteria." Mr. Brooks attack today, is thoroughly predictable and shows a serious lack of imagination.
3
This is an interesting column by David Brooks, and the information about the shifting divisions in the American conservative movement is useful. It might be easier, however, for most of us simply to say that Ted Cruz is a narcissistic jerk.
Cruzie would make a great dictator. Sorta like Castro. If he were able to buy the election, chances are not trivial he would attempt a coup.
He could never get elected in Canada though. Probably would not even get on the ballot.
He could never get elected in Canada though. Probably would not even get on the ballot.
2
I see Cruz as (unfortunately) a living, breathing example of the film noir sleazes Peter Lorre brought to fictional life. There is the facial resemblance, for one thing, the noxious, fingernails-on-the-blackboard sound of the voice for another, and the black, slicked back hair for a third. Never turn your back to this guy.
5
Texas Iago.
"Iago "illustrates in the most perfect combination the two facts concerning evil, which seem to have impressed Shakespeare the most", the first being that "the fact that perfectly sane people exist in whom fellow-feeling of any kind is so weak that an almost absolute egoism becomes possible to them", with the second being "that such evil is compatible, and even appears to ally itself easily, with exceptional powers of will and intellect"." (Wikipedia)
"Iago "illustrates in the most perfect combination the two facts concerning evil, which seem to have impressed Shakespeare the most", the first being that "the fact that perfectly sane people exist in whom fellow-feeling of any kind is so weak that an almost absolute egoism becomes possible to them", with the second being "that such evil is compatible, and even appears to ally itself easily, with exceptional powers of will and intellect"." (Wikipedia)
4
David,
Unless I missed it, you made no mention of his orthodox approach to religion, which I find frightening to my secular beliefs. Sometimes we equate intelligence with compassion, nothing can be further from the truth. Intellegence in the hands of a Zealot can inflame the world.
Unless I missed it, you made no mention of his orthodox approach to religion, which I find frightening to my secular beliefs. Sometimes we equate intelligence with compassion, nothing can be further from the truth. Intellegence in the hands of a Zealot can inflame the world.
3
Yep, Cruz is as smarmy as they come. It's funny how this year's crop of GOP candidates is such caricatures. There's Sleepy (Carson), Grumpy (Trump; actually, a name befitting all of them), Dopey (Bush), and Bashful (Pataki). To this list I would add Smarmy (Cruz), Portly (Christie), Sneaky (Rubio), Wacky (Huckabee), and Shifty (Fiorina). And the only reason they're getting any attention is because their base is comprised of angry children.
6
If my only choices for president were Donald Trump or Ted Cruz,
I'd go for Trump. Ted Cruz is by far the scarier of the two.
I'd go for Trump. Ted Cruz is by far the scarier of the two.
117
Cruz was created in a test tube using the genes of Gene McCarthy and Lyndon Baines Johnson. He also looks really dumb without his eye makeup.
2
Lots and lots of words, words, words about Ted Cruz, R-Alberta.
Perhaps the most relevant words about Cruz are the ones I read the other day: Everyone who has ever known Ted Cruz has hated him.
Perhaps the most relevant words about Cruz are the ones I read the other day: Everyone who has ever known Ted Cruz has hated him.
2
It is blatantly disassembling for Mr. Brooks to divide Machiavellian tactics into two camps, kind or selfish, as he lays out in this op-ed. Either anti-establishment or establishment, the Republican party represents the monied interests contributing to huge Super Pacs whether show boating in Congress to appeal to disenfranchised Tea Party voters as Ted Cruz does or twisting facts as Mr. Bush does, both are employing facile tactics to enrich themselves, their uber wealthy benefactors & stymieing progress for the country. It's easy to categorize the population into two silos of either fly-over zone or coastal elites, such simplicity seems designed to distract from the real issues at stake. The Republican Party signed an agreement with the Devil decades ago & is watching it slide into complete morass & rot as a result of the totality of their Machiavellian tactics, including exploiting media pundits such as Mr. Brooks, to peddle their manure to a gullible & trusting populace without a counter narrative. How else can one attempt to justify an entire GOP that is willing to exaggerate the Christian religion in order to gain political advantage which allows them to deny science which gets in the way of crony capitalism system. How can the entire GOP exploit the distrust & hatred of minorities, gays, atheists & Muslims to further their shadowy political schemes? The reason voters are embracing Donald Trump is that every other GOP candidate stinks of bribes, corruption & lies.
4
Last month Cruz (and Huckabee & Jindal), spoke at a conference in Des Moines headed up by a man (Pastor Kevin Swanson) who advocates the execution of gay people -- per his interpretation of the bible -- and who made his call for mass extermination once again, onstage at the event, the National Religious Liberties Conference. Pastor Kevin Swanson has said in the past that Christians should attend gay weddings and hold up signs telling the newly married gay and lesbian couples that they "should be put to death." He was an advocate of Uganda's infamous "Kill the Gays" bill, which he saw as a model.
The "liberal" media has largely ignored this. If people blamed Obama for the out-of-context Rev Wright quote, why aren't they blaming Cruz, et al, for this "pastors" hate speech?
The "liberal" media has largely ignored this. If people blamed Obama for the out-of-context Rev Wright quote, why aren't they blaming Cruz, et al, for this "pastors" hate speech?
6
I wonder if Trump, given his "birther" position on Obama, will challenge Cruz's legitimacy as a candidate, since Cruz really was born in a foreign country (Canada). The Supreme Court has never spoken to the issue of the "natural born citizen" provision of presidential office eligibility. Congress went so far as to pass a specific resolution stating McCain was eligible to hold presidential office, though born in Panama, to subvert such a legal challenge. Given the establishment's aversion to Cruz (as Brooks outlines), would they be so accommodating toward Cruz?
2
I'm sorry. I can't support anyone who is backed by a party whose only governing principles seem to be:
1. Give everybody as many guns as they want.
2. Shut down the government when they don't get their way.
1. Give everybody as many guns as they want.
2. Shut down the government when they don't get their way.
9
Brooks's "conservative Counter Establishment" is not conservative at all; they are deeply radical, tearing out the roots of the New Deal and seeking roll American society back to the days when rich white men held comfortable control (vs. the still-uncomfortable control they currently exert). They don't just believe that "Washington is pervasively corrupt" or "implacably hostile to the G.O.P. leadership"; they believe that government itself is implacably hostile, "the problem." Brooks's analysis may have described the main forces with reasonable accuracy, but he sacrificed the meaning of the word "conservative" in the process, which now joins the words "liberal" and "moderate" as being without meaning in the current mainstream media discourse...
2
Some months ago Esquire Magazine devoted an entire issue to politics. Having queried all 535 members of both houses anonymously, they found only one point of agreement: Everyone, unanimously, hates Ted Cruz.
He will find that naked ambition and opportunism comes back to bite him.
Now, being liked, or even well liked, is no guarantee of anything; just ask Willy Loman. And alliances based purely on pragmatism and realpolitik - deals with the devil, the enemy of my enemy is my friend - are not only routine but the lifeblood of politics. However, if circumstances shift, although being liked won't save you from being flung over the side, being disliked certainly guarantees your former allies and your enemies will chuck you with that much more vigour, and then dance on your grave; and that if it's a choice of scapegoats, they'll choose you to sacrifice over the guy whom they perhaps do not like, but at least don't hate.
Machiavelli famously advised, 'whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved[, i]t might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both; but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.' But note: he didn't advise it was OK to be hated. Allowing oneself to be hated but useful is walking a high-wire without a net; OK as long as you keep your footing, but one slip - or one push - and it's a long way down, with no safety net.
He will find that naked ambition and opportunism comes back to bite him.
Now, being liked, or even well liked, is no guarantee of anything; just ask Willy Loman. And alliances based purely on pragmatism and realpolitik - deals with the devil, the enemy of my enemy is my friend - are not only routine but the lifeblood of politics. However, if circumstances shift, although being liked won't save you from being flung over the side, being disliked certainly guarantees your former allies and your enemies will chuck you with that much more vigour, and then dance on your grave; and that if it's a choice of scapegoats, they'll choose you to sacrifice over the guy whom they perhaps do not like, but at least don't hate.
Machiavelli famously advised, 'whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved[, i]t might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both; but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.' But note: he didn't advise it was OK to be hated. Allowing oneself to be hated but useful is walking a high-wire without a net; OK as long as you keep your footing, but one slip - or one push - and it's a long way down, with no safety net.
2
Canadians and people born in Canada are by and large kind people. Please see the video of Canadian Prime Minister welcoming Syrian refugees in Toronto. Now we have Ted Cruz who was born in Canada. How did this happen?
3
I'm always suspicious of Canadians!
Week after week you leave every substantive issue unexamined. OK, so he's Mr. Strategery, always tactically looking out for himself. Bully for him. Which of Ted Cruz's policy proposals you support and why? Are any of them good for America? Are there some that conservatives should reject and some that liberals should accept? Why is he better or worse than other candidates? Give us some substance for once.
5
According to Mr. Brooks, the difference between the GOP establishment and counter-establishment wings is that "the establishment wants to use the levers of power to practically pass reforms." But this is rather less than obvious, at least during the last seven years while we've had a Democratic president.
During those years, the establishment wing, which now controls both houses of Congress, has shown zero interest in practically passing reforms or any other legislation -- which would have, of course, required, compromising with the Democrats and President Obama. They have opposed every initiative of the president and have steadfastly refused to compromise to enact legislation. And their own legislative initiatives have been clearly designed merely for show, with no reasonable prospect of enactment.
In so doing, their rhetoric has been aimed at, and has enabled, the same over-the-top anti-establishment, anti-intellectual passions and prejudices that the counter-establishment candidates court. It's just that the counter-establishment candidates are willing to go a bit further to prove their bona fides.
During those years, the establishment wing, which now controls both houses of Congress, has shown zero interest in practically passing reforms or any other legislation -- which would have, of course, required, compromising with the Democrats and President Obama. They have opposed every initiative of the president and have steadfastly refused to compromise to enact legislation. And their own legislative initiatives have been clearly designed merely for show, with no reasonable prospect of enactment.
In so doing, their rhetoric has been aimed at, and has enabled, the same over-the-top anti-establishment, anti-intellectual passions and prejudices that the counter-establishment candidates court. It's just that the counter-establishment candidates are willing to go a bit further to prove their bona fides.
Why is Ted Cruz even more dangerous than Donald Trump?
Both men seek power for its own sake. But even Trump still wants to be loved.
Ted Cruz wants to be feared.
Both men seek power for its own sake. But even Trump still wants to be loved.
Ted Cruz wants to be feared.
129
It is understood that if you are leaning republican, a criticism of any of its members will have some atonement to at least try to understand the arrogance displayed, the self-serving attitude to satisfy an overgrown ego. But the fact about Cruz that remains salient is that he is not a nice, decent person. I suspect he would sell his mother (figuratively, please) if it would serve to enhance his figure. Cruz remains a charlatan, a dangerous one at that, patiently waiting his turn, to unseat Trump from his morally crumbling pedestal. Ted Cruz has rightfully gained oprobium within his own G.O.P. members, for his highly sophisticated dismissal of anybody but himself as king of the party. He may not be as bombastic as the Donald' but he is sneakier, and astute as a fox, not looking to cooperate in a by- force imperfect Union...but in destroying it. Potentially, an ugly prospect.
2
The words conservative is a misnomer. It does not describe anything or anyone with out further description. Try defining a conservative by words other than the word conservative. It's not easy.
The same can be said of the word liberal. A big difference is that the conservative uses the legal-case method to argue while the liberal uses the business-case method. The legal case method may be lopsided and one-sided. The business case method looks at all or both sides and tries to pick the best case for organization sustainability.
In a nutshell the conservative like a Mith McConnel disregards the facts and chooses his side. He cannot talk about organization sustainability he just talks politics. He has been one of the most destructive legislators in recent history.
The same can be said of the word liberal. A big difference is that the conservative uses the legal-case method to argue while the liberal uses the business-case method. The legal case method may be lopsided and one-sided. The business case method looks at all or both sides and tries to pick the best case for organization sustainability.
In a nutshell the conservative like a Mith McConnel disregards the facts and chooses his side. He cannot talk about organization sustainability he just talks politics. He has been one of the most destructive legislators in recent history.
2
The irony of Rafael "Ted" Cruz is that he's actually the foreign-born, Ivy League snob do-nothing first-term senator extremist the Tea Party has been warning us about since 2009.
5
As usual, nakedly honest in ways that seem to make commentators on both sides of the aisle squeamish, yet helps inform the public. Sheds light on why Ted Cruz, who even on television comes across as sleazy, smarmy, and self-serving, can claim so much support.
I'm just wondering if Mr. Buckley mightn't point out... "with... whoMever." :)
I'm just wondering if Mr. Buckley mightn't point out... "with... whoMever." :)
While Senator Cruz may be viewed as unlikeable by many, including moderate, establishment Republicans like Mr Brooks, the fact is that 16% of GOP voters presently support him and he continues to gain on the GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump even as the rest of the party's presidential contenders fade. Mr Brooks points to the substantial financial support enjoyed by the Senator and hints at a very real chance for Cruz to become the 2016 Republican Presidential nominee, while at the same time expressing considerable apprehension of that prospect.
What I suspect troubles establishment Republicans most about a Cruz nomination is that his bid for the White House could succeed. A small setback to a lackluster US economy, perhaps occasioned by the impeding Fed rate rise, combined with almost any incident that could conceivably be painted as terrorism would likely be more than to ensure a President Cruz. Thoughtful Republicans seem to fear – rightly in my view - that the economic and political damage that would almost certainly result from a Cruz presidency could be enough to cripple the GOP for a generation.
It would appear that Mr Brooks, and many in the GOP, just now realizing the predicament their tacit encouragement of the Trump/Cruz element of their party has placed them in, are having a collective Chester A Riley moment and thinking: “What a revoltin’ development this is!”
What I suspect troubles establishment Republicans most about a Cruz nomination is that his bid for the White House could succeed. A small setback to a lackluster US economy, perhaps occasioned by the impeding Fed rate rise, combined with almost any incident that could conceivably be painted as terrorism would likely be more than to ensure a President Cruz. Thoughtful Republicans seem to fear – rightly in my view - that the economic and political damage that would almost certainly result from a Cruz presidency could be enough to cripple the GOP for a generation.
It would appear that Mr Brooks, and many in the GOP, just now realizing the predicament their tacit encouragement of the Trump/Cruz element of their party has placed them in, are having a collective Chester A Riley moment and thinking: “What a revoltin’ development this is!”
2
Ok, Ted Cruz is trying to fool people into thinking he's 'anti-establishment.'
And David Brooks has tried for years to convince people he's a conservative.
(Only the NYT thinks so.)
And David Brooks has tried for years to convince people he's a conservative.
(Only the NYT thinks so.)
3
Cruz-o-fiction as the standard-bearer of the Republican party. What more needs to be said? My first thought is that Americans haven't learned enough history not to repeat the obvious mistakes. Not true. The folks backing the Republican party are adjusting the playbook so that the nasty characters aren't their own victims again. The world hasn't yet seen the coming disasters from global warming and we're already at each other's throats over perceived sleights. While it's interesting to watch, I'd rather not be a column in the next chapter. The wonder is, can the script be changed?
1
I think Douthat pointed out a problem with the Trump as a fascist argument is his apparent lack of interest in destroying the existing order because of it's irredeemable corruption and to lay the foundation for something purely American (insert their definition of what ever that means here). Now we hear about the Cruz's mothership, aka, the "Counter Establishment", their split with Reagan for his lack of "purity" and their "belief that Washington is pervasively corrupt". Do we have a "bingo"?
The Counter Establishment believes that Washington is pervasively corrupt
The Counter Establishment believes that Washington is pervasively corrupt
I heard him on NPR and he is completely anti-science! In these day and age, how can one deny ALL science? Are Texans gullible enough to elect a science denier? May be you disagree on the exact detail of a science paper, but claim that science is all bogus?
5
This is an interesting article on a seemingly amoral man, who is devious enough to know exactly what he is doing and what his intent is. To me, he is similar to Joseph McCarthy in outlook yet brighter and a more skilled orator.
What has not been mentioned here, or in the New York Times in general, is thorough and cogent coverage of the most honest and forthright politician in the bunch - Bernie Sanders. Why the freeze - is he too anti-corporate for the establishment NYT's taste?
What has not been mentioned here, or in the New York Times in general, is thorough and cogent coverage of the most honest and forthright politician in the bunch - Bernie Sanders. Why the freeze - is he too anti-corporate for the establishment NYT's taste?
5
I saw an interview Stephen Colbert did with Cruz awhile ago. After watching the Cruz interview I came away thinking to myself that I'm glad Cruz doesn't look and sound more like a Rick Perry type. If he did I think he would be our next President. I know it is shallow but I believe his looks, voice, and demeanor will ultimately protect us from his policies. The man is unquestionably very smart.
I knew Machiavelli. Cruz, you're no Machiavelli.
45
Brooks might be more accurate if he talks about the "old" and "new" establishments. It is a bit disingenuous to refer to a counter establishment as though it were a Counter Reformation. The white rural and urban "working classes," including farmers and employees, have tended to be economically liberal, e.g., in favour of easy money and collective wage bargaining, but they have also been conservative in social and cultural matters.
The Republican "Old Guard" has completely failed these groups, starting with the Reagan Administration's emphasis on "free trade" and international capital mobility, and its expansion of Taft-Hartley to as many states as possible. The result, gaining greater momentum since the onset of the Great Recession, has been a marked jump in income inequality and financial insecurity, and increased working middle class pessimism about the future, for themselves and their children.
The Democratic Party, at least the Clinton-Obama "New Guard" version of it, is marked by intimate relations with Wall Street and corporate interests. Where to turn, therefore, other than to those who promise to repeal the last 40 years and return the US to the ascendancy of the immediate post-war period, a time in which hope and optimism were the general outlook for most of the working people who now turn to demagogues for solace and inspiration.
The Republican "Old Guard" has completely failed these groups, starting with the Reagan Administration's emphasis on "free trade" and international capital mobility, and its expansion of Taft-Hartley to as many states as possible. The result, gaining greater momentum since the onset of the Great Recession, has been a marked jump in income inequality and financial insecurity, and increased working middle class pessimism about the future, for themselves and their children.
The Democratic Party, at least the Clinton-Obama "New Guard" version of it, is marked by intimate relations with Wall Street and corporate interests. Where to turn, therefore, other than to those who promise to repeal the last 40 years and return the US to the ascendancy of the immediate post-war period, a time in which hope and optimism were the general outlook for most of the working people who now turn to demagogues for solace and inspiration.
2
I'm not sure what is scarier - President Trump or one of the Cubans, Cruz or Rubio? I can't see how the American public could ever elect Trump to anything, but I said similar things about a retired Hollywood actor (Reagan) and washed-up bodybuilder (Arnold). The Cubans? Rubio can't even explain how a house he owed went into foreclosure at the same time he spent a ridiculous amount of money on a boat, and Cruz has a long string of video clips of him eating "machinegun bacon" and threatening to kill everyone in Syria (make the sand glow?) Heaven help us if any of these Republican candidates actually succeed. They make Reagan look considerate and rational, and even GW Bush look reasonably intelligent.
6
Ted Cruz thinks that only the American white voters vote and they are all up for grabs! Above all he thinks in all likelihood he is going to get it all! A grandiose delusional man indeed! I think he made too many enemies in the Republican party and do you all think that the mainstream Republicans are ready to coronate him? For all I know he is in the same league as charlatan Mccarthy! The Republicans will do him in and prefer Hillary Clinton as next President of the USA.
1
What really created this modern day Republican/Conservative was Reagan getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine which lead to Conservative Talk Radio & Fox-Faux News. With these tools conservatives were able to create an Alternative Reality, like being the ONLY Conservative Group in the World who don't believe in Climate Change. They've created Frankenstein's Monster but unfortunately the rest of us have to live with the results.
4
The G.O.P. has created several "Frankensteins" who are out of control. Ted Cruz is but one. Cruz is an odious man whose hunger for power and the Presidency is palpable. His willingness to shut the government down was an egotistical power trip which alone should disqualify him to be President. The misogyny, xenophobia, and the cruelty he espouses are vulgar. His resemblance to Joseph McCarthy in his looks and tactics make me shudder. He has the very dangerous combination of unbridled ambition coupled with cunning intelligence. However, he is just one head of a monstrous male/female Medusa that comprise the list of Republican candidates for the Presidency in 2016. The prospect of any one of the contenders winning fills me with horror.
5
Cruz is bright - and EVIL.
3
It seems that Brooks and Douthat are so dazed by what their party's become that they now both spend their columns trying to make some sense out of it while the Golem created out of the muck of Republican politics makes a mockery of anything that resembles intellect and reason. A Golem who, because he's got his own deep pockets, is even beginning to scare the wealthy white men who had gotten used to giving clueless Republican recruits their marching orders.
2
Not a particularly insightful Op-Ed, seems almost...tactical.
1
Where in Mr. Brooks' analysis of the two, or three, groups in the Republican establishment is the group supporting the leader in the polls? Not mentioned. Too anti-establishment for the establishment Mr. Brooks, I guess.
Article II, section 1 of the US Constitution provides that “No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.” Senator Ted Cruz is reported to have been born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Has there been an amendment to the Constitution that allows persons born in Canada nevertheless to seek to be elected to the office of President? Must that person be Republican?
5
The words written by Boston journalist Mike Royko about Bob Dole, so aptly fit Ted Cruz. "...even when he smiles he looks like he just evicted a widow."
3
Maybe just maybe we get what we deserve.
2
I don't think there's any evidence the government shutdown did any harm to either his party or the country. Republicans did great in the midterm elections one year later. And concerning the country, if only we could shut down most of the worthless government agencies permanently, we'd all have much better lives.
3
Sadly, Cruz is yet another narcissistic politician who puts himself before Party and Country. It is hard to imagine a more odious type politician. Unfortunately, America is paying an enormous price because of years of pseudo-governance. The great angst for me is the competing ideas of "we get what we deserve" and "we don't deserve what we're getting." The old chicken and the egg dilemma.
So, I admit, megalomaniacs like Cruz and Trump scare me and stress me out. They are driven, smart, devious and very possibly evil. There are many others in politics, so many that it seems that 99% of the politicians serve the interests of the wealthiest 1%. However, what scares me the most are the people who have acquired enormous power and influence through money and the media. They use their money and power to employ an extraordinarily sophisticated form of propaganda which is largely successful in controlling the minds of millions. One example and proof positive are poll results which mirror the spin and hyperbole of recent news stories. Polls themselves are a means to an end, designed to evoke a response to a narrative that suits a given political agenda. It should be clear that most people lack critical thinking skills and depend upon others, particularly celebrated pundits and recognized institutions, to shape and form their thoughts.
So, I admit, megalomaniacs like Cruz and Trump scare me and stress me out. They are driven, smart, devious and very possibly evil. There are many others in politics, so many that it seems that 99% of the politicians serve the interests of the wealthiest 1%. However, what scares me the most are the people who have acquired enormous power and influence through money and the media. They use their money and power to employ an extraordinarily sophisticated form of propaganda which is largely successful in controlling the minds of millions. One example and proof positive are poll results which mirror the spin and hyperbole of recent news stories. Polls themselves are a means to an end, designed to evoke a response to a narrative that suits a given political agenda. It should be clear that most people lack critical thinking skills and depend upon others, particularly celebrated pundits and recognized institutions, to shape and form their thoughts.
7
it's not enough that Ted Cruz has nary a friend in Congress. we all know people we avoid at parties. What scares me is this elitist lawyer is successfully painting all the nuances of American politics as simple black and white choices. That is very appealing to confounded voters... who will overlook Ted's resemblance to Grandpa Munster. I am afraid that the GOP power in Washington will topple Trump only to end up with Cruz.
4
I find this piece a bit disturbing. It reads more like a list of chess-game strategies than a discussion about a want-to-be leader's goals for improving the ills of our country. It reads more about divisiveness and fault lines and ego and winning rather than Ted Cruz's views about how he would unify us rather than engender more fracturing and polarization. And what's worse, this way of thinking is becoming an "acceptable" mind-set and approach for many of those running for office. What happened to experience and honesty and wisdom and talent and qualifications and appropriate temperament for the job and character and needed knowledge being valued above everything else? Certainly above strategy and the wool being pulled over our eyes all in the name of winning.
56
We have a famous likability barometer for candidates -- "can I imagine sitting down for a beer with this person?"
With Cruz, as with many of the GOP roster, the more appropriate question is "can I imagine punching this fellow in a tavern after he says something ridiculously provocative?"
With Cruz, as with many of the GOP roster, the more appropriate question is "can I imagine punching this fellow in a tavern after he says something ridiculously provocative?"
8
Nobody is scarier in public life than the people who claim to know what God thinks and offer a program of idolatry to get manna from Heaven with trickle-down economics.
13
This "analysis" of inside Republican baseball, history, and factions leaves out the largest group of Republicans - older, white, uneducated, not wealthy, rural. Brooks pronounces on the Republican establishment like lots of inside-the-beltway GOPers did, until Donald Trump proved them wrong,.
2
Regarding Cruz in particular, but the Republican hopefuls generally, I like the image (culled from The Economist) that they all want to be seen as Moses coming down the mountain with tablets in hand. Unfortunately, when they arrive, the multitudes discover they're not tablets, but an etch-a-sketch. It doesn't matter whether they're Kind or Selfish, they're thoroughly Machiavellian, with thoroughly contrived character.
4
Look in the mirror, Mr. Brooks. Conservative enablers like you have greased the way for people like Cruz and Trump to gain traction in American politics. Excuse the mixed metaphors.
13
Why not take the man as John McCain described him? Need anything more be said?
3
Can't believe you are still in that party Mr. Brooks. What a long national nightmare we are in with these people.
6
Mr. Brooks: If the general election were between Cruz and Clinton, who would you support?
This sounds like you are disgusted with Cruz. Is it fair to think that you would never support him if he became the G.O.P. choice? Could it be that HRC is the real conservative candidate in this race? And that the real choice between the traditional right and the traditional left is between Clinton and Sanders?
It could be that Cruz poaches Trump's 30% of support, which would make him the front-runner--the disturbing, Machiavellian front-runner. Then what for the old-school types? What would be best for America? Cruz?
The Grand Old Party has a big identity problem. First, it hates the candidate that espouses Reagan-like values: Hillary Clinton. Second, it's base supports a blithering orange haired, xenophobe opportunist: Donald trump. Third, second in line is a selfish Machiavellian: Ted Cruz. When will the establishment Republicans lose their pride and admit that they have completely lost their way, and defect with an endorsement for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
This sounds like you are disgusted with Cruz. Is it fair to think that you would never support him if he became the G.O.P. choice? Could it be that HRC is the real conservative candidate in this race? And that the real choice between the traditional right and the traditional left is between Clinton and Sanders?
It could be that Cruz poaches Trump's 30% of support, which would make him the front-runner--the disturbing, Machiavellian front-runner. Then what for the old-school types? What would be best for America? Cruz?
The Grand Old Party has a big identity problem. First, it hates the candidate that espouses Reagan-like values: Hillary Clinton. Second, it's base supports a blithering orange haired, xenophobe opportunist: Donald trump. Third, second in line is a selfish Machiavellian: Ted Cruz. When will the establishment Republicans lose their pride and admit that they have completely lost their way, and defect with an endorsement for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
9
The entire GOP seems to be composed of Greedy Obsessive Punks complaining that if the rich and the corporations aren't being given enough in tax breaks the world will end. They make sure that their people, i.e. their extremely rich donors are on the receiving end of government handouts while preventing the rest of us from making decent salaries, being able to get the medical care we need, getting a good education in grades K-12, and having a marginally decent infrastructure. That's the Ted Cruz establishment and the GOP in a nutshell.
42
Cruz/Machiavelli may win the nomination, in the unlikely event that Trump falls, but how does he win the election? Machiavelli would, like every Republican candidate since Nixon, pivot sharply to the center after winning the nomination by manipulating the peasants (mainly southern peasants) blatantly. But hasn't Trump demonstrated that the tactic of fooling base voters doesn't work so well any longer? Cruz (or Trump) scrambling to get to the center wouldn't please the folks who secured him the nomination very much. It doesn't take a Machiavelli to understand the politics of winning Republican primaries and then losing elections. Oh, and there a few "Machiavellis" in the other party too. There is in fact a Ms. Machiavelli just waiting to run against either Trump or Cruz.
8
I don't know about this tale of two establishments. It might have been true in the past, but today's GOP is beholden to the present. In today's America, meaningful articulation of policy and practice between the American voter and national politicians must take a back seat to the Dadaist theater of the modern media landscape. For example, did you know that of the Top 100 News Sites in the United States, the New York Times is equivalently ranked to Fox New ( http://www.foxnews.com/ )? And it doesn't even have a cable wing. I'm thankful that the 'liberal' spectrum of American governance maintains a rational dialogue between leaders and citizens. I just don't think the same is true in 'conservative' circles.
-Hillary/Sanders 2016
-Hillary/Sanders 2016
7
Mr. Brooks, what astounds me is that a Ted Cruz, a Donald Trump, a Joe MacCarthy, a Hitler, all find supporters. Who are these people who fire the passions of megalomaniacs in the GOP? It's not enough to write them off as lower middle class whites, who are they really? Few people belong to white supremacist groups, few belong to the KKK finding brotherhood in hate and bigotry. These people are your neighbors, they coach Little League, lead Boy Scouts, work in your companies...what turned them into cheering, hateful throngs? Every pundit has offered their opinions of the candidates, ad nauseum, but without a real understanding of the base, we will continue on our march to destroy a country that has served us so well.
11
Help me out here - which sort of Machiavellian is the one that cravenly tells poor people that if they just pay a little more of rich people's taxes, that one fantastical day, they may be rich and get to take advantage of poor people too?
Those are the ones that really get me... Know any of them, David?
Those are the ones that really get me... Know any of them, David?
6
I guess no body likes Teddy. But what I don't get is who he is is written large on his face yet many would vote for him.
1
I worried about Cruz way back when people were underestimating him and his strategic skills. How could someone with an Ivy League education even think of saying such blatantly stupid things and try single-handed to shut down the People's government? How could he possibly succeed? Well now we see him as a growing shadow behind Donald Trump. Neither of them would win the election but it's the short- and long-term damage they are capable of that worries me.
5
While he is a skilled politician, what you're missing, David, is that by all accounts Cruz has had the same consistent conservatarian political philosophy since high school. And he fights for it. Compare that to other elected members of the Republican Party.
4
For heaven's sake, do The New York Times writers need to write ANOTHER editorial about Ted Cruz or Carly Fiorina or Ben Carson or Donald Trump? Talk about preaching to the choir! I think it's fairly clear that a majority of Time readers have a crystal clear opinion about that creature slinking around called Ted Cruz. I don't need to hear one more word about his comings and goings - my mind is firmly made up on him and I am of the opinion that if we were to take a poll this very moment about 99.99% of Times readers would say the same thing. So PLEASE, for the love of heaven, let's talk about something else for 2 seconds at least, can we? How about how this fine New York City weather, feeling like Spring, might be a symptom of climate change that Cruz and his ilk deny exists? See? Now I can't talk about an issue without bringing that person into it....thanks a lot!
11
Mr. Brooks suggests that there is something very old about Mr. Cruz's behaviors. And he goes to Machiavelli for illustrations. And I very much appreciate the detailed topography he offers of the Republican party history. But does not Sen. Cruz come across as a figure with every intent to be more powerful than the Counter Establishment and all the rest of us?.. As DNA of a virus, self confident to a fault, an infection that constitutionally has no remorse as it kills its host, Think Ebola with a un-matched spite. No? Why ask the scorpion why it stings the kind creature that has offered to take it across the stream while even in the middle of those waters? "I am a scorpion." From its very mouth the truth. No?
5
Of those Republican candidates who are perceived to have a chance of winning the presidency, Ted Cruz frightens me the most. Yes, even more so than Trump.
30
Mr. Brooks,
Sorry, anybody that reads Green Eggs and Ham, and misses the moral is not presidential material.
Not to mention he still lies about the $24 billion he cost the tax payers whilst shutting down the Gov. to show his toughness.
You didn't mention his Traveling Christian Tent Revival style of speech nor his Dominion Evangelical Christian rearing that says he is to be the anointed one, to be the "King" over the people as his father keeps hammering at the pulpit.
We don't need nor want his anti-secular, pro-religious government in America!
Did I mention nobody, NOBODY! in Washington nor Texas likes the dude!?!
Sorry, anybody that reads Green Eggs and Ham, and misses the moral is not presidential material.
Not to mention he still lies about the $24 billion he cost the tax payers whilst shutting down the Gov. to show his toughness.
You didn't mention his Traveling Christian Tent Revival style of speech nor his Dominion Evangelical Christian rearing that says he is to be the anointed one, to be the "King" over the people as his father keeps hammering at the pulpit.
We don't need nor want his anti-secular, pro-religious government in America!
Did I mention nobody, NOBODY! in Washington nor Texas likes the dude!?!
19
What a curious detour, David, from your recent meditations on life choices and values (to venture a foray into "Machiavellianism" and the Republican establishments)! Whether malignant or benign, I doubt that anyone would accuse a Machiavellian of high-mindedness. Same goes for the Republican Party in general, which has rarely taken the high road on many issues since Lincoln addressed slavery and Theodore Roosevelt the trusts.
5
Fidel Castro finally did it -- We now have our very on Marielito Machurian candidate!
Indeed, very Machiavellian of Fidel!
Indeed, very Machiavellian of Fidel!
13
Cruz is first and foremost a lawyer whose definition of truth depends upon who is paying him. His ambition means, apparently, that he is now his own client. The man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client, as the old saying goes.
Second, Cruz's recent speech at the Heritage Foundation was a big wet kiss to Reagan and Jeanne Kirkpatrick -- overtly praising the bombing of Qadafi's compound as a "corrective." I was troubled by the smugness of it, and the implications that the circumstances now are even remotely similar.
Finally, in appearance and speech, Cruz is chillingly similar to Joe McCarthy. I wonder if he has studied the old newsreels and practices in front of a mirror.
Second, Cruz's recent speech at the Heritage Foundation was a big wet kiss to Reagan and Jeanne Kirkpatrick -- overtly praising the bombing of Qadafi's compound as a "corrective." I was troubled by the smugness of it, and the implications that the circumstances now are even remotely similar.
Finally, in appearance and speech, Cruz is chillingly similar to Joe McCarthy. I wonder if he has studied the old newsreels and practices in front of a mirror.
20
Be crystal clear about what the man stands for and what he believes about his fellow citizens. Be clear about his John Birch Society and radical Dominionist roots, and about what he means by so-called "Constitutional Conservatism." Be clear what kind of judges he will pick. Be clear that he intends to transform this country and make it unrecognizable. Be clear there is little room in his America for anyone to his left. Focus on his personality instead of his ideology at your peril, and ours.
37
Counter Establishment is just a fancy shamncy word for flame throwers. And Ted Cruz is their captain.
9
There is political Machiavellianism as well as psychological one. The latter is used by psychologists to characterize a cynic, devoid of regard for morality, who concentrates on self-interest and personal gain by deceiving and manipulating others.
9
This dispassionate analysis ignores a harsher reality: all three flavors of Republican "establishment" described by Mr. Brooks have acted in close concert to destroy the competence, resources and reputation of the U.S. government.
All of these GOP sects have colluded in a loud, relentless campaign to portray a modestly progressive, popularly elected President as an extreme, socialist Antichrist -- and have used that portrayal as an excuse to engage in scorched-earth legislative tactics that leave these United States unable to fulfill its obligations to its own people or to function as a global leader. Short (although just barely) of actually allowing the government to default, all of these factions have sought narrow partisan advantage by crippling the institutions of democratic self-rule -- and then using the appalling results to illustrate their twisted theory that government can't do or fix anything.
Cruz is noteworthy only in his willingness to talk openly and without shame about this destructive agenda.
Mr. Brooks does get one thing right, however: outside the GOP bubble, Cruz's "passion" appears unhampered by conviction or vision. He'd drop his pose of ideological "purity," his religiosity and his love of country music in a New York minute if he thought it would further his personal ambition.
All of these GOP sects have colluded in a loud, relentless campaign to portray a modestly progressive, popularly elected President as an extreme, socialist Antichrist -- and have used that portrayal as an excuse to engage in scorched-earth legislative tactics that leave these United States unable to fulfill its obligations to its own people or to function as a global leader. Short (although just barely) of actually allowing the government to default, all of these factions have sought narrow partisan advantage by crippling the institutions of democratic self-rule -- and then using the appalling results to illustrate their twisted theory that government can't do or fix anything.
Cruz is noteworthy only in his willingness to talk openly and without shame about this destructive agenda.
Mr. Brooks does get one thing right, however: outside the GOP bubble, Cruz's "passion" appears unhampered by conviction or vision. He'd drop his pose of ideological "purity," his religiosity and his love of country music in a New York minute if he thought it would further his personal ambition.
259
Cruz is my biggest reason for hoping Trump stays strong.
88
The very conservative electorate who are mad as hell that government isn't working are also dumb as hell. They vote for those who are hostile to governance and then wonder why government isn't working.
They now support Trump or Cruz, two narcissistic opportunists who recognize how easily the low- to no-information very conservative voter is misled into believing what any intelligent voter would recognize is ideological nonsense. The very conservative voter is so clueless that they believe Trump and Cruz are more truthful than those who offer more realistic positions.
The Republican establishment allowed their party to be hijacked by the far right and now suffer the consequences. If Trump or Cruz actually becomes the party's nominee, Hillary will own the election, saving the country from the dumb as hell.
Eclectic Pragmatist — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
They now support Trump or Cruz, two narcissistic opportunists who recognize how easily the low- to no-information very conservative voter is misled into believing what any intelligent voter would recognize is ideological nonsense. The very conservative voter is so clueless that they believe Trump and Cruz are more truthful than those who offer more realistic positions.
The Republican establishment allowed their party to be hijacked by the far right and now suffer the consequences. If Trump or Cruz actually becomes the party's nominee, Hillary will own the election, saving the country from the dumb as hell.
Eclectic Pragmatist — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
7
The GOP era of the Republican Party of Eisenhower is ending. The RINO-TeaParty-Dixiecrats is the new force in this party. In the 1840-1850s, prior to the establishment of the Lincoln- Republican Party, there was the same kind of people making noises. They were called The Know-Nothing Party, also known as the American Party. This country experienced some of the same issues then as now. It seems that Mark Twain was correct: “ 'History never repeats itself but it rhymes.”
2
Cruz is angling for a huge political flame-out, with which to launch his second coming as the ultimate tele-evangelist.
1
Mr. Brooks's disillusionment with "movement conservatism" continues, although he can't quite bring himself to admit that the ideology was always intellectually indefensible and morally weak. Sow that the racism, the false sense of victimization, the antipathy to democracy, the tendency to violently enforce conformity and the refusal to accept contrary facts and reasoned argument are ascendant he distances himself by creating, out of thin air, a division in the movement, neatly excising all the elements of his ideology that make him look bad.
Ted Cruz may be consumed with ambition and unashamedly opportunistic but ideolgally he is just Ronald Reagan with bad hair.
Ted Cruz may be consumed with ambition and unashamedly opportunistic but ideolgally he is just Ronald Reagan with bad hair.
2
"Ted Cruz has fooled most of the willing conservative true believers into thinking he's anti-establishment, when in fact he just has his own, which is what everyone outside of the hermetically sealed GOP bubble has been saying for years."
Fixed.
Fixed.
The guy is a lawyer. He will always stretch the truth or better yet, not tell the whole store. He leaves bread crumbs for you to follow and hopes that you realize he is the "chosen one!" He may not be explicit, but he is!
1
Nice move, David, to do one more in-the-weeds analysis of the Republican primary fight so you can continue to postpone admitting the central fact about current American politics: Donald Trump is THE leader of your Republican Party/conservative movement. He is the chief spokesman for the brand. He achieved that status by rocketing to the top of the Republican polls and staying there consistently for five months, with a wide margin between him and his competitors. Trump is not some aberration. He represents the heart and soul of the Republican Party. Trump's ascendancy offers conclusive proof the GOP is a burnt-out case, ready for the dustbin of history. Or the dung hill.
But it’s getting kinda dishonest, David, for you to continue to refuse to take any responsibility for creating this Frankenstein’s monster. Litmus test: are you ready to declare that you will not vote for Trump if he gets the Republican nomination, and use your column to urge other Republicans to do the same?
But it’s getting kinda dishonest, David, for you to continue to refuse to take any responsibility for creating this Frankenstein’s monster. Litmus test: are you ready to declare that you will not vote for Trump if he gets the Republican nomination, and use your column to urge other Republicans to do the same?
6
He is plenty scary. RAFAEL is all about RAFAEL. As he has attempted to hide his real name from the public, he also also feigned intellect, understanding and curiosity that he has never shown in other endeavors. He questions evolution, loathes intellectuals, and seems to hate government.
Why does anyone who clearly hates most people and government wish to be president?!??!?
Why does anyone who clearly hates most people and government wish to be president?!??!?
5
Ted Cruz will fade like Dr. Carson. Like all the unelectable wannabe POTUS candidates in 2008 and 2012, he will become as also-ran. Next year's crop of unelectable Republican candidates for the Presidency is tied up in knots over Donald Trump's success in the polls well than a year before the election, and now the GOP/Tea Party establishment is glomming onto Ted Cruz who is not unly unlikeable and ineligible to run for the Presidency due to his birth in O,Canada and his renunciation of Canadian citizenship just last year, but becuase he is a machiavellian plotter who is hitching his wagon to the Trump star. Surely the Republican Party itself is fed up with its lackluster bunch of clowns running for the Presidency - notwithstanding their worry about Trump possibly rising like yeast to claim the nod next summer from the NRC? there is no "Ted Cruz Establishment", David, just a willy-nilly drive by Cruz to be our President. Heaven forfend!
3
Good article, David. i think the challenge anybody should have with Cruz is the same one we have with Trump. While both speak passionately about the issues i never really know whether or not to believe that they believe what they're saying.
He can't criticize Trump because, basically, he'd be criticizing himself.
He can't criticize Trump because, basically, he'd be criticizing himself.
2
There is a better word to describe Mr. Cruz and Mr. Trump, Neo-Fascists.
8
So we've gone from the Manchurian candidate to the Machiavellian candidate. But no matter how politically shrewd Ted Cruz may be, Republican voters (and perhaps general election voters) ultimately will ask: to what end? And on this question, Cruz will come up short.
2
Who are the PAC masters backing the campaign financing for TED CRUZ
then....expose the aims of these PAC masters who are actually DICTATORS
of our now so called Republic.
The PAC masters are the so called WIZARDS OF OZ...and control the messaging
of Ted Cruz...as well as Marco Rubio...etcetera etcetera.
So Goes the infamous Citizens United anathema !!!!
then....expose the aims of these PAC masters who are actually DICTATORS
of our now so called Republic.
The PAC masters are the so called WIZARDS OF OZ...and control the messaging
of Ted Cruz...as well as Marco Rubio...etcetera etcetera.
So Goes the infamous Citizens United anathema !!!!
5
Who are those who bankroll the 'Counter Establishment'? Clearly they are interested in tearing down the power structure now in place and establishing their own. Who are these people? Brooks really needs to write about them. One could name them the ISIS of the US
4
What does Conservative mean? I struggle with that. There is not that much connection between radical anti-abortion conservatives and fiscal budget hawks. There is an interesting article in Wash Post today about a focus group of Trump supporters. They embrace his anti-Muslim rhetoric and outsized claims. I suppose these are also conservatives as well, and they support excluding Muslims way more than the average American. I am struggling to understand what my comrades in Democracy think. Shutting down the government was an affront to Democracy and our Country not the Republican Brand. The biggest threat we are now facing is not ISIS, Muslims or China, it is the potential dissolution of our Union.
6
Ted Cruz has profited from the decline of Ben Carson, picking up a good chunk of the evangelical base. Between him and Trump, they now have over 50% of likely Republican voters. Neither will likely suffer a setback among their supporters, who believe their respective candidate can do no wrong. However if one does tank, the other will pick up the majority of his supporters.
Executive summary: the Republican Establishment is doomed.
Executive summary: the Republican Establishment is doomed.
4
Cruz is incredibly Machiavellian. He is so self-serving that I would not put it past him to use a child as a human-shield, if he was being shot at, just like the Presidential candidate Stillson did, in Stephen King's "The Dead Zone."
7
Please quantify how Cruz is so intelligent. He doesn't even grasp the theme of a children's book; "Green Eggs and Ham"! Dangerous, conniving, manipulative, hateful, bigoted, homophobic, xenophobic, hypocritical, disingenuous, spiteful: all adjectives to describe this despicable demagogue. Is this your idea of intelligent?
17
According to Cruz, his pastor father once told me, "God has destined you for greatness."
What the father neglected to tell him is, "Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others." (Plato)
What the father neglected to tell him is, "Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves nor their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others." (Plato)
8
"The mainstream establishment tends to side with party leaders like Paul Ryan and whoever the presidential nominee is."
Leave aside the fact that when you scratch a Paul Ryan, or a Marco Rubio, or a Jeb!, or a John Kasich, or a fill in the blank with any sitting Republican legislator or (former) governor you get someone who on most policy matters is indistinguishable from the Tweedly Dee on his right or the Tweedly Dum on his left?
That's what Brooks has just done.
There is simply very little policy difference among the Republican candidates. Indeed, as Paul Krugman has pointed out, Trump, if anything, is distinguishably to the left of the rest of the pack on economic policy issues.
And here is David Brooks worried about the fact that Ted Cruz uses the wrong fork at a dinner party.
Get over it David. Suck it up and, as a mainstreamer, prepare to write columns next Fall supporting your party's candidate, Ted Cruz, and explaining to your audience that Hillary can't be trusted because she has hidden an email saying how she was watching The Daily Show rather than running over to State the night of the Benghazi attacks.
It will be fun, in a guignolish sort of way, to watch Brooks go through the anguish of moral self-impalement by flakking, if not for Ted, then against Hillary.
Maybe David, to salvage his amour propre, should put in for an NYT sabbatical next Fall? Go teach at Yale again. Or maybe Yale's Singapore collaboration with the local friendly authoritarian state.
Leave aside the fact that when you scratch a Paul Ryan, or a Marco Rubio, or a Jeb!, or a John Kasich, or a fill in the blank with any sitting Republican legislator or (former) governor you get someone who on most policy matters is indistinguishable from the Tweedly Dee on his right or the Tweedly Dum on his left?
That's what Brooks has just done.
There is simply very little policy difference among the Republican candidates. Indeed, as Paul Krugman has pointed out, Trump, if anything, is distinguishably to the left of the rest of the pack on economic policy issues.
And here is David Brooks worried about the fact that Ted Cruz uses the wrong fork at a dinner party.
Get over it David. Suck it up and, as a mainstreamer, prepare to write columns next Fall supporting your party's candidate, Ted Cruz, and explaining to your audience that Hillary can't be trusted because she has hidden an email saying how she was watching The Daily Show rather than running over to State the night of the Benghazi attacks.
It will be fun, in a guignolish sort of way, to watch Brooks go through the anguish of moral self-impalement by flakking, if not for Ted, then against Hillary.
Maybe David, to salvage his amour propre, should put in for an NYT sabbatical next Fall? Go teach at Yale again. Or maybe Yale's Singapore collaboration with the local friendly authoritarian state.
7
Ted Cruz reminds me of that other Machiavellian Texan, LBJ.
Here's what's really going to happen.
None of the leading GOP candidates will earn enough delegates' votes to be nominated on the first ballot at the convention. All will be so dinged up or compromised by the primaries that a nominee won't have emerged who's acceptable to the party apparatus.
The party will draft Paul Ryan, who will have been appearing statesmanlike as Speaker (how else do you think they persuaded him to take the job?) and won't be covered in the mud slung by fellow candidates and Democrats in the primary.
You heard it here first. We'll see after Super Tuesday whether this starts to look like a plausible scenario.
None of the leading GOP candidates will earn enough delegates' votes to be nominated on the first ballot at the convention. All will be so dinged up or compromised by the primaries that a nominee won't have emerged who's acceptable to the party apparatus.
The party will draft Paul Ryan, who will have been appearing statesmanlike as Speaker (how else do you think they persuaded him to take the job?) and won't be covered in the mud slung by fellow candidates and Democrats in the primary.
You heard it here first. We'll see after Super Tuesday whether this starts to look like a plausible scenario.
114
Who cares. All the Republican candidates are so far right that any one of them will be a disaster.
21
Perhaps the division within the Republican party reflects the growing division between rich and poor in this country. High-school educated people with stagnant or declining wages drift toward the "reformers" and the well-heeled businessmen cling to the establishment. There's no cohesive core because the middle class has been hollowed out.
How implausible is it that the Republicans might split into two parties in the not too distant future?
How implausible is it that the Republicans might split into two parties in the not too distant future?
9
In an interview on NPR, Cruz asserted that the 90%+ scientists who were advocating action against climate change were simply doing so as an excuse to help more big government intrude in our lives. When the interviewer asked if Cruz wasn't discounting climate change because of his funding by oil and gas concerns, Cruz protested: that's an ad hominem (attacking the speaker). Which is what he just did in a ridiculous manner to the scientists.
33
Cruz and Rubio share a talent for self-promoting ambition but can they govern.
9
Cruz hasn't proved that. What has he ever governed?
Cruz maybe bright (at least academically), he may be strategic, he may be ambitious, but he is not likable---at the end of the election day---people vote for people they like. Look at Reagan, who was not bright, often not strategic, and did not appear ambitious. But he was certainly likable, and with books questioning the substance and consistency of his policies he is still beloved, because people liked him.
17
He's still a wacko bird in my book.
15
When will Mr. Brooks stop pontificating and say where his sympathies lie with regard to these supposed "establishments"?
8
Wherever Brooks's sympathies lie (and I don't think it's very hard to tell), he is providing a valuable service here. This is important history. What's the point of another blowhard pontificating? Brooks here is giving us a peek through the castle walls.
You talk about these people as if they were normal and decent human beings. I simply cannot believe such to be the case. Most folks I know aren't Machiavellian in the least. Actually, most are reasonably nice people. The Republicans are taking from some other barrel to stock their putrid party.
25
This column brought no insight and nothing worthy of the time spent reading it. Mr. Brooks, how about some insight?
7
I commend David Brooks once again for continuing to grow a very healthy political backbone. He takes Ted Cruz down in this column beautifully.. However, as much as I agree with the commentaries here, no one seems to want to comment on Cruz's inability to become president. He is not a "natural born citizen." Although he, Ted Cruz, seems to have slithered past this little factoid, this wrinkle has not been ironed out entirely. If, and heaven forfend, he ever gets nominated, this sword still hangs in over his head. Why aren't more people discussing this elephant in the room? I have to think that the Democrats will pounce on it big time IF he managed to claw his way to the nomination.
101
Blame all the media for this situation. Every time his name is mentioned it should be as: "Canadian born Ted Cruz".
1
In my estimation, no one can win the White House without votes from the independents and some from the other party.
Ted Cruz is too far off the charts to gather independents and some democrats.
He is either just vying for attention, much like Trump, or he is more of a cult leader and wants a following.
He will not become President of the United States! If for some reason he does, I will join Alec Baldwin and leave the country!
Ted Cruz is too far off the charts to gather independents and some democrats.
He is either just vying for attention, much like Trump, or he is more of a cult leader and wants a following.
He will not become President of the United States! If for some reason he does, I will join Alec Baldwin and leave the country!
13
How about some GOP members getting together to actually DO something good for the country, instead of building up semi-secret societies financed by super-PACs, influenced by lobbyists and by whatever industry pays the biggest bucks?
I couldn't care less if GOP members created a "loony tunes rave party" group as long as its aim was to legislate responsibly, to propose viable solutions, to dialogue with Democrats as responsible adults and to accept the facts of science, without having money-raising, lobbying and machiavelian backroom dealing as the ultimate end of it all.
I couldn't care less if GOP members created a "loony tunes rave party" group as long as its aim was to legislate responsibly, to propose viable solutions, to dialogue with Democrats as responsible adults and to accept the facts of science, without having money-raising, lobbying and machiavelian backroom dealing as the ultimate end of it all.
8
It tells you a lot about someone when they are obsessed with IQ and SAT scores years after they are no longer relevant. They think that some measure of innate intelligence defines the pecking order of the world. So many people whose scores would be looked upon by Cruz with disdain have gone on to make a difference in this world. Cruz has not found a way to use his intellectual gifts beyond inflating his own ego and attempting to destroy the democratic process.
19
Are you seriously going to buy into this anonymous critique on such an important issue? Shame on you.
Imagination - - - with Cruz as President reality would be much more frightening than W. ever could have been, even without Cheney and the cohorts.
12
If you build it, they will come.
Well, David, you and the rest of your Republican Brethren built this.
You used Willie Horton and the Southern Strategy to create fear of the Black Man, to pull working class Southern Whites into your party.
You used Gays as a scapegoat to woo the Conservative Right (who are clearly wrong).
You used the imaginary Welfare Queen with her 10 kids on Welfare to woo the selfish.
You used the "Obama is a Muslim Kenyan Communist" to woo the clinically insane.
You used "Death Panels!" to kill Obamacare and woo the Insurance Lobby.
You used 911 to attack Iraq, to woo the Warmongers.
You used "Fast and Furious" to pretend that Obama will take all our guns, strengthening the NRA and wooing Gun Lovers.
You endlessly used the "Mainstream Media is Liberal" trope, not to mention "Public Education is Liberal" blah blah blah, so that Conservatives could pretend they're under attack.
So now?
You have a bunch of uneducated, ignorant, selfish, racist, misogynist, homophobic, warmongers with more guns with brains all distrustful of the government.
Who did you think they'd elect? Kasich?
I am dead serious when I say that the BEST we can hope for is Donald Trump. With the exception of Jeb Bush and Kasich who will NEVER win, the rest are sociopaths... First and Foremost RAPHAEL Cruz.
Well, David, you and the rest of your Republican Brethren built this.
You used Willie Horton and the Southern Strategy to create fear of the Black Man, to pull working class Southern Whites into your party.
You used Gays as a scapegoat to woo the Conservative Right (who are clearly wrong).
You used the imaginary Welfare Queen with her 10 kids on Welfare to woo the selfish.
You used the "Obama is a Muslim Kenyan Communist" to woo the clinically insane.
You used "Death Panels!" to kill Obamacare and woo the Insurance Lobby.
You used 911 to attack Iraq, to woo the Warmongers.
You used "Fast and Furious" to pretend that Obama will take all our guns, strengthening the NRA and wooing Gun Lovers.
You endlessly used the "Mainstream Media is Liberal" trope, not to mention "Public Education is Liberal" blah blah blah, so that Conservatives could pretend they're under attack.
So now?
You have a bunch of uneducated, ignorant, selfish, racist, misogynist, homophobic, warmongers with more guns with brains all distrustful of the government.
Who did you think they'd elect? Kasich?
I am dead serious when I say that the BEST we can hope for is Donald Trump. With the exception of Jeb Bush and Kasich who will NEVER win, the rest are sociopaths... First and Foremost RAPHAEL Cruz.
30
THE AMBITIOUS WEASAL FROM TEXAS . . .
...uses excellent political strategy ... but anyone who has viewed his act since he was elected to the Senate knows how far too transparent his goals have appeared.
He reminds me of a man with far greater skills and somewhat kore moderate behavior than "the Donald." Otherwise his basic character flaws suffer as much as Trump.
As he forecast the eventual demise of the reality show celebrity and real estate mogul ... he was careful not to be critical of him ... well, eventually in a tepid manner. Now Cruz is preparing for the kill.
Yes, Trump is really bad (in the sense of the real word "bad" ... but, hardly that much better than Cruz ... only in a cosmetic way.
He was the boy wonder when he clerked of the SCOTUS and when he argued cases as Allen Dershowitz has said.
But Cruz's greatest expertise is having been an excellent student of Machiavellian's "The Prince."
To sum things up: it's Mrs. Clinton's presidential election to lose ... but, don't tell anyone I said it.
...uses excellent political strategy ... but anyone who has viewed his act since he was elected to the Senate knows how far too transparent his goals have appeared.
He reminds me of a man with far greater skills and somewhat kore moderate behavior than "the Donald." Otherwise his basic character flaws suffer as much as Trump.
As he forecast the eventual demise of the reality show celebrity and real estate mogul ... he was careful not to be critical of him ... well, eventually in a tepid manner. Now Cruz is preparing for the kill.
Yes, Trump is really bad (in the sense of the real word "bad" ... but, hardly that much better than Cruz ... only in a cosmetic way.
He was the boy wonder when he clerked of the SCOTUS and when he argued cases as Allen Dershowitz has said.
But Cruz's greatest expertise is having been an excellent student of Machiavellian's "The Prince."
To sum things up: it's Mrs. Clinton's presidential election to lose ... but, don't tell anyone I said it.
6
"Machiavellian," despite who is named, has no good connotation. Deceit, cunning, shrewd, are not good candidate qualities. In combination with Trump adjectives, the choices before us are ultimately frightening. Basically, the wealthy win and the rest of America loses.
7
" In another recent floor speech he accused every Republican but him and Mike Lee of selling out their principles for money. "
Well, at least he got that one pretty much right.
Well, at least he got that one pretty much right.
6
Good god, we finally agree on something. This man Cruz is nothing but a power hungry hypocrite of the highest order. He utterly creeps me out with his blatant pandering. Disingenuous is putting it mildly, horns on his head is more descriptive. The Conservative party should focus on fiscal sanity and drop the social issues and fear mongering.
14
Since you're a Rubio supporter, it's interesting how you go about attacking Cruz as his chief rival to the nomination among establishment figures with some experience at governing. Your only reference to Rubio in this column is that Cruz has been more successful at fundraising.
It's interesting how you play the role of a Machiavellian in this column in attacking Cruz while not offering a disclaimer regarding your preference for Rubio.
It's interesting how you play the role of a Machiavellian in this column in attacking Cruz while not offering a disclaimer regarding your preference for Rubio.
3
Princeton and Harvard, eh? On merit, or did Dad (or Mom) know someone? Just another, mediocre political candidate who would likely do great harm to our most cherished institutions and ideals. Like the Constitution. And our concern for the people, regardless of their station in life. Although he may be shrewd and disingenuous, he's no Machiavelli.
3
Other commentators have picked up on this one...that if Paul Ryan, a wrecker if there ever was one, is now "mainstream establishment" of the GOP, then that "establishment" has indeed gone over to The Dark Side.
18
Wanna know why fascism gathers steam? Shilling like this.
First Brooks creates an"establishment", meaning, Brooks and the owners he shills for. Not voters mind you, voters masters. Then invent an opposite counter establishment diagnosed by Broks as having a personalit disorder that makes them incapable of ruling. This allows the escape of all accountability, the key trait of phiny conservatives. All i this breathtaking non sequitur VSP monstrosity:
"The difference is the establishment wants to use the levers of power to practically pass reforms. The Counter Establishment believes that Washington is pervasively corrupt and is implacably hostile to the G.O.P. leadership."
ALL want, CRAVE state power to control others, crave STATE power over their countrymen like tweakers crave crank. "reform"? Award winning dishonesty. These people's policies led an unfunded war on false pretenses, crashed the world's economy with zero repentance, accountability.
Brook's task is now more difficult, requiring the three step shill: disown Trump and the 30 million republicans saying, at last, someone stands for us. Then take out Cruz without admitting Cruz is but a natural by product of shilling like Brooks'. Then, justify the chosen puppet, Rubio, as different, the way Brooks justified Bush and Cheney and wars on false pretenses. Brooks faces the same problem as yeast that eventually die in their own wastes.
And Paul Ryan mainstream? Yeah, mainstream liar. Read that budget Brooks.
.
First Brooks creates an"establishment", meaning, Brooks and the owners he shills for. Not voters mind you, voters masters. Then invent an opposite counter establishment diagnosed by Broks as having a personalit disorder that makes them incapable of ruling. This allows the escape of all accountability, the key trait of phiny conservatives. All i this breathtaking non sequitur VSP monstrosity:
"The difference is the establishment wants to use the levers of power to practically pass reforms. The Counter Establishment believes that Washington is pervasively corrupt and is implacably hostile to the G.O.P. leadership."
ALL want, CRAVE state power to control others, crave STATE power over their countrymen like tweakers crave crank. "reform"? Award winning dishonesty. These people's policies led an unfunded war on false pretenses, crashed the world's economy with zero repentance, accountability.
Brook's task is now more difficult, requiring the three step shill: disown Trump and the 30 million republicans saying, at last, someone stands for us. Then take out Cruz without admitting Cruz is but a natural by product of shilling like Brooks'. Then, justify the chosen puppet, Rubio, as different, the way Brooks justified Bush and Cheney and wars on false pretenses. Brooks faces the same problem as yeast that eventually die in their own wastes.
And Paul Ryan mainstream? Yeah, mainstream liar. Read that budget Brooks.
.
16
As a pragmatist I have a lot of trouble with the statement that Cruz is intelligent. If a person has a cast in stone political philosophy whose application is inappropriate for the time, if that political philosophy can't possibly work, than how can anyone refer to a strident holder of those beliefs as intelligent? If someone is running for the President of a Democracy and they abhor compromise how can they be regarded as intelligent? If John McCain, hardly a Liberal member of the Republican Party, refers to Cruz as a whacko bird, why would someone imagine that Cruz is intelligent? IQ and SAT scores are an indicator of college performance, and an ability to memorize facts, but that by itself is not intelligence.
48
Brooks has written on intelligence. One measure of intelligence is success. By that measure, Cruz is wildly successful, and may even capture the Presidency. He doesn't care at all about America. Oh, maybe that .0001%, but that's all. Neither does Trump, but Cruz has a higher IQ!
Cruz may be pandering to the counter establishment, taking money from the ones who'd drown the government, in a Machiavellian way of achieving power. The result is still that he will owe the guys who bought and paid for him. That is how power works, even with groups who think they don't believe in power.
Voting for Cruz is voting to undo stable revenue generation through taxes, undo social security, undo medicare. Privatize everything: roads and bridges, school, disaster relief. Monkey with the Fed and our monetary system.
Read some history. If you like the panics of the 1800s, if you like working piece rate, if you like public health disasters like typhus, the Purist Conservatives are your guys and Ted Cruz is your man. If the 20th and 21st centuries are something you value, you might want to give the whole movement a pass.
Voting for Cruz is voting to undo stable revenue generation through taxes, undo social security, undo medicare. Privatize everything: roads and bridges, school, disaster relief. Monkey with the Fed and our monetary system.
Read some history. If you like the panics of the 1800s, if you like working piece rate, if you like public health disasters like typhus, the Purist Conservatives are your guys and Ted Cruz is your man. If the 20th and 21st centuries are something you value, you might want to give the whole movement a pass.
354
Cruz may be intelligent but he is not all that smart in a practical sense. Washington has a long memory and people understand that Cruz is all about himself, irrespective of recent efforts to "make nice." What is inescapable about Cruz however is that he is the anti-Romney. Romney had many shortcomings as a candidate, many of which can be summarized by the "lack of authenticity or inspiration." Cruz on the other hand, is exactly who he appears to be and strongly inspires ... genuine fear. The last "dark and stormy" president the country elected was probably Richard Nixon and compared to Cruz he was Little Mary Sunshine.
61
Who'd have thought that we would long for the days when we only had Sarah Palin to kick around.
23
Cruz pretending to be anti-establishment? Of course! He has to pretend that he is something other than a bag man for special interests. Cruz is so establishment that he has been bought by the financial industry and oil industry which is legal since Citizens United and Cruz serves them well. Cruz’s top five contributors include Goldman Sachs and Woodforest Financial and the others are the oil and gas industry lobbyists. How to pay them back? Pretend to be anti-establishment while serving the most established corporate industries in America. Just last week Cruz was holding phony climate hearing in the Senate while the Paris climate conference is being held. And largest contributors got their money’s worth, Cruz’s hearing delivered a oil and gas industry favorite- there is scientific doubt about climate change! Cruz isn’t Machiavellian, he is well paid for shill and the right deserves better.
39
Could not agree more, but you left out his inability to confront the ethanol and agribusiness community as he recently voted to support them at a significant cost to the taxpayer. One has to keep an eye on the bouncing ball as the politicians weave their magic to support themselves politically and financially.
It Ted Cruz was African American would birthers come out of the closet?
It is interesting that so many conservative columnists are willing to violate St. Ronnie's dictum not to speak ill of another Republican. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are what happens when you court the "values voters" but do not deliver them any value.
It must be hard for Mr. Brooks to be a Republican these days. His party has created a monster that has escaped the lab and is out looking for blood.
It is interesting that so many conservative columnists are willing to violate St. Ronnie's dictum not to speak ill of another Republican. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are what happens when you court the "values voters" but do not deliver them any value.
It must be hard for Mr. Brooks to be a Republican these days. His party has created a monster that has escaped the lab and is out looking for blood.
31
Wash't Cruz born in Canada? Show us the birth certificate.
1
Hard for Brooks to be a Republican? This article is his attempt to normalize the racism, war-mongering, and fear-mongering of his party's front runners. Is he talking about how dangerous Cruz is? No. These are his people.
2
Good effort today, Mr. Brooks. As I read your thoughts, I feel dread and exhaustion. The exhaustion is in empathy with you and how you must feel, trying to justify any portion of the GOP establishment.
Dread is what comes over me when I think of ANY Republican candidate becoming president. To a man, and one woman, they will destroy the fabric that makes this country the best that has ever been. The GOP has alloyed single interest groups that stand for causes that most of our society has rejected for the common good.
So the diabolical like Trump get attention for being outrageous and offensive. Other voices, like Cruz and Rubio, get funding from eccentric sources so wealthy that reality has stopped being a factor. Avarice is their driving force. And the ultimate wealth is to replace government and attain dependency of the masses.
Remember, Mr. Brooks, you have free choice.
Dread is what comes over me when I think of ANY Republican candidate becoming president. To a man, and one woman, they will destroy the fabric that makes this country the best that has ever been. The GOP has alloyed single interest groups that stand for causes that most of our society has rejected for the common good.
So the diabolical like Trump get attention for being outrageous and offensive. Other voices, like Cruz and Rubio, get funding from eccentric sources so wealthy that reality has stopped being a factor. Avarice is their driving force. And the ultimate wealth is to replace government and attain dependency of the masses.
Remember, Mr. Brooks, you have free choice.
33
"The inmates are running the asylum." On the Right, demagogues and panderers to an angry and ignorant electorate have surged in popularity. If you are not scared, you are not paying attention.
On the Left we have Bernie Sanders, however his popularity is not trumping Clinton's.
These have forever been the differences: the Right gets loonier while the Left does not. It cannot be any clearer.
On the Left we have Bernie Sanders, however his popularity is not trumping Clinton's.
These have forever been the differences: the Right gets loonier while the Left does not. It cannot be any clearer.
28
Not sure that I agree that the Left doesn't get loonier (although arguably they are pretty loony already-look at the Occupy crowd). However, the Democrats are better at containing their loons, so far. If the OccupyWhatever style of loons ever get some traction with the mainstream and learn some strategy, perhaps we'll be talking about those particular inmates breaking out of their asylum.
Mr. Brooks:
I had no idea that there were kind Machiavellians extant. Mr. Cruz is not selling kindness of any kind. I'm not so sure that the current political climate would improve any by courting a phony, who feigns affection. Just how many different kinds of liars are there in the Republican party? How about a listicle?
I had no idea that there were kind Machiavellians extant. Mr. Cruz is not selling kindness of any kind. I'm not so sure that the current political climate would improve any by courting a phony, who feigns affection. Just how many different kinds of liars are there in the Republican party? How about a listicle?
24
Once again, he is just a typical republican. All of their policies and opinions can be simply distilled into the following slogan: "I've got mine, too bad about you."
48
To paraphrase your quote, Cruz goes even a step farther: "I've got mine, and I'll make damn sure you get nothing."
1
Cruz is the most dangerous man running. Humility is not a conventional quality of any candidate, and we shouldn't expect it. But extreme hubris, coupled with the willingness not just to punch back, which most Americans admire, but the desire to hit, just for the fun of it, make him the type who would use the office in a manner, akin to a combination of Scott Walker and Sam Brownback. Once in charge, do whatever you want, regardless of the impact on your constituents. And punish people. Make anyone who doesn't go along feel the weight of your hand.
42
The best thing Ted Cruz has going for him is Donald Trump. Next to Trump, Cruz contrasts as acceptable to those not closely watching him. And Cruz is brilliant in not attacking Trump; rather, Cruz will let Trump slowly self-destruct, while Cruz keeps up his false appearances to the public-at-large as long as he can.
156
I totally agree! And, by waiting for Trump to self-destruct, Cruz hopes to pick up all of Trump's hooligan supporters.
Yep. He's smart, self-serving and duplicitous. One can only wonder what his real agenda is.
So was this column an endorsement or repudiation? It's written in such an obtuse manner, a simple soul like myself can't discern.
1
Cruz does not believe in a woman's right to an abortion even in the case of rape or incest.
Cruz stated just recently something that included the words "sand" and "glow" in the same sentence. Personally, I find that much more offensive then even Trump's comments on the ME, because it implies that we are going to eradicate people like cockroaches.
Then there is the fact that Cruz's understanding of the constitution is in alignment with Justice Scalia's views, and the next president will almost certainly nominate new justices to the court.
Yes, I am worried about Donald Trump, but I am absolutely terrified of Cruz. I know a lot of commenters here think the Democratic candidate will be a shoe-in, and I pray that they are right, but I don't share that confidence, especially since the winds currently blowing around the planet are largely moving in a conservative direction.
I fear the election will be a brutal fight to the finish.
Cruz stated just recently something that included the words "sand" and "glow" in the same sentence. Personally, I find that much more offensive then even Trump's comments on the ME, because it implies that we are going to eradicate people like cockroaches.
Then there is the fact that Cruz's understanding of the constitution is in alignment with Justice Scalia's views, and the next president will almost certainly nominate new justices to the court.
Yes, I am worried about Donald Trump, but I am absolutely terrified of Cruz. I know a lot of commenters here think the Democratic candidate will be a shoe-in, and I pray that they are right, but I don't share that confidence, especially since the winds currently blowing around the planet are largely moving in a conservative direction.
I fear the election will be a brutal fight to the finish.
24
Senator Cruz is Frank Underwood, without the veneer of false charisma.
13
Perfect! From now on, he'll be "Frank" to me.
"Kind Machiavellians"? Sounds like an oxymoron to me.
My view of Cruz doesnt include the term kind. Machiavellian, yes (defined Online Dictionary: Suggestive of or characterized by expediency, deceit, and cunning. A cunning, amoral, and opportunist person, esp a politician).
Ted Cruz for president? Do the American people want someone like this to represent them and what American means to the rest of the world? Apparently some do, but not me.
My view of Cruz doesnt include the term kind. Machiavellian, yes (defined Online Dictionary: Suggestive of or characterized by expediency, deceit, and cunning. A cunning, amoral, and opportunist person, esp a politician).
Ted Cruz for president? Do the American people want someone like this to represent them and what American means to the rest of the world? Apparently some do, but not me.
24
Cruz is a classic example of a psychopathic personality (otherwise known as an antisocial personality disorder). That term is generally reserved for over-the-top movie villains like Hannibal Lecter, the cannibalistic murderer in "Silence of the Lambs". But psychopathic personalities are all around us, some worse than others. So let's look at the definition:
Psychopaths are unable to form emotional attachments or feel real empathy with others, although they often have disarming or even charming personalities. Psychopaths are very manipulative and can easily gain people’s trust. They learn to mimic emotions, despite their inability to actually feel them, and will appear normal to unsuspecting people. Psychopaths are often well educated and hold steady jobs. Some are so good at manipulation and mimicry that they have families and other long-term relationships without those around them ever suspecting their true nature.
When committing crimes, psychopaths carefully plan out every detail in advance and often have contingency plans in place. Psychopaths are cool, calm, and meticulous. Their crimes, whether violent or non-violent, will be highly organized and generally offer few clues for authorities to pursue. Intelligent psychopaths make excellent white-collar criminals and "con artists" due to their calm and charismatic natures.
Hmmmmm. Funny how that's a capsule description of the seemingly charming Cruz. But those dead eyes of his are an instant give-away.
Psychopaths are unable to form emotional attachments or feel real empathy with others, although they often have disarming or even charming personalities. Psychopaths are very manipulative and can easily gain people’s trust. They learn to mimic emotions, despite their inability to actually feel them, and will appear normal to unsuspecting people. Psychopaths are often well educated and hold steady jobs. Some are so good at manipulation and mimicry that they have families and other long-term relationships without those around them ever suspecting their true nature.
When committing crimes, psychopaths carefully plan out every detail in advance and often have contingency plans in place. Psychopaths are cool, calm, and meticulous. Their crimes, whether violent or non-violent, will be highly organized and generally offer few clues for authorities to pursue. Intelligent psychopaths make excellent white-collar criminals and "con artists" due to their calm and charismatic natures.
Hmmmmm. Funny how that's a capsule description of the seemingly charming Cruz. But those dead eyes of his are an instant give-away.
1
In ordinary life the Ted Cruz's of the world are disliked by the people who have most opportunity to cross paths with them. They don't inspire trust. The only way to deal with them is strategically. They are intelligent and often knowledgeable. Cruz has the negatives of a Machiavellian character but is transparent in his plans to gain and hold power. His power base comes from groups and people with little knowledge of government but who regard themselves as having wisdom about policy and action. They think they are patient but are not. They rush from one thing to another telling themselves they are following sound principles. His ambition is still off-putting and inspires trust and confidence only among those who want to hear what he has to say.
3
He's Nixon without the insecurities. Does that make him more or less dangerous?
17
No, anyone this cocky and sure of himself is bound to have even bigger insecurities! They're just better hidden (for now) than Nixon's.
1
How can David characterize a devotee of the shock doctrine, Milton Friedman/Ayn Rand. Chicago School of Economics like Paul Ryan as a mainstream conservative. David is blind to the fact that his party has become plutofacist. A moderate/mainstream conservative is a nearly extinct species, like Reagan's former Secretary of State George Shultz who believes that global warming is a man made existential threat that requires immediate and substantial intervention. And somewhere in Cruz's past he must have experienced at least a moment of humanity only to have it crushed without mercy and he's never going to allow that to happen again.
20
I seriously doubt that Ted Cruz has ever experienced "a moment of humanity."
1
There is a contradiction at the heart of the Cruz phenomenon. The senator, like Trump, is a bomb thrower who enjoys attacking the leadership of his own party, while also gnawing at the stability of the federal government by trying to shut it down whenever he fails to achieve his legislative goals. The people who support him represent elite business circles with massive resources.
These people may disagree with the GOP leadership on policy issues, but, as NB points out, they have a deep investment in the stability of the legal and governmental systems that provide security for their wealth. If they have selected Cruz as their knight in shining armor, then they have made a peculiar choice.
Cruz is a politician who thrives in opposition. He alienates his senate colleagues in order to score points with a constituency that despises politicians. He attempts to hamstring the government to demonstrate the purity of his ideological commitments. Given an improbable election that elevated him to the Oval Office, how would his financial backers expect him to govern?
His demonstrated talent for self-promotion at the expense of potential allies would hardly serve him well in his relations with Congress. His obvious contempt for the federal government would make him a poor salesman for a legislative agenda. If his business supporters actually envision him as president, then they have betrayed a remarkable lack of political acumen.
These people may disagree with the GOP leadership on policy issues, but, as NB points out, they have a deep investment in the stability of the legal and governmental systems that provide security for their wealth. If they have selected Cruz as their knight in shining armor, then they have made a peculiar choice.
Cruz is a politician who thrives in opposition. He alienates his senate colleagues in order to score points with a constituency that despises politicians. He attempts to hamstring the government to demonstrate the purity of his ideological commitments. Given an improbable election that elevated him to the Oval Office, how would his financial backers expect him to govern?
His demonstrated talent for self-promotion at the expense of potential allies would hardly serve him well in his relations with Congress. His obvious contempt for the federal government would make him a poor salesman for a legislative agenda. If his business supporters actually envision him as president, then they have betrayed a remarkable lack of political acumen.
9
David, why is it that Donald Trump is not crying Birther over Ted Cruz? He was born in Canada and his father did not become US naturalized citizen until 2005? Only his mother is a natural born citizen (just like Obama's).
"Cruz's father was born in Cuba, and Ted's paternal grandfather was from the Canary Islands in Spain. Cruz's mother was born in Wilmington, Delaware, of three quarter Irish and one quarter Italian ancestry. His father left Cuba in 1957 to attend the University of Texas at Austin, becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2005. His mother earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Rice University in the 1950s."
"Cruz's father was born in Cuba, and Ted's paternal grandfather was from the Canary Islands in Spain. Cruz's mother was born in Wilmington, Delaware, of three quarter Irish and one quarter Italian ancestry. His father left Cuba in 1957 to attend the University of Texas at Austin, becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2005. His mother earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Rice University in the 1950s."
16
I thought only natural born citizens could be President. I'm 66 and heard that in elementary school, so who knows. "Show us the birth certificate". You know that Hilary will use that in 2016, or at least I will.
It's almost laughable, the amount of ink spent by Brooks to dissect and try to explain what drives the leaders in his dying political party. There's a reason the movement he describes begins with the letters c,o and n. Cruz is a perfect con, and Brooks the perfect enabler.
22
There is a lot of pseudo analysis when it comes to candidates these days. At least it's not about Trump.
The "mainstream" Republican assault on the new breed of Republican candidate isn't going to work, but it's interesting to witness the desperate counter measures. What it means to conventional Republicans like Mr. Brooks is either the Republicans will lose the presidential election, or they will lose control of a Republican president. Either way, the greatest fear is that the "haves" are not going to be as happy as they used to be.
The "mainstream" Republican assault on the new breed of Republican candidate isn't going to work, but it's interesting to witness the desperate counter measures. What it means to conventional Republicans like Mr. Brooks is either the Republicans will lose the presidential election, or they will lose control of a Republican president. Either way, the greatest fear is that the "haves" are not going to be as happy as they used to be.
9
Sorry, but, when we needed a "Fireside Chat" from him, we got Dr. Seuss on the Senate Floor, trying to take away healthcare in the event the "Green Eggs and Ham" made us ill. I don't think he is the man for the mission.
14
Be wary of Ted Cruz.
26
Rachel Maddow has a segment on her show nearly every night showing where the various republican "candidates" stand in the polls and it's illuminating to see how many of them are down in the 1-5% range. They each have some special interest message for America, paid for by one or a few BIG donors- their personal sugar daddy or mommy - and they represent that narrow interest so they do not and cannot have any meaningful ideas for 99% of us. Now the money is starting to coalesce to the phoniest, most dangerous of them all - Ted Cruz. He is such a sleaze. A very scary hitler-type sleaze. All BIG democracy-destroying money can buy is OUR votes and they do not get one of mine.
50
Cruz is the most ideologically pure of all of the candidates in both parties (only Sanders comes close and he pandered recently on "All Lives Matter" and on "gun control").
Ted Cruz is the guy at the office Christmas party that everybody knows but nobody likes. He is invited because he's part of the team. Coworkers politely acknowledge him but they distance themselves from him because they know he's only there to further his career, not help the team. He manipulates his way into the outer social circles of the bosses and big wigs claiming to care about the team. But, he doesn't, he's the fool on the hill.
35
Sen. Ted Cruz chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness.
He recently held a hearing titled “Data or Dogma? Promoting Open Inquiry in the Debate over the Magnitude of Human Impact on Earth’s Climate” in order to provide a public disinformation platform for disagreeing with science.
One right-wing speaker called climate change a “cloud-cuckoo, fantasy-land, saving-the-planet type” concern.
Cruz focused on the idea of a global warming pause meme, which has been refuted by NOAA scientists.
(from http://goo.gl/sa6hfJ )
"In his opening remarks, Sen. Cruz said, “According to the satellite data, there has been no significant global warming for the past 18 years. Those are the data. The global warming alarmists don’t like these data – they are inconvenient to their narrative. But facts and evidence matter.”
In fact, the world is on pace to have its hottest year on record.
Most scientists predict that the speed of global warming is expected to increase dramatically.
97% of published, peer-reviewed climate science papers concur that man-made climate change is real.
---
Machiavellianism is "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct.
Machiavellianism is one of the dark triad personalities, characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and personal gain.
Come take a Presidential walk on the psychopathic Dark Side of humanity, America.
Ted Cruz 2016
He recently held a hearing titled “Data or Dogma? Promoting Open Inquiry in the Debate over the Magnitude of Human Impact on Earth’s Climate” in order to provide a public disinformation platform for disagreeing with science.
One right-wing speaker called climate change a “cloud-cuckoo, fantasy-land, saving-the-planet type” concern.
Cruz focused on the idea of a global warming pause meme, which has been refuted by NOAA scientists.
(from http://goo.gl/sa6hfJ )
"In his opening remarks, Sen. Cruz said, “According to the satellite data, there has been no significant global warming for the past 18 years. Those are the data. The global warming alarmists don’t like these data – they are inconvenient to their narrative. But facts and evidence matter.”
In fact, the world is on pace to have its hottest year on record.
Most scientists predict that the speed of global warming is expected to increase dramatically.
97% of published, peer-reviewed climate science papers concur that man-made climate change is real.
---
Machiavellianism is "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct.
Machiavellianism is one of the dark triad personalities, characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and personal gain.
Come take a Presidential walk on the psychopathic Dark Side of humanity, America.
Ted Cruz 2016
280
Ted Cruz 2016 Wanna Be War Criminal
Cruz on Dark Side
Cruz on Dark Side
1
Machiavellianism is "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct.
"Machiavellianism is one of the dark triad personalities, characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and personal gain.
Come take a Presidential walk on the psychopathic Dark Side of humanity, America."
Yeah, description of the current president.
"Machiavellianism is one of the dark triad personalities, characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and personal gain.
Come take a Presidential walk on the psychopathic Dark Side of humanity, America."
Yeah, description of the current president.
Ted Cruz is every bit as frightening as Donald Trump. And your column doesn't even begin to go there, Mr. Brooks.
He is beyond repressible in his lies. After the Planned Parenthood shooting, this is what he said:
"The media promptly wants to blame him on the pro-life movement when at this point there's very little evidence to indicate that… It's also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist. If that’s what he is, I don’t think it's fair to blame on the rhetoric on the left."
He has called President Obama “the world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism”.
Cruz supports a return to the gold standard. He wants to repeal gay marriage; uphold all gun freedoms; scrap ObamaCare; replace income tax with a sales tax; opposes any exception for incest or rape in abortion laws. And, he’d stop Syrian refugees entering America — although, much cleverer than Trump, he avoids an explicit religious test.
He also runs as an outsider, when he is an Ivy League grad and clerked for Justice Rehnquist. He rails against Wall Street, but is married to an investment banker, Heidi, from Goldman Sachs. By the way, she's his top fundraiser.
He is neither of your definitions of the two types of Machiavellians in politics. Rather he is an actual Machiavellian, which according to Webster's is, "using clever lies and tricks in order to get or achieve something : clever and dishonest marked by cunning and duplicity."
He is beyond repressible in his lies. After the Planned Parenthood shooting, this is what he said:
"The media promptly wants to blame him on the pro-life movement when at this point there's very little evidence to indicate that… It's also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist. If that’s what he is, I don’t think it's fair to blame on the rhetoric on the left."
He has called President Obama “the world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism”.
Cruz supports a return to the gold standard. He wants to repeal gay marriage; uphold all gun freedoms; scrap ObamaCare; replace income tax with a sales tax; opposes any exception for incest or rape in abortion laws. And, he’d stop Syrian refugees entering America — although, much cleverer than Trump, he avoids an explicit religious test.
He also runs as an outsider, when he is an Ivy League grad and clerked for Justice Rehnquist. He rails against Wall Street, but is married to an investment banker, Heidi, from Goldman Sachs. By the way, she's his top fundraiser.
He is neither of your definitions of the two types of Machiavellians in politics. Rather he is an actual Machiavellian, which according to Webster's is, "using clever lies and tricks in order to get or achieve something : clever and dishonest marked by cunning and duplicity."
449
Cruz is the best that we have this time around in either party. He represents change and we need that desperately. The establishment of both parties have brought us nothing of value in generations, now.
Ted Cruz is much more frightening than Donald Trump: Cruz is extremely intelligent, ambitious and manipulative. Trump, by contrast, is, well, Trump.
1
I look forward with great anticipation to the columnist's endorsement of HRC for the White House, assuming, of course, that the GOP nominates either Cruz or Trump next summer.
138
I would introduce the word "clever" into the discussion. When I taught at one of the institutions Senator Cruz attended, that is what struck me about my students -- they were clever, whatever else they were. (When I attended the same institution as a student, my peers hadn't struck me that way, perhaps because the section of students I was in had an overly large number of older people who had advanced degrees in other fields and/or prior careers, which probably meant they also had other, more helpful traits that contributed to being where they were. On the other hand, some of the professors who taught us did strike me as having cleverness -- very high quality cleverness, to be sure -- as their predominant presenting trait.) Cleverness can be present with a number of other traits, but if the system of advancement recognizes and rewards cleverness in and of itself, that may be enough of a ticket for entry and advancement. As I see it, such a system may not seem problematic until the person has advanced to a position where they can have a large impact using their own ideas. Then we're stuck with someone who is inadequate to the task, whose cleverness is not accompanied by other traits we presumed would go along with the ability to advance but which we see don't necessarily do. But I think that if we don't like this sort of outcome, we ought to rethink rewarding cleverness per se and select for other traits.
98
I would draw a distinction between cleverness and cunning, an animal instinct for getting advantage, the upper hand, 'crafty or shrewd' according to Webster's. I enjoy conversing with clever people, but hold onto my purse tightly when among the cunning ones. I would cross the street if I saw Cruz coming the other way. Clever? Creepy!
Candy Darling,
Maybe "cunning" is "clever" in the presence of some sort of problematic emotional profile. When educational institutions screen for "clever" without paying much attention to emotional profile, maybe the (sub)category of "cunning" gets through too and those within it gain more access to a path to power and influence than they might have had, had more attention been paid to such facets of applicants.
Maybe "cunning" is "clever" in the presence of some sort of problematic emotional profile. When educational institutions screen for "clever" without paying much attention to emotional profile, maybe the (sub)category of "cunning" gets through too and those within it gain more access to a path to power and influence than they might have had, had more attention been paid to such facets of applicants.
Precisely. Being a leader does not always mean being the smartest one in the room. I think honesty, a sense of duty, and a willingness for self-sacrifice are all more important traits than cleverness. A good leader knows when to listen to advisers, experts, and specialists that may be more knowledgeable about a given topic, since no one person can be an expert in everything.
In my office of about 220 people we have six who hold what would be considered white collar leadership positions. Three of those six are former military. I don't think that's a coincidence.
In my office of about 220 people we have six who hold what would be considered white collar leadership positions. Three of those six are former military. I don't think that's a coincidence.
1
Cruz the chameleon? He is an atypical politician who shifts allegiances to garner the most votes and do anything to get elected. Once elected, watch out. He has his own agenda and it is not yours even if you voted for him.
118
The Hillary of the Right!
"Ted Cruz is surging as the figurehead of the rich and interlocked Counter Establishment. And he gets to do it while pretending that he is antiestablishment. That’s a nice trick. Even a Machiavellian one."
I don't fully agree with this analysis. When a Paul Ryan--the poster boy for severe conservatism just 4 years ago--is now considered establishment, it's just a reminder of how far the GOP has swung to the right--branches or no branches.
As for Cruz: I think he is the most dangerous of the whole bunch, a sleeper cell of a candidate given his chameleon skill to ever so subtly change what he stands for. When you called him a "team player", I nearly fainted: his most outrageous and self-serving acts of defiance in shutting the down the government not once, but twice, speak to his nerve, more than his ideology.
Moreover, Mr. Brooks, you left out a very important detail of the man you seem to be admiring here. A politician is known by his associates, where he goes and who he has by his side at key moments. Ted Nugent in front of the White House waving a confederate flag; a religious group that calls for the execution of gays; a shooting range 2nd amendment party just days after San Bernadino---these are just few of the events and allies Cruz has cultivated in his raw ambition.
"By your acts thou shalt know them," per the Biblical phrase. By the people you embrace on your way to the top, should be added to this thought.
I don't fully agree with this analysis. When a Paul Ryan--the poster boy for severe conservatism just 4 years ago--is now considered establishment, it's just a reminder of how far the GOP has swung to the right--branches or no branches.
As for Cruz: I think he is the most dangerous of the whole bunch, a sleeper cell of a candidate given his chameleon skill to ever so subtly change what he stands for. When you called him a "team player", I nearly fainted: his most outrageous and self-serving acts of defiance in shutting the down the government not once, but twice, speak to his nerve, more than his ideology.
Moreover, Mr. Brooks, you left out a very important detail of the man you seem to be admiring here. A politician is known by his associates, where he goes and who he has by his side at key moments. Ted Nugent in front of the White House waving a confederate flag; a religious group that calls for the execution of gays; a shooting range 2nd amendment party just days after San Bernadino---these are just few of the events and allies Cruz has cultivated in his raw ambition.
"By your acts thou shalt know them," per the Biblical phrase. By the people you embrace on your way to the top, should be added to this thought.
646
While Trump is the most dangerous to our collective national soul, or national psyche, you are right that Cruz is the most dangerous to our nation. He represents the people who really don't think we should even have a national nation. How can that resonate with anyone?
4
Your points are accurate, but I don't think Mr. Brooks was admiring Ted Cruz. I think he was calling Cruz out on his hypocrisy and his change in tactics to APPEAR as a team player. Brooks wrote that Cruz is clearly all about himself.
1
Christine McMorrow:
I always enjoy your comments on the articles, but this morning, I think you have misinterpreted David Brooks' column. He is anything but flattering Ted Cruz.
Ted Cruz is a pathologically dangerous fellow, I believe. Hopefully, the Republican Primary electorate will recognize that too.
I always enjoy your comments on the articles, but this morning, I think you have misinterpreted David Brooks' column. He is anything but flattering Ted Cruz.
Ted Cruz is a pathologically dangerous fellow, I believe. Hopefully, the Republican Primary electorate will recognize that too.
1
Cruze is a poster boy for pschopathy in puplic officials,
Last year he went to the mat to not only shut down the government, but to cause the Government to default on its debt.
What a government default on the debt would do to both the American and Global economy would make 9/11 look like a pedestrian affair, effect hundreds of millions of people.
To an ordinary person that's revolting to contemplate. To a psychopath it means nothing.
If Cruze or any of his ilk become President, this country will be looking up at Brazil with envy.
Truly there is no end to the ruin the GOP can do to the world. I wonder if members of the republican establishment, anti or conventional, can be indicted under the Rico statutes.
Last year he went to the mat to not only shut down the government, but to cause the Government to default on its debt.
What a government default on the debt would do to both the American and Global economy would make 9/11 look like a pedestrian affair, effect hundreds of millions of people.
To an ordinary person that's revolting to contemplate. To a psychopath it means nothing.
If Cruze or any of his ilk become President, this country will be looking up at Brazil with envy.
Truly there is no end to the ruin the GOP can do to the world. I wonder if members of the republican establishment, anti or conventional, can be indicted under the Rico statutes.
287
I couldn't agree more. It almost feels like Osama's vision is coming true. We are walking into our own trap and demise, thanks to the GOP's blind hatred of Obama, xenophobia, and tribalism. Osama triggered it and here we are - feeling economically insecure, militarily overstretched and squandering resources and killing our own young, and politically divided and in-fighting. Now demagogues and Machiavellians seem to dominate the political theater because people are looking for answers outside, not checking facts, thinking clearly, make informed and rational inferences, and looking deep inside themselves. The media, instead of helping people calm their nerves and desensitize them to overhyped external cues, just pour out all important and unimportant newsy stuff without examining and filtering thoroughly and thoughtfully, in the name of objective accuracy and fast delivery. People like Cruz thrive in this oversaturated, mediated environment. So, an analysis like David Brookes's offers a useful summary insight. Please bring Ted Cruz out more up close and personal in print and on the screen. Let's unclothe him.
1
There actually are three types of Machiavellian. The first wants to conquer the world to improve it. Then, there’s the one who wants to conquer the world because it’s easier at the top to meet and impress young women. Finally, there are the Clintons, who wish to conquer the world because they believe they were born to.
That was an immense amount of conservative wonkishness that David laid on the non-conservative – likely substantially more than they had any real interest in knowing; and all to keep peeling the onion on Ted Cruz, layer by layer, until he could be defined very precisely. One should be thankful, actually, that he stopped before revealing that Cruz was once in sales.
But if anything has been proven true it’s that you can’t conquer the world while substantially alone. While Ted Cruz may have financial backers, it’s unlikely that they personally like him any more than just about anybody else on the planet except, presumably, his wife, parents and kids. That means if he makes even a tiny boo-boo, those backers will abandon him. It’s just astonishing that Canadians, the most likeable people in the Americas, produced a guy that so MANY people despise.
Like others, Cruz probably knows he can’t be nominated in the normal way, and is hanging on for the convention, where muscle can buy a nomination as a compromise in deadlocked situations. By then, he’d better still have those backers to make up for the legions who can’t stand him.
That was an immense amount of conservative wonkishness that David laid on the non-conservative – likely substantially more than they had any real interest in knowing; and all to keep peeling the onion on Ted Cruz, layer by layer, until he could be defined very precisely. One should be thankful, actually, that he stopped before revealing that Cruz was once in sales.
But if anything has been proven true it’s that you can’t conquer the world while substantially alone. While Ted Cruz may have financial backers, it’s unlikely that they personally like him any more than just about anybody else on the planet except, presumably, his wife, parents and kids. That means if he makes even a tiny boo-boo, those backers will abandon him. It’s just astonishing that Canadians, the most likeable people in the Americas, produced a guy that so MANY people despise.
Like others, Cruz probably knows he can’t be nominated in the normal way, and is hanging on for the convention, where muscle can buy a nomination as a compromise in deadlocked situations. By then, he’d better still have those backers to make up for the legions who can’t stand him.
27
Richard: I take great umbrage to your assertion that Cruz is a product of Canadians - he is the son of an evil man from Cuba and an American woman, and only by happenstance was he born in Canada (where his medical expenses would have been covered by we Canadian taxpayers), but he is not Canadian. No, Richard this evil and vile man is a direct product of the GOP party. And if you are reading the NYT, you will see that Canadians are truly Christian, where today we welcomed (unlike the GOP who bar refugees) our first Syrian refugees. Our Church in Toronto, with both congregation and outside support, will host a family, providing them with all the essentials of living in their new, welcoming country. You and your fellow republicans should be ashamed to call Cruz one of your own.
1
Like you, I am desperately hoping that the demagogues who have dominated the Republican conversation over the last year will fade, and that your Republican party will return to sanity, decency, and interest in governance.
Perhaps this will happen. But what will you do if it doesn't?
Perhaps this will happen. But what will you do if it doesn't?
1
How familiar are you with Hitler's rise to power, and the fact that many of his backers from the industrial and financial sectors hated him as well? Hitler turned on many...including some really short-sighted Jews.
Funny how history repeats itself when its lessons are ignored.
Funny how history repeats itself when its lessons are ignored.
3
He (and his GOP competitors for that matter) makes President Nixon look like a humanitarian. What's more to say?!
150
You reminded me that Noam Chomsky referred to Nixon as "our last liberal president." Much of what followed has been a drift toward oligarchy and Fascism.
2
Look Ted Cruz in the eye and what you see is raw ambition and an amazing physical and attitudinal likeness to Joe McCarthy.
Just wait until he stands up, pulls an i-pad from his pocket and tells the world that he has a list of Obamacare recipients and other dangerous subversives.
Is this what we want as President of the United States?
Just wait until he stands up, pulls an i-pad from his pocket and tells the world that he has a list of Obamacare recipients and other dangerous subversives.
Is this what we want as President of the United States?
169
I have been mulling the physical resemblance for some time. As odious, and vicious as McCarthy was, I believe Cruz is the more dangerous of the two, especially as Mr. Brooks points points out his financial/power contacts.
15
I'm sorry, but all I'm seeing is a less palatable variant of "Grandpa Munster."
Brookes poses Cruz as the villain of this piece. In my view, the villain is what Brookes call the mainstream establishment. This group failed to see, or recognize, the dangers inherent in the Weyrichs, Coors, and Bozells, who put blind ideology above the ideals of the Republic. I'd add the right-wing media too, but at best, they were simply following their mainstream leaders.
40
I fail to see any Machiavelli in Cruz. What I do see is a man of the intellect and demeanor of Edmund Burke and if anything even more of a rogue and scoundrel so loathed by Samuel Johnson.
English is an evolving language and although in 2015 rogue and scoundrel may sound fairly benign when Samuel Johnson used these terms to describe Burke he meant them to describe Burke as a malignancy that adversely threatened the human condition.
English is an evolving language and although in 2015 rogue and scoundrel may sound fairly benign when Samuel Johnson used these terms to describe Burke he meant them to describe Burke as a malignancy that adversely threatened the human condition.
35
Montreal Moe needs to brush up on his 18th-century political history. Burke was a friend of Johnson's, and Johnson paid him (see Boswell's Life of Johnson) various tributes as one of the most able men he had ever met. Johnson did famously say that Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, but he was referring to a group who labeled themselves "patriots." To compare Raphael Cruz with Burke, to mention them in the same sentence, is to compare a giant with a pygmy.
1
What Cruz really is, is unprintable!
126
Cruz is a bright, articulate, and disingenuous politician, just the kind that Republican voters - alleged Christian evangelicals and alleged American conservatives - most appreciate. He actually reveals to us more about his base of supporters than he does about himself.
50
What a ridiculous article.
In the year of the outsider, Cruz is the only professional politician who is an outsider. He called senate majority leader McConnell a liar on the senate floor. He is despised by Bush, Obama, Hillary, the GOP establishment, the media, etc.
The only ones who like him are the people. Like Trump. No one likes him...except the American voter.
The GOP establishment is dying. They do not want Trump to get the nomination. And they certainly don't want Cruz either. This is why I hope they become a ticket. So it's a two-fear: We restore America and get rid of the power elites. Sweet.
In the year of the outsider, Cruz is the only professional politician who is an outsider. He called senate majority leader McConnell a liar on the senate floor. He is despised by Bush, Obama, Hillary, the GOP establishment, the media, etc.
The only ones who like him are the people. Like Trump. No one likes him...except the American voter.
The GOP establishment is dying. They do not want Trump to get the nomination. And they certainly don't want Cruz either. This is why I hope they become a ticket. So it's a two-fear: We restore America and get rid of the power elites. Sweet.
6
I hope so, too. Then the GOP will lose the White House, the Senate, and very possibly the House in 2016. It's important to remember that some segment of the *Republican* electorate finds these two appealing, not "the American voter."
25
Cjmesq0, your description of a Trump/Cruz ticket as a "two-fear" was, maybe, a Freudian slip?
6
Cjmesq, sounds like conversations that might have been held in Weimar Germany in 1932. Perhaps Cruz should grow a mustache.
9
"The Counter Establishment believes that Washington is pervasively corrupt..."
Does anyone believe anything to the contrary?
Does anyone believe anything to the contrary?
23
We've had incompetent, buffoonish and corrupt politicians. But this one is sinister.
279
"The Counter Establishment is now nearly as financially flush and institutionally entrenched as the mainstream establishment. Cruz has been able to tap into it to raise gobs of money." Yes, thank you Republican Machiavellian operatives on the Supreme Court for legalizing the $ale of our democracy, our Constitution, our government, our lives. Citizens United is nothing less than the means of our Constitution's suicide. Republicans may end up with buyers regret if they get their vision of a nation by the wealthy, for the wealthy; a nation with no-longer a legitimate Constitution and Bill of Rights; a highly armed nation with a fearful, oppressed population which seethes with hatred, especially of those in power.
81
Most astute comment of the day! I need to take a screen grab of this.
2
From my perspective, ideology took over the GOP in the 80's. The ideology said that government had to be stopped. For politicians, as opposed to, say, media figures or teenage potheads, to take this position was self-defeating. But the party was still populated with those who, though seduced by the rhetoric, had grown up in a more pragmatic world.
Today this radicalism is so ingrained in the party & the right-wing media, and the 2 are so entertwined, that the party is in a state of perpetual self-consumption. Anyone who gets elected must use their position to subvert its purposes--hence the shutdowns, the phony investigations, the blocked nominations, the inability of any Republican to respond to climate change or guns or health care or unemployment. If there's an "establishment" left, it's not in individual politicians but in the dwindling number of areas where it's acceptable to support "big government:" military adventures, border policing, voter suppression, access to abortion, the writing and rewriting of tax and regulatory laws to suit lobbyists, etc.
Whatever Cruz's success, he'll be usurped by someone more radical. But the media figures who feed this fire--the Limbaughs & Coulters & Wallaces, can go on for decades attacking the media, Mediia aren't ultimately responsible for anything; failure to inform can become professional success. The failure gets transferred to government, and we have to live with the consequences.
Today this radicalism is so ingrained in the party & the right-wing media, and the 2 are so entertwined, that the party is in a state of perpetual self-consumption. Anyone who gets elected must use their position to subvert its purposes--hence the shutdowns, the phony investigations, the blocked nominations, the inability of any Republican to respond to climate change or guns or health care or unemployment. If there's an "establishment" left, it's not in individual politicians but in the dwindling number of areas where it's acceptable to support "big government:" military adventures, border policing, voter suppression, access to abortion, the writing and rewriting of tax and regulatory laws to suit lobbyists, etc.
Whatever Cruz's success, he'll be usurped by someone more radical. But the media figures who feed this fire--the Limbaughs & Coulters & Wallaces, can go on for decades attacking the media, Mediia aren't ultimately responsible for anything; failure to inform can become professional success. The failure gets transferred to government, and we have to live with the consequences.
50
well said.
It's called deceptive manipulation in both types. And it is just as dangerous and harmful in both types. In fact the Kind ones may even be more dangerous because they are less obvious.
3
And he is a likely GOP nominee. What does that say about our nation, politically?
14
That a destructive personality like Cruz, whose signature accomplishment has been inflicting great damage on the country by leading the charge to close government and thereby lower its credit rating, now ranks at the top of the polling of the GOP candidates IS quite a trick. Brooks actually does his party a service here to remind them of it here. Brooks is also wise to signal that for the GOP now, it's a true identity crisis - the soul, or what's left of it, of the party is on the line now. Stick with the supposed mainstream leaders, none of whom can generate more than about 15% support in the polls, give way (and maintain that they will be fair) towards mavericks like Trump and Carson, or succumb to the rising Cruz and his ilk, who want to govern in a way that won't reverse the economic and environmental crash course we're on now.
Maybe Brooks needn't worry too much Cruz - smug remarks about glowing sand in the Middle East ("we're gonna find out") and other gems regarding immigration and other social hot button issues (like his recent giggling about "rubbers") paint him in a "dunce corner" electorally - even Trump hasn't suggested nuclear war as a solution, I don't think. Machiavelli was many things, but he wasn't stupid. The rank stupidity of Cruz on issues will scare a lot of people before this is all over.
Maybe Brooks needn't worry too much Cruz - smug remarks about glowing sand in the Middle East ("we're gonna find out") and other gems regarding immigration and other social hot button issues (like his recent giggling about "rubbers") paint him in a "dunce corner" electorally - even Trump hasn't suggested nuclear war as a solution, I don't think. Machiavelli was many things, but he wasn't stupid. The rank stupidity of Cruz on issues will scare a lot of people before this is all over.
388
" The rank stupidity of Cruz..." Keep telling yourself that. Get back to me when the band plays "Hail to the Chief" at President Cruz's inauguration.
Truth is, I've never been worried about Trump - he has a self destruct mechanism inside of him - but Cruz, on the other hand, knows how to use the red meat rhetoric to inflame the base without quite going over the line. Notice how Cruz's "glowing sands' comments haven't been played up in the media the way Trump's anti-Muslim comments have.
Truth is, I've never been worried about Trump - he has a self destruct mechanism inside of him - but Cruz, on the other hand, knows how to use the red meat rhetoric to inflame the base without quite going over the line. Notice how Cruz's "glowing sands' comments haven't been played up in the media the way Trump's anti-Muslim comments have.
1
Let's see now—"Over the past few years, Cruz has become a team player." And what "team" is that? The "Counterestablishment"—i.e., those who oppose the "leadership." And how does he play the game? "Tactically"—i.e., by switching his positions opportunistically for short-term personal political gain and fundraising. Some team. Some player. Some analysis.
39
If he's a team player the team must be the 1962 Mets.
1
Is Mr. Brooks channeling his inner Leo Strauss?
Just one quote from The Prince comes to mind: "There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious". Cruz in a nutshell.
Just one quote from The Prince comes to mind: "There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious". Cruz in a nutshell.
116
You neglected to mention he is dangerous and a man who will stop at nothing to realize his megalomaniac ambitions. He is devoid of morals though he portrays himself as the most moral man in Washington. He says is he an an outsider, but he is the ultimate insider. He is a highly intelligent skilled orator with much more frightening potential for harm than Joseph McCarthy. His hyperbole and false and vicious allegations against planned parenthood undoubtedly contributed to the slaughter of those innocent victims by a devout and deranged believer. His positions on women, on diversity. homosexuality as well his views on poverty should exclude him from consideration as a decent human being let alone President of the United States yet you raise none of these issues. It is high time for you to take a position concerning the odious and frightening positions the Republican Presidential candidates espouse Mr. Brooks.
820
It occurs to me that if you just change a word here and there this is almost exactly what the right-wing has said about Obama the last 7 years. Have they changed anyone's mind? Will this comment change anyone's mind? Nope. It's all word salad, heavy on the adjectives and adverbs. And everyone is preaching to the choir.
And I find myself weary of the fear-mongering, no matter from which direction it comes.
And I find myself weary of the fear-mongering, no matter from which direction it comes.
1
Those qualities frame Cruz as Mr. Republican 2016. I think of him as the Franco or Mussolini counterpart to our American Adolf Hitler -- i.e. the alternative to Trump. Soon Mr. Brooks, a loyal and committed GOP, is going to have change tunes and sing the praises of one of these chaps as HIS choice for president -- perhaps both if we end up with a Trump-Cruz ticket. That is not unlikely.
1
"Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac", that is unsatisfied with sexual conquest. Power is satisfied by acquiring more power and crushing rivals.
There are probably some skeletons.....and maybe a rival or two who may materialize to threaten Cruz.
Men like Cruz are superficially evident. His "friendship" with Trump is most suspicious. Rivals like McCain, and Ryan, and McConnell are pulling their punches because they believe he is not believable, and because he is transparently ruthless to them. The bias of the establishment blinds it to the potential of this viper. In recent history, only Nixon comes to mind. Eisenhower never trusted him, but could not see the danger that Nixon posed. Cruz is more affable. His smile and his intellect are too rehearsed, but only to those close to him. The media is intimidated. Look for the skeletons now because he already has a plan to silence opposition if elected.
There are probably some skeletons.....and maybe a rival or two who may materialize to threaten Cruz.
Men like Cruz are superficially evident. His "friendship" with Trump is most suspicious. Rivals like McCain, and Ryan, and McConnell are pulling their punches because they believe he is not believable, and because he is transparently ruthless to them. The bias of the establishment blinds it to the potential of this viper. In recent history, only Nixon comes to mind. Eisenhower never trusted him, but could not see the danger that Nixon posed. Cruz is more affable. His smile and his intellect are too rehearsed, but only to those close to him. The media is intimidated. Look for the skeletons now because he already has a plan to silence opposition if elected.
56
Mr. Brooks uses the wrong labels to frame his argument. The only label that describes Mr. Cruz is "opportunistic chameleon." As he's more than amply demonstrated, Mr. Cruz will take on whatever coloring serves his self-interests. I'm convinced he has no other purpose or loyalty.
67
So let me get this straight, you have an establishment, an old establishment, a counter establishment, a sorta of spin off counter establishment, a neo acceptable establishment. Did I miss any? Honestly this might be the most unhinged and disingenuous defense of his fractured establishment that Brooks wants to continue to support. Sorry about having to be critical but sometimes "you have to be cruel to be kind in the right measure" even when being Machiavellian.
17
In my imagination, Ted Cruz has been elected President. What is Mr. Cruz doing to further our democracy? He is cutting taxes for the rich. He his making laws that free the business and banking communities to do whatever it wishes, whenever it wishes. He is making unions illegal. He is suspending the departments of health and welfare and education. He is closing down the EPA. He is jailing abortionist and women who use their services. He is involving our troops in ever enlarging wars in the Mideast. He is serving the wealthy in any way he can. Those are the things that Mr. Cruz supports and would attempt to enact. Is that the future America wants?
205
A substantial number, apparently yes.
When Republicans argue that the Cuban Canuck is the establishment, you know that the GOP has gone completely off the rails.
Cruz is a dangerous radical who would do as much, or more, damage to the country as the "outsider" Trump.
Cruz is a dangerous radical who would do as much, or more, damage to the country as the "outsider" Trump.
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"Cuban Canuck" ! I love it but I kind of feel bad for the Cubans and the Canadians.
5
Is it possible to find candidates for public office who are interested in pragmatic problem solving?
This Cruz dude is only interested in himself and some strict ideology. Denying that the Planned Parenthood shooter was a right wing Christian reflects poorly on his ability to govern.
I fear our own politicians more than allowing Muslims into our country with proper vetting.
This Cruz dude is only interested in himself and some strict ideology. Denying that the Planned Parenthood shooter was a right wing Christian reflects poorly on his ability to govern.
I fear our own politicians more than allowing Muslims into our country with proper vetting.
65
Bernie Sanders
2
David, you have confirmed a suspicion I've had for quite a while now that Cruz and his backers are anarchists in suits. They want to blow up government. What they forget is that business needs government to have big military budgets for employment, weapons sales and protection of business. They need courts to run roughshod over people who can't afford lawyers and to protect their intellectual property. And they need tax dollars for infrastructure since food still must be delivered over roads. Finally minions, uh employees, need some base line education to be able to do the work for the powerful even if it's just washing their clothes. Hanging out with really rich entitled feeling people distorts your view of the world. Cruz who is drawn to these types, ie a snob, lacks empathy and Is sort of a passable psychopath. I wonder how Kennedy is sleeping these days, now we know the spawn of Citizens United.
56
Ah yes - good old days.
Sarah Palin: not so bad.
Now look what we have.
Sarah Palin: not so bad.
Now look what we have.
12
Is there ever a time in which the left does not think that the current crop of conservatives is dangerous and even more dangerous than the previous generation?
You would think at some point, folks would realize that they are swallowing a bunch of partisan talking points put out by a hyper-partisan media.
You would think at some point, folks would realize that they are swallowing a bunch of partisan talking points put out by a hyper-partisan media.
@Mike James: So you love Ted Cruz and think Sarah Palin would have made a nifty vice president? Given what the Republicans are currently parading before us as presidential candidates, "the left" don't need to write talking points. They write themselves.
4
Really? You're correct, but you're talking about the wrong side of the politics. Hyper partisan media is all right wing!!!! This newspaper is one of the very few places where I can find anything other than right wing reporters and propaganda.
3
Between the two, (Trump and Cruz) Cruz is the more spurious candidate.
Trump makes no bones about his egocentricity- the minor deity really believes he can do it all for the good of the country. Cruz doesn't come off as being capable of doing anything, but supporting the rich!
Trump makes no bones about his egocentricity- the minor deity really believes he can do it all for the good of the country. Cruz doesn't come off as being capable of doing anything, but supporting the rich!
29
I have seen many Cruz interviews. He is very adept at avoiding answering specific questions that would provide insights into what policies he would pursue if elected. He is infinitely better at criticizing than outlining a positive agenda. So far, the media has given him pretty much a free ride. Hopefully, he will eventually be required to give some specifics. At least, one can hope. Agree that he has lifted Machiavellian to a new level.
33
If the Bushes can be "compassionate" and Trump can be "honest" and draft dodger Cheney can be "strong", then Cruz can be whatever he wants to be.
67
So very well said: if the followers of these "men" could only see them as they really are, what the consequences of their actions, have truly been...
8
Well, actually, Cruz is not intelligent. He rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus about the human causes of global warming, the incontestable evidence for evolution, the Big Bang origin of our universe, etc. His ignorance and denial of science is breathtaking. So, no, Cruz is not intelligent by any way you want to define that word.
39
Machiavellians use their beliefs as just another tool to get an advantage. Cruz is smart enough to believe whatever helps him get elected.
21
That's not belief. That's cynicism at best, hypocrisy at worst.
4
I'm sensing from David's ire that Cruz isn't quite as beholden to neoconservative billionaires as Rubio is.
10
Yes "fingernails on a chalkboard" just about sums it up!
22
Well David Brooks, pasteurize and legitimize Ted Cruz all you want, he's still the obnoxious opportunist no one likes. To know him is to....dislike him even more. Things must be horrible at Party Brand GOP these days, or you wouldn't even be giving Cruz this initial head nod. The fact is that the armed righteous rabble of the GOP has already discarded establishment brands Walker & Bush. Rubio remains underperforming, too young for the R oldsters to accept, but remains a real VP hope for Hispanic votes. Christie, a front-runner a year ago, never go off the George Washington bridge. So what's a good soldier to do but.....pump electricity into that beast of last resort....Ted Cruz. Good luck with this project of yours. I don't think its too much of a leap to realize that people who blow things up don't make very good managers. But we'll see. Your R race this year is entertaining in large part because the smart color guys like you who dress things up so well really have your work cut out for you with Cruz. And that's only after you get past Trump first. The mob you & yours enabled at the GOP fore won't easily listen these days to their handlers. And especially to the highest-minded of them such as you.
17
Ted Cruz a team player? Really? I'm reminded of Groucho Marx, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member."
13
Did we learn anything new here? Ted Cruz is a manipulative, ambitious, Tea Party poster-boy, who is as likely as not poised to become the GOP nominee (despite having been born in Canada).
There is no "establishment" in the Republican Party; it has devolved into the party of belligerence, misogyny, bigotry and nativism, varying only in degree. Today's Republicans don't bother to use Machiavellian tactics: ironically, that would imply an underlying moral code, an awareness that one should be stealth rather than overt when trying to subvert our Constitution and the generous, far-sighted principles on which our nation was founded.
"Selfish" is too kind a word to describe any of the candidates running for the GOP nomination. God help us all if we lose this election.
There is no "establishment" in the Republican Party; it has devolved into the party of belligerence, misogyny, bigotry and nativism, varying only in degree. Today's Republicans don't bother to use Machiavellian tactics: ironically, that would imply an underlying moral code, an awareness that one should be stealth rather than overt when trying to subvert our Constitution and the generous, far-sighted principles on which our nation was founded.
"Selfish" is too kind a word to describe any of the candidates running for the GOP nomination. God help us all if we lose this election.
785
"God help us all if we lose this election." Amen.
But I do have to take issue with on with your characterizing all the GOP candidates as "selfish". Though I disagree with him on most policy issues, I do think Gov. Kasich is a decent and honorable man.
But I do have to take issue with on with your characterizing all the GOP candidates as "selfish". Though I disagree with him on most policy issues, I do think Gov. Kasich is a decent and honorable man.
1
The Republican primary field has been plagued by incompetence and demogoguery since the start of the campaign. Its two front runners -- the Egomaniacs Trump and Cruz -- play on people's fears and manipulate the media which gleefully reports on their every outlandish statement.
Our only hope for sanity's return to Washington is the youngest son of a Cuban maid and bartender, who espouses a smart, activist foreign policy to attack our enemies while emboldening our allies, while promoting economic ideas to return America back to real growth. He has a proven ability to make our Government work again, and has reached across the aisle on issues like immigration and higher education reform.
The establishment needs to quickly unite behind this talented politician for the good of the Republican Party and our great country.
Our only hope for sanity's return to Washington is the youngest son of a Cuban maid and bartender, who espouses a smart, activist foreign policy to attack our enemies while emboldening our allies, while promoting economic ideas to return America back to real growth. He has a proven ability to make our Government work again, and has reached across the aisle on issues like immigration and higher education reform.
The establishment needs to quickly unite behind this talented politician for the good of the Republican Party and our great country.
Homophobic, anti -choice, pro NRA, climate change denier, a disaster for the United States.
49
Ted Cruz, Even God couldn't save us should he win.
38
"Over the past few years, Cruz has become a team player. In fact, he’s become a central member of the conservative establishment."
No. Ted Cruz plays at being a team member the same way John Wayne Gacy played at being a clown. His Republican "team mates" want nothing to do with him. They know Cruz will turn on them whenever he sees the slightest political advantage for himself. Cruz will get himself another 15 minutes of fame, and they'll end up in the political crawl space under Cruz's home.
No. Ted Cruz plays at being a team member the same way John Wayne Gacy played at being a clown. His Republican "team mates" want nothing to do with him. They know Cruz will turn on them whenever he sees the slightest political advantage for himself. Cruz will get himself another 15 minutes of fame, and they'll end up in the political crawl space under Cruz's home.
25
@jlalbrecht: Great analogy.
3
Mr Brooks says the Conservatives are divided into two or three main groups.
He then makes it very clear that he is from a different one of those groups than Senator Cruz.
Previously, Mr Brooks quoted fivethirty eight, but he does not accept their division of Conservatives into five overlapping groups: Moderate (i.e., leftish) Establishment, Central Establishment, Christian Conservative, Tea, and Libertarian (none of which include Mr Trump).
Fivethirtyeight say that Senator Cruz is backed by both the Christian and Tea Conservatives, which is currently making him the top anti-Trump candidate, but not one of the anti-Trump candidates acceptable to Mr Brooks.
So the Conservatives have irreconcilable differences this election, and that is very good for Secretary Clinton!
He then makes it very clear that he is from a different one of those groups than Senator Cruz.
Previously, Mr Brooks quoted fivethirty eight, but he does not accept their division of Conservatives into five overlapping groups: Moderate (i.e., leftish) Establishment, Central Establishment, Christian Conservative, Tea, and Libertarian (none of which include Mr Trump).
Fivethirtyeight say that Senator Cruz is backed by both the Christian and Tea Conservatives, which is currently making him the top anti-Trump candidate, but not one of the anti-Trump candidates acceptable to Mr Brooks.
So the Conservatives have irreconcilable differences this election, and that is very good for Secretary Clinton!
101
Good column this morning, David Brooks. I'm sure that the old guard Republican etablishment is horrified that the "crazies" as they were referred to back when, have taken over. Don't forget that Bush jr, and company also contributed to the power base of these nut cases in a big way. When you get Goldman into the act, you are also talking major influence. They have a habit of bankrolling both sides, but have their favorites. Banks run our show, let's not be shy about that. But at least there perhaps used to be a modicum of a civil sense of responsibility. What we are seeing as you point out, is naked ambition in Cruz. He's not the only one. Line 'em up..and the only candidate I see with that modicum of service to the public mindset, is Bernie Sanders.
28
They are not "crazy", they are "greedy"
16
It is said the country is scared. A terror act kills you once - what Trump, Carson and Cruz are doing - or planned to do if allowed, kills (will kill) the country a thousand times. That is scary.
90
The seeds of this "Counter Conservative Establishment" were sown back in the '60s. When I was at Yale there was a nascent conservative movement formed by acolytes of William Buckley (Brent Bozell's uncle). As bearers of the "One True Political Faith", they became very insular and many then worked the network to get into establishment jobs. My observation was that they were not particularly well adjusted and certainly not receptive to inconvenient facts. Put another way, they didn't particularly like or associate with people who were different from themselves. They are now running conservative think tanks and lobbying groups. Ted Cruz would fit right in with that crowd.
123
Fr. Bill
I would go back a little further to the Yale Buckley wrote about in God and Man at Yale and remind people that there was another branch of today's GOP extant in the early 1950s. The Buckleys were very proCatholic and heavy supporters of Joseph Raymond McCarthy but there was the Koch wing of what we now call conservatism and Fred C. Koch was a founder of the John Birch Society an element purged from Buckley's establishment conservatives. Things haven't changed that much and I don't see Cruz fitting in very well with the establishment conservatives who are wrestling with their church which is growing more liberal by the day.
I would go back a little further to the Yale Buckley wrote about in God and Man at Yale and remind people that there was another branch of today's GOP extant in the early 1950s. The Buckleys were very proCatholic and heavy supporters of Joseph Raymond McCarthy but there was the Koch wing of what we now call conservatism and Fred C. Koch was a founder of the John Birch Society an element purged from Buckley's establishment conservatives. Things haven't changed that much and I don't see Cruz fitting in very well with the establishment conservatives who are wrestling with their church which is growing more liberal by the day.
2
Fr Bill
Again I am well into my 7th decade and have experienced many different intellectual traditions. I am a Jew who attended The Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal Schools. I can sit down and talk to Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Calvinists of the Dutch Reform Churches, Eastern Orthodox, Mennonites Atheists, Agnostics, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. The intellectual traditions of Baptists, Anglicans, Northern European Protestants, and Southern Alberta Evangelicals are completely alien to me and my understanding of the world. I cannot imagine Ted Cruz fitting into any conservative think tank the language barrier is even more than a wall it is a chasm I might say two galaxies at different ends of the universe.
Again I am well into my 7th decade and have experienced many different intellectual traditions. I am a Jew who attended The Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal Schools. I can sit down and talk to Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Calvinists of the Dutch Reform Churches, Eastern Orthodox, Mennonites Atheists, Agnostics, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. The intellectual traditions of Baptists, Anglicans, Northern European Protestants, and Southern Alberta Evangelicals are completely alien to me and my understanding of the world. I cannot imagine Ted Cruz fitting into any conservative think tank the language barrier is even more than a wall it is a chasm I might say two galaxies at different ends of the universe.
3
I appreciate a fair amount of Mr. Brooks' writing, but as a columnist he dramatically overuses the simplistic either/or "two kinds of" frame as a rhetorical device. Either he needs to get some new tricks or it is time for this dog to move on. I think it is the latter.
27
Why isn't what Cruz and his ilk are doing labeled as "seditious?"
They run for elected office to shut down the government.
In my mind, that is treasonous.
They run for elected office to shut down the government.
In my mind, that is treasonous.
414
Can't we throw Australian/American Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes in that category?
7
Rafael Cruz, the Canadian refugee from the horrors of socialised medicine is also an anti immigrant immigrant.
Even more hypocritically, he lives on land stolen, at gunpoint, from Mexico, and has the temerity to vilify Mexicans as alien invaders.
Fortunately for us he will never pass the likeability test. His sneer and nasal whine is like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Even more hypocritically, he lives on land stolen, at gunpoint, from Mexico, and has the temerity to vilify Mexicans as alien invaders.
Fortunately for us he will never pass the likeability test. His sneer and nasal whine is like fingernails on a chalkboard.
279
He came here legally, not by paying some coyote a couple of hundred dollars to sneak him across the Rio Grande. Land "stolen" from Mexico 170 years ago would be well past any reasonable statute of limitations.
You and I may not like Ted Cruz, but if your're going to criticize him because of his father, at least find more cogent reasons.
You and I may not like Ted Cruz, but if your're going to criticize him because of his father, at least find more cogent reasons.
7
JPE, and how exactly did Mr Obama get treated "because of his father"?
14
Here's a "cogent reason"..his father was a Cuban aristocrat and Ted can't forget that. He was not a starving field worker.
4
Mr. Brooks, you're amazing. You've almost completed a 180 in the past month. You first noted the rot in your party and realized that the stench of Ronald Reagan these past 35 years had turned the Grand Old Party into a dangerous caricature of smugness that checked the country's best interests at the door. Then you twisted your hands and hoped that Marco Rubio would be the Little Engine That Could and derail Donald Trump. (Psst that's not gonna happen). Today you write that the skies are full of chickens flapping home to roost. I don't recall a column of yours in the past where you so obviously broke with the loyal Canadian anarchist who would lead America into insolvency and war. Cruz is the kind of guy who would spray-paint the White House to deface an institution "because it's there." I can't recall a column of yours taking this firestarter to task for being what he's always been: the wearer of many coats, the better to ingratiate himself with his audience of the moment. Ted Cruz has never been blessed with guile or Machiavellian cunning. He's always been up-front about what he's against: everything and anyone not himself. He fooled you and you want out. Too bad. Too late. You and your party's "intelligentsia" saw the danger of this walking cancer long ago and smirked. Now he has metastasized and you all want chemotherapy to arrest the spreading growth. Well it's fatal: to the GOP/TP and to us. No thanks for not calling him out.
509
To soxared040713: Thanks for seeing that the issue here is not Ted Cruz but David Brooks. To my knowledge this is his first NYT column dealing with the actual positions of one of the Republicans he so fervently supports, all of whom are as nihilistic as Cruz.
I strongly suspect that the column was in response to the relentless criticism of that support on this blog site by hundreds of concerned citizens such as yourself.
I strongly suspect that the column was in response to the relentless criticism of that support on this blog site by hundreds of concerned citizens such as yourself.
7
Well, it's a trick that won't work. Everybody who knows Ted Cruz hates Ted Cruz (including his former boss, W THE WORST). In fact, they hate him so much they're willing to shout it from the rooftops as a warning to the rest of us, especially now that he's getting some traction. Cruz is a modern day combo of Joe McCarthy and Elmer Gantry, who basques in the endorsement of religious zealots who justify killing abortion providers and executing homosexuals. He's even worse than Trump and the GOP Establishment knows it.
477
Ted Cruz is a good fit for that 'counter establishment' - which is comprised of those who LIKE the status quo of privilege and want more of the same. He reminds me of Uriah Heep.
36
Choosing between Trump and Cruz is like choosing between Nero and Caligula.
6
Ted Cruz is an unbroken horse
Who'll run the one tenth percent's course,
To rich rogues he'll kowtow
Play the tractable now,
End up as Boss without remorse!
Who'll run the one tenth percent's course,
To rich rogues he'll kowtow
Play the tractable now,
End up as Boss without remorse!
19
The Republican Counter Establishment is not in contact with reality. It denies what we are doing to our environment because stopping the damage would involve increased government power. It declares that racism is over while playing to racial resentments to win elections. It sees Obama as both incompetent and terribly powerful. It sees a health care plan designed and originally implemented by Republicans as a socialist government takeover, and a very centrist president as a leftist radical. It sees preventing the government from functioning as saving the country from dictatorship.
Most of the Counter Establishment really thinks like this. The leaders do not seem to be merely using talking points that are mendacious but effective. They actually believe what they are saying, or they no longer bother to distinguish between what is true and what gets them elected; what gets them elected is by definition true. So Iraq got Dubya reelected; he was a wartime president. The war was going horribly, even then, but that was reality and could be ignored.
The questions for intelligent conservatives are two: How do we understand this Counter Establishment, and how can we undercut it. Any conservative who is not working on these questions is shirking what needs to be done.
Most of the Counter Establishment really thinks like this. The leaders do not seem to be merely using talking points that are mendacious but effective. They actually believe what they are saying, or they no longer bother to distinguish between what is true and what gets them elected; what gets them elected is by definition true. So Iraq got Dubya reelected; he was a wartime president. The war was going horribly, even then, but that was reality and could be ignored.
The questions for intelligent conservatives are two: How do we understand this Counter Establishment, and how can we undercut it. Any conservative who is not working on these questions is shirking what needs to be done.
125
Machiavellianism is characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and personal gain. It also has negative correlations with empathy, emotion recognition, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Machiavellians often display a suspicious versus trusting view of human nature. And finally, while distinct constructs, Machiavellianism, along with narcissism and psychopathy, comprise a related group of personality traits some psychologists call “the dark triad.”
Whether “selfish” or “kind,” is there anything in this list wanted in the next president?