Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz during a rally against the Iran nuclear deal on Sept. 9, 2015 in Washington, DC. (2015 Getty Images)
The recent spat turned all-out assault between presidential candidates Donald Trump and Jeb Bush on the George W. Bush’s 9/11 record issue proves that Trump will go after anyone in his own party that gets in his way — except for one.
Donald Trump has not attacked Ted Cruz. Why? The two men have apparently come to terms on a Faustian bargain, one that allows each to use the other despite having almost nothing in common.
It’s bound to happen at some point, somewhere — coming to a theater near you, Trump vs. Cruz: the clash of the titans.
Yes, both Trump and Cruz are agitators with oversized egos who love to listen to themselves speak, but that is where the similarities end. In fact, many in the Republican Party see Cruz as “too unwavering as a Republican” while Trump is seen as “not Republican enough.”
Cruz is a classic unabashed conservative; Trump is not. Cruz is far to the right of most GOP candidates on social issues; Trump is not. Cruz is vehemently opposed to abortion in any form; Trump is not. Cruz is a rigid evangelical Christian; Trump is not.
So what is going on here? Why this odd kabuki dance between these two men who have so little in common besides bluster?
For Cruz, the answer is completely Machiavellian. It doesn’t matter to him what Trump espouses now, because he believes that Trump is simply borrowing the outsider label. Cruz actually wants Trump to keep the seat warm enough until he’s ready to sit on it.
How do we know this? This week in an interview with WABC, Cruz inadvertently said so. It’s not so much a gaffe as it is an admission of fact.
“I think one of the most tremendously helpful things to my campaign has been Donald Trump’s candidacy,” said Cruz. Did you hear that? He thinks Trump is simply prepping the field for his own eventual ascendancy; and he may be right.
As for Trump not going after Cruz: two reasons. One, Trump prefers weak prey, which by Trump’s definition is someone who doesn’t speak or carry him or herself with confidence. That is not Cruz. Two, Cruz is still too far down in the polls to make him worth challenging.
By the way, this kabuki dance between Trump and Cruz has not gone unnoticed by astute GOP observers, which brings us back to the Trump/Bush feud. Here’s former president George W. Bush, according to Politico: “I just don’t like the guy,” referring to Ted Cruz.
A donor tells Politico that he overheard Bush explaining his dislike of the Texas senator. He found it “opportunistic that Cruz was sucking up to Trump and just expecting all of his support to come to him in the end.”
Will that eventually happen? Will Trump’s support suddenly fall in Cruz’s lap in the end? The answer is, of course not, not without a fight from Trump. And that’s when this well-choreographed Kabuki dance will turn into a free-for-all. It’s bound to happen at some point, somewhere ... Coming to a theater near you, Trump vs. Cruz: the clash of the titans.
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