Republicans May Prefer the Devil They Know

15 Mar, 2016 by Brent Smith

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Might the establishment republican power brokers actually prefer Ted Cruz to Donald Trump? The left wing website Yahoo News thinks so.

Could it really be that the country club, French republicans (hat tip – Mark Levin) line up behind the most hated Senator in world history? According to Matt Bai at Yahoo, the republicans may very well decide they prefer “the devil they know to the daredevil they don’t.”

Bai says, “in conversations with a half dozen of the leading Republican strategists and lobbyists this week, it became clear that a solid consensus is forming as to which guy they would rather see get the keys.”

It’s beginning to look like Bai may be right. Heck, even Lindsey Graham, the poster child of the jelly filled center of the party has warmed to Cruz – something I certainly would have never guessed. Graham went from likening the choice between Trump and Cruz as a one between being shot or poisoned, to him saying: “I can’t believe I would say yes, but yes,” to rallying around Cruz.

Lindsey is a capital “R” republican, meaning he will do anything necessary to promote party, even over country. As a quintessential insider, you know darn well he isn’t trotting out there independently. He must have had the party’s blessing before floating this Cruz trial balloon. The establishment isn’t known for bold, definitive statements, except for those which announce their surrender to the democrats – like McConnell declaring there will never another government shutdown, thereby surrendering to Obama on the budget. Everything else has to be tested and focus grouped.

Bai suspects Trump knows this and it’s the reason he has begun to change tactics, at least during the debates. He is trying his best to strike a more civil tone, something which, by the look of him during the last debate, appears to be physically painful. On stage he even made a point of saying how civil it was. The Donald of old (by old, I mean a few weeks ago) would have never said such a thing nor cared.

Personally, I think he knows full well, as virtually every poll confirms, that in a two man race between him and Cruz, he loses. It must be killing him not lash out more at Cruz. It is his nature to do so, as we’ve witnessed for months.

It’s also why others and I conclude that the insults hurled at Marco Rubio are strategic – to goad him into remaining in the race when he clearly cannot win, thus taking votes from Cruz. Trump is playing on Rubio’s ego, calculating,

correctly so far, that Rubio will stubbornly react with an “I’ll show you” attitude. Trump’s clearer path to victory is for the other two, Rubio and Kasich to remain.

The establishment, Bai writes, see Trump “as erratic and untrustworthy, an ideological trespasser who would borrow the party but holds dear few of its conservative convictions. And they’re profoundly troubled by an authoritarian streak…”

If I may laugh out loud for a moment. While I agree Trump is “erratic and untrustworthy,” I disagree that the “party” has any “conservative convictions.” The Republican party hasn’t had a conservative thought for decades, which is exactly why Cruz is so despised – more so than any democrat.

I hope Bai is correct in surmising the Republican leadership will coalesce behind Cruz. If it helps him win the White House, I’m all for it. I’d love to see the spectacle. I’d love to see them all jump on the Cruz bandwagon and then attempt to influence and control him, only to be frustrated by his adherence to the Constitution. Just for the entertainment, I’d love to see it.

But they couldn’t even control Cruz as a junior Senator. Which is why, I’ll hold to the opinion I’ve had for a while now – that the establishment would be much better off with the “deal-maker” Trump, who, like the Republicans, will happily embrace any usurpation of the Constitution in order to “get things done.”

Thankfully they never listen to us.

Also see,

Carson Gives Trump a Pass, but Not Cruz