As Democrats in Congress steamed toward impeaching President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz aggressively upped his profile as one of Trump’s most vocal defenders over the last two weeks, further allying himself with the man he bitterly campaigned against just over three years ago.
In less than two weeks, Cruz appeared in a dozen national television and radio interviews and delivered a blistering speech before the conservative-faithful at the Heritage Foundation, forcefully defending Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainians and dismissing the Democratic impeachment proceedings as unconstitutional.
“We’ve seen their case collapse,” Cruz said in his latest appearance on Fox Business on Wednesday just as Democrats started the impeachment debate in the House. “This is a political gesture of anger. Their base hates Donald Trump, and they’re voting to impeach him because they hate him. That really is telling the voters that Washington politicians think they know better than the people who cast their ballots.”
Political expert Mark P. Jones of Rice University says Cruz is giving the Trump faithful exactly what they want.
“They want to see a full-throated defense of the President, and that is what Cruz is giving them,” Jones said.
Jones said Cruz’s spirited defense of Trump makes him think about how it could play into a 2024 presidential primary election. “With an eye to 2024, the Trump legacy will be up for grabs in a Republican Primary,” Jones said. “You don’t want to be someone seen as anti-Trump.”
That was Cruz just over three years ago in Cleveland when he drew boos at the Republican National Convention for refusing to endorse Trump. Cruz and Trump were bitter rivals during the presidential contest, with Trump labeling Cruz “Lyin’ Ted” and Cruz calling Trump a “pathological liar.”
But since Trump’s election, Cruz has become a supporter of the president, frequently lauding the substance of what he’s accomplished even while offering critiques of Trump’s method. In 2018, as Cruz was battling for re-election in Texas against Democrat Beto O’Rourke, Trump flew to Houston to campaign for Cruz who he then re-labeled “Beautiful Ted.”
“You know, we had our little difficulties,” Trump told the crowd at the Toyota Center in Houston. “It got ugly. ... But nobody has helped me more.”
Over the last two weeks, Cruz has few rivals among members of the Senate in his aggressive defense of Trump. And it hasn’t just been on conservative media outlets either.
Cruz has hit the Sunday morning talk show circuit, getting into an intense back-and-forth with NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press on Dec. 8 after Cruz asserted that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential elections. After Todd directly asked Cruz if he believes Ukraine meddled in the U.S. elections in 2016, Cruz responded: “I do, and I think there is considerable evidence of that.”
More: https://namtranganh.blogspot.com/2019/12/sen-ted-cruz-vote-to-impeach-president.html
