Political odd couple: Cruz and the GOP ‘establishment’
IN an election season filled with twists and turns, Wisconsin’s Republican presidential primary has provided one more: Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas won one of his biggest and most consequential victories by aligning himself with the party “establishment” he has often derided as unprincipled sellouts.
It’s an alliance of convenience based not so much on Cruz’s appeal as Donald Trump’s bigger flaws. Many Republicans view Trump as a certain loser in November who may drag down the party’s congressional majorities with him, and perhaps even many state-level candidates. Cruz isn’t the favored candidate of the so-called “establishment,” but among Republicans who remain in the presidential race he is viewed as someone who might win in November. And even if Cruz falls short, party officials think he offers at least a chance to keep the losing margin respectable.
Cruz’s victory in Utah was far larger. (He drew 69 percent of the votes there.) But that was a caucus state dominated by activists who are far more conservative than even the average Republican, making them more of a natural Cruz constituency.
In contrast, Wisconsin was a primary — an open primary where one did not have to be a registered Republican to cast a vote. Yet Cruz still pulled 48 percent, beating Trump by 13 points in a state where Trump had led in polling earlier this year.
This victory places Cruz in a club of decidedly “establishment” Republicans that he might normally disdain, including Mitt Romney, John McCain and George W. Bush. Those three each won the Wisconsin Republican primary in 2012, 2008 and 2000, respectively.
Cruz owes much of this victory to the backing of the party establishment. The endorsement of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker undoubtedly benefited Cruz. Walker is a solid conservative, but he’s also won and governed successfully in a swing state — which, in this odd political year, makes one “establishment.”
Walker’s endorsement would not have been predicted a few months ago, but an even more surprising Cruz endorsement came from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. In February, Graham noted Cruz’s unpopularity in the Senate and quipped, “If you kill Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial is at the Senate, no one will convict you.”
During a later appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Cruz noted that Graham had just hosted a fundraiser for him, and joked, “This is the first event I’ve ever had hosted by someone who, three weeks earlier, publicly called for my murder.”
Now Cruz is busy reaching out to the same “Washington cartel” he built his career deriding. Politico reports that Cruz is “aggressively reaching out to his Senate colleagues as he prepares for the possibility of a convention floor fight against Donald Trump” and that Cruz’s surrogates are “signaling to senior Republicans that Cruz would be willing to work with them as the GOP nominee in a way Trump would not.”
Graham, who is one of those Cruz surrogates, told Politico, “Clearly Ted was not my first choice by any means but we are in a position now as a party that we’ve got to pick a path. The Trump path to me is a disaster.”
It says much about the extreme nature of Trumpism that it’s transforming former enemies into allies and establishment antagonists into members in good standing.