Trump on Cruz Control!? – The Teflon Candidate
With less than a week to go before the primary voting begins in Iowa, could Ted Cruz catch Donald Trump?
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, O.K.?” Those were the words of Donald J. Trump in another one of his quite lengthy ramblings. His brash and unbelievably careless rhetoric seems to complement the US ratings -driven political process so well, it’s as if Trump is the Teflon Candidate. Reagan was the Teflon President, John Gotti the Teflon Don, and Donald Trump the Teflon Candidate.
It was only just last November analysts were convinced that the soft-spoken Dr. Ben Carson would have easily surpassed Trump in the polls, his likability was soaring (as it continues to) and as far as most polls were concerned he was on par or had surpassed Trump. Almost two months later, it’s another story. Carson’s campaign seems to be falling apart by the day, while more and more attention is being given toward the Cruz - Trump face-off.
Cruz, a lawyer and US senator, won the US Senate race to represent Texas in 2012. The Washington Post at the time described it as, “the biggest upset of 2012...a true grassroots victory against very long odds.” Now it seems that the odds are even more so stacked against him. For Trump, there is very little that could possibly be brought up to challenge him outside of his lack of experience in public office or the possible electability factor come November 2016, if he were to be running against the widely presumed Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump has been living in the public eye for decades, his ups and downs, business deals and missteps have been public for some time. However for Cruz, even within his own party there is open consensus on the notion that he’s a pariah – difficult to compromise, self-righteous. With Trump, some see the potential for possible deal-making, a kind of Reagan-esque quality of public charm and pragmatism – minus some of the explosive rhetoric.
So what could Ted Cruz possibly do to catch Trump and win the Republican nomination? He has to run his own race. Cruz’s response to one Fox reporter sums up the philosophy well, he noted that when “...actual voters would ask questions...nobody would ask about Donald Trump, they ask about the real questions facing this country [USA]...”. Cruz’s strength is on the issues, there is where he needs to place his focus.
25.01.2016
Mikhail E.D. Byng
With less than a week to go before the primary voting begins in Iowa, could Ted Cruz catch Donald Trump?
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, O.K.?” Those were the words of Donald J. Trump in another one of his quite lengthy ramblings. His brash and unbelievably careless rhetoric seems to complement the US ratings -driven political process so well, it’s as if Trump is the Teflon Candidate. Reagan was the Teflon President, John Gotti the Teflon Don, and Donald Trump the Teflon Candidate.
It was only just last November analysts were convinced that the soft-spoken Dr. Ben Carson would have easily surpassed Trump in the polls, his likability was soaring (as it continues to) and as far as most polls were concerned he was on par or had surpassed Trump. Almost two months later, it’s another story. Carson’s campaign seems to be falling apart by the day, while more and more attention is being given toward the Cruz - Trump face-off.
Cruz, a lawyer and US senator, won the US Senate race to represent Texas in 2012. The Washington Post at the time described it as, “the biggest upset of 2012...a true grassroots victory against very long odds.” Now it seems that the odds are even more so stacked against him. For Trump, there is very little that could possibly be brought up to challenge him outside of his lack of experience in public office or the possible electability factor come November 2016, if he were to be running against the widely presumed Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump has been living in the public eye for decades, his ups and downs, business deals and missteps have been public for some time. However for Cruz, even within his own party there is open consensus on the notion that he’s a pariah – difficult to compromise, self-righteous. With Trump, some see the potential for possible deal-making, a kind of Reagan-esque quality of public charm and pragmatism – minus some of the explosive rhetoric.
So what could Ted Cruz possibly do to catch Trump and win the Republican nomination? He has to run his own race. Cruz’s response to one Fox reporter sums up the philosophy well, he noted that when “...actual voters would ask questions...nobody would ask about Donald Trump, they ask about the real questions facing this country [USA]...”. Cruz’s strength is on the issues, there is where he needs to place his focus.
25.01.2016
Mikhail E.D. Byng
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