There is only Trump’s personal appeal to his voters, and politicians such as Cruz have to find a way to graft themselves onto it. But there are no policies behind Trumpism to co-opt. Trump’s failed reelection bid should, in the natural order of things, create space for Republicans such as Cruz to center themselves in the party again.
Cruz grew facial hair, gained weight, and took on the appearance of something like a late-period Orson Welles.
Cruz was relegated to the status of a Senate backbencher, whose main accomplishment in the last few years has been securing a pardon for a hacky right-wing polemicist Dinesh D’Souza, who was guilty of violating campaign finance laws. But then Trump won and became a once-in-a-generation conservative hero. Perhaps he would be there to help pick up the pieces in 2020. He alleged that the media elevated Trump because he was the candidate Hillary Clinton would have the easiest time beating. Throughout the campaign, Cruz had argued Trump would lead the party to defeat. Shortly after, the Access Hollywood tape dropped, ensuring that Cruz was subjected to a month of questions about why he supported a man who bragged about sexually assaulting women.
Later, chastened by the immense GOP backlash to his stand, he endorsed Trump. Trump charged that Ted’s beloved father had been involved in the JFK assassination, retweeted fans who called Cruz’s wife ugly, and stood by smirking as allies circulated dirt about the senator, his family, and his friends.Īt the 2016 Republican National Convention, Cruz withheld support from Trump during a prime-time speech, misreading the mood of the party that had nominated the man. When Trump failed to fail, Cruz tried to take him down, much too late, and suffered profound humiliation in the process. The mob and congressional Republicans were incited by the same person, the president, and they had the same aim-to override the will of the people and keep in office a man whom the country had not elected.Ĭruz spent much of the first year of his presidential campaign buddying up to Trump, his opponent, in the hopes that he’d benefit when The Donald failed. They nearly breached the floor of the House of Representatives, where members of Congress and staffers lay huddled as officers drew guns. Rioters ransacked and looted congressional offices, took shirtless photos on the floor of the Senate, waved Confederate flags in the building Abraham Lincoln helped finish, and strutted in clothing emblazoned with pro-Holocaust messages. In conjunction with that, a rampaging mob overwhelmed an unprepared or collaborative police force and stormed the Capitol, the first time that has happened since the War of 1812. In Congress, a majority of the House Republican Caucus (including sixteen from the Texas delegation, more than any other state) and a handful of senators voted repeatedly to overturn lawful and transparently obtained electoral college results, seeking to nullify a democratic election by claiming a power not granted in the Constitution. At times, watching Wednesday’s livestreams from the Capitol felt like witnessing the Visigoths’ sack of Rome-a sensation heightened by the common understanding that it probably wouldn’t be the last time such a blow was struck. There have been many deadlier days, but few have featured more grievous injury to the country’s sense of itself as a beacon of constitutional democracy. By the middle of the afternoon, January 6, 2021, had become one of the most shameful days in the history of the United States.
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