Donald Trump has spectacularly flamed out. Whether it’s the proverbial nail in the coffin or a blip on his way to the Republican nomination is yet to be seen. Certainly, he’s survived any number of “gaffes” that would have sunk any other potential nominee in any previous election year. (Trump would argue, of course, that none of them were gaffes and until now, Republican voters were backing him up).
So, Ted Cruz has played a pretty good game of in the Non-Trump Category of hanging back just enough to let everyone else fall by the wayside, but still keeping his name in play. And, he’s now generally seen as the winner of the Non-Trump Category, if Trump does not succeed in winning enough delegates outright. Not to mention that Cruz has been poaching The Donald’s delegates, so again, political points to Cruz.
Any sane person in Cruz’s position would continue to work the “I’m not Trump” angle for the next couple months and play it safe on anything overly controversial. But, Crazy Calgary Ted didn’t earn the enmity of his Senate colleagues — and just about everyone else before they realized that Trump could end up as the nominee — for nothing. Because, despite some savvy political steps so far, Cruz may have just killed any thoughts he had for the general election.
Campaigning in Wisconsin, Cruz announced today that he thinks that Roe v. Wade should be overturned, and that abortion should be illegal even in the cases of rape and incest. Playing off Weekend Update, the idea of overturning Roe v. Wade is unquestionably part of the conservative agenda, but you don’t say it out loud, even if you’re on Wheel of Fortune and the board says, “I want to overturn _oe v. Wade.” Add it to Cruz’s obsession with overturning Obamacare, eliminating the IRS, this doesn’t seem like the way to convince voters — especially Republican women — that he’s any different from Trump.
Granted, Republicans are very confused about uteruses because “freedom” applies to gun ownership and not one’s healthcare choices — especially women’s healthcare choices — but when faced with a candidate who will obviously run on going back to the frightening days before Roe, Republicans are doing their best to make Clinton vs. Sanders not particularly relevant, at least in terms of the general election.