Cruz, Rubio, and the Moral Bankruptcy of Progressive Identity Politics

Because white progressives have engineered a cultural system where black and Latino politicians deserve respect only if they get with the progressive program — the entire progressive program.

.. Just ask formerly pro-life Jesse Jackson. Not even marching with Martin Luther King Jr. could protect him from the intolerant demands of progressive sexual revolutionaries. He had to switch sides.

The ‘Establishment’ Nonsense

Cruz may be anti-establishment but he’s a principled conservative, while Trump has no coherent political philosophy, no core beliefs, at all. Trump offers barstool eruptions and whatever contradictory “idea” pops into his head at the time, such as “humane” mass deportation, followed by mass amnesty when the immigrants are returned to the United States.

.. His actual platform is all persona — the wonders that will emanate from his own self-proclaimed strength, toughness, brilliance, money, his very yugeness.

Trump’s is faith-based politics of the Latin American caudillo variety. “At the [Sarah] Palin rally,” reports John McCormack of The Weekly Standard, “Trump promised he would localize education. ‘How?’ shouted one man in the crowd. ‘Just you watch,’ Trump replied.” Meaning: I have no idea. Just trust me.

.. He reasonably calculates that his hard-edged conservatism sells best when presented not as pristine ideology but as a revolt against entrenched interests.

.. To imagine, however, that his railing against “the Washington cartel” makes him a Trumpian brother-in-arms is to mistake tactics for strategy, style for substance.

The result is a three-way fight between Trump’s personalized strongman populism and two flavors of conservatism — Marco Rubio’s more mainstream version and Cruz’s more uncompromising take-no-prisoners version.

Ted Cruz and Allies Work to Halt Donald Trump’s Gains

Until recently, the group had focused on Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. “For months, until about two or three weeks ago, every single person that I encountered in the Republican Party would begin every sentence the same way: ‘When Trump is gone,’ ” Ms. Conway said. “That itself was a flawed premise.”

.. Yet Mr. Cruz has been dealing with more than Mr. Trump. Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum continue to attack him, and the state’s six-term governor, Terry E. Branstad, urged Mr. Cruz’s defeat, part of an onslaught from allies of the ethanol industry.