Ted Cruz Just Announced Something Major About Trump’s Support System: ‘The Establishment Is…’
By Rosie Gray. Ted Cruz dismissed Iowa governor Terry Branstad’s opposition to his campaign on Tuesday, implying that Branstad is part of the same “cronyism” establishment as Donald Trump.
“It is not a surprise that the establishment is in full panic mode,” Cruz told BuzzFeed News in an interview on his campaign bus. “We predicted from the very beginning that the Washington cartel would fire every tool in its arsenal to prevent a conservative victory in this primary.”
“The cartel exists to make deals and to pick winners and losers through cronyism and corporate welfare,” Cruz told BuzzFeed News. “And so it’s no surprise that more and more of the establishment is beginning to support Donald Trump. Because Donald has promised to make deals and to continue the cronyism and corporate welfare of Washington. That’s what the cartel does. They make deals with Democrats.”
Branstad told reporters at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit on Tuesday that Cruz “hasn’t supported renewable fuels, and I think it would be a big mistake for Iowa to support him.” Cruz opposes the Renewable Fuel Standard, a government standard requiring transportation fuel to include a certain amount of ethanol, which is a touchstone of Iowa politics.
Branstad confirmed to reporters that he doesn’t want Cruz to win the Iowa caucuses. He had previously said he remain neutral. Branstad, whose son works for a pro-ethanol group, has also said that Donald Trump’s questions about Cruz’s eligibility for the presidency because of his birth in Canada are “fair game.” (Read more from “Ted Cruz Just Announced Something Major About Trump’s Support System: ‘The Establishment Is…'” HERE)
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Bob Dole on Ted Cruz: ‘Nobody Likes Him’
By Josh Hafner. Bob Dole said Wednesday that Ted Cruz at the top of the GOP ticket would mean “wholesale losses” for the party in Washington and across the country.
“I don’t know how he’s going to deal with Congress,” Dole said in an interview with The New York Times. “Nobody likes him.”
Dole, a former Kansas senator, was the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in 1996.
Donald Trump would “probably work with Congress,” though, Dole mused, because he’s “kind of a deal maker.”
Dole characterized Cruz as an “extremist” unwilling to work with his own party. The Times’ Maggie Haberman notes that Dole’s comments reflect a larger tension that establishment Republicans feel with Cruz, who portrays himself on the campaign trail as their antithesis. (Read more from “Bob Dole on Ted Cruz: ‘Nobody Likes Him'” HERE)
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