In the Spring of 2013, Tea Party favorites Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio agreed to implement a strategery to defund Obamacare conceived by Jim DeMint and the Senate Conservatives Fund.
But according to Fox News’ Carl Cameron, Cruz and Lee felt they were hung out to dry by Paul and Rubio:
The first to fade and back away from this was Marco Rubio…not too long after that, Rand Paul began to emphasize the need for negotiation.
There were only 3 possible sources for the pro-Cruz side of the story: Team Cruz, Team Lee, or SCF.
But only Cruz had motive.
By mid-2013, Cruz and Rand began to view one another as natural rivals for the affections of the anti-Establishment/Tea Party base– which would be crucial for any outsider to win the 2016 GOP nomination.
From there, shit escalated quickly…
- Cruz happily stood on the sidelines while their mutual enemy Chris Christie bludgeoned Rand on national security.
- Then Cruz muscled in at the last minute on Rand’s efforts to soften his image by cozying up to Democrat moderate Kirsten Gillibrand.
- Then Cruz copied Rand’s non-internventionist schtick when it became temporarily popular among Republicans late in the Obama era.
- Then Ron Paul accused Cruz of being Goldman Sachs’ bitch.
- Then Rand accused Cruz of “mischaracterizing” his views.
- Then Rand accused Cruz of “splintering” the GOP.
- Then Rand laughed off his supporters crashing Cruz’s presidential announcement.
- Then Cruz and Rand spent the next year of their lives accusing each other of flip-flopping on amnesty (for the record, they both flip-flopped, and so did Trump, and so did the GOP base).
Then, just before the Iowa caucuses, Kelley Paul dropped any pretense of civility– calling Ted Cruz “two-faced”…
It’s like a Greek tragedy.
Two otherwise decent men corrupted by ambition, unwilling to unite to defeat a far greater threat, and unwittingly playing pivotal roles in bringing about what history will record as the fall of the Republic.
Sad!
