You only hurt the ones you love
by digby
The bullying hate bloc has to make a choice and so far, they prefer the Donald.
Donald Trump’s turn in the national spotlight is mainly taking a toll on Ted Cruz, the Texas firebrand running as an uncompromising, anti-establishment conservative.
That’s the assessment of this week’s POLITICO Caucus, our weekly survey of the leading strategists, activists and political operatives in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Story Continued BelowRoughly a third of Iowa and New Hampshire Republican insiders pointed to Cruz as the candidate who is damaged the most in their states by Trump’s rise in the polls and emergence as a media-grabbing protest candidate.
“The Trump Circus is no doubt having the biggest impact on Ted Cruz. Cruz, the incumbent proxy for the disaffected GOP “Hell No!” Caucus, has been virtually starved of oxygen since Trump entered the race,” said an Iowa Republican, who, like all POLITICO Caucus participants, was granted anonymity in order to speak freely.
“Cruz needs to consolidate the rage-against-the-machine, anti-establishment block of Caucus votes (both the harder-edged evangelicals and tea party types) as his Iowa Caucus foundation upon which to build,” said another Iowa Republican. “Trump is sucking all the oxygen out of the room. While I seriously doubt most of those folks will ultimately caucus for Trump, his message is scratching their anti-establishment itch at a time when Cruz needs to start showing some momentum.”
In New Hampshire, where Chris Christie’s hopes are riding on a strong finish, roughly a quarter of Republicans believe the brash and straight-talking New Jersey governor is also put at risk by Trump’s emergence in the field.
“Christie is the “tell it like it is” candidate, but he certainly can’t hang with Trump in that regard,” a Granite State Republican said. “Without the oxygen of a niche, Christie is rudderless and grasping at straws.”
“Christie has placed all his eggs in New Hampshire’s basket, but Trump is right now occupying the “tell it like it is” lane with gusto,” added another New Hampshire Republican. “Same thing with Ted Cruz. If you’re a voter looking for the most conservative alternative, it’s hard to see you landing anywhere but Trump.”
Poor Cruz. He really is the OG wingnut firebrand in the race. And Christie really is the OG bombastic bully. But they’re politicians. And the wingnut faction is looking for an outsider who loves to hate and will tell everyone who isn’t them to go to hell. That’s Trump.
It will be interesting to see where that faction eventually lands. There are so many creepy haters in the race that they have a lot to choose from.
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