We’re five days into 2016, and Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are right back to competing over who’s the most like Donald Trump.
One day after Donald Trump put out a fear-mongering — and purposefully misleading — campaign ad that seeks to exploit the GOP base’s anti-immigrant fears, Ted Cruz is out with a similar anti-immigrant ad of his own. The doomsday overtones of its title, “Invasion,” say it all.
What does Cruz, himself, have to say on the matter? Cruz yesterday said he disagrees with part of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant proposal — because he thinks it’s too lenient.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio’s swapping out his innocent-sounding, evasive language on the campaign trail for Trump-like — though equally lacking in substance — “tough talk.” Following Trump’s lead, Rubio’s resorted to petty personal insults and, according to the New York Times, “attacked rivals from both parties, amplified his tough talk on terrorism and warned in more dire terms than usual that many Americans feel out of place in their own country.” And like Trump, Rubio’s now suggesting that he’d support “harsh interrogation practices at Guantánamo Bay,” according to the Times.
It’s a good strategy for the presidential primary — it’s what the GOP base wants — but that means that Rubio, along with Trump and Cruz, will continue to “send shivers down GOP [establishment] spines” with respect to the general election and down-ballot races.
Published: Jan 5, 2016