So, is Cruz's political career really over?

[imanamerican63]

[liberal N proud]

1. We can only hope

But with slime like that, you can never really know for sure.

[Exilednight]

2. No. He's setting himself up as the outsider candidate for 2020.

He knows Trump is going to lose, and he's already pivoting to a 2020 run via the post convention speech he gave today.

[imanamerican63]

3. Darn Trump didn't do his job!

[Wounded Bear]

4. Well, if he really wants to lose again in 2020..

who are we to deny him?

[Exilednight]

8. it really depends on who is running.

The RNC has a pretty shallow bench. If it weren't for Trump, Cruz could have ran away with it.

You can't deny he pulled down a hefty sum of delegates before dropping out.

[Wounded Bear]

9. Fully understand...

but much like Trump, it doesn't really matter if he pulls in 90% of their base. If they continue to alienate everybody else, they will continue to lose, and rightly so.

I sense an upswelling in the resistance to religious doctrine being forced on us through the strong arm of the government. You can see it in recent losses on the abortion front, and perhaps also on the voting rights front, and although that isn't strictly a religious issue, is it "WASP" based for sure. I'm actually starting to think that the mellenials might know what the hell they are doing and are starting to get involved. It could lead to a generational shift to the left that this country so badly needs.

[Exilednight]

11. Being Hispanic, and having a vocabulary a thousand

Times larger than Trump's are traits that many independts value.

If this were Cruz vs Hillary, Hillary would be losing. As it is now she is within MOE in swing state polls against Trump. If I had to estimate, I would guess that with his heritage alone he could pull about 20% of the Hispanic vote if he tempered down his GE rhetoric.

[Wounded Bear]

16. I don't agree that Cruz would be leading Hillary...

20% of the Hispanic vote won't cut it for a Repub. It hasn't yet. And since the Hispanic vote is far from monolithic, I doubt Cruz could pull them all together. As I said above, the Christian vote is fading fast.

I think the public is hungry for policies, and the Repubs are woefully short on those, across the board.

[tblue37]

19. But those are also traits that much of the Republican base absolutely despises.

That is why the support he does get comes from the smaller subset of most rabid Teahadists and fundamentalists, not from the party's general base of rabid bigots and warmongers.

Heck, he even turned Sheldon Adelson against him. The GOP presidential candidates all scramble to win the "Adelson Primary" because he will dump about $100 million into the campaign of the candidate he gives the last rose to. Infuriating Sheldon Adelson is dangerous for anyone who wants to have a chance in a Republican presidential primary--or a future in the Republican Party.

http://ijr.com/2016/07/655387-ted-cruz-denied-entry-into-sheldon-adelsons-suite-following-rnc-speech/

Ted Cruz Denied Entry Into Sheldon Adelson’s Suite Following RNC Speech

CLEVELAND — Texas Senator Ted Cruz was denied entry into billionaire GOP donor Sheldon Adleson’s suite following his speech at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night, Independent Journal Review has confirmed.

A former U.S. Senator inside the Adelson’s luxury box at the Quicken Loans arena told Independent Journal Review that Cruz approached the suite after he finished his speech that fell short of endorsing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Cruz was not welcome in the suite “because he’s a piece of sh*t,” the Senator said.

Cruz was stopped at the door because several attendees inside the suite were furious with his decision to not endorse Trump. An aide to Adelson then confirmed that Cruz was turned away.

SNIP

[underpants]

13. I agree. He'll come back to how he stood for conservative principles

whatever the hell those are.

[Hortensis]

24. Yup. Just declining to board the ongoing train wreck.

After all the big crash is right up ahead, just 109 days now.

[C_U_L8R]

5. He may be the last person standing in the GOP

After Trump implodes this fall.

At least that seems to be what he's betting on.

[underpants]

14. Yep. He took a big risk.

Regardless of how the election turns out Trump will be seen as a disaster. Cruz can come back with an "I told you so" and that he stood for principles.

Add in that he really believes that he has been chosen by God to be President someday.

[Siwsan]

6. Not until God and/or his Dad says so

After all, there is that prophesy to fulfill.

[MowCowWhoHow III]

7. Only if Trump wins, so more likely he's just got 1st degree political burns

Which will heal when he says "told ya so" after Trump's defeat

[thucythucy]

10. Never underestimate the zombie like powers of the GOP "elite."

A very drunk and bitter Richard Nixon famously quit politics after losing the presidency in 1960, and the California governor's race in 1962 ("You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore...&quot and came back to win it all in '68.

Reagan got stomped by Ford in the '76 primaries, and came back to win in 1980.

So I think it's a safe bet to say Cruz will be back, sooner or later.

[Angel Martin]

30. I think Cruz is done

people like Romney, Rockefeller and Scranton who refused to endorse Goldwater in 1964 were hurt by that in 1968.

[jeanmarc]

12. He's the top candidate for 2020

Not sure what happened in California, maybe he ran out of money, but he's the best candidate for the GOP in 2020 so far.

He stood up for his principles and when Trump loses in a magnificent landslide, he's going to look like a genius for doing what he did.

[MrScorpio]

15. Nope

He'll be back.

He's going to leverage his position as a right wing demagogue: The rightful savior of the GOP, who should have been anointed by the party, instead of the charlatan, Trump.

His defiance last night will be reinterpreted as "principled" and a moment of "integrity," especially after Trump fails to win the White House in a spectacular defeat.

After all who else will the faithful turn to?

We haven't seen the last of him. His daddy told him so.

[tblue37]

18. And the so-called liberal media will praise him to the skies for that

"principled and courageous" act.

In fact, that is exactly what they have been doing.

They sold Trump, and they will sell Cruz. Our only hope where Cruz is concerned is that most of the Republicans in office and most of the Republican establishment have a visceral dislike of the man.

But of course those are the same NeverTrump people who couldn't even slow down the Trump Train much less derail it, so their opposition to Cruz would probably end up making him wildly popular with the Republican base, who have the attention span of a gnat, so they won't remember that he was the one that they booed and threatened for backstabbing their idol from this campaign season.

[tblue37]

17. One can only hope, but after what we have seen the American voter do about Trump

despite the incredibly stupid and even evil things he has said and done, I don't feel there is all that much reason for such hope.

[gratuitous]

20. Are you kidding?

The Republicans would run Nixon again if it wasn't for the inconvenient fact that he's dead. Cruz will blunder on until 2020, which arbitrary number I'm sure Cruz regards as some sort of divine totem auguring his divine calling and eventual success.

[yuiyoshida]

21. Maybe he will go back to CANADA

and leave us all alone!

[drray23]

22. i dont think so.

He calculated that Trump is going to lose and he should distance himself. Frankly, given how Trump insulted him and his familly, its not surprising from that point of view either.

After the gop crashes and burn this election cycle, they will come crying to him in 2020.

[bigwillq]

23. Probably not (nt)

[JCMach1]

25. He will be proven right about Trump and have a leg up after the epic disaster

I think he's a noxious asshat, but if you listened to his speech, he put forward the idea that freedom and the Constitution are more important than voting for Trump.

He will be proven right on those points.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

26. Absolutely fine by me if it is.

But hey, he went out on top.

[tonyt53]

27. Nah, but most people still won't like the prick.

[Javaman]

28. I don't care about 2020 I want him bounce from the senate when his term is up. nt

[Cosmocat]

29. No more dead than 24 hours ago and

an outside chance it helps him.

[FLPanhandle]

31. I won't guess, I never thought Trump has a political career

So I'm not going to trust myself anymore.