No, that's his "I am so much smarter than you, it is all I can do to keep myself from breaking into uncontrolled laughter" look. This is the look he gives when he has you right where he wants you and you do not have the first clue what is coming next. But he does.
Ted Cruz is going Sun Tzu on Trump. Here is an article that chronicles how that worked at the last debate and how it is working now after the debate. When someone is out-thinking you using Sun Tsu tactics, it is maddening. And we see that Cruz's actions towards Trump are triggering exactly that effect, not just from Donald Trump but from Marco Rubio as well.
Cruz lost his chance when he sacrificed himself for Iowa. Rubio's door opened when Christie dropped out. Trump has done a number on Cruz and Jeb.
Mary Matalin and James Carville, an "odd couple" politically speaking if ever there was one, spoke yesterday to offer their predictions about who the party nominees will be. They both agree that the Republican nominee will be Ted Cruz. For the Democrats, Carville is working for Hillary, so of course he thinks she will win. Matalin believes the Democrats will nominate someone not currently in the race. It is interesting that they both believe Ted Cruz will be the nominee on the Republican side, especially in light of the polls. Of course as Carville stated above, the political pundits have pretty well humiliated themselves across the board this time around, and there is more that is required to win a nomination than just leading in the polls or just being "first past the post" in the primary contests. The nominee need 50% +1 delegates to win and nobody has a clear shot to that on the Republican side right now. With all the factors that come into play, Matalin and Carville are predicting Cruz for the win.
Watch out is right... An Analysis of Ted Cruz's Tax Plan His plan is one hot mess, though if you've got mojomania for Cruz you probably think it's grand. Lot's of ammunition pro and con at the link.
I don't know what debates this guy's been watching but Trump hasn't been passive-agressive in other debates. As far as getting Trump to say things that might trip him up Jeb, Megyn Kelly and others have done that before. That article makes it sound like Cruz is some sort of genius for getting Trump to say things that should damn any candidate. Trump already has for months.
Cruz is trying to Sun Tzu the country into oligarchy by going reverse Robin Hood with the tax code. Cruz tax plan would cost $8.6 trillion, second only to Trump https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...would-cost-8-6-trillion-second-only-to-trump/ Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s plan to impose a flat 10 percent tax on all personal income and greatly lower the corporate tax rate would cost the federal government at least $8.6 trillion over a decade, according to a new analysis. The plan would be the second most expensive tax proposal in the GOP presidential field, with only businessman Donald Trump offering a proposal that would add more in government debt over the next 10 years, according to data released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center. Trump’s plan would cost the government $9.5 trillion in lost revenue. [A $9.5 trillion price tag for Trump’s tax plan] Republican presidential candidates have been quick to campaign on promises to cut taxes, but because most have yet to detail how they would slash spending to offset this lost revenue, analysts have projected their proposals would be deficit busters. Cruz’s plan also falls short of fulfilling the Texas senator’s promise that his flat tax system would be so simple that taxpayers would file their returns on a postcard. Cruz would eliminate nearly every tax deduction except those for charitable contributions and mortgage interest and would increase the standard deduction to make doing your taxes easier. He would also eliminate all credits except the earned income tax credit for low income workers and the child tax credit. The streamlined system is the simplest plan released by any presidential candidate, but analysts said Cruz’ proposals would still require most people to fill out more than a postcard. “I would think the form would have to look not that different than what you do now,” said Tax Policy Center Co-Director Eric Toder. The Cruz campaign declined to respond to questions Tax Policy Center staff sent about the plan, which meant it had to make some assumptions about Cruz’s proposal in areas where there was a lack of detail. The proposal also falls short of Cruz’s promise that under his plan every income-level would see double-digit increases in after-tax income. Analysts found that while most workers would receive a tax cut, the lowest income workers would see their after-tax income decline by 0.6 percent. There would be a 16 percent flat business tax under Cruz’s proposal, which functions like an across-the-board consumption tax that would increase the amount workers are taxed by their employers. Those low-income workers who don’t make enough to file taxes wouldn’t benefit from the expanded standard deduction that is meant to offset the payroll-side increases. “Somebody below the standard deduction amount, they cannot benefit much,” said Tax Policy Center Director Leonard Burman, who served in the Treasury Department during the Clinton administration. “They would benefit very little from repealing the corporate income tax so on net they would end up paying higher taxes under the Cruz plan.” Cruz’s business tax has also been criticized by fellow presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who compared it to a European-style value added tax. Burman said Rubio is correct and Cruz’s system would impose a version of the consumption tax system popular in much of Western Europe. The center estimates Rubio’s tax proposal would cost the government at least $6.8 billion in lost revenue over the next decade. [The VAT tax fight between Rubio and Cruz] The biggest beneficiaries under Cruz’s plan would be the top 0.1 percent of earners. People earning over $3.7 million per year would see an average tax break of more than $2 million in the first year, according to the analysis. The plan would add $10.2 trillion to the national debt in the first decade, according to the center, when you include interest payments on the additional government borrowing that would occur. Cruz isn’t alone in crafting a tax plan that would cost the federal government trillions while delivering big benefits for the wealthy, all of the Republicans running for president are doing it. “All of the plans benefit high income people more than low income people,” Burman said. “They are enormous tax cuts compared to the current system and they are enormously regressive.” Analysts said the lost revenues could be reduced through spending cuts, including Cruz’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but Cruz and most other Republican candidates have yet to provide detailed lists of the cuts that should be made. Burman said the plan would make it easier and more beneficial for businesses and individuals to invest. Lower tax rates and benefits for businesses would likely encourage major investments in the early years of the plan, but analysts said they expect interest rates would increase and the economy would decline as a result of the ballooning debt. “The plan by itself, not including the unspecified spending cuts, would surely depress the economy,” Burman said.
I really have no idea how Cruz voters can look themselves in the mirror every morning. Either just plain stupid or incredibly naive.
Ted Cruz has called the posturing blowhard Trump on one of his many lies, in this case that he is going to file a lawsuit against Ted Cruz challenging his eligibility to run for president on citizenship grounds. So, sue him, Donald. Of course Donald Trump himself made a public statement last fall stating that he and his lawyers looked into this and determined that Cruz is eligible. Then he when Cruz reminded Trump and the world about these comments during the Iowa debate, Trump confirmed that this was not actually about any concerns with Cruz's eligibility to be president, but was in response to Cruz's rise in the polls. And yet Trump continues to lie about this, even though he has publicly confirmed that he knows better. It is time for Donald Trump to put up or shut up. It is time for him to file the lawsuit, unless he is lying about filing it. And we all know that he will not do it.
this would be great <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cruz looks forward to "deposing Donald Trump" if he sues. "I may well not use outside counsel, I may take the deposition myself."</p>— Matt Flegenheimer (@mattfleg) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattfleg/status/700006030294429696">February 17, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cruz said he looks forward to “getting Donald Trump under oath, under penalty of perjury," adds that it didn't work out for Bill Clinton</p>— Andrew Rafferty (@AndrewNBCNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewNBCNews/status/700006228131315712">February 17, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Personally I'm enjoying this election more than any other. No need to buy tickets to the circus, folks. Just tune in to the top 4 candidates.
I hope Trump does sue Cruz, and not for any low partisan reason either. I think it would be a service to the country and would make the whole Trump fiasco worthwhile if he sued. We could finally put to rest what it means to be natural-born. People on both sides are equally strongly convinced that it means one thing or another, but we won't really know and have consensus until the Supreme Court says. The only way they get to say is if a candidate sues. Let's do this thing.
My ideal scenario: Trump sues him in some liberal circuit to block him from being on a ballot. A liberal judge rules in favor of Trump. Cruz appeals it to the Supreme Court which is only 8 justices because Cruz has filibustered an appointment. Court is split 4-4 which defers to lower court. Cruz can't run. I'm not sure it could play out that way (not sure exactly how jurisdiction would work in this case) but I'd love for it to.
I love this article. It's an interview of pundits saying the race is completely unpredictable and everything the pundits have believed has been completely wrong, and now we're predicting Cruz. And your takeaway from reading that was somehow that the pundit's opinions on who will win matters.
