Ted Cruz sucks

| 9:00 pm EDT October 17, 2018
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

We don’t know how the Senate race between upstart Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke and weirdo Republican incumbent Ted Cruz will play out. Most polls say Cruz is in the lead by a bit. Then again, the voting demographics in Texas say that it should have been impossible for a Democrat to compete at all. In an asymmetric race like this, the polling isn’t always reliable. So we’ll see who wins. In the mean time, one thing is undeniable: Ted Cruz sucks.

I’m not saying Ted Cruz sucks simply because he’s a corrupt Republican, or because he’s a soulless conservative, or because he pretends to be a Christian while pushing exceedingly non-Christ-like viewpoints. All of those things are true, of course. But Ted Cruz sucks because, well, he’s Ted Cruz. No, really. This guy sucks on a unique level that even many of his fellow sucky Republican politicians have failed to achieve. We were very much reminded of this last night.

During last night’s debate, Ted Cruz was giving a pre-fab answer about how we should all be more civil in politics, when he ran out of his allotted time. The moderator tried to intervene accordingly. Cruz rudely snapped at him: “Don’t interrupt me!” Again, this was in the middle of a Cruz monologue about civility. Even when Cruz periodically tries to imitate a non-sociopathic human, he doesn’t know how to play the part.

The bottom line for Ted Cruz is he’s lucked into the position he’s in. He got elected to the Senate in a red state at a time when the Tea Party was eager to support anyone who spouted far-right anti-government rhetoric, no matter how unappealing or unqualified that candidate might have been. If he gets reelected, it’ll only be because he’s an incumbent Republican in a red state. But even the GOP probably wishes it had someone else in Cruz’s place. This is a guy who uniquely engenders disgust across the board – and if he were running against Beto O’Rourke in a moderate state, Beto would win in a blowout. And yeah, despite the polls, Beto might still win.