Ryan Lizza: “Ted Cruz is the best political tactician in the Republican race. But for all of Cruz’s tactical successes so far, he made one enormous mistake: he misunderstood the threat posed by Trump. By repeatedly praising Trump throughout 2015, Cruz did more than any other Republican to validate the reality-TV star as a true conservative.”
“Cruz, the most well-funded conservative, stuck to his hug-Trump strategy until just a few days before the Iowa caucuses. At the CBS debate, [he] tried desperately to undo that damage, and his attempt to unmask Trump as a closet liberal led to the most fiery exchange of the evening. And now there is a new accelerant to the Cruz–Bush campaign to turn Trump into a liberal: Antonin Scalia’s death. For many ideological conservatives, the makeup of the Supreme Court is the most important issue in America … [and] the success of Cruz’s campaign may depend on that fight.”
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