As for the conditions for use of force, Cruz appears ready to deploy the U.S. military, but not in a nation-building or occupation capacity, a position his team likely calculates as a poll winner, considering Americans’ dissatisfaction with unsuccessful efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“If and when military action is called for, it should be A) with a clearly defined military objective, B) executed with overwhelming force, and C) when we’re done we should get the heck out,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the job of our military to engage in nation-building. It is the job of our military to protect America and to hunt down and kill those who would threaten to murder Americans. It is not the job of our military to occupy countries across the globe and try to turn them into Democratic utopias.”

While Cruz predictably saves his strongest criticism for Obama and Clinton—tying them together by repeatedly tagging the current White House approach as an “Obama-Clinton foreign policy”—he spends considerable time contrasting his positions with those of his likely rivals. In fact, Cruz’s desire to exploit Paul’s perceived weakness on foreign policy has in large part driven the Texas senator’s brand-building strategy thus far. It’s certainly what has led Cruz to focus early and often on establishing friends in the pro-Israel community of voters and donors, which remains wary of the libertarian from Kentucky.