Cruz has created the impression that he places his own ambition ahead of the interests of his country, his party and even the conservative movement. As Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has said about Cruz, “[I]t’s not what he’s trying to accomplish or what he says he’s trying to accomplish that bothers people. It’s that he’s consistently sacrificed the mutual goals of many for his personal enhancement.”
Other prominent Republicans have put their feelings about Cruz more simply. “I just don’t like the guy,” George W. Bush said recently, capturing a sentiment that some Republicans share…
Cruz seems to have a knack for alienating natural allies too. This was made clear when Cruz hijacked a conference devoted to drawing attention to the plight of Middle East Christians. Cruz was the keynote speaker at the inaugural In Defense of Christians summit in 2014. Instead of helping to raise awareness of persecuted Christians in the Middle East — who are undergoing what many have labeled genocide — Cruz used the appearance to demand his audience’s allegiance to Israel, then staged a walkout.
Cruz’s theatrics at the IDC summit may have won him some fans. But I know that they also won him some enemies among people who would otherwise be sympathetic to him and his candidacy.
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